廣弘明集 7.22

7.22

When the memorial was presented, Emperor Wu of Liang was furious and assembled his courtiers, intending to execute him publicly. Ji secretly fled to Wei, wishing to assist Emperor Jing; when the matter was exposed, he was burned to death by Wenxiang of Qi, at the age of over eighty. What Ji practiced went against principle; he recklessly displayed his talent and artifice, meddling in state affairs to covet glory, and relying on his cleverness, he brought about his own destruction. The ancients said: 'When not in that office, do not plan its policies.' Ji was a commoner in plain clothes, yet he meddled in the affairs of the court, which was an overstepping of bounds. The Buddha practiced benevolent transformation, doing no harm to the ruler and ministers; keeping precepts and purifying the mind, he eliminated evil and extinguished confusion—this is the Buddha's teaching. Therefore, the three trainings and eightfold right path are used to guide those who have left the household, while the six perfections and four great vows are used to enlighten scholar-gentlemen and the common people. Among these, whether broad or narrow, adapting to transform beings according to conditions and taking awakened realization as the core—anything other than this is not the Buddha's intent. Yet Ji did not speak of men of proper practice, but exclusively recounted men of disordered karma, using falsehood to dismiss the true, using evil to overstep the correct, using the few to attack the many, and using the perverted to disrupt the complete. Not planning for his own safety from calamity, he secretly presented [attacks against] the unsurpassed teachings; his remaining misfortune was not exhausted, and in the end he met the retribution of being burned alive. This is deeply lamentable!