弘明集 5.44

5.44

答曰。夫神者何耶。精極而為靈者也。精極則非卦象之所圖。故聖人以妙物而為言。雖有上智猶不能定其體狀窮其幽致而談者。以常識生疑多同自亂。其為誣也。亦已深矣。將欲言之。是乃言夫不可言。今於不可言之中。復相與而依俙。神也者圓應無主妙盡無名。感物而動。假數而行。感物而非物故物化而不滅。假數而非數。故數盡而不窮。有情則可以物感。有識則可以數求。數有精麁。故其性各異。智有明闇。故其照不同。推此而論。則知化以情感神以化傳。情為化之母。神為情之根。情有會初之道。神有冥移之功。但悟徹者反本。惑理者逐物耳。古之論道者。亦未有所同請引而明之。莊子發玄音於大宗曰。大塊勞我以生息我以死。又以生為人䩭死為反真。此所謂知生為大患。以無生為反本者也。文子稱黃帝之言曰。形有靡而神不化。以不化乘化。其變無窮。莊子亦云。特犯人之形而猶喜之。若人之形萬化而未始有極。此所謂知生不盡於一化方逐物而不反者也。二子之論。雖未究其實。亦甞傍宗而有聞焉。論者不尋方生方死之說。而惑聚散於一化。不思神道有妙物之靈。而謂精麁同盡。不亦悲乎。火木之喻原自聖典。失其流統。故幽興莫尋。微言遂淪於常教。令談者資之以成疑。向使時無悟宗之匠。則不知有先覺之明。冥傳之巧沒世靡聞。何者夫情數相感其化無端。因緣密搆潛相傳寫。自非達觀孰識其變。請為論者驗之。以實火之傳於薪。猶神之傳於形火之傳異薪。猶神之傳異形。前薪非後薪。則知指窮之術妙。前形非後形。則悟情數之感深。惑者見形朽於一生。便以為神情俱喪。猶覩火窮於一木。謂終期都盡耳。此曲從養生之談非遠尋其類者也。就如來論。假令神形俱化。始自天本愚智資生同稟所受。問所受者為受之於形耶。為受之於神耶。若受之於形。凡在有形皆化而為神矣。若受之於神。是為以神傳。神則丹朱與帝堯齊聖。重華與瞽叟等靈。其可然乎。其可然乎。如其不可。固知冥緣之搆著於在昔。明闇之分定於形初。雖靈鈞善運。猶不能變性之自然。況降茲已還乎。驗之以理。則微言而有徵。効之以事。可無惑於大通。

I reply: What is the spirit? It is that which is utmost in subtlety and thus spiritual. When subtlety is at its utmost, it cannot be figured by the hexagram images; hence the sages spoke of it as a subtle thing. Even those of superior wisdom still cannot determine its bodily appearance or exhaust its hidden drift, yet those who talk about it give rise to doubts with ordinary consciousness and mostly end up confusing themselves. Their delusion is already deep indeed! If one wishes to speak of it, this is speaking of that which cannot be spoken of. Now, amidst the unspeakable, let us again vaguely delineate it together. The spirit is universally responsive without a master, subtly consummated without a name. It is moved by sensing things; it operates by borrowing conditions (shù). Because it senses things yet is not a thing, things transform while it is not extinguished; because it borrows conditions yet is not a condition, conditions are exhausted while it is inexhaustible. Where there is affect, it can be sensed by things; where there is consciousness, it can be sought through conditions. Conditions have the fine and the coarse, so their natures each differ; wisdom has the bright and the dark, so its illumination is not the same. Deducing from this and discussing it, one knows that transformation is transmitted through affect, and spirit is transmitted through transformation. Affect is the mother of transformation; spirit is the root of affect. Affect has the way of converging with the origin; spirit has the efficacy of dark transmission. It is merely that those who penetrate into awakening return to the source, whereas those who are confused about principle pursue things. Among those of ancient times who discussed the Dao, none agreed; allow me to cite them to clarify this. Zhuangzi sounded a profound note in 'The Great Master', saying: 'The Great Clod burdens me with life, rests me with death'; moreover, he took life to be a hanging upside down and death to be returning to truth. This is what is meant by knowing that life is a great affliction, and taking non-arising as returning to the origin. Wenzi cited the words of the Yellow Emperor, saying: 'Form has decay, yet the spirit does not transform; riding upon transformation with the untransforming, its changes are inexhaustible.' Zhuangzi also said: 'Just stumbling into a human form is already cause for joy; but a human form undergoes myriad transformations without ever having an end.' This is what is called knowing that life does not end with a single transformation, yet one then pursues things and does not return. Though the discourses of these two masters did not fully reach its reality, they nevertheless once had some hearing bordering on this core principle. Debaters do not investigate the teaching of 'simultaneous arising and dying', but are bewildered by gathering and dispersing within a single transformation; they do not reflect that the spiritual Dao has the efficacy of a subtle thing, but claim that the refined and coarse perish together—is this not lamentable? The metaphor of fire and wood originally derives from the sacred scriptures. Losing its lineage of transmission, its hidden inspiration could not be sought out, and the subtle words subsequently sank into the mundane teachings, causing interlocutors to rely on them to form doubts. Had there not been at this time a master who awakened to the fundamental principle, no one would know that there was the illumination of the earlier awakened ones, and the skill of dark transmission would never have been heard of in this world. Why is this? The mutual resonance of affect and conditions generates transformations without end; causes and conditions are secretly constructed and covertly transcribe one another. Unless one possesses a far-reaching vision, who could recognize their changes? Let me verify this for the debaters with reality: fire's passing into firewood is like the spirit's passing into form; fire's passing to different firewood is like the spirit's passing to a different form. Since the former firewood is not the latter firewood, one knows the subtlety of the art of exhausting the fuel; since the former form is not the latter form, one realizes the depth of the resonance of affect and conditions. The confused see form decay in a single life and immediately assume spirit and affect both perish, just like seeing fire exhaust a single piece of wood and supposing it has entirely vanished forever. This is a narrow compliance with the discourse of nourishing life, not a far-reaching search into its categories. To take your argument: suppose form and spirit both transform, beginning from the fundamental nature of Heaven, and that the foolish and the wise in supporting life equally receive what is endowed. May I ask: is that which is received received from form, or received from the spirit? If received from form, then all that have form would transform into spirit. If received from the spirit, this would mean passing spirit from spirit: then Danzhu would be equal in sagehood to Emperor Yao, and Chonghua would be identical in spirit to Gusou! Could this be so? Could this be so? If it cannot be so, then one certainly knows that the construction of dark conditions was established in the past, and the division between bright and dark was determined at the beginning of form. Even though the Spiritual Potter turns skillfully, he still cannot change the spontaneous nature [of things]; how much less from this point downward? Verifying this with principle, the subtle words have proof; testing it with affairs, one need not doubt the Great Thoroughfare.