廣弘明集 14.12

14.12

夫天文曆象之祕奧。地理山川之卓詭。經脈孔穴之診候。針藥符呪之方術。詩書有所不載。周孔未之明言。然考之吉凶而有徵矣。察其行用而多効矣。且又周孔未言之物。蠢蠢無窮。詩書不載之法。茫茫何限。信乎書不盡言言不盡意。何得拘六經之局教。而背三乘之通旨哉。夫能事未興於上古。聖人開務於後世。故棟宇易橧巢之居。文字代結繩之制。飲血茹毛之饌則先用而未珍。火化粒食之功雖後作而非弊。彼用捨之先後。非理教之通蔽。豈得以詩書早播而特隆。修多晚至而當替。人有幼噉藜藿長飯粱肉。少為布衣老遇侯服。豈得以藜藿先獲。謂勝粱肉之味。侯服晚遇。不如布衣之貴乎。萬物有遷三寶常住。寂然不動感而皆遇。化身示隱顯之迹。法體絕興亡之數。非初誕於王宮。不長逝於雙樹。何得論生滅于赴感。計修促于來去乎。

"The mysteries of astronomical calculations and phenomena, the wonders of geography, mountains, and rivers, the diagnoses of meridians and acupoints, and the techniques of needles, herbs, talismans, and incantations were not recorded in the Odes and Documents, nor were they clearly spoken of by the Duke of Zhou and Confucius. Yet when tested against good and bad fortune, there is proof; when observed in practical use, they are largely effective. Furthermore, the things unspoken of by the Duke of Zhou and Confucius are endlessly teeming; the methods unrecorded in the Odes and Documents are boundlessly limitless. Truly, writings do not exhaust words, and words do not exhaust meaning. How can one be bound by the narrow teachings of the Six Classics and turn one's back on the universal purport of the Three Vehicles?

Great accomplishments were not established in high antiquity; the sages opened up undertakings in later ages. Thus buildings replaced dwellings in trees and nests, and writing replaced the system of knotted cords. Feasts of drinking blood and eating raw flesh were used earlier, but were not valued; the benefits of cooked food and grains, though created later, were not defective. The precedence in their adoption or abandonment does not determine whether a principle or teaching is universal or obstructed. How could it be that because the Odes and Documents spread early they should be especially exalted, while the sūtras, having arrived late, should be discarded? There are people who in youth ate coarse greens and in maturity dined on fine grains and meat, or who in youth wore plain clothes and in old age received the robes of a marquis. Could one say that because coarse greens were obtained first, their flavor surpasses that of fine grains and meat; or that because the marquis's robes were received later, they are not as noble as plain clothes?

All things undergo change, but the triratna is eternally abiding. Quiescent and unmoving, it responds to all when stimulated. The transformation body demonstrates traces of concealment and manifestation, while the Dharma-body transcends the numbers of rising and falling. He was not newly born in the royal palace, nor did he pass away forever under the twin trees. How can one discuss birth and extinction based on his responses to beings, or calculate length and brevity based on his coming and going?