廣弘明集 12.28

12.28

I, Gai, have heard that the Central Kingdom is the center of the three thousand suns and moons and the myriad millions of three thousand heavens and earths. Therefore, Wheel-Turning Kings appear by turns, and holy rulers arise in succession. They drive the seven treasures, rule over the four heavens, practice the ten good deeds, and cover the myriad states. They inaugurate an egalitarian transformation, harmonizing animosities to make all kin; they fan the breeze of compassion, overcoming brutality and eliminating killing. Thus, without severity or wrath, things follow them; without servitude or toil, the people are governed. Since the great kalpa has progressed, pure simplicity has gradually deteriorated; supreme virtue has waned, and the correct energy has been extinguished. Thereupon, the five turbidities boil over, and the three calamities arise in contention. The sixteen great states each arrogate noble titles; the eight thousand settlements each occupy their bounded territories. They vie in taking up spear and sword, contending over rise and fall; in mutual greed and brutality, they slaughter and harm one another. Therefore, Śākyamuni pitied their suffering, grieved over their drowning, expounded the scriptural teachings, and encouraged the good to attract the worthy; he instituted the precepts and vinaya to prohibit evil and punish transgressions, all to cause them to cease delusion and return to the true, returning to the origin and reverting to the source. Compare this to the Central Plains: in the earliest antiquity, the age was rustic and the times were pure; written contracts had not yet been made. Only when the people became frivolous and customs grew false did the canonical records arise. Thus the Duke of Zhou did not appear in the primordial ages, and Confucius was born only in the later era. They instituted rites and composed music to guide customs and instruct the people, achieving order, inspiring culture, rectifying the times, and remedying defects, all desiring to halt frivolity, end contention, and return to plainness and simplicity. Compared to Śākyamuni, their intention was one and the same. If it is said that before rulers had the Buddha-dharma, their reign enjoyed great order and long years, and after having the Buddha-dharma, they had tyrannical governance and short-lived dynasties, so that one must not serve Buddhist images nor read Buddhist sutras; then by categorical analogy, before rulers had the Duke of Zhou and Confucius, their reign enjoyed great order and long years, and after having the Duke of Zhou and Confucius, they had tyrannical governance and short-lived dynasties, so that one also must not sacrifice to the spirits of Zhou and Confucius nor practice their teachings. How could such reasoning hold true? Without the Buddha and without the Dharma, people do not know to shun evil and cultivate good; without rites and without moral instruction, the world does not understand serving the sovereign and nurturing parents. Inferring from this: moral instruction through rites cannot be neglected for a single day; how could the Buddha-dharma be abolished for even a moment?