安樂集 1.76

1.76

「自下第二有七番，竝借喻以顯。第一、譬如百夫、百年聚薪，積高千仞，豆許火焚，半日便盡。豈可得言：『百年之薪，半日不盡。』也？第二、譬如癖者寄載他船，因風帆勢，一日至於千里。豈可得言：『癖者云何一日至千里也？』第三、亦如下賤貧人獲一瑞物而以貢王，王慶所得，加諸重賞。斯須之頃，富貴盈望。豈可得言：『以數十年仕備盡辛勤，上下尚不達而歸者。』言彼富貴無此事也？第四、猶如劣夫以己身力擲驢不上，若從輪王行，便乘虛空飛騰自在。豈可得言：『以劣夫之力必不能昇虛空。』也？第五、又如十圍之索，千夫不制；童子揮劍，儵爾兩分。豈可得言：『童子之力不能斷索。』也？第六、又如鴆鳥入水，魚蜯斯斃皆死；犀角觸泥，死者還活。豈可得言：『性命一斷不可生。』也？第七、亦如黃鵠喚子安，子安還活。豈可得言：『墳下千齡，決無可甦。』也？

Secondly, below there are seven sets, all borrowing metaphors to clarify [this]. First: for example, firewood gathered by a hundred men over a hundred years, piled a thousand fathoms high, when burned by a fire the size of a bean, is consumed in half a day. Could one say, 'Firewood of a hundred years cannot be consumed in half a day'? Second: for example, a lame person travels aboard someone else's boat; relying on the wind and the power of the sails, in a single day he travels a thousand li. Could one say, 'How could a lame person travel a thousand li in a single day?' Third: it is also like a lowly, poor person obtaining an auspicious object and presenting it to the king; the king, delighting in what was received, bestows upon him heavy rewards, and in an instant, wealth and honor fill his expectations. Could one say, 'Since someone who served for several decades with utmost hardship returned without gaining rank, such wealth and honor cannot be true'? Fourth: just as an inferior man using his own bodily strength cannot fling a donkey atop [a carriage], yet if he follows a cakravartin, he rides through empty space and flies freely. Could one say, 'By the strength of an inferior man, he surely cannot ascend into empty space'? Fifth: again, like a rope ten spans thick that a thousand men cannot control; a young boy swings a sword and instantly cuts it in two. Could one say, 'The strength of a boy cannot sever the rope'? Sixth: again, like a poison bird entering water, whereby fish and clams all die, yet when a rhinoceros horn touches the mud, the dead return to life. Could one say, 'Once life is severed, it cannot be revived'? Seventh: also like the yellow crane calling to Zi'an, and Zi'an returned to life. Could one say, 'After a thousand years under the grave, there is definitely no revival'?