大乘百法明門論開宗義決 1.29

1.29

Regarding "constantly moving according to the sun, moon, and stars," and so forth: There was someone who had attained worldly dhyāna, whom worldly people universally considered an arhat. When worldly people wished for sovereign pleasure and desired to have their wishes fulfilled, they would go and inquire of him. However, he did not know the principle of the conformity of karma and fruition and dependent origination; he merely saw that when the sun and moon in the world underwent eclipses and the celestial bodies lost their proper orbits, at that time the fruition of sentient beings' pure and impure karma happened to ripen. He then conjectured that this was caused by the sun, moon, and so forth, and for those who placed their faith in this he established this doctrine. Now one should question those who assert such auspiciousness: Are all the rises and falls and so forth in the world caused by the motions of the sun, moon, and stars, or are they caused by pure and impure karma? If they were caused solely by the sun, moon, and so forth, then what is presently observed—that experiencing prosperity, decline, and so forth follows the creation of meritorious and non-meritorious karma—would be unreasonable. If they are caused by pure and defiled karma, then saying that they are caused by the sun, moon, and so forth is unreasonable.