廣弘明集 7.26

7.26

Originally a man of Hedong, whose distant ancestor followed official service and subsequently settled in Shu. At the end of the Liang, he became a monk, feigning madness and drifting about unbound. When the Zhou pacified Shu, he consequently entered the Pass. In the second year of Tianhe he submitted a memorial, which roughly said: 'Under the transformative governance of Tang and Yu, there were no stupas for ruling the state, yet the state achieved peace. In the era of Qi and Liang, there were monasteries to educate the people, yet the people were not established because they did not accord with the Way. If it is said that the ruin of the people does not stem from monasteries, how could the governance of the state depend on stupas? It is solely a matter of instructing the people's minds to accord with the Way. When the people accord with the Way, there is peace; when the Way enriches the people, good governance is established. For this reason, Qi and Liang competed in the semblance dharma and erected nine-tiered pagodas that touched the clouds, while Tang and Yu were concerned for the common folk and built earthen steps that touched the ground. Yet it was not that Qi and Liang lacked merit regarding monasteries, yet their dynasties were not prolonged; how could Tang and Yu have had deeds concerning stupas, yet their reigns endured long? It is simply that benefiting the people and profiting the state conforms to the mind of the Buddha. Now, the mind of the Buddha takes great compassion as its root, bringing peace and happiness to living beings, never harshly labouring the multitude, reverently honouring mud and wood while harming the conscious, or shielding and profiting the insentient. And the Great Zhou has initiated its cosmic cycle, succeeded to the dynastic reckoning, received the mandate charts, and unified the six directions under a single mind, matching the dual illumination of the sun and moon, nurturing the four kinds of birth as the thick earth, and sheltering the myriad clans as the dark heavens—verily the resurgence of the Three Sovereigns! One marvels that the myriad people have only now met this, bringing about the new establishment of the Five Thearchs, and celebrates that the common masses have encountered such a time. How could one not admire the surpassing ethos of Tang and Yu and discard the final dharma of Qi and Liang? Song requests the construction of the Great Pingyan Monastery, to house the myriad clans of the four seas; he does not urge the erection of crooked-view saṅghārāmas that narrowly settle the two vehicles and five divisions. Now, as for the Pingyan Monastery: without distinguishing clergy and laity, without choosing between kin and stranger, loving and moistening the multitude, treating equally those who uphold and those who break [the precepts]. Let the city walls and moats serve as the monasteries and pagodas, so that the Zhou sovereign himself is the Tathāgata; let the outer walls and settlements serve as the monastic quarters, harmonising husbands and wives into the noble saṅgha. Diligently employ sericulture to fulfil the household tax quotas, and supply government taxes to repay the state's kindness. Promote those of commanding virtue to serve as the Three Rectors, and honour the elders as the theras. Select the benevolent and wise to fill the offices of administrators, and seek the brave and strategic to serve as masters of the Dharma. Practice the ten virtues to subdue the unsettled, and demonstrate non-greed to cut off theft and robbery. Thereupon clothe those shivering in the cold, raise orphans, match widowers and wed widows, pity the aged and sick and relieve the impoverished; reward families of loyalty and filial piety, and chastise factions of treachery and rebellion; advance pure and simple scholars, and dismiss flattering and treacherous ministers; so that within the six directions there is no murmur of resentment like that against Zhou of Shang, and across the eight wildernesses there resound songs praising Zhou; flying and diving creatures dwell safely in their nests and caves, and those on water and land are granted their natural longevity (and so forth).' Song's words above had their source: he had once read the Da zhidu lun and seen the administrative decrees of the Deva-King Buddha; hence he established 'Pingyan'. Yet while his account of the Buddha's great compassion bringing about peace and happiness hits upon the principle, in actual practice it is not so. Though husbands and wives are harmonious, they have not yet severed desire; for city walls and moats to serve as monasteries is not a sacred foundation. Therefore it cannot be done. That form itself is emptiness cannot be comprehended except by correct wisdom; that ordinary beings themselves are sages—how could base ordinary beings master this? Therefore both truths must proceed together, and the two wheels must turn in unison. By using the Way to penetrate the mundane, the essential path to liberation may be anticipated.