四明尊者教行錄 7.47

7.47

Regarding "framework" (gangge), the Fuxing states: "Gang means the guiding ropes, like the outer perimeter of a net. Ge means standardizing, like the general body of a thing." There, the critical analysis by the Eight Teachings is like the framework, and the teachings according to different capacities are like the meshes of the net. Here it is not so; it is adopted or adapted according to the text. "Straightened" (yingua) appears twice in Xunzi. One says: "Stooping as if waterworks and shaping-frames were applied to oneself." The commentary states: "Waterworks are that by which water is regulated; shaping-frames are that by which wood is regulated." Another says: "Therefore crooked wood must await the shaping-frame, and dull metal must await grinding and sharpening." The commentary states: "Gou is read as gou, crooked. The yingua is an instrument for straightening crooked wood." The Guangya: Cuo means to insert. Zong means to synthesize. The Shuowen says it refers to the loom-threads holding the silk crossing each other—that is, interweaving its passages concisely and synthesizing its principles. "To look at what is near and see what is far": the Doctrine of the Mean says: "The way of the superior man knows the far and knows the near." As for "dipping fingers," the Zuo Tradition relates: A man of Chu presented a softshell turtle to Duke Ling of Zheng. Zijia was about to see Zigong, whose index finger twitched. Showing it to Zijia, he said: "On other days when this happens to me, I am bound to taste an extraordinary delicacy." When they entered, the cook was about to butcher the softshell turtle; they looked at each other and smiled. The Duke asked them about it, and Zijia told him. When eating, he summoned Zigong but did not give him any. Zigong was angry, dipped his finger into the cauldron, tasted it, and left. Now, taking the Zhiyao as the cauldron: if someone investigates and verifies it, that is dipping their finger; thereby they are able to savor the flavor of the doctrinal teachings and contemplation. Though the lines from the Book of Changes below use those words, they do not adopt that intention. Its intention is that when the aspirations of all under heaven are not yet penetrated, the Book of Changes can penetrate them; when the undertakings of all under heaven are not yet established, the Book of Changes can establish them; when the doubts of all under heaven are not yet resolved, the Book of Changes can resolve them. Applying these three meanings to the Zhiyao, it may truly be called a book that exhausts principle and fulfills nature.