廣弘明集 14.19

14.19

傅又云。西域胡人因埿而生。是以便事埿瓦。此又未思之言也。夫崇立靈像摸寫尊形。所用多塗。非獨泥瓦。或彫或鑄。則以鐵木金銅。圖之繡之。亦在丹青縑素。復謂西域士女遍從此物而生乎。且又中國之廟以木為主。則謂制禮君子皆從木而育耶。親不可忘。故為之宗廟。佛不可忘。故立其形像。以表罔極之心。用申如在之敬。欽聖仰德。何失之有哉。夫以善為過者。故亦以惡為功矣。

Fu also says: 'The Hu people of the Western Regions were born from mud; therefore, they serve mud and tiles.' These, too, are unconsidered words. When erecting numinous icons and depicting revered forms, the materials used are diverse; they are not only mud and tiles. Carved or cast, they use iron, wood, gold, and bronze; painted or embroidered, they are also upon pigments and fine silk. Would he also claim that the gentlemen and ladies of the Western Regions were all born from these things? Furthermore, the ancestral temples of the Central Lands take wood for their spirit tablets; would one then say that the gentlemen who established the rites were all nourished and born from wood? Parents cannot be forgotten, so ancestral temples are built for them; the Buddha cannot be forgotten, so his images and forms are erected, to manifest boundless devotion and express reverence as if he were present. In honoring the sage and venerating his virtue, what fault is there? Those who regard good as an offense will naturally also regard evil as merit.