廣弘明集 3.15

3.15

凡人所信惟耳與目。自此之外咸致疑焉。儒家說天。自有數義。或渾或蓋乍穹乍安。斗極所周筦維所屬。若所親見不容不同。若所測量寧足依據。何故信凡人之臆說。疑大聖之妙旨。而欲必無恒沙世界微塵數劫乎。而鄒衍亦有九州之談。山中人不信有魚大如木。海上人不信有木大如魚。漢武不信弦膠。魏文不信火布。胡人見錦不信有蟲食樹吐絲所成。昔在江南不信有千人氈帳。及來河北不信有二萬石船。皆實驗也。世有呪師及諸幻術。猶能履火蹈刃種瓜移井。倏忽之間千變萬化。人力所為尚能如此。何妨神通感應不可思量千里寶幢百由旬座化成淨土踊出妙塔乎。

What ordinary people believe is only what meets their ears and eyes; beyond this, they harbor doubts about everything. In explaining heaven, the Confucians have several theories: some speak of the Huntian (spherical heaven), some of the Gaitian (canopy heaven), some of the vaulted dome, and some of the flat expanse. Regarding the revolutions of the Dipper and the Pole, and the moorings of the net of heaven, if these were observed in person, they could not admit of discrepancies; if they were merely inferred by calculation, how could they suffice to be relied upon? Why believe the speculative claims of ordinary people and doubt the subtle purports of the Great Sage, dogmatically asserting that there cannot be worlds as numerous as the sands of the Ganges or kalpas as numerous as specks of dust? Even Zou Yan had his discourse on the Nine Provinces. People of the mountains do not believe there are fish as large as trees; people of the seacoast do not believe there are trees as large as fish. Emperor Wu of the Han did not believe in lute-string glue; Emperor Wen of the Wei did not believe in fireproof cloth. Barbarians seeing brocade do not believe it is produced by worms eating trees and spitting silk. In former days in Jiangnan, people did not believe there were felt tents that could hold a thousand men; upon coming to Hebei, they did not believe there were ships of twenty thousand shi. These are all empirical facts. In the world there are masters of incantations and various magical arts, who are yet able to walk on fire, tread on blades, plant melons, and move wells, producing a thousand changes and ten thousand transformations in an instant. If what is achieved by human power can still be like this, why should we doubt that inconceivable spiritual transformations and sympathetic responses can produce a jewel banner of a thousand li, a seat of a hundred yojanas, the transformation of a pure land, or the springing forth of a marvelous stūpa?