佛祖歷代通載 16.11

16.11

（五）　李翱作復性書。其一曰。人之所以為聖人者性也。人之所以惑其性者情也。喜怒哀懼愛惡欲七者情之所為也。情既昏性斯匿矣。非性之過也。七者。循環而交來。故性不能統也。水之渾也其流不清。火之烟也其光不明。非水火清明之過。沙不渾流斯清矣。烟不欝光斯明矣。情不作性斯統矣。性者天之命也。聖人得之不惑者也。聖人者豈無情耶。聖人者寂然不動。不往而到。不言而信。不耀而光。制作參乎天地。變化合於陰陽。雖有情也未嘗有情也。然則百姓者豈其無性耶。百姓之性與聖人之性弗差也。雖然情之所昏交相攻。未始有窮。故雖終身而不自睹其性焉。火之潛於山石林木之中。非不火也。江河淮濟之末流而泉于山。非不水也。石不敲木弗磨。則不能燒其山林而燥萬物。泉之源弗疏。則弗能為江為河為淮為濟。東匯大壑浩浩湯湯為弗測之深。情之動弗息。則弗能復其性而燭天地為不極之明。是故誠者聖人之性也。寂然不動廣大清明。照乎天地。感而遂通天下之故。行止語默無不處極也。復其性者。賢人循之而不已者也。不已則能歸其源矣。聖人知人之性皆可以循之其不息而至於聖也。故制禮以節之。作樂以和之。安於仁樂之本也。動而中禮之本也。故在車則聞和鸞之聲。行步則聞佩玉之音。無故不廢琴瑟。視言行循禮法而動。所以教人忘嗜欲而歸性命之道也。道者至誠而不息也。至誠而不息則虛。虛而不息則明。明而不息則照天地而無遺。非他也。此盡性命之道也。哀哉。人人可以及於此。莫之止而不為也。不亦惑耶。昔者聖人以傳於顏子。顏子得之拳拳不失。不遠而復。其心三月不違仁。子曰。回也其庶乎屢空。其所以未到聖人者一息耳。非力不能也。短命而死故也。其餘升堂者。蓋皆傳也。一氣之所春。一雨之所膏。而得之者各有淺深。不必均也。曾子之死也。曰吾何求焉。吾得正而斃焉斯已矣。斯正性命之言也。子思仲尼之孫。得祖之道。述中庸四十九篇。以傳于孟軻。孟軻曰。我四十不動心。軻之門人達者。公孫丑萬章之徒。蓋傳之矣。遭秦焚書。中庸之弗焚者一篇有焉。於是此道廢闕。其教授者唯節文章句。威儀擊劍之術相師焉。性命之源則吾弗能傳矣。道之極於剝也必復。吾自六歲讀書。但為辭句之學。志于道者四年矣。與人言之。未嘗有是我者也。南觀濤江入于越。而吳興陸參存焉。與之言。陸參曰。子之言尼父之心也。東方有聖人焉。不出乎此也。西方有聖人焉。亦不出乎此也。唯子行之不息而已矣。嗚呼性命之書雖存。學者莫能明。是故皆入於莊列老釋。不知者謂夫子之徒不足以窮性命之道。信之者皆是也。有問於我我以吾之所知傳焉。遂書于書。以開誠明之源。而闕絕廢棄不揚之道。幾可以傳。於是命曰復性書。以治乎心以傳乎人。於戲夫子復生不廢吾言矣。其二曰。或（問曰）人之昏也久矣。將復其性者必有漸也。敢問其方。曰弗慮弗思。情則不生。情既不生乃為正思。正思者無思無慮也。易曰。天下何思何慮。又曰。閑邪存其誠。詩曰。思無邪。曰已矣乎。曰未也。此齋戒其心者也。猶未離於靜焉。有靜必動。有動必靜。動靜不息。是乃情也。易曰。吉凶悔吝生乎動者也。焉能復其性耶。曰如之何。曰方靜之時知心無思者。是齋戒也。知本無有思動靜皆離寂然不動。是至誠也。中庸曰。誠則明矣。易曰。天下之動貞夫一者也。問曰。不慮不思之時。物格于外情應于內。如之何而可止也。以情止情其可乎。曰情者性之邪也。知其為邪本無其心寂然不已邪思自息。惟性明照。邪也何所生如以情止情。是乃大情也。情之相止。其有已乎。易曰。顏氏之子其殆庶幾乎。其不善未嘗不知。知之未嘗復行也。易曰。不遠復無祇悔元吉。問曰。本無有思動靜皆離。然則靜之來也其不聞乎。物之形也其不見乎曰不覩不聞。是非人也。視聽昭昭而不起聞見者斯可矣。無不知也。無不為也。其心寂然光照天地。是誠之明也。大學曰。致知在格物。易曰。無思也無為。也。寂然不動。感而遂通天下之故。非天下之至神。其孰能與於此。曰敢問。致知在格物何謂也。曰物者萬物也。格者來至也。物至之時其心昭昭然辨焉。而不著於物者。是致知也。是知之至也。知至故意誠。意誠故心正。心正故身修。身修故家齊。家齊而國理。國理而天下平。此所以能參天地者也。易曰。與天地相似。故不違。智周乎萬物而道濟天下。故不過。旁行而不流樂天之命。故不憂。安土敦乎仁。故能愛範圍天地之化而不過。曲成萬物而不遺。通乎晝夜之道而知。故神無方而易無體。一陰一陽之謂道。此之謂也。曰生為我說中庸。曰不出乎前矣。曰我未明也。敢問。何謂天命之謂性。曰人生而靜天之性也。性者天之命也。率性之謂道。曰何謂也。曰率循也。循其源而反其性者道也。道也者至誠也。至誠天之道也。誠者定也不動也。修道之謂教。何謂也。曰教也者人之道也。擇善而固執之者也。修是道而歸其本者明也。教也者則可以教天下矣。顏子其人也。道也者不可須臾離也。可離非道也。說者曰。其心不可須臾動焉故也。動則遠矣。非道矣。變化無方未始離於不動故也。是故君子戒謹乎其所不覩。恐懼乎其所不聞。莫見乎隱。莫顯乎微。故君子謹其獨也。說者曰。不覩之覩。見莫大焉。不聞之聞。聞莫甚焉。其心不動。是弗覩之覩。弗聞之聞也。其復之不遠矣。故謹其獨。謹其獨者守其中也。問曰。昔之解中庸者。與生之言皆不同何也。曰彼以事解。我以心通者也。曰彼亦通於心乎。曰吾不知之。問人之性猶聖人之性。嗜欲愛惡之心何自而生耶。曰情者妄也邪也。曰邪與妄則無所因矣。妄情滅息本性清明周流六虛。所以謂之能復其性也。易曰。乾道變化各正性命。語曰。朝聞道夕死可也。能正性命故也。曰情之所昏性即滅矣。何以謂之。猶聖人之性也。曰水之清澈。其渾之者沙泥也。其渾也性情豈遂無有耶。久而不動沙泥自沈。清明之性鑒乎天地。非自外來也。故其渾也性本不失。及其復也性亦不生。人之性亦猶水也。問曰。人之性本皆善。而邪情昏曰。敢問聖人之性將復為嗜欲所渾乎。曰不復渾矣。情本邪也妄也。邪妄所翳性不能復。聖人既復其性矣。知情之所為邪。邪既為明所覺矣。則無邪。邪何由生乎。曰敢問死何所之耶。曰聖人之所不明書于策者也。易曰。原始要終。故知死生之說。精氣為物遊魂為變。是故知鬼神之情狀。斯盡之矣。子曰。未知生焉知死。則原其始反其終。可以盡其生之道。生之道既盡。則死之說不學而通矣。此非所急也。子修之不息。其自知之。吾不可以章章然言非書矣。其三曰。晝而作夕而休者凡人也。作乎非作者與物皆作。休乎非休者與物皆休。吾則不類於凡人。晝無所作夕無所休。作非吾作也。作有物。休非吾休也。休有物。休耶作耶。二皆離而不存予之所存者。終不亡且離矣。人之不力於道者。昏不思也。天地之間萬物生焉。人之與萬物一也。其所以異於鳥獸虫魚者。豈非道德之性全乎哉。受一氣而成形。一為物而一為人。得之甚難也。生乎世又非深長之年也。以非深長之年。行甚難得之身。而不專專於大道。肆其心之所為。其所以異於鳥獸虫魚者亡矣。昏而不思。其昏也終不明矣。吾之年三十有九矣。思十九年時如朝日也。思九年時亦如朝日也。人之受命。其長者不過七十八十年。九十百年者希矣。當百年之時而視乎九十時也。與吾此日之思於前也遠近其能大相懸也。其又能遠於朝日之時耶。然則人之生也。雖享百年若雷電之驚相激也。若風之飄而旋也可知矣。況百千人無一及百年之年哉。故吾之終日志於道。猶懼未及也。彼肆其心之所為者獨何人耶。

(5) Li Ao wrote the *Essay on Recovering the Nature* (*Fuxing shu*). The first part states: That by which human beings become sages is nature. That by which human beings cloud their nature is emotion. Joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, and desire—these seven are the workings of emotion. Once emotion becomes murky, the nature is hidden away; this is not the fault of the nature. The seven circulate and alternate in coming forth; thus the nature cannot govern them. When water is muddied, its current is not clear. When fire creates smoke, its light is not bright. It is not the fault of the clarity and brightness of water and fire: if silt does not muddy it, the current is clear; if smoke does not obscure it, the light is bright; if emotions do not stir, the nature is governed. Nature is the decree of Heaven. Sages are those who attain it and remain unconfused. Do sages have no emotions? A sage is tranquil and unmoving; reaches without going; is trusted without speaking; shines without flashing; his fashioning of rites matches Heaven and Earth; his transformations unite with yin and yang. Though he has emotions, he has never had emotions. If so, do ordinary people have no nature? The nature of ordinary people and the nature of sages do not differ. Even so, the turbidity of emotions attacks mutually without end; hence, though they live out their lives, they never behold their own nature. Fire latent within mountain rocks and forest trees is not un-fire. The downstream stretches of the Yangzi, Yellow, Huai, and Ji rivers originating as springs in the mountains are not un-water. If stones are not struck and wood is not rubbed, they cannot burn their mountains and forests or dry out the myriad things. If the springs' sources are not unblocked, they cannot become the Yangzi, the Yellow, the Huai, or the Ji rivers, nor gather eastward into the great abyss, surging vast and surging deep beyond measure. If the stirrings of emotion do not cease, one cannot recover one's nature and illuminate Heaven and Earth with limitless brightness. Therefore, sincerity is the nature of the sage. Tranquil and unmoving, vast, clear, and bright, it illuminates Heaven and Earth; when stimulated, it immediately penetrates the affairs of all under Heaven. In walking, stopping, speaking, or keeping silent, there is nowhere it does not attain the ultimate. Those who recover their nature are the worthy who follow it without ceasing. If they do not cease, they can return to its source. Sages knew that the nature of human beings can all be followed without ceasing until they reach sageliness; hence they fashioned rites to regulate it and composed music to harmonize it. Resting in humaneness is the root of music; acting with propriety is the root of rites. Thus when in a carriage, one hears the sound of harmony and harness bells; when walking, one hears the chiming of jade pendants; without cause, one does not set aside the zither and lute. Watching, speaking, and acting move in accordance with ritual and law; this is the means to teach people to forget desires and return to the Dao of nature and destiny. The Dao is utmost sincerity without cease. When utmost sincerity is without cease, there is emptiness; when emptiness is without cease, there is brightness; when brightness is without cease, it illuminates Heaven and Earth leaving nothing out. It is nothing else: this is the Dao of fulfilling nature and destiny. How lamentable! Everyone can attain this, yet none stop [their confusion] to do it—is this not delusion? In the past, the Sage transmitted it to Master Yan. Yan Hui attained it and grasped it firmly without losing it; returning from not far away, for three months his mind did not depart from humaneness. The Master said, 'Hui is close to it, yet often empty.' The reason he did not reach sageliness was merely a single breath [short]; it was not that his strength was insufficient, but because he died young. As for the rest who ascended the hall, all indeed received the transmission. The spring generated by a single qi, the enrichment provided by a single rain—those who receive them vary in depth and are not necessarily equal. When Zengzi was dying, he said, 'What should I seek? Having attained correctness and dying here, this is enough.' These are words of rectifying nature and destiny. Zisi was Zhongni's grandson; attaining the Dao of his ancestor, he expounded forty-nine chapters of the *Doctrine of the Mean* (*Zhongyong*) to transmit to Meng Ke. Meng Ke said, 'At forty, I had an unmoving mind.' Ke's accomplished disciples, the likes of Gongsun Chou and Wan Zhang, indeed transmitted it. Meeting with the Qin burning of the books, among the unburnt chapters of the *Zhongyong*, one chapter remained. Thereupon this Dao fell into decay and neglect. Those who taught merely took fragments of style and syntax, or the arts of deportment and swordsmanship, to instruct one another. The source of nature and destiny, then, I could no longer find transmitted. When the Dao reaches the extreme of peeling away (*bo*), it must return (*fu*). Since the age of six I have read books, but pursued only the study of words and phrases. I have aspired to the Dao for four years. Speaking of it with others, there has never been anyone who agreed with me. Looking south at the surging river, I entered Yue, where Lu Can of Wuxing resided. Speaking with him, Lu Can said, 'Your words are the mind of Confucius. If there is a sage in the east, he does not go beyond this; if there is a sage in the west, he likewise does not go beyond this. You need only practice it without ceasing, that is all.' Alas! Although books on nature and destiny survive, scholars cannot illuminate them. For this reason, they all enter Zhuangzi, Liezi, Laozi, and the Śākya [traditions]. Those who do not understand say that the Master's disciples were insufficient to exhaust the Dao of nature and destiny, and all who believe them agree. When someone asked me, I transmitted what I knew, and thereupon wrote it in a book to open the source of sincerity and brightness, so that the discarded, broken, and unexpressed Dao might perhaps be transmitted. Thus I named it *Essay on Recovering the Nature*, to govern the mind and transmit to others. Ah! Were the Master to be reborn, he would not discard my words.

The second part states: Someone asked, 'Human delusion has lasted long. If one wishes to recover one's nature, there must be a gradual process. May I ask the method?' The answer was: 'Do not reflect and do not deliberate, and emotions will not arise. Once emotions do not arise, this is right reflection. Right reflection is being without reflection and without deliberation. The *Changes* (*Yijing*) says, "Under Heaven, what reflection, what deliberation is there?" It also says, "Fend off depravity and preserve sincerity." The *Odes* (*Shijing*) says, "In thoughts, no depravity."' The questioner asked, 'Is this all?' The answer was: 'Not yet. This is fasting and purifying the mind; it has not yet departed from stillness. Where there is stillness, there must be motion; where there is motion, there must be stillness. Motion and stillness without cease—this is emotion itself. The *Changes* says, "Good fortune, bad fortune, regret, and humiliation arise from motion." How could this recover the nature?' The questioner said, 'What then should be done?' The answer was: 'At the time of stillness, knowing that the mind is without reflection is fasting. Knowing that there is fundamentally no reflection, departing from both motion and stillness, tranquil and unmoving—this is utmost sincerity. The *Doctrine of the Mean* says, "When sincere, there is brightness." The *Changes* says, "The motions under Heaven are rectified in the One."' The questioner asked, 'At the time of neither reflecting nor deliberating, when things reach one from without and emotions respond from within, how can they be stopped? Can emotion stop emotion?' The answer was: 'Emotion is the depravity of the nature. Knowing it to be depraved, fundamentally having no such mind, tranquil without cease, depraved thoughts will naturally cease. Only when the nature shines brightly, where can depravity arise? If one uses emotion to stop emotion, this is great emotion. When emotions stop one another, will it ever end? The *Changes* says, "The son of the Yan family is almost there! If there is ungood, he never fails to know it; knowing it, he never acts on it again." The *Changes* says, "Returning from not far away brings no regret; great good fortune."' The questioner asked, 'Fundamentally having no reflection and departing from both motion and stillness—does this mean that when stillness comes, one does not hear? When the shapes of things appear, does one not see them?' The answer was: 'Not to see and not to hear is not to be human. Seeing and hearing clearly without giving rise to seeing and hearing—this is right. There is nothing unknown, nothing undone; the mind is tranquil, its light illuminating Heaven and Earth—this is the brightness of sincerity. The *Great Learning* (*Daxue*) says, "The extension of knowledge lies in the investigation of things (*gewu*)." The *Changes* says, "Without reflection and without action, tranquil and unmoving, when stimulated it immediately penetrates the affairs of all under Heaven." If not the most spiritual under Heaven, who could take part in this?' The questioner said, 'May I ask, what is meant by "the extension of knowledge lies in the investigation of things"?' The answer was: 'Things (*wu*) are the myriad things. *Ge* means to arrive. When things arrive, the mind clearly discerns them without attaching to them; this is the extension of knowledge; this is the utmost of knowledge. When knowledge is utmost, the intent is sincere; when the intent is sincere, the mind is rectified; when the mind is rectified, the body is cultivated; when the body is cultivated, the family is regulated; when the family is regulated, the state is ordered; when the state is ordered, all under Heaven is at peace. This is how one can match Heaven and Earth. The *Changes* says, "Resembling Heaven and Earth, hence not contrary; wisdom encompasses the myriad things and the Dao aids all under Heaven, hence not exceeding; acting broadly without straying, rejoicing in Heaven and knowing destiny, hence without sorrow; resting content in one's place and earnest in humaneness, hence able to love; framing and encompassing the transformations of Heaven and Earth without exceeding; rounding out the myriad things without leaving anything out; penetrating the Dao of day and night and knowing it—hence the spirit has no direction and the *Changes* has no body. One yin and one yang is called the Dao." This is what it means.' The questioner said, 'Sir, explain the *Doctrine of the Mean* for me.' The answer was: 'It does not go beyond what was said before.' The questioner said, 'I am not yet clear. May I ask what is meant by "what Heaven ordains is called the nature"?' The answer was: 'Human life is born tranquil; this is Heaven's nature. Nature is Heaven's decree. "Following the nature is called the Dao"—what does it mean? Following means to trace. Tracing the source and returning to one's nature is the Dao. The Dao is utmost sincerity; utmost sincerity is the Dao of Heaven. Sincerity is being settled and unmoving. "Cultivating the Dao is called instruction"—what does it mean? Instruction is the Dao of man: choosing the good and holding fast to it. Cultivating this Dao and returning to its root is brightness. Such instruction can then teach all under Heaven; Master Yan was such a man. "The Dao cannot be departed from for an instant; if it could be departed from, it would not be the Dao." Commentators say: This is because the mind cannot be stirred for an instant. If it stirs, it goes far astray and is not the Dao. Its transformations have no fixed direction, yet never depart from being unmoved; this is why. "Therefore the gentleman is cautious about what he does not see, and apprehensive about what he does not hear. Nothing is more visible than what is hidden; nothing is more manifest than what is subtle. Therefore the gentleman is watchful over himself when alone." Commentators say: Seeing what is not seen, no sight is greater; hearing what is not heard, no hearing is more profound. When the mind is unmoved, this is seeing what is not seen, hearing what is not heard; its return is not far away. Therefore he is watchful over himself when alone. Being watchful over himself when alone is preserving the center.' The questioner asked, 'Former commentators on the *Doctrine of the Mean* all differ from your words; why is this?' The answer was: 'They explained it by external affairs; I penetrate it through the mind.' The questioner said, 'Did they also penetrate the mind?' The answer was: 'I do not know.' The questioner asked, 'If human nature is like the sage's nature, whence do cravings, desires, love, and hate arise?' The answer was: 'Emotions are false and depraved.' The questioner asked, 'If depraved and false, then they have no cause. When false emotions cease and the original nature is clear and bright, circulating through the six voids, this is why it is called being able to recover one's nature. The *Changes* says, "The Dao of Qian transforms, each rectifying its nature and destiny." The *Analects* says, "Hearing the Dao in the morning, one may die in the evening." This is because one is able to rectify nature and destiny.' The questioner asked, 'When clouded by emotion, the nature is destroyed. Why say it is still like the sage's nature?' The answer was: 'Water is clear; what muddies it is sand and mud. When it is muddied, do the nature and emotions then cease to exist? Kept still for a long time, the sand and mud sink of themselves, and the clear and bright nature mirrors Heaven and Earth; it does not come from without. Thus, when muddied, the nature is fundamentally not lost; when recovered, the nature is likewise not newly born. Human nature is just like water.' The questioner asked, 'Human nature is fundamentally good, yet depraved emotions cloud it. May I ask: will the sage's nature again be muddied by cravings and desires?' The answer was: 'It will not be muddied again. Emotions are fundamentally depraved and false; obscured by depravity and falsehood, the nature cannot be recovered. Once the sage has recovered his nature, he knows that what emotion does is depraved. Once depravity is awakened to by brightness, there is no depravity. Whence could depravity arise?' The questioner said, 'May I ask where death goes?' The answer was: 'This is what the sages did not clearly write in their books. The *Changes* says, "Tracing the beginning and pursuing the end, one thus understands the explanation of death and life. Essences and qi constitute things; the wandering soul causes change; thus one knows the condition of ghosts and spirits." This exhausts it. The Master said, "Not yet knowing life, how can one know death?" Tracing the beginning and returning to the end, one can exhaust the Dao of life. When the Dao of life is exhausted, the explanation of death is understood without study. This is not urgent. Cultivate it without ceasing, and you will know it yourself. I cannot speak conspicuously of what is not in the books.'

The third part states: Those who work by day and rest by night are ordinary people. Working at what is not true work, they work along with things; resting at what is not true rest, they rest along with things. I am not like ordinary people: by day I have nothing to work at; by night I have nothing to rest from. Working is not my working; work has its things. Resting is not my resting; rest has its things. Resting or working? Departing from both, neither remains; that which I preserve shall never perish nor depart. The reason human beings do not apply themselves to the Dao is that they are murky and do not reflect. Between Heaven and Earth the myriad things are born; human beings and the myriad things are one. How are they distinguished from birds, beasts, insects, and fish? Is it not that the nature of Dao and virtue is complete in them? Receiving a single qi and taking form, one becomes an animal and another a human; obtaining this [human form] is exceedingly difficult. Living in the world, one's years are not deeply long. With years that are not deeply long, possessing a body exceedingly difficult to obtain, yet failing to be solely devoted to the Great Dao and indulging what the mind desires, that by which one is distinguished from birds, beasts, insects, and fish is lost! Murky and unreflecting, in their murkiness they will never become bright. My years are thirty and nine. Reflecting on when I was nineteen, it seems like this morning; reflecting on when I was nine, it likewise seems like this morning. When humans receive life, the long-lived do not exceed seventy or eighty years; those reaching ninety or a hundred are rare. When at a hundred years, looking back on ninety, is the distance from my reflections today on the past vastly different? Can it be farther than the morning? If so, human life, even if enjoying a hundred years, is startled like thunder and lightning clashing, or like wind swirling and whirling—this can be known. How much more so when among hundreds of thousands of people, not one reaches the age of a hundred? Therefore all day long I set my will on the Dao, still fearing I may not reach it. Those who indulge whatever their minds desire—what kind of men are they?