集沙門不應拜俗等事 4.48

4.48

一勅云。宋朝暫革此風。少選還依舊貫者。自佛法東流六百餘載。帝代相次。向有百王。莫不敬崇佛法樹福僧田者。故以染衣剃髮。同諸佛之容儀。割親辭榮。異眾人之愛戀。天龍敬重號為福田。故佛告憍曇彌。莫供養我。當供養僧。此則大聖誠言。理不可棄。如其佛語可棄。請總除廢。豈容存之欲求其福。辱之而責其拜禮也。伏惟太宗文皇帝。聖智則無所不達　神威則無所不伏。于時僧眾。豈不易令跪拜故以佛法可敬長其容善又恥好異。亂常之迹故不為也。但願近依先朝　聖化之道。遠棄晉宋邊鄙之法。則萬古不怪。道俗心安矣。

Next: The imperial edict states, 'The Song dynasty temporarily reformed this practice, but shortly returned to the old custom.' Since the Buddhadharma flowed eastward for more than six hundred years, imperial dynasties have succeeded one another, approaching a hundred kings. None did not venerate and honor the Buddhadharma and plant merit in the monastic field. Therefore, dyeing their robes and shaving their hair, they match the demeanor of the Buddhas; severing ties with parents and relinquishing glory, they differ from the attachments of the multitude. Gods and dragons venerate them, calling them fields of merit. Therefore the Buddha said to Gautamī: 'Do not make offerings to me; you should make offerings to the Saṃgha.' These are the truthful words of the Great Sage, and in principle cannot be discarded. If the Buddha's words could be discarded, we request that [the Saṃgha] be entirely abolished. How could it be permissible to retain them to seek their merit, while humiliating them and demanding that they perform bowing rites? We humbly consider that Emperor Wen, Taizong, reached everywhere in holy wisdom, and subdued all through divine awe. At that time, was it not easy to order the monastic assembly to kneel and bow? It was because the Buddhadharma is worthy of veneration, fostering their capacity for goodness, and because he was ashamed of delighting in strangeness, which would leave traces of disturbing the regular norms, that he did not do so. We only wish that nearby we follow the way of holy transformation of the previous court, and from afar discard the frontier methods of the Jin and Song dynasties. Then ten thousand ages will find nothing strange, and both monastics and laity will be at peace in their minds.