北山錄 1.11.4

1.11.4

請負命者投吾此網。 論語云。 子釣而不綱。 但以一釣取之。 雖殺不多。 此皆儒教漸行不殺之文也）老教中至也。 一曰慈。 二曰儉。 三曰不敢為天下先（此道教謂之三寶也）釋教極至也。 自鳥獸芻土違而必懲（律文之誡也）如有用釋教者。 使人居乎漏盡。 如有用老教者。 使民至於冲和。 如有用孔教者。 使民登乎仁壽。 是以大聖生于盛王（謂周昭之代）五天之人。 千乘之邑。 百乘之君。 階于聖智者也（千乘之邑。 百乘之君。 謂淨飯王之諸侯也。 以佛生之世國皆證果齊聖者也）二教生乎衰世。 而大道躓于陵夷（自周第十二主幽王寵褒姒。 失御天下。 平王遷都洛邑。 諸侯專征禮樂崩壞。 謂之衰周也）故老聖潛其龍德隱於柱下。 紫氣浮關邁于流沙（老子為周柱下史見周德凌遲。 遂出關往流沙。 因為關令尹喜說道德二篇也）仲尼祖述堯舜。 憲章文武。 自衛返魯而修春秋。 感其靈應。 反袂拭面。 稱吾道窮。 皆非其志也（仲尼以魯哀公十一年自衛返魯。 十四年西狩獲麟而修春秋也）而知道者關尹也。 知儒道者顏回也。 行二教者百王也。 老氏為高仙。 仲尼為素王。 聖謀洋洋與天地而無窮者也。 時有慍見者曰（此乃假賔主問）若不貶二教已甚矣而胡德之歟（胡何也。 乃可教而何德之有）余謂彼不知矛楯者也（昔有賣矛楯者。 雙誇其功。 言楯則矛刺不入。 言矛則能穿十楯。 或云賣汝矛而穿汝楯。 如何彼無詞矣）吾經以二士為至化今鄙之（為迦葉為老子。 儒童為仲尼也）則何反其義哉。 穆王五十二年壬申二月十五日大聖示滅焉。 是日也黑雲四起。 大風動地。 西方有白虹十二道。 南北通貫。 連夜不滅。 王問太史扈多。 扈多曰。 西方有大聖人滅。 是其衰相耳。 初穆王聞西方有聖人。 又亟覩光氣（亟數也）慮非周道所宜（慮其聖人來侵土墳也）命呂侯會諸侯於塗山（塗山在會稽吳越分野呂侯呂級也）以備其變至。 是靡不大啟沃也（今聞西方聖人滅無不慶悅也）昔大聖顧託大龜氏法藏（大龜氏則大迦葉姓。 受如來之顧命也）事畢詣于雙林道場（即俱尸那城跋提河畔也）末命七寶床上。 北首而臥。 於靜夜中寂然無聲。 正遍知月隱于大涅槃山（佛身喻月。 圓寂喻山）萬彙號慟。 泉填岳墜。 惡星驟墮。 諸河返流。 阿難心沒憂海。 羅睺羅但觀無常。 有學無學愴然悠逝。 諸天稱曰。 苦哉其娑羅林（梵云娑羅。 此云堅固。 凌冬不凋也）四雙八隻合為二樹。 垂條下掩。 離離皓素如白鶴色。 以是謂之鶴樹也。 勁葉含霜凌冬不凋。 故謂之堅固林也。 初大聖將復乎無為（則未滅前）發毘舍離至于南河岸上。 履大方石。 顧阿難曰。 此吾最後望金剛座及王舍城。 所留之跡也（毘舍離國在恒河南中天竺界七百里。 賢聖於中結集處。 即毘耶離國也）故今石上有佛雙趾。 長尺有咫（一尺八寸也）廣三之一（闊六寸也）下有千輻輪相。 指端萬字花文及瓶魚等。 光爛爛焉（至今石上有此文見）自古邪徒毀而還復原。 茲聖人寄跡以表教。 教存而跡不亡。 觀者泣其依然則長想之懷有在矣。 周之二月今十二月也（周朝十一月建子之月為歲首。 則今十二月乃是周之二月也）十五日西土之晦也（西國於一月三十日內。 分前十五日為白月。 後十五日為黑月。 自月一日為白月朔十五日為白月晦。 自十六日為黑月朔盡日為黑月晦也）彼十二月各以星名呼之（正月利咀囉。 二月吠舍佉。 三月逝瑟吒。 四月頞沙茶。 五月室囉伐拏。 六月波囉鉢陀。 七月頞濕縛庾闍。 八月迦剌底迦。 九月伽始囉。 十月報沙。 十一月磨佉。 十二月頗勒窶拏也）星始為朔。 星盡為晦。 故此十六日當彼之朔也。 合三十日成（前十五日白月。

'I pray that those who owe their lives cast themselves into this net of mine.' The Analects states: 'The Master fished with a hook, but did not use a net.' Merely taking with a single hook, though killing, did not take many. These are all texts of the Ruist teaching progressively practicing non-killing.) The teaching of Laozi reaches the middle [level]: first, compassion; second, frugality; third, not daring to take the lead in the world (these are what Daoism calls the Three Treasures). The teaching of Śākya reaches the utmost: from birds and beasts to grass and soil, any violation is unfailingly penalized (these are the admonitions of the vinaya texts). If one uses the teaching of Śākya, it causes people to dwell in the exhaustion of contaminants (āsravakṣaya). If one uses the teaching of Laozi, it causes the people to reach empty harmony. If one uses the teaching of Kongzi, it causes the people to ascend to benevolence and longevity. Therefore, the Great Sage was born during [the reign of] a flourishing king (referring to the era of King Zhao of the Zhou), and the people of the Five Indias, the cities of a thousand chariots, and the lords of a hundred chariots were all elevated to sage-like wisdom (the cities of a thousand chariots and the lords of a hundred chariots refer to the feudal lords of King Śuddhodana; in the age when the Buddha was born, all the kingdoms attained the fruits [of the path] and equaled the sages). The two teachings were born in a declining age, and the Great Way stumbled amidst gradual decay (from the time King You, the twelfth ruler of the Zhou, favored Baosi and lost control of the world, King Ping moved the capital to Luoyi, the feudal lords waged private campaigns, and rites and music collapsed and decayed; this is called the declining Zhou). Therefore, the Old Sage concealed his dragon virtue, hiding beneath the pillars; purple vapor floated over the pass, and he strode forth into the flowing sands (Laozi served as an archivist beneath the pillars for the Zhou; seeing the virtue of the Zhou decline, he went forth through the pass to the flowing sands, and for the Pass Guardian Yin Xi expounded the two chapters on the Way and Virtue). Zhongni transmitted the ways of Yao and Shun, and modeled himself upon Wen and Wu; returning from Wei to Lu, he compiled the Spring and Autumn Annals. Stirred by spiritual response, he covered his face with his sleeves and cried that his Way was exhausted—none of this was his original aspiration (in the eleventh year of Duke Ai of Lu, Zhongni returned from Wei to Lu; in the fourteenth year, the capture of the lin during the western hunt occurred, and he compiled the Spring and Autumn Annals). Those who understood the Way were Guan Yin; those who understood the Ruist Way were Yan Hui; those who practiced the two teachings were the hundred kings. Laozi became an exalted immortal; Zhongni became the Uncrowned King. The sage plans were vast and overflowing, boundless alongside heaven and earth. At that time, an indignant onlooker said (this is a hypothetical question between guest and host): 'If you do not deprecate the two teachings, that is already excessive; why then do you praise their virtue?' ('Hu' means 'why'; they are merely teachings, what virtue do they have?) I replied that he does not understand the spear and the shield (in ancient times there was one who sold spears and shields, praising the merits of both: speaking of the shield, he said no spear could pierce it; speaking of the spear, he said it could pierce ten shields. Someone said: 'Take your spear and pierce your shield, how about that?' and he was left speechless). Our scriptures take the two masters as ultimate manifestations; if we now despise them (referring to Mahākāśyapa as Laozi and the Youth Māṇava as Zhongni), then how could we contradict their meaning? In the fifty-second year of King Mu, the year renshen, on the fifteenth day of the second month, the Great Sage manifested extinction. On this day, black clouds arose on all four sides, and a great wind shook the earth. In the west there were twelve paths of white rainbows, piercing through from south to north, not vanishing throughout the night. The King asked the Grand Astrologer Heduo. Heduo said: 'A Great Sage in the west has passed into extinction; these are his signs of decline.' Earlier, when King Mu heard that there was a sage in the west and repeatedly beheld light and vapors ('ji' means 'repeatedly'), he feared this was unsuited to the Zhou Way (he feared that the sage would come and encroach upon his territory), and ordered the Marquis of Lü to assemble the feudal lords at Mount Tu (Mount Tu is in Kuaiji, the division of Wu and Yue; the Marquis of Lü was Lü Ji), in order to prepare for changes. When it came to this point, everyone was greatly relieved (now hearing that the sage of the west had passed away, all were joyful). Formerly, the Great Sage entrusted the Dharma treasury to Mahākāśyapa (the Mahākāśyapa clan is the surname of Mahākāśyapa; he received the Tathāgata's testament). His work accomplished, he went to the bodhimaṇḍa of the Twin Trees (namely, by the banks of the Hiraṇyavatī River at the city of Kuśinagara). With his final injunction upon the seven-jeweled couch, he lay down with his head to the north. In the quiet night, it was utterly serene and silent; the moon of the Correct and Universal Knower vanished into the mountain of Great Nirvāṇa (the Buddha's body is likened to the moon; complete extinction is likened to the mountain). The ten thousand creatures wailed and lamented; springs choked and mountains crumbled; baneful stars precipitously fell; the various rivers flowed backward. Ānanda's mind was submerged in an ocean of grief; Rāhula merely contemplated impermanence. Those with training and those beyond training sorrowfully and quietly departed. The devas exclaimed: 'How bitter!' Its śāla grove (in Sanskrit 'śāla', translated here as 'resolute'; it withstands the winter without withering)—the four pairs and eight trees merged into two trees, their hanging branches drooping downward, clustered together in pure white like the color of white cranes; for this reason it was called the Crane Trees. Its hardy leaves bore frost, withstanding the winter without withering, hence it was called the Resolute Forest. Earlier, when the Great Sage was about to return to the unconditioned (that is, before his extinction), he departed from Vaiśālī and arrived at the southern bank of the river. Stepping upon a large square stone, he looked back at Ānanda and said: 'This is the trace left by my final gaze upon the Diamond Throne and the city of Rājagṛha' (the kingdom of Vaiśālī is seven hundred li south of the Ganges in the territory of Central India; the place where the sages and worthies held the council is the kingdom of Viyali). Therefore, on the stone today there are the Buddha's two footprints, one foot and eight inches long and one third as wide (six inches wide), bearing underneath the mark of the thousand-spoked wheel, with svastika-flower designs, vases, fish, and the like at the tips of the toes, brilliantly radiant (even today these patterns can be seen upon the stone). From ancient times, heretics destroyed them, yet they returned to their original state. Here the Sage lodged his traces to manifest his teaching: while the teaching endures, the traces do not perish. When beholders weep at their enduring presence, their long-cherished yearnings are sustained. The second month of the Zhou is the present twelfth month (the Zhou dynasty took the eleventh month, the month containing the zi celestial branch, as the start of the year; thus the present twelfth month was the second month of the Zhou). The fifteenth day is the end of the month in the western land (in the western countries, within a month of thirty days, they divide the first fifteen days as the bright half and the latter fifteen days as the dark half; from the first day of the month is the new moon of the bright half, and the fifteenth day is the full moon/end of the bright half; from the sixteenth day is the start of the dark half, and the final day is the end of the dark half). Their twelve months are each called by the name of a constellation (the first month is Caitra; the second month is Vaiśākha; the third month is Jyeṣṭha; the fourth month is Āṣāḍha; the fifth month is Śrāvaṇa; the sixth month is Bhādrapada; the seventh month is Āśvina; the eighth month is Kārttika; the ninth month is Mārgaśīrṣa; the tenth month is Pauṣa; the eleventh month is Māgha; the twelfth month is Phālguna). When the constellation begins, it is the start of the month; when the constellation ends, it is the end of the month. Therefore, this sixteenth day corresponds to their first day of the month. Combining thirty days forms [a month] (the first fifteen days being the bright half).