廣弘明集 25.45

25.45

I venture to think that the purple aura mounted the true, and the breeze of the Mysterious Female spread to the west; the white rainbow sank its transformation, and the store of nirvāṇa flowed to the east. Reins of feathers and soaring sunset-clouds cast their shadows upon the royal capital, congealing the manifold wonders; the ford of compassion shone upon stillness, opening the Golden Garden and merging with the ultimate Way. Its doctrines surpass emptiness and form; its principles penetrate the subtle and the soundless. It banishes and saves the dust-blinded, washing and purifying causal burdens; that the divine Way assists governance finds its proof here. The open path having already been followed, its degenerating abuses rightfully call for restraint and reform. (Refutation: To call upholding the Dharma in lofty detachment 'degenerating abuses', and to call violating the scriptures by paying obeisance to the secular 'restraint and reform'—this is inadmissible in practice, so how can it accord with principle?) Now, the reverence of the 'three superiors' and the six positions elevate the marks of the noble and the humble; the four beginnings of the hundred conducts illustrate the boundless debt [owed to parents]. Only when the root is established does the Way arise; when reverence takes form, ritual becomes solemn. This is truly the beginning of royal transformation, the constant norm of heaven and earth. The Buddha takes the Dharma as his master; the emperor takes Heaven as his standard. Within the realm there are four great things, and the king is one of them. Since the kingly way matches them in balance, the heavenly law must naturally share the same thread. The body is a vessel of the Dharma, and the Dharma is the root of the Way. The yellow caps aspire to the Tao, and the black robes serve the Buddha; paying reverence to ruler and father mysteriously tallies with the profound ripples. (Refutation: The Buddha-Dharma is the honor of that which is beyond the universe; emperors and kings are the greatness within the realm. If the teaching is preserved yet they are ordered to bend and bow, the unrestrained will revert to the ranks of registered commoners. This is to block the waters of the Dharma from flowing; how could it be a 'mysterious tallying with the profound ripples'?) Furthermore, even when one's rank in the precepts is slightly higher, one still exhausts solemnity in prostrations; how much more, when the noble and the humble are so vast apart, should one abruptly omit reverence in bending the knee? (Refutation: Wang Mi said: 'The reason śramaṇas respect one another between senior and junior yet stand on equal terms with the sovereign's abode is simply because, the lineage and principle being identical, seniority forms an order; but between their paths there is a divide, so in principle there is no bending down.' Truly these words can serve as a mirror for posterity!) If one must walk alone in the mountain forests, forgetting both self and other, conflating the close and the distant, and leveling favor and disgrace, then granting to me is not considered right, and harming oneself is hardly called wrong; one ought naturally to be tranquil without passion, serene and ever-still. Why bother raising one's head toward Kapilavastu to knock one's forehead, or beholding the Heavenly Honored One to make solemn bows? If the dusty appearance does not differ from the secular, rendering reverence does not contravene the true. (Refutation: The śramaṇa sheds his adornments and dons the black robe; the sacred and the mundane are vastly separated. Paying obeisance violates the Buddha's teaching, as is fully revealed in the scriptural texts. Yet they say reverence does not contravene the true and appearance does not differ from the secular—this is pointing north and calling it south, turning white into black!) Moreover, Boyang handed down instructions on softening the light, and Sadāparibhūta expounded teachings on constant courtesy. This wondrously harmonizes with the virtue of humbling the honored, and distantly tallies with the norm of shining upon neighbors. (Boyang was born in the Ji-Zhou dynasty and served as an archivist; as an official, it was a post in the royal court, and in speaking of the Way, he was of the lineage of Ruist forebears; his prostrating to ruler and kin was naturally fitting. As for Sadāparibhūta's bowing to the four assemblies, it was a temporary expedient; it is like Yu entering the land of the naked and taking off his skirt—it cannot be taken as a universal model for the entire realm.) Furthermore, among the three poles the teacher holds the last place; if one still extends reverence to the branch, why should one doubt the root? (Refutation: The reason the community of Śākya respect one another as master and disciple is precisely because their doctrinal principles are identical, not because of a distinction between root and branch. How exceedingly reckless!) If it is thought that the kāṣāya differs from dragon robes and silk caps differ from pheasant bonnets—since the attire is already barbarian, why must the obeisance be Chinese? Let each follow their origin without deviating from standard rules. Those who possess pure conduct in steadfast seclusion, whose clear discipline elevates the mundane, whose spiritual transformation resonates, whose precept-conduct is refined and diligent, whose literary elegance shines like paulownia phoenixes, whose chanting is pure like heavenly cranes, whose brocade banners summon beasts, and whose jade tallies command spirits—those distinguished in virtue and advanced in years should be exempted from the ritual of obeisance. As for the rest, the beginners and juniors whose reputation and dust are obscure and desolate, let them all be ordered to pay full reverence to ruler and parents. We request that this be immediately entered into permanent law. (Refutation: If not paying obeisance is wrong, how could those distinguished in virtue and advanced in years be exempted? If not paying obeisance is right, then beginners and juniors should not be ordered to pay obeisance. Vacillating between contradiction, their acceptance and rejection are inconsistent. To request that this be entered into permanent law—how short-sighted their view is!) In this way, advancing in virtue and cultivating one's calling, the track of transcending the dust will flourish all the more; enduring hardship in the cloister, the mind of entering the Way will be further spurred. The profound breeze will reach far, and the state's statutes will be orderly. We hope this will clearly demonstrate great models and pacify errors and abuses. (Refutation: Taking contradiction of the lineage as a great model and calling the upholding of the Dharma an error and abuse—testing the rest by this, what is there worth looking at?) 'Let us establish our own precedent; why be constrained by the old?' Now, to mirror extraordinary principle, one must rely on extraordinary illumination. The Heavenly Mirror inspects the profound, its essence wise and discerning of the subtle; it probes the left-behind lineage beyond forms, and reaches the dark purport within the ring. Though it temporarily startles ordinary ears, it ultimately settles the Great Way. Respectfully submitted.