廣弘明集 6.15

6.15

The Sovereign on high dwells aloft in the ninefold palace, watching closely over the four seas; the gathered ministers supervise royal affairs, each official bearing his assigned concern. You did not belong to that office, yet recklessly meddled in governance, merely being a superfluous officer—what purpose did you serve in holding post? Therefore, among later memorials, rarely did any follow his. Thus the sūtras speak of the four reliances to distinguish the counterfeit from the spurious; human cognition is difficult to discern, but the wisdom of the Dharma is easily illuminated. How can one, seeing the wrongful conduct of a single monk, implicate the entire Buddhist fold above, or seeing a single precept perhaps compromised, thereby belittle the true Dharma? One can only discard the person on account of the Way, because the person fails to propagate the Way; one cannot discard the Way on account of the person, because the Way towers high above devas and humans. Consider it further in detail: if today one measures people by the five constant virtues, what person can be complete in them? If one measures scholars by the five filial duties, what scholar possesses them all? Reading the Book of Changes, they neglect yin and yang; discoursing on the Rites, they retain arrogance. Benighted rulers and treasonous ministers have existed in every generation; those who draw salaries in vain and disorder government have been all the more abundant across time. Among the three thousand disciples of Confucius, Yan Hui alone excelled in virtuous conduct. Among rulers across twenty-nine generations, Yao of Tang consistently held first rank. This is merely a brief initial sketch; if examined comprehensively, the mirror-like exemplars within the Buddhist fold are exceedingly abundant.