廣弘明集 13.116

13.116

The Internal Metaphor states: Jade pendants and golden marten furs are not worn in the woods and wilds; lotus garments and orchid girdles do not tread into royal courts. Therefore, alms bowls are not displayed in ancestral shrines, and dyed garments are different from the court robes of audience. Thus, those who mount the Way either accord with capacity to guide things, or, relying on virtue, rectify their times to instruct the world. For this reason, regarding cutting one's hair and tattooing one's body, Zhongni praised Taibo’s excellence; regarding defying normality to accord with the Way, the poet lauded the blossoms of the cherry-plum. How much more so when one is about to reverse one's nature, clarify the spirit, separate from the worldly, and tread upon the sacred—that one should not alter deportment and attire has never been heard of! Thus, the robe is modeled after the field of merit, and the vessel's measure is beyond estimation. Strings and paulownia do not beguile their ears; vermilion and purple do not dazzle their eyes; light furs and sleek steeds do not approach their bodies; rivalry for power does not startle their minds. Therefore the sūtra says: 'An arhat is a true person; sound and form cannot defile them, honor and rank cannot move them.' Why must one bind and constrain oneself under a pheasant cap or a sparrow cap, clicking teeth and exhaling breath to claim the Way? Climbing a tree to seek a fish leaves one all the further from it; notching a boat to await a dropped sword—how vulgar! This is the ninth inferiority of your Dao.