鐔津文集 2.21

2.21

What is meant by registering monks under secular law? Registering monks is not ancient practice; it was merely the design of the tyrannical Northern Zhou. Monks leave the dust and transcend the mundane; fundamentally they abide outside the four classes of common people. To register monks is for the common populace to domesticate monks. In the era of our Sage, when the state had monks, it governed them with the monastic law; when it had laypeople, it governed them with secular law. Each was governed according to its own law. One had never heard of inspecting monks using secular law. Is it not that, after the Sage had passed away, his Way greatly declined, his followers became excessively polluted and mixed, and those who supported the Dharma could not overcome such people, so that this came about? Yu Jia produced the Ying Dragon, the Ying Dragon produced the Phoenix, and the Phoenix produced the multitude of birds. Things change only after a long time; this is the natural course of events. Once they have changed, they cannot but be regulated. Regulation lies in distinguishing them and discriminating them, the heterodox from the orthodox, the crooked from the upright; they cannot be viewed indiscriminately. Stones contain jade; grasses contain orchids. Can one say of humanity that it lacks its sages and worthies? If you commend a single good deed, all under Heaven will be encouraged to do good. If you treat a single worthy with propriety, all under Heaven will admire worthiness. When eminent monks of recent antiquity met the Son of Heaven, they were not addressed by their personal names; when imperial decrees were drafted, they were called “Master” or “Lord.” Sengyuan of Mount Zhong remained seated upon his bed and did not welcome the imperial carriage when it arrived at his gate. When the Son of Heaven visited Xunyang, he decreed that Huiyuan of Tiger Brook need not emerge from the mountain. In those days, people treated such men with reverence and honored their virtue. For this reason, the Way of their Sage flourished, and his followers esteemed virtue. When the Confucians say, “Honor virtue,” why do they say so? Because it is close to the Way. How could Confucianism be otherwise? Yet those of later generations who admire eminent monks, when associating with ministers and grand masters, do not even receive the courtesy accorded to low-ranking officers. In emerging into the world or dwelling in seclusion, they are not as self-content as ordinary men. How much less could they see the Son of Heaven as Sengyuan did? How much less could they be as composed and self-possessed as Huiyuan? Can we hope for the revival of our Way and the cultivation of our people? To preserve the teaching without requiring the proper people—what benefit is there in preserving it? Reflecting on this, I have never failed to shed tears.