集沙門不應拜俗等事 2.30

2.30

Third Memorial: Palace Attendant and Libationer, your subject Sizhi, says: We have repeatedly received the edict as above. Your Majesty has attained the perfection of ultimate emptiness, allowing all things to blow of themselves, letting the nine schools of thought each pursue their excellence, and letting the manifest and the obscure both exhaust their attainments. Spiritual moisture flows in secret, leaving no thought that is not cherished. It is that by which the myriad realms rely on communication, and by which Heaven and man commune with ease. Your subject has heard that the Buddha's teaching takes spiritual wisdom as its root and penetrating the Way as its efficacy; anything below this is merely the function of gathering the coarse. The spiritual principle is far-reaching; seeking it in what is above form, reverently bowing and rising in prostration does not detract from upholding the precepts. If practicing the Way does not lose respectfulness, and the king's law ensures equal reverence throughout the realm, then the standards of the Way will both flourish and both inside and outside will attain their proper place. Your subject previously accepted an outside appointment, and my hearing was dull and limited; thus I did not know that last spring there had already been an enlightened discussion. Recently, while on duty, I received the edict, and directly followed my foolish sentiments without fear of appropriateness; returning here, I only then saw this matter. It has repeatedly passed beneath the divine brush; its central purport is far-reaching, and its analysis of principle is subtle and profound, not something my dull incompetence could praise or evaluate. The rites of the śramaṇas were already practiced in the previous dynasty; now that the Great Light has arisen and the transformative Dao has no outside, the great cardinal principles for administering the state cannot be deficient. We request that, as previously memorialized, instructions be given to external authorities to put this into effect. Respectfully submitted.