四明尊者教行錄 7.31

7.31

The Erya says: 'Ti means abandoned.' 'One appearing once in an age' means a person of renowned virtue born between generations. Mencius says: 'That was one time, and this is another. Every five hundred years a true king must arise, and in the intervening period there must be someone renowned in his age.' Siming is the name of a mountain south of Qingyuan Prefecture. Lu Guimeng said: 'There is a highest peak, with four openings at the top. Whenever it clears up and becomes bright, looking at them they are like doors and windows; tradition calls them the stone windows, which is the site where the immortals of Siming dwell.' See the Siming tujing. The Liji says that at ten years old one begins youthful study, and at twenty one is capped. Whenever 'boy' is mentioned, it refers to the period between ten and twenty, the age of capping, before the primordial harmony has dispersed; all are called 'boys'. The Master renounced household life at seven, which was precisely his boyhood. As for 'natural genius', Zhuangzi says: 'He whose appetites and desires are deep has shallow natural genius.' The Analects says: 'Those who know by birth are the highest; those who know through learning come next.'