法苑珠林 55.63

55.63

The Beyond-the-Worldly One replied: "Out of folly and obstinacy, without reflection, you recklessly utter wicked calumnies. Did the Jiuli corrupt virtue in a year when there was a Buddha? Did the Sanmiao rebel against orders after the Dharma was present? In the closing years of the Xia and the Yin, where was there purity and harmony? In the Spring and Autumn period, was there really no usurpation or rebellion? When brigands, rebels, traitors, and villains arose, Gaoyao was appointed as judge; when the Xianyun flared up fiercely, Jifu was tasked with repelling them. Yet the foolish say that the Buddha gives rise to usurpation and rebellion, and that the Dharma ruins purity and harmony! Fabricating only empty words, they contradict true records in every way. The Buddha prohibits even the theft of a single thread; how could He foster the turmoil of usurpation and rebellion? The Buddha prevents even the contention of a single word; how could He ruin the way of purity and harmony? As for the Buddha’s teaching: it exhorts ministers to loyalty, sons to filial piety, states to good order, and families to harmony. Promoting goodness, it shows the bliss of the heavens; punishing wrongdoing, it reveals the torments of the hells. It does not rely merely on a single word of praise, nor does it stop at the five punishments to establish its prohibitions. To claim then that it harms harmony and fosters disorder—is this not the height of slanderous libel? Yet how could it harm the Buddha-sun? It merely sinks oneself into the sea of suffering. Treating it lightly without avoiding [its retribution] is truly pitiable!"