三教平心論 1.29

1.29

[Han] Yu also said: 'Why cast aside the Way of the sages and abandon the laws of the ancient kings, following the teaching of the barbarians to seek blessings and profit?' Observing these words of [Han] Yu, Yu's failure to understand the Buddha was extreme indeed! When the Buddha teaches people and when people study the Buddha, how could it merely consist in petty blessings and profit? It was on account of the one great causal matter that the Buddha appeared in the world; we too, on account of the one great causal matter, take refuge in the Buddha. What the Buddha praised we rely on and practice; what the Buddha prohibited we honor and uphold. From provisional to real, from gradual to sudden, our goal is to realize the mind and see the nature, transcend birth and death, and attain Buddhahood! How could it be called mere blessings and profit? Thus, discussing it in terms of the Buddha's Five Vehicles: the human vehicle means that if one can uphold the five precepts, their blessed reward allows them to become a human; the heavenly vehicle means that if one can cultivate the ten wholesome deeds, their blessed reward allows them to be born in heaven. For these two vehicles, it is acceptable to speak in terms of blessings and profit. But as for the subsequent three vehicles, they must be viewed through principle and cannot be spoken of in terms of blessings. The principle of the three vehicles is certainly not easy to explain; speaking tentatively from their coarse traces, the śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha are still no more than resting places. One must reach the stage of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas before it becomes the ultimate of principle. The elders said: 'The Buddha is the ultimate,' meaning that the myriad goodnesses and myriad principles under heaven reach their ultimate in the Buddha. Those today who study the Buddha seek to arrive at this ultimate! How could it be called mere blessings and profit? When Zhu Huian discussed the Buddha, he said: 'Because it has the doctrine of emptiness and stillness, freeing one from entanglement in material desires, the worthy of the world are fond of it. Because it has the doctrine of the profound and mysterious, not getting bogged down in physical vessels, the wise of the world delight in it. Because it has the doctrine of saṃsāra, leading people to believe they can avoid falling into sin and suffering, the hired servants, kitchen maids, convicts, and bandits of the world also crawl and take refuge in it.' The 'blessings and profit' spoken of by [Han] Yu are precisely what Huian described as that to which 'hired servants, kitchen maids, convicts, and bandits also take refuge.' That Yu's lack of understanding of the Buddha went this far, and yet he was determined to slander the Buddha, is just like the dogs of Yue barking at the snow they do not know, or the dogs of Shu barking at the sun they do not know!