廣弘明集 10.22

10.22

[Dao]lin presented a memorial, saying: "The basis of propagating the Dharma requires fixing one's mind upon persons of discernment; the head of extending transformation requires keeping one's aspiration upon the correct Way. Do not, seeing someone who opposes you with malice, harbor estrangement toward them; or seeing someone who accommodates you with flattery, happily draw close to them. This is to become deluded by what one sees and confounded by what one hears. One must not, upon repeatedly hearing words that slander the correct, immediately accept them, chime in with the chorus, and thereby generate rights and wrongs, searching out faults and harboring daily resentment and disdain. This is to displace the true with the false, letting the clamor of the crowd confuse the will. Consequently, those who should be kept at a distance are brought closer, and those who should be kept close are sent farther away. This leads discussions to become biased and inconsistent, and acceptances and rejections to be entirely erroneous. Such are the disasters that harm the true and the monstrous encumbrances that ruin virtue."

Thereupon the Emperor did not answer, but opened another avenue to initiate debate. He asked: "We have heard that the gentleman's conduct must accord with ritual propriety, and the wise man's actions must respond to the opportune moment. Recently, We repeatedly bestowed food upon you, but you said you do not drink alcohol or eat meat. Alcohol is a medicine that harmonizes the spirit, and meat is food that fills the belly; their flavors have been the same from antiquity to the present. Why do you alone despise them? If one is in mourning clothes, ritual regulations forbid eating them; but under the present bestowal, you may naturally eat them. To refrain from eating what may be eaten—is this not an error?"