廣弘明集 9.112

9.112

臣笑曰。佛之與道。教迹不同變通有異。道以自然為宗。佛以因緣為義。自然者無為而成。因緣者積行乃證。是以小乘列四果之差。大乘有十等之位。從凡入真具有經論。未知道家所列四果十仙名與佛同。修行因緣未見其說。然道家所修。吸氣冲天飲水證道。聞法飛空餌草尸解。行業既殊證果理異。但說天有五重。或三千六千。或八十一天。或六十大梵。或三十六天。或五億五萬餘天。或九真天王九氣天君四方氣君三元三天九宮天曹玉清大有玄都紫微三皇太極。諸如此類理有所緣。豈有虛張自取矯異。請說此天。為重為橫為虛為實。服何丹草而獲此天。脫所未詳則徒為虛指。更來可笑矣。

Your servant laughs, saying: Between Buddhism and Daoism, the traces of their teachings are not the same, and their adaptations differ. Daoism takes spontaneity as its principle; Buddhism takes dependent origination as its meaning. Spontaneity is accomplished through non-action; dependent origination is realized only through accumulating practices. Therefore, the Hīnayāna sets out the distinctions of the four fruitions, and the Mahāyāna has the stages of the ten levels; passing from an ordinary stage into truth is fully recorded in the sutras and treatises. I do not know where the four fruitions and ten immortals listed by the Daoists—whose names are identical with Buddhism—have ever been explained in terms of the causes and conditions of cultivation. Yet what the Daoists cultivate is inhaling breath to soar into the sky, drinking water to realize the Dao, hearing the teachings to fly through the void, or feeding on herbs to undergo corpse-liberation. Since their actions and karmic practices are completely different, the fruitions they realize must rationally differ! They merely claim that the heavens have five tiers, or three thousand or six thousand, or eighty-one heavens, or sixty Great Brahmās, or thirty-six heavens, or more than five hundred and five myriad heavens; or the Nine Perfected Heavenly Kings, the Nine Pneuma Heavenly Lords, the Pneuma Lords of the Four Directions, the Three Primes, the Three Heavens, the Nine Palaces Heavenly Bureaus, the Jade Purity, Great Existence, Mystery Capital, Purple Tenuity, Three Sovereigns, and Great Ultimate. Things of this sort must have some rational basis—how could they make such baseless assertions merely to claim bizarre superiority? Please explain these heavens: are they vertical or horizontal, empty or solid? What elixirs or herbs must one consume to obtain these heavens? If you cannot explain this clearly, then you are merely pointing at nothingness, which is all the more laughable!