廣弘明集 13.149

13.149

The Inner Admonition says: A grand mansion is built of many timbers; living beings cannot be converted by a single person. Thus the sacred wisdom of the ten directions is inexhaustible as the grains of dust and sand, and the eighty-four thousand Dharma-gates are fathomless as the poured-out rivers and oceans. Hence there are this sage and that sage, shoulder-to-shoulder across disparate realms; and previous Buddhas and later Buddhas, heel-to-heel across different ages. The semblance and true [teachings] decline and descend, and the pure and defiled are divided, yet in punishing evil and encouraging good, their current is one. Furthermore, the worldly instructions of the Duke of Zhou and Confucius have remained unaltered by a hundred kings; the vigorous discourses of the young Mencius still bequeath their beauty after a thousand years. How could one generation of the Ji lineage of Zhou undergo three transformations and three shifts? How could Laozi in one single body attain the Dao and become a Buddha? If that were so, no other person could ever tread the path to sagehood, and all living beings would be cut off from ascending to the Way. Moreover, you first mocked the ten differences, and later praised the single identity; between the opening and closing of your scroll, slander and praise contradict each other, and in rolling and unrolling it, your allegiances are as split as Shen and Shang. Truly there is the proverb about closing one's eyes to steal a coat! Now, when the true and false are set side by side, they resemble grain and weeds. A skilled weeder preserves the grain and removes the weeds; a seeker of the Way also relies on the true and abandons the false. The superior tradition of the śramaṇa has flowed for a long time. For instance, the Han Emperor lowered his protocol before Kāśyapa Mātaṅga (as recorded in the Faben zhuan); the King of Wu bowed in humility to Kang Senghui (the Wu lu records: The Lord of Wu asked Senghui, 'How does the Buddha's Dharma differ from the secular?' He replied, 'If one commits evil openly, men may execute him; if one commits evil in secret, ghosts may execute him. The Book of Changes says: "He who heaps up goodness shall have an abundance of blessings." The Book of Odes sings: "Seek blessings without faltering." Though these are the maxims of the Ruists and worldly folk, they are also the gradual instructions of the Buddha's Dharma'); Daoshi was invited to the seat of the Wei monarch (the Wei lu records: Tuoba Tao adopted the words of Cui Hao, whereupon he extinguished the Buddha's Dharma, destroying all statues, burning sūtras, and forcing monks to return to lay life. On New Year's Day, Daoshi, holding his tin staff and wearing his Dharma robes, stood at the city gate. The gatekeeper reported this to Tao. Tao ordered him beheaded, but after three blows of the blade he was unharmed. The executioner reported this to Tao; Tao took his own belt-dagger and struck again as before, [still without harming him]. He then placed Daoshi into the tiger enclosure; the tigers closed their eyes and lowered their heads. Tao then tested placing the Celestial Master next to the enclosure; the tigers roared and wished to devour him. Tao then knew that the Buddha's conversion is pure and lofty, far beyond the reach of Huang-Lao; he invited Daoshi to the high seat and apologized to him); Daolin mounted the couch of the Jin ruler; in the Qin period, Dao'an was honored to share the emperor's carriage; and in the Zhao state, the Master Deng was lavishly favored with brocade robes (the Fu shu records: When the Lord of Fu went on an outing, he ordered Master An to sit with him in the imperial carriage. The Gaoseng zhuan records: Shi Hu called Fotudeng the Great Upādhyāya, clothed him in brocade and embroidery, and whenever he ascended the palace hall, ordered the princes and dukes to assist in carrying him). In all these cases, the Way humbled the utmost supreme, and their virtue turned the ten-thousand-chariot monarchs around. Truly there was good reason for this! As for the arts of Huang-Lao, they have never been able to compete: Fei Cai lost his life in a contest of skill; Cui Hao ruined his body through heterodoxy and slander (the Wei shu records: Cui Hao and Kou Qianzhi urged Tuoba Tao to extinguish the true teaching. Later, Tao broke out in a loathsome illness, whereupon he executed both Cui and Kou); Jiang Bin was exposed in deceit and suffered punishment; and Wang Fu brought disaster upon himself by fabricating forgeries. All these are verified by our ears and eyes, and are not empty talk of taking and giving. Such was the reverence [for Buddhism], and such was the castigation [of Daoism]! When Yan Hui and Min Ziqian entered the gate of Confucius, they stood foremost in virtuous conduct; when Su Qin and Zhang Yi met the Master of Guigu, they ranked first in superficial deceit. This is not solely due to the superior or inferior nature of a person, but also to the truth or falsity of what they practice. Furthermore, when the worthy and the sycophantic are mingled, the sycophants are exposed while the worthy become manifest; when the sage and the charlatan are hard to distinguish, the charlatan reaches his wits' end while the sage becomes obvious. Just as shechuang and miwu share a similar appearance, yet a skilled pharmacologist can distinguish their forms; and gouwen and suhua share the same root, yet one knowledgeable in medicine can tell apart their natures. Therefore, Duke Dan of Zhou was dismissed yet returned to assist, and Confucius's school was emptied yet filled again. This has a long history! Ever since Han Mingdi's contest where heterodox views had their points blunted, the sun of wisdom has congealed its radiance, and the cloud of Dharma has spread its shade. Jiang and Pan abandoned their homes to enter the Way; Lü and Jiao cast aside the false to follow the true. The Cao and Ma families passed the lamp without end; Qin and Wei gushed forth like springs without drying up. In saying that it only began with Fotudeng and Shi Hu, are you not slandering the truth? Ever since the customs of Huang-Lao deteriorated, their appearance and robes also changed: neither Daoist nor secular, they are popularly called 'eunuchs'; skilled at curses and abuse, in antiquity they were named 'ghost soldiers'. When they deliver people from suffering, they untie their hair, tie their necks, bind themselves with ropes, smear cow dung on their bodies, and whip one another. In their regulations, if they lose their talismans and registers, they hold their tablets upside down in their mouths, sweep the ground against the wind, and cut and carry a hundred bundles of willow branches themselves; if they steal petitions and memorials, they crawl in ash pits, bearing water bubbles on their backs (from the Daoist Master Sun's Fayi). Their punishments are exceedingly heavy, identical to the laws for slaves; bearing their penalties and lying prostrate, they are compared to beasts. Yet the bells and chiming stones of the Śākya school assemble the multitude and alert them to the hours. Since the Han and Wei, the Daoists had no vajra-wielding lions or good guardian spirits of the Dharma; these were elucidated by Buddhism, not originally constructed by the yellow-collared [Daoists]. They merely imitated another's superior model and stole our holy traces! Therefore, Yan Zhitui said: 'The matters of immortals require the expense of gold and jade, and are quite wild and baseless. Below Mount Hua white bones lie thick as weeds; how could there be any principle of attaining immortality? Even if one attains immortality, in the end one must still die, unable to transcend the world. I admonish you not to study it. The Buddhist matters of the three times are trustworthy and verified; take refuge in them with your family, and do not treat them with contempt.' Now, the four dusts and five aggregates dissect corporeal existence; the six boats and three vehicles ferry across the multitude of beings; the ten thousand practices return to emptiness, and the thousand gates lead to goodness. How could their eloquence and wisdom be merely the broad learning of the Six Classics and the hundred philosophers? Clearly they are beyond what Yao, Shun, the Duke of Zhou, Confucius, Laozi, and Zhuangzi could match! Therefore he composed the chapter on 'Taking Refuge' to admonish his descendants. You are unable to know this; this is your ninth blindness.