辯正論 6.93

6.93

外論曰。夫言者非尚於華。辭貴在乎中理。歌者非尚於清。響貴資乎合節。佛經。如來說法之時。諸國天子普來集聽。或放光明遍大千土。但釋迦在世之日。當我周朝。史冊所書固無遺漏。未聞天王詣彼葱嶺。豈於中華之帝。無善不預道場。邊鄙之君。有緣普沾法座。光明所照則眾生離苦。而此土何辜偏無人悟獨隔恩外曾不見聞。仰度能仁不容私簡。注曰。汝無見佛業有謗聖愆。何得怨神。唯自咎也。求心責實事。舛言乖妄詭。皎然足稱虛偽。凡夫莫悟逐影吠聲。而世不能知。其迷一也。

The external treatise says: Speech does not prize ornamentation; words are valued for being reasonable. Singing does not prize pure pitch; sound is valued for being in tune with the rhythm. According to Buddhist sūtras, when the Tathāgata preached the Dharma, the celestial sons of all countries assembled together to listen, or he emitted radiance that pervaded the chiliocosm. But the time when Śākya was in the world corresponded to our Zhou dynasty; what the historical records wrote certainly left nothing out, yet we have never heard of the Son of Heaven traveling to those Congling Mountains. Could it be that the emperors of China lacked goodness and were not admitted to the bodhimaṇḍa, while rulers of the remote frontiers had affinities and all received the Dharma seat? Where the light shone, sentient beings were freed from suffering; yet what guilt did this land bear, that uniquely not a single person was awakened, left solely outside this grace, never seeing or hearing anything? Reverently assessing the Capable Benevolent One (Śākyamuni), he would not permit personal partiality. A note says: 'You lacked the karma to see the Buddha and had the transgression of slandering the Sage; how could you blame the spirit? You can only fault yourself.' Examining the mind and seeking the actual facts, the words are discordant, contradictory, and deceitful, clearly deserving to be called false. Ordinary mortals fail to realize this, chasing shadows and barking at sounds, yet the world cannot comprehend it. This is the first delusion.