弘明集 13.32

13.32

Now, the spirit of breathing beings has no fixed spatial bound, and the bodily substance of writhing creatures knows no constancy. They lodge like the surging of water; they rely [on forms] like the flickering of a flame. Following their deeds entangled, they alternate between withering and flourishing; coming and going, surfacing and plunging, in darkness and vast confusion. The great ocean swirls around; the great transformation revolves. Drifting far upon the waves, by what ladder shall they cross over? Tossing and turning within the three bad destinies, mired and detained within the ring of the eight difficulties, one pities the lack of any appointed time for their aspiration to emerge, and laments that their corporeal forms must have their return [to dust]. One observes that the accumulation of virtue can be swift, and perceives that the amassing of misfortune ought to be forestalled. These achievements of undertakings are easy to witness; it is not that the subtle stirrings were seen beforehand. The five blessings arise from treading the right; the six extremities are constructed by treading the wrong. The principle responds naturally; the dark retribution condenses in the unseen. Who creates good fortune? Whence does misfortune arise? The movement of water gathers in the low; the Way of humanity abhors pride. Faults accumulate through abundance; blessings ascend by reason of modesty. When a child is upright, ghosts retreat; when a grown man is perverse, spectres oppress him. Reviewing the twin pairs of forms and sounds, examining the dual portents of good and ill fortune: the principle accords with thought and joins in unison; traces meet the gaze and correspond with one another. It is like a revolving circle embracing the compass, or a straight rafter adhering to the carpenter's line. The gray dog came forth from the imperial father; the yellow bear was lamented by the sage son. When transformations are thus summoned, none can be saved; how could heavenly kin be relied upon? Truly, seeking fortune depends on one's own person; surely, acting as a human being lies within oneself! Alas, rapid inhalations are inconstant; who knows where the swift departure will halt? Those abnormal beings in their precarious states—how could they have begun without breath? One grieves that the graceful and lovely should die untimely, only to return and take birth as a domestic pig! In former days nurtured and held in the bosom, now butchered and disembowelled to serve as an offering. The spirit abides in the wondrous and remains ever the self; the body undergoes transformation and changes its form. Before ten days have passed, they have forgotten each other; this truly warrants a long sigh and the shedding of tears! For all unenlightened fools are like this; it is not that this person alone is so. Observe how sparse are births among the noble kinds, and realize how prolific are offspring among the insects and vermin! As a metaphor, falling showers are still rare compared to the emptying of a sack and pouring out of rice. Making a clamour day by day, who recognizes latent [misfortune] or understands the leaning [nature of fortune]? It is not that my own mind could fathom it; erroneously I have heard it to be thus. As for the inverted race, they live in vain in darkness and ignorance. Once the winds of death arrive, suddenly they make their hidden journey. Though the way of the spirits is obscure, the law of ghosts is exceedingly clear: wandering through the intermediate state, they proceed to that iron fortress. The night is devoid of the moon; the day has no shining sun. Their bodies enter cages of pressed thorns; their feet tread courtyards of blazing coals. Mountain peaks of knives bristle with frost-sharp blades; forests of swords raise their points, whistling with eerie essences. Melted copper spreads vastly, surging like a sea; gigantic cauldrons boil with waves, roaring like thunder. King Yama inspects the records, while minions beside him grasp pitchforks. Three thrusts and a single heave, hundreds and thousands are netted together! Poisonous birds with sharp beaks, blazing fire-carts, sharp nails and piercing lances, cunning hounds with clenched teeth! Licentious fellows are scorched against illusory pillars; starving prisoners wither away in dust and sand. Endowed with a light and wondrous spiritual substance, the painful punishments are all the more easily inflicted upon them. Forever aggrieved through entire kalpas, how could such cruelty be endured? The three-and-six strict nets cannot be listed in detail; thousands of severe ordeals, myriad varieties of diverse sufferings. Not a breath is drawn without undergoing them; in an instant they arrive, forgetting all shelter. Were I to speak of it briefly for a single morning, it would shock and distress one for a whole year! Now, there are those whose five virtues are without blemish, whose ten goodnesses complete the Way: when the evening sun departs and they pass away, their felicity ascends to the nine heavens. Precious palaces gleam brilliantly, elevated structures suspended in the void. Chambers of jasper number hundreds; gates of jade touch thousands. Golden portals are radiant with the clarity of crystal; jade avenues shine with the freshness of lapis lazuli. Jewel trees line the roadside; phoenixes sing among the branches. Fragrant blossoms are spiritually exquisite and brilliantly ornate; sweet-scented winds float wondrously, swirling like mist. Merely thinking of garments, patterned robes drape the body; merely contemplating food, fragrant delicacies fill the front. There, Xihe journeys far, an eternity where a single day lasts ten thousand years! Free from worldly affairs to disturb their nature, they are ever leisurely within the natural. Radiating amidst sparkling luminous buds, soaring lightly and fluttering on high, they plumb the supreme joy of wondrous music, and exhaust the far-reaching span of living existence. Forsaking the vile world, they cross over above, companions to those exalted in transcendent flight. However, though they enjoy these past virtues and daily consume jade-like foods, that land is not fertile and yields no sowing or reaping. Though accumulated stores be vast, how could they not be exhausted? Though their lifespan and blessings be extended, in the end they return to destruction. When the three disasters arise, their palaces disperse; when the seven omens arrive, their heavenly stipends are cut off. Meeting the great autumn when all decays, they are mingled without distinction, like the long-lived chun tree and the morning fungus. Therefore, the Tathāgata, the Great Sage, thoroughly illuminates with the three knowledges. Pitying our troubled ignorance, he clarifies the essentials of the Way. His skillful means are unconstrained, sometimes coarse, sometimes subtle: like the flowing currents of the vast ocean, like the suspended radiance of the heavenly sun. Superior gentlemen empty their minds and forget his words; those of middling talent hold fast to his teachings with steadfast intent. The teachings have no fixed method, but adapt to that by which things proceed: suitable for land, a carriage; fitting for water, a boat. Expounded in great variety, the broad arts are boundless. Even if the three hundred odes have not covered it, the essential point lies in the single obscurity. Digging out the main cords of the accumulated mysteries, discarding the trivial hairs and eyes from the fragrant robes, his grand basket of great instructions unfolds our portion of wisdom. In his governance nothing is unequal; substances have the sharp and the dull. Going empty and returning full, each is satisfied in his own mind. The foolish and the clever are both guided; dragons and ghosts are alike transformed. Myriad paths converge together, all proceeding from prajñā. Like crossing the ocean, without a boat none can traverse it; driving the myriad stirrings to the bodhimaṇḍa, all ends in non-action and halts the carriage. Originally, the beginning of the three vehicles shared a single return to nothingness; but their talents and insights differ, leading to diverse applications. The Arhat forgets being to seek emptiness, and thus indulges in emptiness, tranquil and content. The Pratyekabuddha clearly understands the entanglement of subtle knowledge, and thereupon moves toward the mysterious without dwelling. Although their wondrous traces are twice lost, they still have what is renounced without being empty. The Bodhisattva understands things to their total exhaustion: when non-existence is realized, what remains to be eliminated? Their awakening opens wide before all perception; their essence merges in the primal intent. The principle is deeply profound and beyond resonance; who can comprehend it and make it their task? From ancient times, early peoples had their encounters: dignified and sheltered, they personally received the sage's instructions. Murmuring crowds of common folk looked up with ears and eyes intent: some had their blindness opened at a single cough; some changed their faces at a single meal. All were transformed by means of words; there was none who was not ferried across. From the Sugata until now, the fortune of the Way has progressively declined. Though the great teaching remains, those who relish it are few. Sandalwood and marsh celery share the same fragrance; the night-shining pearl shares its glow with the firefly. Master Yu transcended the world, synthesizing the essence of the mysterious purport; retiring happily to mountains and marshes, his benevolence moved tigers and wild beasts. Venerable Dharmarakṣa realized tranquility, his moral power deep and beautiful; humming softly in the vaulted valley, dried springs gradually brought forth water. Old Que ascended to the firmament; Weidu followed in his tracks. All were detached in the unarisen; all cast off their skeletons without dying. Now there is Master Zhi, exceptionally preeminent, grasping the mysterious standard. His great undertaking surges from the press; his spiritual breeze is pure and solemn. Once a word is uttered, stagnations are dispelled; when the three turns are displayed, the deep darkness is illumined. To see him suffices to wash away meanness and stinginess; to hear him can cast down pride and arrogance. Yielding and washing in the stream with easy accord, chanting of fulfilling his original intent at the eastern field. How deep his relish in resting in simplicity, looking upon the great jewel as lighter than an autumn hair! Wherever the wind of the Way fans and sweeps, there the deeply perceptive wander at ease. If talent were not difficult, the worthy would not be valued; if fools did not laugh, the sage would not be exalted. A distant sound is seen as base to near ears; who can forget the taste upon hearing the Shao music? Where does one go that is not the Way? What is there that lacks spirit? Principles have the refined and the coarse; things have the worthy and the true. The great dwells as the ruler of the minute; the small serves as the minister to the great. The feathered tribes are subject to the garuḍa; the armored kinds belong to the asura. The two forces take the Great Ultimate as their ancestor; the host of stars is tied to the Northern Star. Therefore, the ninety-six kinds branch out profusely; tossing aside the heavy root, their restlessness abandons the quiet king. All claim to equal the sage, each dominating a quarter: some move mountains and halt rivers, or vanish and appear in an instant; commanding heavenly robes of brilliant splendor, whistling forth fragrant delicacies from divine kitchens; displaying the ferocious violence of rallying armies, or transforming gravel into fine jade. Exhausting bizarre marvels of mutation and illusion, it is pitiable that dependent things have no permanence! These are merely the sweet wine within worldly measures, not equal to the dregs and chaff of the Utmost Way. Coming to the ranks of the immortals, the peers of refined forms: stretching like bears and craning like birds, exhaling and inhaling the Great Unity; in the evening dining on shaded mists and the white moon, in the morning drinking solar vapors and the vermilion sun. Chifu attained long life by ingesting cinnabar; Juanzi took wing by feeding on atractylodis. Anqi gained prolonged sight through pine needles; the man of Feng soared lightly on cypress seeds. That which their harmonized fluids deepened sufficed to sustain their years and maintain their substance; but within they were not pacified while outwardly they were unsteady, so they mounted the clouds in vain only to fall and die suddenly! All tied up their sacks to solidify their shells; truly they came forth from the same gate together. Their principle has not ascended to the hall of Yan Hui; forever their hopes are barred from the chamber of Confucius! If being able to fly is prized, then moths and butterflies soar high; if resistance to aging is deemed marvelous, then tortoises and snakes enjoy long years. As for the wandering breath of this lodging house: only the mystery of the mind is to be treasured! Those who preserve the form are not fit to discuss the spirit; those who are intimate with the vulgar cannot yet be spoken to concerning the Way. How can the Way be spoken of? There is no questioning and no answering. The questioner knocks upon exhaustion; the replier betrays what is within. Silent, one penetrates it; speaking, one is depleted. One should match with the Mysterious Pearl and discourse on the Way; I become Wangxiang and the Ineffable. Motionless and tranquil, the mysterious response holds an admonition. Those who dig into floating appearances never comprehend the dark sound. The more one listens for it, the more one is mistaken; the more one searches for it, the deeper it sinks. The man of Ying has passed away; for whom should the axeman wield his block? Setting the fishtrap and the snare in the deep pool and marsh, awaiting the fish and hare in the rivers and woods: if perchance one grasps the meaning beyond words, together a single glance will dispel all calculation. There is no movement without an instant: once gone, it returns. For the worthy and perceptive who stand with forbearance, it is suddenly like passing a single night. A thousand teachers are born to transform beings, beginning past the sixteen. Maitreya is now prospering, and we look up hoping for his benevolent nurture. Who says the reckoning is distant? It is a fleeting glance of the eye. Though the spiritual chariot is swift, the pivot of conditions is inexhaustible. That has neither root nor summit; we have a beginning and an end. Borrowing footsteps at the tip of blazing lightning, lodging our breath in the midst of a gale of stones: we recognize the perilous road and take fright at bandits, yet are confused by worldly desires that invite conflict. Forsaking distant excellence, we covet what is near; deeming restraint to be meager, we plunge into abundance. Failing to guard against withering before the wind blows, once we are scattered by the fierce gale, we yearn to return to the stem and blossom anew—what can myriad regrets avail to make amends? Therefore, those of great vows burn their fingers and bore through stone. In the dark anticipation there is no waiting; their resolve accumulates with their minds. Digging deep the moat of knowledge, raising high the wall of wisdom, drawing the spiritual sword, brandishing the halberd of precepts: as soon as thoughts sprout, they cut them down; as soon as feelings show signs, they prune and pierce them. Sweeping the six thieves from within the breast, resting from the long toil of the five destinies, folding one's hands in self-cultivation, one grasps dhāraṇī and Dharma-forbearance. The three times are entirely silenced; the single mind opens and exhausts all. Entrusting the ear, there is no sound; lodging the eye, there is no standard. Dust falls away with emptiness; defilement drops with the void. Vastly illuminated with spiritual awakening, one acts as a ruler by relying on skillful means. Universally delivering and peacefully ferrying across, who does Great Compassion not pity? Lodging in an inn to harmonize the light, ever wandering and abiding in the dark and indistinct, yielding to heavenly movement and material transformation, like treading upon water without a trace. As for wondrous transformations and marvelous marvels, the principle is inconceivable: the great chiliocosm is lifted on the palm of a hand; a mustard seed contains Sumeru; the four oceans lodge within a pore of hair; the seven treasures endure beyond the shifting of kalpas! It may be believed, but cannot be pursued; it may be followed, but cannot be known. It is not something that talk and song can express; how could brush and silk unfold it? How fine was the word of Udāyin! Suppose the wise filled all under heaven, and each person had a hundred heads, each head a hundred tongues, each tongue understanding a hundred principles, their eloquence sharp and unfettered: even if all these people united to praise the Way, it would not equal a ten-thousandth part! Only when the Awakened Ones praise one another is it fully expounded and made entirely manifest. How much more so for my ignorant and obstinate shallowness, relying on wild simplicity to look up and relate this: holding up the tiny glow of a firefly, wishing to add brilliance to aid the sun!