辯正論 6.115

6.115

智度論云。淨飯王終。佛自執繩床一脚。至闍維處。示於後世一切眾生報生養之恩也。孝敬表儀茲亦備矣。教棄骸骨從何而至哉。且經勸屍陀普施飛走。意存宿債冀免將來。不若莊周非末代厚葬失禮之本。而云螻蟻何親禽獸何踈。生既以身為逆旅。死當以天地為棺槨。還依上古不許埋藏嫌物輕生重死之弊也。求仙道者。或負笈從師擔簦遠岳。披蘿絹蕙鳥曳熊經。金竈罕成玉華難覯。凝髓化骨空致斯談。戴蜺憑螭末覩其實。或捐骸地胇喪骨天台。生闕蒸養之恩。死無冥益之利。倒心危於庶物。邪網罣於群生。九族延毀正之殃。六親招罔聖之業攀危據朽諒足寒心。傲然不懼。何愚之甚。悠悠未覺。爾盲六也。

The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa states: 'When King Śuddhodana died, the Buddha personally held one leg of the corded bed and carried it to the cremation site, demonstrating to all sentient beings of future generations how to repay the kindness of birth and upbringing.' Thus the models and emblems of filial piety and respect are fully complete here. Where could the teaching of abandoning one's bones and flesh have come from? Moreover, the sūtra's urging of charnel-ground donation to birds and beasts aims to settle past debts in hopes of avoiding them in the future. It is not like Zhuang Zhou who criticized the lavish burials of later eras for losing the root of ritual propriety, saying: 'What intimacy is there with ants? What estrangement from birds and beasts?' In life, one already regards the body as an inn; in death, one should take Heaven and Earth as inner and outer coffins. He returned to high antiquity's prohibition against burial out of detestation for the error of prizing things while disparaging life, and esteeming death over life. Those who seek the Dao of immortals either shoulder their book-boxes to follow a master or carry their umbrellas to distant peaks, cladding themselves in creepers, pulling orchids, hanging like birds, and stretching like bears. Their cinnabar crucibles are rarely perfected, and jade blossoms are difficult to obtain; 'coagulating marrow' and 'transmuting bones' are merely empty talk. Wearing rainbows and mounting hornless dragons—none have witnessed such reality. Some abandon their corpses on Dizhu; some lose their bones on Mount Tiantai. In life they lack the grace of filial devotion; in death they possess no benefit of subterranean merit. With inverted minds they bring danger upon worldly things, and with heterodox nets they entangle all living beings. Their nine generations suffer the calamity of slandering the correct, and their six relations incur the karma of deceiving the sages. Clinging to perils and grasping decaying wood, it is indeed enough to chill the heart! To be haughty and unafraid—how profound their stupidity! Drifting without awakening—this is your sixth blindness.