廣弘明集 7.51

7.51

二明寺作草堂土舍。則秦皇漢武為有德之君。良以佛縱奢侈。寺塔八萬四千。此國効之又增其倍。凡百士庶暗愁往罪虛規來福。浪說天堂地獄。詛我華人。至如秦皇阿閣漢武甘泉。古迹宮觀不過十數。史官書之號曰無道。曾不言佛無道過之。又引張融三破之言。廣如前集。今重顯之。佛之化也依樹為家。形骸有累權開小室。寺塔崇廣信心所營。請僧福用非僧課造。至如天堂地獄善惡之報殊焉。品類區分升沈之義天別。不知道經往往亦述地獄。須覈天堂有幾地獄何所云云。

Second, he argued: 'If temples are made into thatched huts and earthen cottages, then the First Emperor of Qin and Emperor Wu of Han would be virtuous rulers. Truly, because the Buddha indulged in extravagance, there were eighty-four thousand temples and pagodas; this country imitated him and doubled that number. The hundred scholar-officials and commoners gloomily fret over past sins and vainly scheme for future blessings; they wildly speak of heaven and hell, cursing our Chinese people. As for the Ebang Palace of the Qin Emperor and the Ganquan Palace of Emperor Wu of Han, ancient palace sites and belvederes numbered no more than a dozen or so, yet historians recorded them and branded them unprincipled; they never said the Buddha's lack of principle surpassed them.' He also cited Zhang Rong’s words on the 'three destructions', which were treated extensively in the previous collection; now I clarify them again. In the Buddha's conversion, the trees were his home; only because the physical body has burdens did he provisionally allow small chambers. The loftiness and breadth of temples and pagodas were constructed by faithful minds; inviting monks for meritorious use was not done by monks imposing forced labor. As for heaven and hell, the retributions for good and evil are distinct; the categorization into classes and the principle of rising and sinking are as far apart as heaven [and earth]. He did not know that Daoist scriptures also frequently describe hells; one must examine how many heavens there are, where the hells are located, and so on.