廣弘明集 18.107

18.107

聖人之教。玄通無涯。致感多方。不可作一途求。不可以一理推。故應粗以粗。應細以細應。理固然矣。所以放大光明現諸神變者。此應十方諸大菩薩將紹尊位者耳。若處俗接麁。復容此事耶。阿含經云。釋氏之處天竺四十餘載。衣服飲食受諸患痛。與人不別。經又云。聖人亦入鹿馬而度脫之當在鹿馬。豈異於鹿馬哉。若不異鹿馬應世常流。不待此神變明矣。每事要須自同於前物。然後得行其化耳。

The teaching of the Sage is darkly penetrative and boundless, eliciting responses in multiple ways; it cannot be sought via a single path, nor deduced via a single principle. Therefore, respond to the coarse with the coarse, and respond to the fine with the fine: principle is naturally so. The reason for emitting great light and manifesting various supernatural transformations is only to respond to the great bodhisattvas of the ten directions who are about to inherit the honored position. If dwelling among the worldly to receive the coarse, how could this matter be admitted? The Āgamas say: The Śākya dwelled in India for over forty years, his clothing, food and drink, and various sufferings and pains being no different from humans. The sūtras also say: The Sage also enters deer and horses to liberate them; while among deer and horses, how could he differ from deer and horses? If he does not differ from deer and horses, responding to the worldly common stream, it is clear that he does not rely on these supernatural transformations. In every case, he must assimilate himself to the object before him, and only then can he carry out his transformation.