廣弘明集 14.10

14.10

傅謂佛法本出於西胡。不應奉之於中國。余昔同此惑焉。今則悟其不然矣。夫由余出自西戎。輔秦穆以開霸業。日磾生於北狄。侍漢武而除危害。臣既有之。師亦宜爾。何必取其同俗而捨於異方乎。師以道大為尊。無論於彼此。法以善高為勝。不計於遐邇。若夫尚仁為美去欲稱高。戒積惡之餘殃。勸為善以邀福。百家之所同。七經無以易。但褊淺而未深至。齷齪而不周廣。其恕己接物。孰與佛之弘乎。其覩末知本。孰與佛之遠乎。其勸善懲惡。孰與佛之廣乎。其明空析有。孰與佛之深乎。由此觀之。其道妙矣。聖人之德何以加焉。豈得以生於異域而賤其道。出於遠方而棄其寶。夫絕群之駿。非唯中邑之產。曠世之珍。不必諸華之物。漢求西域之名馬。魏收南海之明珠。貢犀象之牙角。採翡翠之毛羽。物生遠域。尚於此而為珍。道出遐方。獨奈何而可棄。若藥物出於戎夷。禁呪起於胡越。苟可以蠲邪而去疾。豈以遠來而不用之哉。夫滅三毒以證無為。其蠲邪也大矣。除八苦而致常樂。其去疾也深矣。何得拘夷夏而計親疎乎。況百億日月之下。三千世界之內。則中在於彼域。不在於此方矣。

"Fu said that the Buddha-Dharma originally emerged from the Western Barbarians and should not be venerated in the Central Lands. Formerly I shared this confusion, but now I have awakened to its error. You Yu came from the Western Rong and assisted Duke Mu of Qin in establishing his hegemony; Jin Midi was born among the Northern Di and attended Emperor Wu of Han to eliminate dangers. Since this has been so with ministers, it should also be so with teachers. Why must one accept only those of the same customs and reject those from foreign lands? A teacher is revered for the greatness of his Way, regardless of here or there; a teaching is superior for the height of its goodness, without reckoning whether it is distant or near.

Now, valuing benevolence as beauty, discarding desire as exalted, warning against the residual calamities of accumulated evil, and encouraging goodness to obtain fortune—these are shared by the hundred schools, and the Seven Classics cannot alter them. But they are narrow and shallow, not yet profound and consummate; petty and not comprehensive. In their forgiving of oneself and dealing with things, how can they compare with the Buddha's vastness? In their seeing the branches and understanding the root, how can they compare with the Buddha's farsightedness? In their encouraging good and punishing evil, how can they compare with the Buddha's breadth? In their clarifying emptiness and analyzing existence, how can they compare with the Buddha's depth? Viewed from this perspective, his Way is wondrous; how could the virtue of a sage surpass it? How could one despise his Way because he was born in a foreign land, or discard his treasure because he emerged from a distant region?

Steeds that surpass the herd are not only produced in the central counties; rarities that span generations need not be goods of the Chinese lands. The Han sought the famous horses of the Western Regions; the Wei gathered the bright pearls of the Southern Sea. Horns and tusks of rhinoceroses and elephants were presented as tribute; feathers of the kingfisher were collected. When things originate in distant lands, they are still cherished here as treasures; when the Way emerges from remote regions, why alone should it be discarded? If medicines come from the Rong and Yi, or incantations originate among the Hu and Yue, provided they can dispel evil and cure illness, would one refuse to use them because they come from afar? Extinguishing the three poisons to realize the unconditioned—how great is its dispelling of evil! Eliminating the eight sufferings to attain eternal bliss—how profound is its curing of illness! How can one be bound by barbarian and Chinese, reckoning closeness and distance? Moreover, beneath the hundred kotis of suns and moons, within the trichiliocosm, the center is in that land, and not in this realm.