法苑珠林 54.6

54.6

夫至道無隔貴在忠言。故出其言善則千里應之。出其言不善則咫尺如聵。但教流末代人法譌替。或憑真以搆偽。或飾虛以詐真。良由人懷邪正故法通真俗。名利既侵則我人逾盛。現親尚無附之。況元來疏薄。故難交友。故經曰。直心是道場。不虛假故也。

Now, the ultimate Way is without barrier, and its value lies in honest words. Therefore, when words issued are good, they are echoed a thousand li away; when words issued are not good, even at a foot's distance they fall on deaf ears. Yet as the teachings flow into the final age, persons and the Dharma deteriorate: some rely on the true to construct the false, while others adorn the empty to fake the genuine. Truly, because people harbor the perverse and the upright, the Dharma encompasses both the ultimate and the conventional. Once fame and gain encroach, the notion of self and others flourishes ever more. Even present intimates cannot be trusted, not to mention those who are distant and slight from the start; hence it is difficult to make friends. Therefore the sūtra says: 'The straight mind is the bodhimaṇḍa, because it is free of falsehood.'