大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 43.26

43.26

Regarding the Commentary's statement, "Modest in honor and brilliant; lowly yet cannot be surpassed": This is from the Book of Changes, the hexagram Qian (Modesty), which states: "Modesty: success. The gentleman has a good ending." The Tuan Commentary states: "'Modesty: success.' The way of Heaven aids below and is brilliant; the way of Earth is lowly and moves upward. The way of Heaven diminishes fullness and augments modesty; the way of Earth transforms fullness and flows to modesty. Ghosts and spirits harm fullness and bring fortune to modesty; the way of humans dislikes fullness and loves modesty. Modest in honor and brilliant; lowly yet cannot be surpassed: this is the end of the gentleman." The Xiang Commentary states: "Within the earth there is a mountain: Modesty. The gentleman, by diminishing the excessive and augmenting the deficient, weighs things and distributes them evenly." Explication: In the text cited above, the characteristics are all apparent. Regarding the image of Qian, the earth is above and the mountain is below; a mountain ought to rise above the earth, but now it enters below the earth—this is the image of Modesty. Furthermore, regarding "diminishing the excessive [reading 褒 as 裒/diminish or gather]": bao means to gather; gathering what is excessive and adding to what is deficient has the meaning of augmenting modesty, hence it is "distributing evenly." According to Wang Bi's commentary: "Regarding what is excessive, one employs modesty to bring restraint; regarding what is deficient, one employs modesty to augment it. Distributing according to the thing, one does not lose balance. Being modest and self-effacing is the root of patience."