廣弘明集 9.127

9.127

臣笑曰。敷齋經。天尊令右玄真人曰。釋迦文以轉輪生死法化世。使天老右玄真人。以仙度之道不死之大法。又老子序云。道主生佛主死。道忌穢佛不忌。道屬陽生忌穢。佛則反之。據此清濁天分死生大判。何為不念清虛大道。而願生死穢惡佛乎。古昔殷太宰問孔子聖人。孔答三皇五帝三王及丘俱不聖也。西方之人有聖者焉。故知孔子以佛為聖。不以道為聖也。化胡云。天下大術。佛術第一。昇玄云。吾師化遊天竺。符子曰。老氏之師名釋迦文。此道齋經又云。稱仙梵天稱佛隱文。外國讀經多是梵天。道士所好梵即佛也。此即學佛久矣。由稱梵也。又靈寶三十二天大梵隱語。天各八字。誦之萬遍即飛行。七祖同昇南宮。此又道士學佛之證也。然道士止知學梵。亦不知梵是何佛。愚而信之亦應有福。不知可笑以不。

Your subject [Zhen] Luan smiles and says: The Fuzhai jing states that the Heavenly Worthy commanded the Perfected of Right Mystery, saying: ‘Śākyamuni used the teaching of revolving through birth and death to convert the world; [I] dispatch the Celestial Elder, the Perfected of Right Mystery, with the path of transcendent salvation, the great Dharma of deathlessness.’ Also, the Preface to Laozi states: ‘The Dao presides over life, while the Buddha presides over death. The Dao abhors defilement, while the Buddha does not abhor it. The Dao pertains to yang and life, abhorring defilement; the Buddha is the reverse.’ Based on this, purity and turbidity are separated like Heaven [and Earth], and death and life are starkly divided. Why, then, do they not contemplate the Great Dao of pure emptiness, but instead make vows to a Buddha of defiled and loathsome birth and death? In ancient times, the Grand宰 of Yin questioned Confucius about sages. Confucius answered: ‘The Three Sovereigns, the Five Emperors, the Three Kings, and I, Qiu, are all not sages. In the western regions there is a sage.’ Thus we know that Confucius regarded the Buddha as a sage, and did not regard the Dao as a sage. The Huahu jing says: ‘Among the great arts of the realm, the Buddhist arts are foremost.’ The Shengxuan jing says: ‘My master roamed and converted India.’ The Fuji says: ‘The master of Laozi was named Śākyamuni.’ This Daoist Zhai jing also says: ‘Called “transcendent” by Brahmā, called “Buddha” in esoteric script.’ In foreign lands, those who read scriptures are mostly Brahmā. The ‘Brahmā’ favored by Daoist priests is precisely the Buddha! This means they have studied the Buddha for a long time, and therefore call it ‘Brahmā’. Furthermore, the Lingbao sanbian tianda fan yinyu consists of eight characters for each heaven; reciting them ten thousand times allows one to fly, and the ancestors of seven generations ascend together to the Southern Palace. This is further proof that Daoist priests copy the Buddha. Yet the Daoist priests only know to study ‘Brahmā’ without even knowing which Buddha Brahmā is! Believing in it out of ignorance may still bring merit, but I do not know whether it is laughable or not.