廣弘明集 7.14

7.14

Ji said: 'In the Nirvāṇa [Sūtra] a question is raised: after the World-Honoured One enters extinction, how can the scriptures and teachings be distinguished from the scriptures of Pāpīyān? Looking at this question, even when Gautama was alive, his disciples could not discern the true from the false; how much less can those deceitful companions in China who evade corvée labor not be deluded?'

[Daoxuan's rebuttal:] Examining these words of Ji's, they are completely lacking in discernment. The text clearly speaks of after extinction, when Māra and Buddha are difficult to distinguish; how could it describe the Buddha's lifetime? That the disciples could not discern the three kinds and four reliances in the scriptures to verify and determine Māra or Buddha, heterodox or orthodox, was not known to Ji, nor did he explain it. Furthermore, he says: 'how can those deceitful companions in China who evade corvée labor not be deluded?' These are straightforward words, yet truly not understood [by him]; those who are not evading labor are well able to discern it. Why did you not discuss this, but made it your sole business to obscure the good and publicize the bad? The Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: 'Those who leave home to evade corvée labor and have no aspiration for the Way—I shall dismiss them and make them return to lay life to be employed by the king.' This is a correct statement; why did he not record it to submit to the sovereign?