法苑珠林 4.43

4.43

凡人所信惟耳與目。自此之外。咸致疑焉。儒家說天自有數義或渾或蓋。乍穹乍安。計極所周苑維所屬。若有親見不容不同。若所測量寧足依據。何故信凡人之臆說。疑大聖之妙旨。而欲必無恒沙世界微塵數劫乎。而鄒衍亦有九州之談。山中人不信有魚大如木。海上人不信有木大如魚。漢武帝不信弦膠。魏人不信火布。胡人見錦不信有蟲食樹吐絲所成。吳人身在江南不信有千人氈帳。及來河北不信有二萬石船。皆實驗也。如世有祝師及諸幻術。猶能履火蹈刃種瓜移井。倏忽之間千變萬化。人力所為尚能如此。何妨神通感應不可思量。寶幢百由旬座化成淨土踊生妙塔乎。

What ordinary people believe is only what meets their ears and eyes; beyond this, they harbor doubts about everything. When Confucians speak of heaven, they have several theories: either the Huntian (spherical heaven) or the Gaitian (canopy heaven), suddenly vaulted, suddenly set flat, calculating the ultimate reaches and the bounds of its framework. If there were direct seeing, no disagreement could be permitted; if it is mere speculation, how can it suffice as an authority? Why believe the arbitrary opinions of ordinary mortals, while doubting the subtle intent of the Great Sage, and insisting that worlds numerous as the sands of the Ganges and kalpas countless as dust motes must not exist? Zou Yan likewise had his discourse on the Nine Provinces. People living in the mountains do not believe there are fish as large as trees; people living by the sea do not believe there are trees as large as fish. Emperor Wu of the Han did not believe in lute-string glue; the men of Wei did not believe in fire-proof cloth; foreigners, upon seeing brocade, did not believe it was made by caterpillars eating tree leaves and spitting silk; people of Wu, dwelling south of the Yangzi, did not believe there were felt tents that could hold a thousand men; and until they came north of the Yellow River, they did not believe there were boats carrying twenty thousand piculs. All these are matters of actual experience. Just as the world has sorcerers and various illusionists who can tread on fire, step on blades, plant melons, and move wells in an instant with a thousand transformations—if human power can accomplish even this, what is to hinder the unfathomable workings of divine power and sympathetic resonance, transforming seats with jeweled banners a hundred yojanas high into a pure land, or causing a marvelous stūpa to spring up from the earth?