集沙門不應拜俗等事 4.47

4.47

First: The imperial edict states, 'The duty to sovereign and father carries the weight of the instruction regarding the Three Objects of Reverence; the way of love and respect stands first among all hundred conducts.' This is truly the essential Way of the former kings. We now request to elucidate its principle: Upon investigation, teachings are divided into outer teachings and inner teachings, and people are distinguished as householders and renunciants. Householders rely on the outer teachings; they wear the model attire of the former kings and comply with the model words of the former kings. Above, they observe the rites of respecting parents and serving the sovereign; below, they hold the attachments to wife, children, office, and glory. These are traces of deference and filial piety, and their principle accords with the Confucian ford. Renunciants rely on the inner teachings; they wear the Dharma robes of the Buddhas and practice the Dharma conduct of the Buddhas. Above, they abandon the weight of loving and respecting sovereign and father; below, they sever attachments to wife, children, office, and glory. Through the goodness of ritual recitation, they benefit their parents; with the merit of practicing the Way, they repay the kindness of the state. Since they are already permitted not to consider altering their forms and changing their clothes an offense, how could it be fitting to hold them accountable to the rites of respecting parents and serving the sovereign? Differing from the teachings of Confucius and Laozi, their principle transcends ordinary realms. Not enforcing their bowing causes no harm to the state.