廣弘明集 10.17

10.17

[Dao]lin presented a memorial, saying: "Since the state established governance, it has valued only the Way. In regulating, transforming, and nurturing the people, what could be higher than virtue? We have only seen that when the Way declines the state perishes; never has an army's strength alone maintained an enduring dynastic mandate. Thus the tyrant Zhou relied on his multitudes and brought calamity down upon his imperial heritage, while King Wu of Zhou cultivated virtue and blessings gathered upon his royal foundation. Fuchai was haughty in battle and ultimately perished, whereas Goujian relied on the Way and turned danger into peace. Judging by this, what does pacifying the eastern Xia have to do with destroying the Buddha and demoting the monks? It is merely that the destruction of the Buddha coincided with this destined moment of pacification; it was an accidental convergence, and you mistakenly deem that destroying the Dharma was beneficial. If that were so, when Tang attacked the Xia, King Wen destroyed Chong, King Wu executed Zhou, Qin unified all under Heaven, and the Red Han extinguished Xiang [Yu]—did these rulers achieve this through destroying the Buddha?"

Thereafter they exchanged arguments, criticizing and maligning persons and teachings: some criticized them for resisting ritual propriety toward ruler and parents, some for falsely claiming a Buddha-nature, some for analyzing form and mind, some for holding that performing actions incurs no karmic consequence, and some for pointing to yin and yang as the origin of the body. Daolin resolved and dissolved them all according to the objections. Although the Emperor constructed layered objections three to five times, exhausting principle and probing nature, Daolin dispelled every doubt and unblocked every difficulty.

The Emperor said: "You say that karma does not conflict with principle, and the ordinary person has the prospect of entering sainthood; nature is not external to karma, and the Way contains the orientation toward accommodating the ordinary. If so, then the Way is nowhere absent, comprehensively penetrating ordinary and holy alike. Thus the teachings need not be emptily venerated as those of Confucius or Śākya. Such words physically bridge the sacred and the profane, rendering the ornament of shaving and tonsuring an empty addition. Know, then, that the sovereign is none other than the Tathāgata; you may dispense with the sixteen-foot statue. The lords and princes are none other than bodhisattvas; omit serving Mañjuśrī. The elders may serve as theras; there is no need for Piṇḍola. Benevolence and kindness are truly the pāramitā of giving; why must one abandon the state? Peace and harmony are the foremost pure saṅgha; why labor over the uposatha? Chastity and prudence constitute the prātimokṣa; why must one receive the precepts? Frugality is truly having few desires; there is no need for dhūta practices. A vegetarian diet is the finest lifelong fast; why bother with abstaining from grains? Letting things take their course is subtly identical to non-self; why rely on understanding emptiness? Forgetting merit wholly converges with the Great Vehicle; why hope for prajñā? Civil and military are simply the two wisdoms, without contemplating emptiness and existence. Expedient stratagems directly constitute skillful means; why await transformation? Conferring offices is truly conferring prediction; it does not yield to realizing the fruits [of arhatship]. Official ranks and emoluments jointly attain the heavenly realms; why wait for the higher spheres? Executions and punishments visibly manifest hell; there is no pointing to Naraka. Taking the people as one's children may be called great compassion. Taking the four seas as one's home is identical to the dharmadhātu. Governing with reason: how is it different from saving living beings? Bringing peace and joy to the hundred surnames: how is it distinct from pulling them out of suffering? Executing and punishing the vicious and harmful in principle constitutes conquering Māra. Ruling over all under Heaven truly amounts to attaining the Way. In its vastness, how does it differ from a pure land? In its splendor, how does it yield to Kapilavastu? You harbor divergent views and give rise to obstinate attachments; in practical terms, what place is not the Way?"