辯正論 6.71

6.71

The Buddhist response says: Śākya was born at the beginning of the prosperous Zhou; Laozi was born at the end of the Ji clan's decline. In years, they differ by more than two hundred; in generations, by more than ten kings. The purple mist and green ox did not appear in the reigns of King Zhao and King Zhuang; the divine radiance and white elephant had nothing to do with the years of King Huan and King Jing. Yet a cavernous fog darkens the heavens, and a muddy stream obscures the earth. When Zang Wenzhong made an improper sacrifice, Confucius condemned his lack of wisdom; when Zigong spoke ill of the sage, Zigong criticized his faulty words. A blemish in words is hard to rub away; a team of four horses cannot overtake the tongue. This is truly not false! (First refuting the heterodox, then praising the sage.) In stooping down to respond to ordinary mortals, he lodged his form in a fragile body; adapting to capacities to transform beings, he conformed to a hundred-year lifespan. Therefore, with the fruition restricted by karmic cultivation, Xinxin was caused to give rise to doubt; with his years brief while his conversion was vast, Maitreya was led to harbor hesitation. A gigantic mountain cannot be measured with a steelyard—likewise, though his lifespan seemed brief, his true age is far more distant; the mysterious void cannot be determined by feet and inches—so too, the distant kalpas are inexhaustible. How could it be like seeking immortality in a snake's hole only to end up with an early death, or waiting for medicine on a rainbow sash yet failing to extend one's years? This is like a soaring quail racing aloft alongside the wings of a Peng bird, or a nag competing in distance with the stride of a thoroughbred. This is the sixth inferiority of your Dao.