集沙門不應拜俗等事 2.22

2.22

論成。後有退居之賓。步朗月而宵遊。相與共集法堂。因而問曰。敬尋雅論大歸可見。殆無所聞。一日試重研究。蓋所未盡亦少許處耳。意以為沙門德式。是變俗之殊制。道家之名器。施於君親固宜略於形敬。今所疑者。謂甫創難就之業。遠期化表之功。潛澤無現法之効。來報玄而未應。乃令王公獻供信士屈體。得無坐受其德陷乎。早計之累虛霑其惠。同夫素餐之譏耶。主人良久乃應曰。請為諸賢近取其類。有人於此。奉宣時命遠通殊方九譯之俗。問王者當資以糇糧錫以輿服不。答曰然。主人曰。類可尋矣。夫稱沙門者何耶。謂其能發蒙俗之幽昏。啟化表之玄路。方將以兼忘之道。與天下同往。使希高者挹其遺風。漱流者味其餘津。若然雖大業未就。觀其超步之跡。所悟固以弘矣。然且袈裟非朝宗之服。鉢盂非廊廟之器。沙門塵外之人。不應致敬王者。然則運通之功。資存之益。尚未酬其始誓之心。況答三業之勞乎。又斯人者形雖有待情無近寄。視夫四事之供。若鷦蚊之過乎其前者耳。濡沫之惠復焉足語哉。眾賓於是始悟冥塗以開𨅊為功。息心以淨畢為道。乃欣然怡襟詠言而退。

When the treatise was completed, later there were guests living in retirement who, strolling under the bright moon on a night excursion, gathered together in the Dharma hall. They inquired, saying: 'Having respectfully investigated your elegant treatise, its grand destination is visible, and practically nothing remains to be heard. One day, testing and re-examining it, that which has not been fully articulated is only a few points. In our view, the moral standards of the śramaṇas are exceptional institutions that alter worldly custom, and the titular vessels of the Daoists; applied to sovereigns and parents, it is indeed fitting that they be sparing in physical respect. What is now doubted is that they have only just begun an enterprise that is difficult to accomplish, and remotely look to attain efficacy beyond transformation; their hidden benefit has no visible effect in the present, and their future recompense is mysterious and not yet realized. Yet they cause princes and dukes to make offerings and faithful gentlemen to bend their bodies. Are they not sitting and receiving such virtue, falling into the liability of premature calculation, and vainly receiving such grace—matching the reproach of eating without working?' The host, after a long pause, answered: 'Let me take an analogy from nearby for you worthy gentlemen. Suppose there is a person here who, upholding the sovereign's command, reaches far to the customs of distant lands that require nine interpreters. May I ask: should the king provide him with provisions and bestow upon him carriages and robes?' They answered: 'Indeed.' The host said: 'The analogy can be pursued. What is called a śramaṇa? It refers to one who can dispel the dark ignorance of worldly custom, and open the mysterious path beyond transformation. He is about to proceed with all under Heaven through the way of mutual forgetting, causing those who aspire to the heights to drink of his lingering style, and those who rinse in the stream to taste his remaining dew. If so, although the great enterprise is not yet completed, looking at the tracks of his transcendent steps, that to which he has awakened is already vast! Moreover, the kāṣāya is not courtly attire, and the alms bowl is not a vessel for royal chambers. Śramaṇas are people beyond the dust, and should not pay reverence to kings. Thus the merit of their pervasive transmission and the benefit of maintaining their existence have not yet repaid the aspiration of their initial vows—how much less could they repay the labor of the three actions? Furthermore, though such a person's physical form relies on sustenance, his feelings harbor no worldly attachments; he views the offerings of the four necessities as if gnats were passing before him. How could the favor of moistening with foam be worth mentioning?' The guests thereupon first awakened to the fact that the unseen path takes opening the way as its efficacy, and that stilling the mind takes ultimate purity as the Way. Delighted and comforted in mind, chanting and conversing, they retired.