肇論疏 3.5

3.5

The text of the memorial has two parts: first he briefly praises the King of Qin, and second he clarifies the occasion for composing the treatise. The first text has four parts: first, praising the King of Qin; second, narrating nirvāṇa; third, making known the state's benevolence; fourth, his own humble retirement. Now, this is the first. 'Zhao has heard that Heaven attains the One to become pure': the Laozi says: 'Heaven attains the One to become pure; Earth attains the One to become tranquil; valleys attain the One to become full; the myriad things attain the One to be born; lords and kings attain the One to rectify (pronounced zheng; because the First Emperor's name was Zheng, people at the time tabooed zheng and pronounced it as zheng) all under Heaven.' Master Sengzhao briefly adopts its sense, altering the wording slightly. 'I prostrate and reflect that Your Majesty is sagacious, wise, reverent, and luminous': sagacious means sagely; wise means intelligent; reverent means respectful; luminous means understanding. The Zilin says: 'Your Majesty (bixia) refers to the steps of the hall.' This means one dares not directly point to the sage, but addresses beneath the steps of his hall. (Understand that this explains the phrase in reverse.) 'The Way accords with the spirit': the wording is inverted; it means the spirit accords with the Way. 'Wonderfully tallying with the center of the ring': the phrasing comes from the Zhuangzi, and here it illustrates the Middle Way principle of non-arising. The Inner Chapters of Zhuangzi says: 'When that and this cease to find their opposites, this is called the hinge of the Way. Only when the hinge grasps the center of the ring can it respond without end.' Guo Xiang's commentary says: 'Right and wrong alternating endlessly in succession is called the center of the ring. The center of the ring is empty.' Here it means the King of Qin wonderfully tallies with this. 'There is no principle he does not encompass': having tallied with the center of the ring, all principles are encompassed; hence it says 'there is none he does not encompass.' 'Therefore he can move his blade through the myriad affairs': moving the blade and the myriad affairs are explained as before. 'Promoting the Way throughout the day': this is just promoting the Way throughout the day; the words are inverted. 'His majesty covers the common folk, and handing down texts he establishes models': this means the King of Qin's majesty covers and reaches the common folk. 'Common folk' (cangsheng) means those born of Heaven (tiansheng). The Zhuangzi says: 'The azure of Heaven, is it its true color?' The Book of Documents says: 'That azure one, the azure above'; azure (cang) in all cases means Heaven. It means he hands down and displays texts to serve as worldly models. Some manuscripts have 'clothing and covering the common folk', which is also plausible. The commentary to the Xici of the Zhouyi says: 'clothing and covering the myriad things.' While possible, it is not as good as the former. 'Thus among the four greats within the realm, the king occupies one': the Zhuangzi says: 'The Way is great, Heaven is great, Earth is great, and the king is great.' Therefore they are called the four greats. Because the king can cover the common folk with majesty and hand down texts to establish models, he is ranked alongside the other greats.