廣弘明集 8.55

8.55

I answer: You quote the Book of the Han to question me; I shall also reply using the Book of the Han. The 'Account of the Western Regions' in the Book of the Later Han says: Zhang Qian's record of Tianzhu merely said that the land was humid and hot. Ban Yong's entry on Shendu directly stated that they venerate the Buddha, do not kill, and are refined in literature; of the efficacy of the wholesome Dharma in guiding and leading people, there was no record transmitted. What I have heard from later accounts is that its kingdom is situated in the prosperous and balanced central land, endowed with the harmonious atmosphere of the jade candle; it is where spiritual wisdom descends and gathers, and where virtuous and eminent ones naturally come forth. Its miraculous traces and marvelous wonders transcend the human realm in principle; its manifest verifications and responses exceed beyond the heavens in facts. That Qian and Chao had not heard of them—is it not because the Way was closed in past dispensations and its destined times only opened in later generations? Otherwise, why would there be such a profusion of scriptures? From the Han, Prince Ying of Chu first popularized the sacrifices of fasting and precepts, and Emperor Huan further adorned it with flowered canopies. Was it not that the subtle meanings were yet untranslated, and they merely treated it as divine spirits? Moreover, loving benevolence, abhorring killing, eliminating evils, and exalting goodness are why worthy and noble gentlemen mostly received its teachings. Yet its grandeur surpasses the ordinary and its marvels are boundless; even Zou Yan's debates on speaking of the heavens and Zhuang Zhou's discourse on the snail's horns are insufficient to encompass even one ten-thousandth of it. Looking into the records of the Book of the Han, there is evidence for both: taking the fact that its subtle meanings were not yet translated, it was said to be of the same stream as Daoist texts; speaking of its miraculous signs and manifest verifications, it was said that its principles surpass beyond the heavens. Only in the four piṭakas are teachings abundant and broad, and the two truths are expounded together. Comprehensively discussing the nine paths, none are not spoken by the Buddha; distinguishing the three vehicles, Confucianism and Daoism are not of the same stream. Is this not a clear proof on my side, and not your clear judgment?