[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [辯正論](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2110) › 5.4 # 辯正論 5.4 辯正論 5.4 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [5.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2110.5.4) 儒生久之。更為議曰。尋佛教東夏未六百年。晉宋已來其風始盛。猶謂功無與等。世不能名。況老教中華年代綿遠。經史具載略可而聞。案道經元皇曆云。吾以清濁元年正月甲子。下師伏羲。治國太平白日昇天。又云。未分元年八月甲辰。下師神農。太元元年下師裕。一本作松容。凡經一十二代。變為一十七身。始自玄老。終乎方朔。隱真論云。處天地之先。不以為長。在萬古之下。不以為久。隨時應變與物俱化。勘其遊世輔國。時節可知。至於誘引黎元匠成品物。安能紀乎。略計已經二百七十餘萬年矣（彈曰。太素之時氣形始具清濁未判。名之渾沌。二儀既而不分。三才亦眇而未見。六紀序命之外。伏羲方生四姓。燧人之末神農始誕。何得庖炎二皇出清濁之世。柅容六甲生未分之前。委巷之書不足承信也）故云。常道非可道之道。無名非可名之名。既曰寂寥。是稱怳惚。託周朝而為柱史。居漢世而作大臣。戲水乘魚遊空駕鵠。玉井含潤。美地下之飛泉。金竈生烟。烈人間之焰火。三宮白珠之帳。或餌甜芝。九花青瑣之階。恒餐練髓。玫瑰琥珀之樹。不日舒光。瑠璃馬𤤼之枝。無風自響。髑髏能語。曾假問於莊周。白骨還生。豈虛談於徐甲。西王玉文之棗。聖女擎來。東海金色之梨。仙人捧至。形無定所。見種種之容。情有異端。啟紛紛之迹。超江跨海詎藉舟航。入市登山隨心自在。綿綿叵測眇眇難尋。莫不利益天人楷模今古。釋氏之化日月未淹。焉得與道而為比校。開士讓曰。吾子學無稽古。困在師心。不能擇善返迷。而守株信度。吾聞智無不周曰聖。化不可測曰神。遠近難尋始終莫究者。其在茲乎。焉欲措意於其間也。子疑尚擁。當復言之。何者。 > After a long while, the Confucian scholar argued again, saying: “If one traces Buddhism's \[arrival\] in China, it has been fewer than six hundred years; only since the Jin and Song dynasties has its influence begun to flourish. Yet people still say its merit is peerless and the world cannot name it. How much more so for the teaching of Laozi in China, whose eras are so remote! The classics and histories record it fully, and it can be known in outline. According to the Daoist scripture Yuanhuang li (Calendar of the Primal Sovereign): ‘In the first year of the Pure and Turbid, the first month, on the day jiazi, I descended to be the teacher of Fuxi; when the state was ruled in Great Peace, \[he\] ascended to heaven in broad daylight.’ It also says: ‘In the first year of the Undivided, the eighth month, on the day jiachen, I descended to be the teacher of Shennong. In the first year of Taiyuan, I descended to be the teacher of Yu (one edition reads Songrong). In total passing through twelve dynasties, transforming into seventeen bodies, beginning with Xuanlao and ending with Fangshuo.’ The Yinzhen lun (Treatise on Concealing the True) says: ‘Existing prior to heaven and earth, he did not consider it elder; living after myriad antiquities, he did not consider it long. Responding and changing with the times, he transformed together with all things.’ Examining his wandering the world and assisting the state, the eras and seasons can be known. As for guiding the common folk and fashioning all things, how could they ever be chronicled? In a rough calculation, it has already passed more than two million seven hundred thousand years!” (A critique says: At the time of Great Simplicity, qi and forms only began to be complete, and the pure and turbid were not yet separated; this is named Chaos. When the two poles were not yet divided, the Three Powers were also faint and unseen. Beyond the six eras that ordered destiny, Fuxi was just then born among the four surnames; at the end of Suiren's era, Shennong was first born. How could the two sovereigns Fuxi and Shennong emerge in the world of the pure and turbid, and how could Ni, Rong, and the six jia arise before the undivided? Books of the alleys and lanes are not worthy of belief!) “Therefore it is said: ‘The constant Dao is not the Dao that can be spoken; the nameless is not the name that can be named.’ Having been described as silent and void, it is called elusive and vague. Entrusting himself to the Zhou dynasty, he served as the Archivist; residing in the Han dynasty, he became a high minister. Playing in the water, he rode a fish; wandering through the void, he mounted a snow goose. In the jade well moist with richness, delicious is the subterranean springing fountain; from the golden furnace rising with smoke, blazing are the earthly flames of fire. In curtains of white pearls across the Three Palaces, he sometimes ingested sweet mushrooms; upon steps of green lattice carved with nine flowers, he constantly consumed refined marrow. Trees of rose-gem and amber radiate light without the sun; branches of lapis lazuli and agate ring of themselves without the wind. A skull was able to speak, once answering Zhuang Zhou's questions; white bones returned to life—how could the matter of Xu Jia be empty talk? The jade-patterned dates of the Queen Mother of the West were borne forth by sacred maidens; the golden pears of the Eastern Sea were offered up by immortals. His form had no fixed place, manifesting various appearances; his feelings had disparate ways, opening countless traces. Leaping across rivers and striding over seas, how could he rely on boats and rudders? Entering markets and climbing mountains, he was at ease according to his mind. Continuous and unfathomable, remote and hard to track, none failed to benefit devas and humans, serving as a model for past and present. The transformations of the Śākya clan have not lasted many suns and moons; how can they be compared with the Dao?” The Bodhisattva rebuked him, saying: “Your learning lacks investigation into antiquity, and you are hindered by relying solely on your own mind. Unable to choose the good and return from delusion, you guard the tree-stump and put faith in \[false\] measures. I have heard that when wisdom leaves nothing unencompassed, one is called a sage; when transformations cannot be measured, one is called divine. Being difficult to track near or far, with beginning and end beyond investigation—does it not lie precisely here? Why seek to fix your mind upon it? Since your doubts are still obstructed, I shall explain it again. Why is this so? > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 5.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2110.5.3) - [Next: 5.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2110.5.5) - [Up: 5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2110.5) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2110~en-mt.5.4) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2110.5.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2110.5.4) · Pramāṇa