法苑珠林 52.44

52.44

Now, it is heard that while wise knowledge holds to a single standard, calculations and plans take myriad forms. Karmic actions are black or white, and receiving retribution rises or falls. Major and minor regional sounds, long and short distinct domains: virtue has the hidden and the manifest, and practice has the shallow and the deep. Therefore, the multitude of sages descend in physical traces, responding wherever conditions elicit a resonance. Some display marvels and reveal signs; some conceal their forms and obscure their traces. Though their paths differ, their propagation of the Way is never distinct. If one does not evaluate and compare them, one seldom knows their superiority or inferiority.