萬松老人評唱天童覺和尚頌古從容庵錄 3.15

3.15

The Master said: When the Western Earl was about to go out hunting, he divined it, and the omen said: 'What you obtain will not be a dragon, nor a bear, nor a grizzly bear, nor a tiger; it will be an assistant to an overlord or king.' He indeed obtained Lü Shang on the northern bank of the Wei River. Talking with him, he was overjoyed and said: 'Ever since our late lord, the Grand Duke, it was once said: "There should be a sage who goes to Zhou." Our Grand Duke has hoped for you for a long time!' Therefore he was called Taigong Wang (The Grand Duke's Hope) and established as teacher. Boyi and Shuqi were the two sons of the Lord of Guzhu; both fled after ceding the state to each other. When King Wu marched against Zhou, they pulled at his horse's reins and remonstrated: 'Your father has died and is not yet buried, yet you take up shield and lance—can this be called filial? As a minister slaying your sovereign—can this be called benevolent?' The attendants wished to execute them, but Taigong said: 'These are righteous men,' and supported them away. King Wu pacified the Yin, and the world gave allegiance to Zhou. Boyi and Shuqi were ashamed of it; refusing to eat the grain of Zhou, they gathered ferns on Mount Shouyang and starved to death. Taigong's punishing Yin and securing allegiance to Zhou was the flourishing of family and state. Boyi and Shuqi's ceding the throne and starving to death was the perishing of family and state. National Preceptor Xianshou merely established the transformations of a single particle of dust to expound the Ocean of Meaning of a Hundred Gates. Lofty fame belongs to Boyi and Shuqi; meritorious deeds belong to Taigong. Luopu said: 'Before the rustic elder's gate, court affairs are not discussed.' Thus he was at ease with farming and mulberry, never knitting his brows. Why? Uselessness becomes true usefulness; good conditions are bad conditions.