集古今佛道論衡 1.10

1.10

夫神仙之書。道家之言。乃云傅說。上為辰尾宿歲星。降為東方朔。淮南王安誅於淮南。而謂之獲道輕舉。鉤弋死於雲陽而謂之尸逝柩空。其為虛妄甚矣哉。中興篤論之士。有桓君山者。其所著述多善劉子駿甞問言。人誠能抑嗜慾闔耳目。可不衰竭乎。時庭下有一老榆。君山指而謂曰。此樹無情慾可忍無耳目可闔。然猶枯竭腐朽。而子駿乃言可不衰竭非談也。君山援榆喻之未是也。何者余前為王莽典樂大夫。樂記言。文帝得魏文侯樂人竇公年百八十兩目盲。帝奇而問之。何所施行。對曰。臣年十三而失明。父母哀其不及事。教臣鼓琴。臣不能導引。不知壽得何力。君山論之曰。頗得省盲專一內視精不外鑒之助也。先難子駿以內視無益。退論竇公便以不鑒證之。吾未見其定論也。君山又曰。方士有董仲君者。有罪繫獄。佯死數日。目陷蟲出死而復生。然後竟死。生之必死君子所達。夫何喻乎。夫至神不過天地不能使蟄虫夏逝震雷冬發。時變則物動。氣移而事應。彼仲君乃能藏其氣屍其體爛其膚出其虫。無乃大怪乎。世有方士。至王悉所招致。甘陵有甘始。廬江有左慈。陽城有郗儉。始能行氣導引慈曉房中之術。儉善辟穀悉號三百歲。本所以集之於魏國者。誠恐斯人之徒接姦詭以欺眾。行妖慝以惑人。故聚而禁之。甘始者老而有少容。自餘術士咸共歸之。然始詞繁寡實。頗竊有怪言。若遭秦始皇漢武帝。則復徐福欒大之徒矣。桀紂殊世而齊惡。姦人異代而等偽。乃如此耶。又世虛然有仙人之說。仙人者黨猱猨之屬。與世人得道化為仙人乎。夫雉入海為蛤。燕入海為蜃。當徘徊其翼差池。其羽猶自識也。忽然自投。神化體變乃更與黿鼈為群。豈復自識翔林薄巢垣屋之娛乎。牛哀病而為虎逢其兄而噬之。若此者何貴於變化也。而頗為匹夫所罔。納虛妄之詞。信眩惑之說。隆禮以招弗臣。傾產以供虛求。散王爵以榮之。清閑館以居之。經年累稔終無一効。或歿於沙丘。或崩乎五柞。臨時雖復誅其身滅其族。紛然足為天下笑矣。然壽命長短骨體強劣各有人焉。善養者終之。勞擾者半之。虛用者夭之。其斯之謂歟。

"Now, the books on immortals and the sayings of the Daoists actually claim that Fu Yue ascended to become the Tail Constellation and that the Year Star descended to become Dongfang Shuo; that King An of Huainan was executed in Huainan, yet they call it attaining the Dao and ascending lightly; that Lady Gouyi died at Yunyang, yet they call it the corpse departing and the coffin being empty. How extreme is their falsity! Among the upright critics of the Restoration, there was Huan Junshan; of what he wrote, Liu Zijun often approved. [Zijun] once asked, saying, 'If a person can truly suppress desires and close ears and eyes, can they avoid decline and exhaustion?' At that time, there was an old elm tree below the courtyard. Junshan pointed to it and said, 'This tree has no passions or desires to restrain and no ears or eyes to close; yet it still withers and rots away. When you, Zijun, say that one can avoid decline and exhaustion, that is no sound argument.' Junshan's citing the elm as an analogy was not yet correct. Why is that? Formerly, when I served as Grandee Master of Music for Wang Mang, the Music Records said: Emperor Wen obtained Duke Dou, the musician of Marquis Wen of Wei, who was one hundred and eighty years old and blind in both eyes. The emperor, marveling at him, asked what he had practiced. He replied, 'Your servant lost his sight at the age of thirteen; my parents, grieving that I could not attend to practical affairs, taught me to play the qin. Your servant cannot perform gymnastics and does not know by what power I obtained longevity.' Junshan commented on this, saying, 'He rather obtained the aid of saving his blindness, concentrating singly on inner vision, and not directing his essence to inspect outwardly.' Having first refuted Zijun on the grounds that inner vision was of no benefit, he then withdrew to discuss Duke Dou and immediately cited non-inspection as proof; I have not seen any definitive conclusion in him. Junshan also said: 'Among the magicians, there was a certain Dong Zhongjun who committed an offense and was imprisoned. He feigned death for several days: his eyes sank, maggots came forth, and he died and revived, only to die in the end. That life must end in death is understood by the gentleman; what need is there for analogies?' Now, even the most spiritual does not surpass Heaven and Earth, yet they cannot cause hibernating insects to depart in summer or thunder to strike in winter. When the seasons change, things move; when the qi shifts, events respond. That this Zhongjun could harbor his qi, make a corpse of his body, rot his flesh, and bring forth maggots—is this not an immense monstrosity? In the world there are magicians; when the king arrived, he summoned all of them: Ganling had Gan Shi, Lujiang had Zuo Ci, and Yangcheng had Xi Jian. Shi could circulate qi and practice gymnastics; Ci was knowledgeable in bedchamber arts; and Jian was skilled in abstaining from grains—all were said to be three hundred years old. The reason they were originally gathered in the state of Wei was truly for fear that such folk would link up with treachery and deceit to deceive the masses, or practice uncanny evils to bewilder people; hence they were assembled and placed under restriction. Gan Shi was old yet possessed a youthful appearance, and all the rest of the practitioners turned to him. However, Shi's words were numerous yet scant of substance, and he rather harbored strange pronouncements. Had he encountered the First Emperor of Qin or Emperor Wu of the Han, he would have been another Xu Fu or Luan Da. Jie and Zhou belonged to different ages yet were equal in evil; wicked people belong to different eras yet are identical in falsehood—is it not like this? Furthermore, in the world there are baseless claims of immortals. Are immortals of the kind of monkeys and apes, or do people of the world attain the Dao and transform into immortals? Now, when pheasants enter the sea they become clams, and when swallows enter the sea they become giant mussels. When they hovered with their wings and flew unevenly with their plumage, they still recognized themselves; suddenly casting themselves in, their spirit transforms and their body changes, and they actually form a flock with turtles and soft-shelled turtles—could they still recognize the joy of soaring in the groves and thickets or nesting under walls and roofs? Niu Ai fell ill and turned into a tiger; meeting his elder brother, he bit him. In cases such as these, what is there to value in transformation? Yet [emperors] were considerably duped by commoners: receiving false words, believing dazzling claims, offering grand courtesies to summon those who would not submit as subjects, exhausting property to provide for empty quests, dispensing princely ranks to honor them, and clearing quiet mansions to house them. Over years and seasons, in the end there was not a single effect. Some died at Shaqu, or passed away at Wuzha. When the time came, though their bodies were executed and their clans wiped out, the tumult was well enough to be the laughingstock of the empire! Nevertheless, as for the length of lifespan and the strength or weakness of bones and body, each person possesses their own. Those who nourish them well complete them; those who exhaust and disturb them halve them; those who spend them in vain die young. Does it not mean this?"