廣弘明集 7.21

7.21

寺像見在。陛下承事。則宋齊之變不言而顯矣。今僧尼坐夏不殺螻蟻者。愛含生之命也。而傲君父忘仁於䖵蟲也。墮胎殺子反養於蚊虻也。夫易者君臣夫婦父子三綱六紀也。今釋氏君不君。乃至子不子。綱紀紊亂矣。濟引宋齊信佛而早亡。斯欺帝也何獨毀佛。亦毀神祇。夫運業廢興天之常數。禪讓放誅有國變通。前王自享於萬年。後帝無宜而取位。此乃交謝之恒理。生滅之大期。何得執一代之常存。而迷百王之革運。都不可也。齊宋諸帝所以重佛敬僧者。知帝位之有由。故銜恩而酬厚德也。又知帝位之無保。故行因而仰長果也。昔因既短。不可延以萬年。故有梁之受禪也。今因未就。不可即因而成果。故受報於未來也。是則業運相循四序無失。如何輕佛無報應乎。若輕無報應。則郊廟諸神昊天圓丘地祇方澤山川望秩一切須除。豈獨佛僧濫受誣惘。乃云。墮胎殺子。令存好仇。爾亦好仇。何為干政自不見也。

temples and images still exist. If Your Majesty inherits and serves them, then the disasters of the Song and Qi will become manifest without needing to be spoken. Now, when monks and nuns observe the summer retreat and do not kill mole crickets and ants, they cherish the lives of sentient beings; yet they are arrogant toward their sovereign and father, forgetting benevolence toward insects. They abort fetuses and kill children, yet conversely nurture mosquitoes and gnats. Now, the Changes speaks of sovereign and subject, husband and wife, father and son as the three bonds and six disciplines. Nowadays, among the Śākyan disciples, the sovereign does not act as a sovereign, and so on up to the son not acting as a son; the bonds and disciplines are thrown into chaos.' Ji cited the Song and Qi believing in Buddhism and perishing early—this is deceiving the emperor! How does it slander only the Buddha? It also slanders the spirits and deities. The rise and fall of karmic cycles are the constant numbers of Heaven; abdication and punitive banishment are the necessary adaptations of states. If previous kings could personally enjoy [rule for] ten thousand years, it would not be proper for later emperors to assume the throne. This is the constant principle of succession and the great period of arising and perishing; how can one cling to the permanent existence of a single dynasty and be confused about the changing fortunes of a hundred kings? This is entirely impermissible. The reason why the emperors of the Qi and Song revered the Buddha and honored monks was that they knew the imperial position had its cause, and thus they harbored gratitude to repay that profound virtue; they also knew that the imperial position could not be preserved forever, and thus they practiced causes to look up to enduring fruitions. Since the past causes were short, they could not be extended to ten thousand years; hence there was the Liang's receipt of the abdication. Since present causes are not yet complete, one cannot immediately reap the fruition from the cause; hence one receives retribution in the future. Thus, as karma and cycles follow one another, the four seasons do not fail; how could one disparage the Buddha as having no retribution? If one disparages it as having no retribution, then all the spirits of the suburban ancestral temples, the Vast Heaven of the Circular Mound, the Earthly Deity of the Square Marsh, and the mountains and rivers of the rank-order sacrifices should all be eliminated! How could it be that only the Buddha and the monks falsely suffer slander and deceit? He even said: 'They abort fetuses and kill children, preserving their cherished lovers.' You yourself are also a cherished lover; why do you meddle in state affairs while failing to see yourself?