A lay person gathered some young monks to give them lectures about Zhuangzi (a book of collected works by Zhuang Zhou/Chuang Tzu), and shamelessly he asserted: “The teaching of Zhuangzi is even more profound than Surangama Sutra.” While none of the young monks and lay people in the audience rose and refuted him.
Comparing to worldly books, Zhuangzi no doubt is outstanding and wonderful. However, to say that it’s more profound than The Surangama Sutra, that’s overmuch exaggerated and ridiculous!
The lay person is just a village pointy-head, ill-informed and dull-witted; it’s not worth making a fuss over him. Only that I am worried about those young monks being misled!
Hopefully, one day the monks will realize the truth by themselves, which only requires some basic common sense after all. If you try to deceive a child by saying that alloy is more valuable than gold – most definitely he will spit in your face once he has grown up!
by Grand Master Lian Chi (蓮池大師), the Eighth Patriarch of Pure Land Buddhism
莊子 (一) – 錄自明末蓮池大師《竹窗隨筆》(初筆)
有俗士，聚諸年少沙彌講莊子，大言曰:「南華義勝首楞嚴。」一時緇流及居士輩無斥其非者。夫南華於世書誠為高妙，而謂勝楞嚴，何可笑之甚也! 士固村學究，其品猥細不足較，其言亦無旨趣，不足辨，獨恐誤諸沙彌耳! 然諸沙彌稍明敏者，久當自知; 如言鍮勝黃金以誑小兒，小兒既長，必唾其面矣!
Buddha Mind 