廣弘明集 14.10

14.10

"Fu said that the Buddha-Dharma originally emerged from the Western Barbarians and should not be venerated in the Central Lands. Formerly I shared this confusion, but now I have awakened to its error. You Yu came from the Western Rong and assisted Duke Mu of Qin in establishing his hegemony; Jin Midi was born among the Northern Di and attended Emperor Wu of Han to eliminate dangers. Since this has been so with ministers, it should also be so with teachers. Why must one accept only those of the same customs and reject those from foreign lands? A teacher is revered for the greatness of his Way, regardless of here or there; a teaching is superior for the height of its goodness, without reckoning whether it is distant or near.

Now, valuing benevolence as beauty, discarding desire as exalted, warning against the residual calamities of accumulated evil, and encouraging goodness to obtain fortune—these are shared by the hundred schools, and the Seven Classics cannot alter them. But they are narrow and shallow, not yet profound and consummate; petty and not comprehensive. In their forgiving of oneself and dealing with things, how can they compare with the Buddha's vastness? In their seeing the branches and understanding the root, how can they compare with the Buddha's farsightedness? In their encouraging good and punishing evil, how can they compare with the Buddha's breadth? In their clarifying emptiness and analyzing existence, how can they compare with the Buddha's depth? Viewed from this perspective, his Way is wondrous; how could the virtue of a sage surpass it? How could one despise his Way because he was born in a foreign land, or discard his treasure because he emerged from a distant region?

Steeds that surpass the herd are not only produced in the central counties; rarities that span generations need not be goods of the Chinese lands. The Han sought the famous horses of the Western Regions; the Wei gathered the bright pearls of the Southern Sea. Horns and tusks of rhinoceroses and elephants were presented as tribute; feathers of the kingfisher were collected. When things originate in distant lands, they are still cherished here as treasures; when the Way emerges from remote regions, why alone should it be discarded? If medicines come from the Rong and Yi, or incantations originate among the Hu and Yue, provided they can dispel evil and cure illness, would one refuse to use them because they come from afar? Extinguishing the three poisons to realize the unconditioned—how great is its dispelling of evil! Eliminating the eight sufferings to attain eternal bliss—how profound is its curing of illness! How can one be bound by barbarian and Chinese, reckoning closeness and distance? Moreover, beneath the hundred kotis of suns and moons, within the trichiliocosm, the center is in that land, and not in this realm.