[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [廣弘明集](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2103) › 12.16 # 廣弘明集 12.16 廣弘明集 12.16 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [12.16](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2103.12.16) 概聞法身無像應物有方。故假現全身。置于多寶之塔。權分碎質。流乎阿育之龕。故能聚散隨緣存亡任物。聖力權變不可思議。但佛生天竺。隨其土風。葬必闍維。收必起塔。塔即是廟。廟者貌也。祭祀承事如貌存焉。今之國家宗廟社稷。類皆然也。但如來滅度一百年後。有阿輸伽王。鐵輪御世。以威德使鬼神。福力興靈廟。故八萬四千之塔。不日而成。千柱百梁之堂。匪朝既就。詎勞人力。自是神功。豈以凡夫之情而疑聖賢之事。何異斗筲測大海。尺寸量虛空。其可得乎。舍利東流吳王創感。僧會稽請。丹誠至而忽臨。孫權驗試。砧磓陷而彌固。於是騰光上徹。照灼斧扆之間。發彩傍通。欝映巖廊之下。會時欣躍廣讚威靈。權及朝臣聞皆信伏。即為建塔并置伽藍。緣是江左大弘佛事。豈若太上骨朽於關中。判無舍利。天師體葬於蛇腹。詎有遺身。靡所依憑便生妖詐。聞佛有舍利八斛用表遺身。遂畜小石二枚。以代仙卵。然仙卵本狂豕之陰。玄壇乃老鬼之廟。若言舍利胡骨。理勝狂豕之陰。佛圖胡塚。寧同老鬼之廟。豈可以高下相況等級寄言。故今道士見舍利如眼梗。詎肯歸依。覩浮圖若心刺。專謀破毀。徒懷邪惡。其可得乎。歷代已來為帝王者。並夙種善根多懷正信。傾珍造塔撤寶崇真。皆欲申其追遠之誠。致其如在之敬。故繕興九級備盡莊嚴。式搆百樑窮其壯麗。致使貧人捧奠則梵宮立成。長者絣繩天堂即現。因果之道斯理皎然。闇識之徒弗能悟矣。 > I have heard that the Dharmakāya has no physical form, yet responds to beings with various expedients; thus it provisionally manifested a whole body, which was placed within the stūpa of Prabhūtaratna, and expediently divided its relics, which flowed into the shrines of Aśoka. Therefore, gathering and scattering accord with conditions, and presence and demise depend on living beings; the saintly power of expedient transformation is inconceivable. However, the Buddha was born in India, and according to its local customs, a burial necessarily entails cremation (jhapita), and the gathering \[of relics\] necessarily entails erecting a stūpa. A stūpa is indeed a shrine; a shrine means 'appearance' (mao), wherein sacrificial offerings and reverent service are carried out as if the appearance were still present. The ancestral temples and altars of soil and grain of the state today are all of this kind. Moreover, one hundred years after the Tathāgata's extinction, there was King Aśoka, who ruled the world with his iron wheel, employing ghosts and spirits through his august virtue and erecting spiritual shrines through the power of his merit. Thus eighty-four thousand stūpas were completed in no time, and halls of a thousand pillars and a hundred beams were accomplished before the morning was out. How could this have toiled human labor? It was naturally a divine feat. How could one doubt the deeds of sages and worthies with the sentiments of ordinary mortals? How would this differ from measuring the great ocean with a bucket, or gauging empty space with inches and feet? How could that be possible? When the relics flowed east, the King of Wu was the first to be moved; when Senghui prostrated and supplicated, as soon as his sincere devotion reached its peak, \[the relic\] suddenly arrived. When Sun Quan tested it, the anvil and hammer were dented while it became all the firmer. Thereupon its soaring light penetrated upwards, brilliantly illuminating the imperial screens; it emitted radiance that spread laterally, casting a luxuriant glow beneath the craggy galleries. At that time, \[Seng\]hui leaped with joy and broadly praised its majestic power; Quan and his court ministers, upon hearing it, all believed and submitted, forthwith constructing a stūpa and establishing a saṅghārāma for it. Because of this, Buddhist deeds were greatly propagated in the region east of the Yangtze. How could this be like the Supreme Lord's bones rotting in Guanzhong, where it is decided that there are no relics, or the Heavenly Master's body being buried in the belly of a serpent, where how could there be a preserved body? Having nothing to rely upon, they then produced bewitching falsehoods. Hearing that the Buddha had eight bushels of relics to signify his left-behind body, they subsequently kept two small stones to substitute for 'immortal eggs'. However, the 'immortal eggs' were originally the genitals of a mad boar, and the 'mystic altar' is merely the shrine of an old ghost. If one says relics are barbarian bones, in principle they still surpass the genitals of a mad boar; and how could a Buddhist stūpa—a 'barbarian mound'—be the same as the shrine of an old ghost? How could one equate high and low or express ranks in such terms? Therefore, when current Daoist priests see relics, they are like cinders in their eyes—how could they be willing to take refuge? When they behold stūpas, they are like thorns in their hearts, and they exclusively plot to destroy and demolish them, harboring evil in vain. How could this be permissible? The sovereigns and emperors throughout the dynasties have all planted good roots long ago and mostly cherished correct faith, expending treasures to construct stūpas and removing gems to venerate the true, all wishing to express their sincerity in pursuing the distant past and to convey their reverence as if \[the Buddha\] were present. Therefore, they renovated and raised nine tiers, exhausting all adornment; they constructed a hundred beams, exhausting magnificence. So it was that when a poor person offered an alms-bowl, a Brahmā palace was instantly formed; when an elder marked the ground with chalked cords, a heavenly hall immediately appeared. The way of cause and effect is completely clear in this principle; those of dim understanding cannot awaken to it. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 12.15](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2103.12.15) - [Next: 12.17](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2103.12.17) - [Up: 12](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2103.12) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2103~en-mt.12.16) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2103.12.16](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2103.12.16) · Pramāṇa