法苑珠林 55.59

55.59

方外對曰。此又未思之言也。夫崇立靈像摸寫尊形。所用多途。非獨泥瓦。或雕或鑄。則以鐵木金銅圖之繡之。亦在丹青縑素。復謂西域士女遍從此物而生乎。且又中國之廟以木為主。則謂制禮君子皆從木而育耶。親不可忘故為其宗廟。佛不可忘故立其形像。以表罔極之心。用如在之敬。欽聖仰德。何失之有哉。若塔廟是泥木之像不可敬者。則國廟木主之形亦不可敬耶。夫以善過者。故亦以惡為功矣。

The One Beyond the World replied: “These too are unconsidered words! In reverently establishing spiritual statues and depicting venerable forms, the materials used are many, not only mud and tiles. Some are carved or cast from iron, wood, gold, or bronze; some are painted or embroidered on pigments and plain silk. Would you then say that the gentlemen and ladies of the Western Regions are born universally from these materials? Moreover, the shrines of the Central State take wood for the spirit tablets; would you say that the gentlemen who instituted the rites were all reared from wood? Parents cannot be forgotten, hence ancestral shrines are built for them; the Buddha cannot be forgotten, hence his physical images are erected to express the boundless heart and manifest reverence as if he were present. In admiring the sage and looking up to his virtue, what fault is there? If stūpas and shrines are images of mud and wood and ought not to be revered, then are the forms of the wooden tablets in the state shrines also not to be revered? Those who find fault with the good would also take evil to be merit.”