集沙門不應拜俗等事 1.28

1.28

General of the Central Army, Prefect of the Masters of Writing, and Founding Marquis of Yiyang, Huan Qian, and others, in dread and under penalty of death: We have received your instruction concerning having the śramaṇas pay homage to the ruler. Although He and Yu debated it, their intentions were not fully exhausted. This is a momentous matter, and it should indeed be brought to a fitting mean; it is truly as your refined argument states. However, the Buddha-Dharma and Yao and Confucius have different directions; their ritual teachings diverge from one another. Ordinary people regard hair and skin as weighty, yet those monks shave and shear them without hesitation; renouncing their families and abandoning their kin, they do not regard cheerful service as filial piety. Viewing their physical bodies as earth and wood, they sever desires and cease contention; not expecting blessings in a single lifetime, they seek them across ten thousand kalpas. What the world values, they have already cast aside; what the ritual teachings esteem, their minds have entirely severed. Serving one's father and serving one's ruler are the utmost of natural ties; yet if they can detach themselves even from their own flesh and blood, how could they render ritual homage to the ruler of ten thousand chariots? By the force of circumstances, [such homage] naturally ought to be set aside. Across the span of three dynasties, they were left unbridled; this must be because the divine intelligence is without fixed direction, showing that it cannot be restrained within boundaries. Beyond what is seen and heard, there may well be another principle. If we now make them show deference, we fear that much would need to be changed, not just kneeling and rising. Furthermore, when rulers venerate the Dharma, it arises from reverence; to believe in its principles yet alter its rituals would likewise be baffling to human feelings. To accommodate them as they are is precisely the magnanimity of letting things be and tolerating them. The Director of the Imperial Secretariat has separately replied to your difficulties; Kong Guo and Zhang Chang are there, and I imagine they have already consulted you face-to-face on what they hold; Daobao and the other men of the Way are all fully capable of answering your exalted views. We subordinates do not understand Buddhist principles and have merely spoken straightforwardly according to our sentiments, ashamed that our words are unworthy of your perusal. Qian and others, in dread, under penalty of death.