廣弘明集 7.21

7.21

temples and images still exist. If Your Majesty inherits and serves them, then the disasters of the Song and Qi will become manifest without needing to be spoken. Now, when monks and nuns observe the summer retreat and do not kill mole crickets and ants, they cherish the lives of sentient beings; yet they are arrogant toward their sovereign and father, forgetting benevolence toward insects. They abort fetuses and kill children, yet conversely nurture mosquitoes and gnats. Now, the Changes speaks of sovereign and subject, husband and wife, father and son as the three bonds and six disciplines. Nowadays, among the Śākyan disciples, the sovereign does not act as a sovereign, and so on up to the son not acting as a son; the bonds and disciplines are thrown into chaos.' Ji cited the Song and Qi believing in Buddhism and perishing early—this is deceiving the emperor! How does it slander only the Buddha? It also slanders the spirits and deities. The rise and fall of karmic cycles are the constant numbers of Heaven; abdication and punitive banishment are the necessary adaptations of states. If previous kings could personally enjoy [rule for] ten thousand years, it would not be proper for later emperors to assume the throne. This is the constant principle of succession and the great period of arising and perishing; how can one cling to the permanent existence of a single dynasty and be confused about the changing fortunes of a hundred kings? This is entirely impermissible. The reason why the emperors of the Qi and Song revered the Buddha and honored monks was that they knew the imperial position had its cause, and thus they harbored gratitude to repay that profound virtue; they also knew that the imperial position could not be preserved forever, and thus they practiced causes to look up to enduring fruitions. Since the past causes were short, they could not be extended to ten thousand years; hence there was the Liang's receipt of the abdication. Since present causes are not yet complete, one cannot immediately reap the fruition from the cause; hence one receives retribution in the future. Thus, as karma and cycles follow one another, the four seasons do not fail; how could one disparage the Buddha as having no retribution? If one disparages it as having no retribution, then all the spirits of the suburban ancestral temples, the Vast Heaven of the Circular Mound, the Earthly Deity of the Square Marsh, and the mountains and rivers of the rank-order sacrifices should all be eliminated! How could it be that only the Buddha and the monks falsely suffer slander and deceit? He even said: 'They abort fetuses and kill children, preserving their cherished lovers.' You yourself are also a cherished lover; why do you meddle in state affairs while failing to see yourself?