廣弘明集 9.76

9.76

臣笑曰。智慧罪根品云。元始天尊曰。我於上皇元年半劫。度人延命萬八千年。我去後人心頹壞淫祀邪神。殺生禱祈更相殘害。自取夭傷壽無定年。以此推之。淫祀邪神萬神歡喜。氣與道合應獲福利。云何命促壽無定年。又漢明以前。佛法未行道氣隆盛。何乃兵戈屢作水旱相尋。雨血山崩饑荒荐集。更有桀紂炮烙生靈。自明帝後佛法行來五百餘年。寧有妖災虐政甚於前者。以今驗古。誰有誑欺。事彰竹帛。不可掩也。鸞乃庸疎。頗尋兩教。道法謙退。行偽以顯佛真。佛法澄正。存理而開物性。若不如此通道。則可笑殺人。

Your subject laughs and says: The ‘Chapter on the Root of Sin and Wisdom’ says: ‘The Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning said: “In the first year of the Sovereign on High, for half a kalpa, I delivered people and extended their lifespans to eighteen thousand years. After I departed, human hearts degenerated and broke down; they offered licentious sacrifices to heterodox spirits, slaughtered living beings, prayed, and mutually harmed one another. They brought about premature death, so that their lifespans had no fixed duration.”’ Inferring from this: if offering licentious sacrifices to heterodox spirits delighted the ten thousand spirits, their qi would harmonize with the Dao and they ought to obtain blessings and benefits—why then were their lives shortened and their lifespans had no fixed duration? Furthermore, before Emperor Ming of the Han, the Buddha-Dharma had not yet been practiced, and the Dao's qi was flourishing—why then did wars repeatedly arise, floods and droughts follow one after another, rain of blood fall, mountains collapse, and famines repeatedly gather? There were furthermore Jie and Zhou who roasted living beings on heated copper pillars. For more than five hundred years since Emperor Ming, during which the Buddha-Dharma has been practiced, have there been monstrous disasters and cruel governance worse than those before? Testing the ancient by the present, who is it that deceives? The matters are manifest in the bamboo and silk [records] and cannot be concealed. I, Luan, am mediocre and crude, yet I have broadly investigated both teachings. The Daoist teaching is humble and retired; it practiced deception to manifest the Buddha's truth. The Buddha-Dharma is clear and correct; it preserves principle to open the nature of beings. If one does not understand the Dao in this way, it is enough to make one laugh to death.