廣弘明集 14.5

14.5

Now, the Tamer with the Ten Powers steers the vessel of the Dharma through the ocean of suffering; the three vehicles draw beings out, smoothing the path through the burning house. The breadth of his encouraging goodness and advancing virtue is what the Seven Classics cannot reach; the depth of his forbidding evil and guarding against harm is what the Nine Lineages cannot match. Yet in plumbing the spiritual and knowing transformations, his words are vast and startling; in dispelling delusion and severing defilements, his track is lofty and hard to tread. Chinese and barbarian, scholar and commoner, courtier and recluse, literati and classicist—each adheres to what they find comfortable and few savor this Path. Unless one investigates with refinement to examine the true and the false, and reflects deeply to observe suffering and emptiness, one will have no way to establish a root of faith as firm as rock, or remove the veil of doubt as insubstantial as death. From of old, Vimalakīrti and Wonderful Virtue (Mañjuśrī) knew the supremacy of the Path and served it diligently; in recent times, Vasubandhu and Nāgārjuna awakened to the truth of the principle and delighted in it with devotion. The earnest studies of Kumārajīva and Dao'an probed the profound tenets with ever-increasing reverence; the refuge and faith of Sengrui and Huiyuan grew ever firmer even until their hair turned white. Surpassing Shi'an (Huangfu Mi)'s passion for books, exceeding Xuan'ni (Confucius)'s delight in the Changes, a thousand pieces of gold were not enough to turn their gaze, and the eight tones could not alter what they heard. The broader their hearing, the deeper their joy; the deeper their thought, the firmer their faith; all wished to cease, but could not. Thus, it is certain that [the teaching] is not false.