廣弘明集 10.53

10.53

Your servant Guang further replies: The Buddha is the compassionate father, the tamer of gods and humans, good in the beginning, middle, and end, bringing benefit and peace to all. Since he concealed his spirit beneath the twin śāla trees, the earth shook throughout the ten directions; his hair was given to the four heavenly kings, and his relics were divided among eight realms. The Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra says: 'If one builds an image or a stūpa even as small as a thumb, always giving rise to a joyous mind, one will be born in the Akṣobhya realm.' Clearly we know that relying on one's father and serving one's teacher inherently accord with ancient standards. The offering of dried meat as tuition originated in the teachings of Confucius; that is a true assertion, and how could it not be so? Wei Yuansong leveled groundless criticisms, yet enters the halls without perishing—how can his not being bested be left unsaid? Formerly, Tang Yao governed by modeling himself on Heaven, yet Heaven brought the calamity of surging floods; the Zhou established the rites of the ancestral temples, yet the temples lacked the power to send down rain. If you say that stūpas do not bring immediate blessing and attribute faults to them, then one might as well say that petitions to Heaven and the ancestral temples are in vain and should all likewise be abandoned! If one investigates the unseen workings through reason, one realizes that the ancestral temples' benevolence may well cease when one's allotted lifespan is exhausted; how could halls or stūpas save one then? Even if Master Fei shrank the earth or the son of Lu turned back the heavens, they could do nothing for a person destined to die; how could they prolong a life that has already ceased? When life's term is not yet fixed, blessings can indeed avert calamity; this meaning differs from the argument above, and one must rely on compassionate aid. As for those afflicted with leprosy who, taking refuge before the image of Samantabhadra, were healed, or those whose crippling afflictions were cured at the Jetavana monastery—cases of relieving suffering and dispelling disasters are manifold. I will answer the remaining objections without speaking at length. If the Way is not uniquely confined to one place and virtue is nowhere absent, a thousand paths lead to the same end; why should it be confined to the mind within? When King Aśoka erected the precious stūpas, hundreds of spirits aided him with their daylight labors; when the Que-li stūpa was raised, the four heavenly kings assisted with their nightly power. How great indeed! Moving heaven and earth, shaking ghosts and spirits—what kind of talk is it to say that outward practice brings no blessings? If the poor were coerced and forced into labor, the commoners might lament their toil; but when it stems from a spirit of generosity, people can give without growing weary. If it was truly stūpas and temples that brought ruin to the state and impoverished the commoners, then now that the monks have been defrocked, the poor should have suddenly become rich; yet the distress and famine in the cities and towns is even worse than in past years. Could this be caused by the Buddha? Serving a spirit not one's own is called flattery; how is it not deeply bewildering to bow down and pray before the earth-god's tree? If you say that the earth-god's tree is the dwelling of a spirit and that offering support to it incurs no blame, then likewise the halls and stūpas are the residences of the Buddha, and their construction must be done according to the Dharma. If you say that the Buddha abides in empty space and does not reside in clay or wood, then the ghosts and spirits are also unseen and still—how could they dwell within a tree? When the holy teachings were first instituted, it was to rescue living beings in accord with principle; the scriptures state that unrighteous benefit is not permitted. Yet now there are heavenly palaces and Buddhist stūpas torn down to make walls for bridges and latrines, and embroidered images, banners, and scriptures used to clothe oozing pus and blood. Throughout the empire, daily hunger and poverty spread; year after year, the common folk grow withered and haggard. If minor holy beings like ghosts and spirits cannot be deceived, how could the great, wondrous spirits of the Buddhas ever be wronged with impunity? The Book of Odes says: 'Great Heaven shows no bountiful virtue; it sends down death and famine.' This is what it refers to. Furthermore, consider the meritorious ministers of past dynasties and the valiant generals of our own time: with shield and spear they pacified and quelled distant frontiers. In life, they enjoyed exclusive honors and rewards, scarlet gates, and purple chambers; in death, they conscripted many laborers to raise shrines, erect tombs, and sacrifice animals to the dead. Exalting the empty while harming the real, bringing toil with no benefit—not a word was ever said against this. How much less so for Śākyamuni Tathāgata, whose Way covers the trichiliocosm and whose transformations enrich ten billion worlds! Looking forward, he has no obstacle; looking back, who can surpass him? He can subdue the teachers of non-Buddhist schools and easily defeat the host of the deva-māras; without using an inch of armor or wearying a foot of blade, his five lights shine everywhere, leaving no suffering undispelled, and his fourfold eloquence flows forth, granting all living beings peace and happiness. When generals and commanders have high renown and great station, their temples and shrines are erected without objection—what harm is there in that? Even a clay dragon cannot bring rain, yet people still revere it to seek blessings; though an earthen Buddha does not speak, how could those who show it reverence fail to obtain proof? In the past, Sima Xiangru admired Lin Xiangru, and Master Kong dreamt of the Duke of Zhou; thus people value the ancients and respectfully follow ancestral virtue. How much more so since the transformative winds and principles of the Buddhas of the three periods are identical: even if Maitreya were just now arising, the bequeathed Dharma of Śākyamuni should not be discarded all at once.