禪林寶訓 4.56

4.56

簡堂曰。學道猶如種樹。方榮而伐之。可以給樵薪。將盛而伐之。可以作榱桷。稍壯而伐之。可以充楹枋。老大而伐之。可以為樑棟。得非取功遠而其利大乎。所以古之人惟其道固大而不狹。其志遠奧而不近。其言崇高而不卑。雖適時齟齬窮於饑寒殆亡丘壑。以其遺風餘烈。亘百千年後人猶以為法而傳之。鄉使狹道苟容邇志求合卑言事勢。其利止榮於一身。安有餘澤溥及于後世哉（與李侍郎二書）。

Jiantang said: 'Studying the Way is like planting a tree. If you chop it down just as it begins to flourish, it can supply firewood. If you chop it down when it is about to be luxuriant, it can make rafters. If you chop it down when it has grown somewhat sturdy, it can serve as pillars and purlins. If you chop it down when it is old and mature, it can serve as main beams and ridgepoles. Does this not mean that when the accomplishment is sought from afar, the benefit is great? Therefore, as for the people of antiquity, only because their Way was solid, great, and not narrow, their aspiration was far-reaching, profound, and not shortsighted, and their words were elevated, noble, and not base—even though they were at odds with the times, exhausted by hunger and cold, and nearly perished in the hills and valleys—on account of their lingering style and remaining achievements, across hundreds and thousands of years later people still take them as their model and transmit them. If formerly they had narrowed their Way to seek compliant acceptance, shortened their aspirations to seek conformity, and debased their words to serve the powerful, their benefit would have been limited to the glory of a single person; how could their remaining beneficence have spread so broadly to later generations?' (Two Letters to Vice-minister Li).