法苑珠林 55.76

55.76

述曰。上來所列並引典籍。邪正顯然昇沈殊趣。豈可以爝火之暉。爭日月之光。隣虛之塵。同太岳之峻。故知佛法幽邃非凡所測。僧眾高遠亦非黃官之儔。夫出家者。內辭親愛外捨官榮。志求無上菩提。願出生死苦海。所以棄朝宗之服。披福田之衣。行道以報四恩。立德以資三有。此其之大意也。信知三寶位重。豈同孔老兩教。故案孔老經書。漢魏已來內外史籍。略引外道經中敬佛僧文。具列如左。既敬已經。依法遵佛。冀伏邪愚依承正典（略引二十二經令敬三寶文）。

The commentary says: What has been listed above all cites canonical records; the heterodox and orthodox are distinct, their ascent and descent following different paths. How can the glow of a torch compete with the light of the sun and moon? How can an atom of space-adjacent dust equal the height of the Great Mount Tai? Thus we know that the Buddha's Dharma is profound and beyond the measure of ordinary beings; the saṃgha is lofty and far beyond the peers of the yellow-capped [Daoists]. Those who renounce household life inwardly bid farewell to their dear relatives and outwardly relinquish official honors; they aspire to seek unexcelled bodhi and vow to transcend the painful sea of birth and death. Therefore, abandoning the robes of court assembly, they don the robes of the field of merit (puṇyakṣetra); they practice the Way to repay the four kindnesses and establish virtue to benefit the beings of the three realms of existence (tridhātu). This is their grand purpose. We truly know that the position of the Three Jewels is exalted; how could it be comparable to the two teachings of Confucius and Laozi? Therefore, examining the texts of Confucius and Laozi, as well as inner and outer historical records since the Han and Wei, I briefly cite passages from heterodox texts that revere the Buddha and saṃgha, setting them out in full below. Since they already revere the sūtras, they should accord with the Dharma and follow the Buddha, hoping thereby to subdue the heterodox and foolish, and to rely upon and uphold the orthodox scriptures (briefly citing twenty-two texts commanding reverence for the Three Jewels).