集古今佛道論衡 4.31

4.31

維唐龍朔元年。京師西華觀道士朝散大夫郭行真。自惟。昭告于十方先覺無極大聖。能仁化主慈氏法王。行真稟自凡庸隷斯觀伍。形雖草化心造彌勒柱下周之史臣道不振於明后。佛乃天人師。敬德化總於無邊。豈有事天之夫章醮之士。琴碁不釋。酒脯未遺。禹步而抗於豐隆。叩齒而排於列缺。誠所不取也。今改操迴信欽仰佛宗。敬造經像。恩程心用。伏願啟斯厚夜大敞明離。裂久却之障纏。解無始之流縛。生生弘反本之業。代代出解脫之津。預有同流景仰斯在金銅佛像五軀。十一面觀音像二軀。并諸大乘經。

In the first year of the Longshuo era of the Great Tang, Guo Xingzhen, Daoist priest of Xihua Abbey in the capital and Court Gentleman for Miscellaneous Duties, reflects within himself and clearly addresses the prior enlightened ones of the ten directions, the boundless Great Sages, the Benevolent One who is Master of Transformation, and the Compassionate Dharmarāja: Xingzhen, endowed with an ordinary and mediocre nature, is affiliated with this abbey's ranks. Although in form transformed by grass, in mind I reach toward Maitreya. The Archivist beneath the Pillar in the Zhou dynasty—his way failed to flourish under enlightened rulers; the Buddha is the teacher of devas and humans, his respected virtue and transformation encompassing the boundless. How could there be men who serve Heaven or practitioners of liturgical petitions who do not release the zither and go board, nor abandon wine and dried meat, yet perform the Pace of Yu to challenge the god of thunder, and clatter their teeth to drive off lightning? This is truly not what I adopt. Now I change my conduct and turn my faith, admiring and looking up to the Buddhist lineage, reverently making scriptures and images to repay kindness through my wholehearted effort. I humbly pray that this thick night be illuminated and the light of fire broadly revealed, tearing through long-standing obstacle-bonds and untying the flow of beginningless bondage; life after life broadening the work of returning to the origin, and generation after generation proceeding to the ford of liberation. May all companions who admire this be present. Five gilt-bronze Buddha images, two Eleven-faced Avalokiteśvara images, together with various Mahāyāna scriptures.