北山錄 1.9.6

1.9.6

水載而浮焉（地在水外。 有雲浮之。 却有水裏。 又有天裏之。 天外有水。 却以雲浮之也）有好問者曰（設端以徵之也）彼盤古判為厚地之趾。 其將安據歟。 彼渾天之外復誰與載歟。 而一家之學者邕邕焉何思何慮（邕邕塞滯之貌也）而可獲其事也。 河出崑崙山（山海經。 河出崑崙。 在大羊同國。 蕃語謂崑崙山為悶摩棃山。 譯為紫山。 東去長安五千里。 又張騫本傳。 尋河至大夏。 見笻竹杖。 知與蜀地相連。 唯杜佑通典偏明也）浸流積石山為禹所導。 經于中國。 東漸于海。 斯阿耨達池之一源也（今黃河水即阿耨達池所出也）其池自中天之北過七黑山距大雪山之陰香醉山南攝乎二山之間（距至也。 山北曰陰。 攝迫也。 水在二山硤中而流也）方五十由旬。 四寶為岸。 四面各流出一大河（東面金象口流出天信度河。 南銀牛口流出天徙多河。 無熱池流出西徙縛蒭河。 北頗梨師子口流出。 各入四方之海也）而東注之河自葱山分流潛邁也。 扶桑靈柯昇于大明。 此或閻浮樹也。 其大者百由旬。 其果可食（佛在時。 有羅漢取得之自皮展手一臂方至果核。 分之以賜大眾。 其色如爛椹也）盛乎此洲之南極也。 鯤鵬之大或則摩竭魚迦樓羅之類也（莊子逍遙篇說。 有鯤魚化為鵬。 面南而飛展翼垂天。 此或則是經中摩竭魚金翅鳥等。 迦樓羅即金翅鳥王也）。 楚王不識於萍實（昭王過江見一物。 大如斗。 紅如日。 觸王舟。 皆不識。 令聘問宣尼云。 是萍實可以食之。 有德而出也）臧氏命祀於爰鶋（爰鶋海鳥。 飛而遇風。 遂泊魯東門。 臧文仲為大夫不識令控御而祭之。 孔子云。 爰鶋也。 其鳥大於驢也）向使不遭孔聖。 則謂彼二物恢詭也（恢大也。 詭怪也）故方夏古今。 燕鄉越鄉於關內關外於其言蓋物同而名不同（方者四方。 夏即中夏也。 燕在北。 越在南。 言語呼名有所不同也）矧乎異域何相韙也（矧況也。 韙是也）須彌之趾。 八功德水以為巨海（一清。 二冷。 三軟。 四輕。 五香。 六不臭。 七飲不損喉。 八不損腹）深廣之量與須彌同（須彌入水八萬四千。 海亦深八萬四千）海環于山。 循海外涯有持雙山。 如輪圍海。 高厚之數若須彌之半（其山如車輪繞須彌山。 號七金山。 一曰持雙。 二曰持軸。 三曰擔木。 四曰善見。 五曰馬耳。 六曰象鼻。 七曰魚觜。 出水四萬二千由旬）上與日月齊焉。 餘山餘海間而繞之。 既降又狹（相次半之）第七山外方有鹹海（所謂由乾陀海。 伊沙陀海。 佉羅眡海。 善見海。 馬耳海毘那多海。 尼民多海。 又云。 一鹹海。 二乳海。 三酪海。 四酥海。 五蜜水海。 六吉祥海。 七酒海）而四大洲對妙高之四面。 各在鹹海之一方矣。 是謂一小世界（一四洲也）千小世界謂之小千（一千四洲。 一千六欲天。 一千箇梵世。 名一小千界）千倍小千名一中千（一千箇小千界。 一千箇二禪。 名中千界）千倍中千為一大千（一千箇中千界。 一千箇三禪。 名一大千界也）是知天地無窮。 品物流形孰為六合之外哉。 儒衣緇衣各理其優（優勝也）有務玄先生。 辯蘊儒學。 家富道書。 曰。 爾來余評。 惟釋氏之博大。 吾無以擬議。 雖聖人之末。 皆得於糟粕（糟酒滓粕油滓。 皆聖人之殘末也）而甘酸腴瘠（腴肥也。 瘠瘦也）孰不云乎異矣。 故遙劫非隷首能計（隸首古之善算也）曜靈非夸父能遂（曜靈日也。 夸父逐日不及渴飲黃河而竭擲其杖化為鄧林也）彼日域朱崖月窟玄墟。 蓋四海之有截（截邊也。 東日域。 南朱崖。 西月窟。 北玄墟也）渾儀昕天穹隆宣夜（並古史天文志之名也）歷造化之一塊耳。 古者中國聖人（謂伯陽尼父等）知來而藏往。 察往而知來。 窮神而知化。 原始而要終。 苟非其時。

[The earth] is borne by water and floats upon it. (The earth is outside the water, and clouds float it; within, there is water, and within that again is heaven. Outside heaven there is water, which again is floated by clouds.) An inquisitive person asked: (Setting forth a premise to investigate it:) "Where Pangu cleaved [primordial chaos] into the foundation of the thick earth, upon what will it rest? Beyond the armillary sphere of heaven, who carries it again? While the scholars of one single school remain obstructed and sluggish, pondering nothing and worrying over nothing, (Yongyong [邕邕] denotes an obstructed and congested appearance.) how could they grasp the truth of this matter?" The Yellow River issues from Mount Kunlun. (The Shanhai jing states: "The Yellow River issues from Kunlun." It lies in the Great Yangtong kingdom. The Tibetan tongue calls Mount Kunlun Mount Menmoli, translated as the "Purple Mountain," five thousand li west of Chang'an. Again, Zhang Qian's biography records that, tracing the Yellow River to Bactria, he saw Qiong bamboo staffs, thereby knowing that it connected with the land of Shu. Only Du You's Tongdian clarifies this comprehensively.) Soaking and flowing through Mount Jishi, it was guided by Yu, traversing the Central Kingdom and gradually reaching the sea in the east. This is one source from Lake Anavatapta. (The water of today's Yellow River indeed issues from Lake Anavatapta.) That lake is situated north of Madhyadeśa; crossing the seven Black Mountains, it reaches the northern shade of the Great Snowy Mountains and the south of Mount Gandhamādana, held between the two ranges. (Ju [距] means to reach. The north of a mountain is called its shade. She [攝] means pressed closely. The waters flow, squeezed between the two mountains.) It is fifty yojanas square, with shores composed of the four treasures. From its four faces there flow out four great rivers: (From the eastern golden elephant's mouth flows the heavenly Sindhu River. From the southern silver ox's mouth flows the heavenly Śītā River. From Lake Anavatapta to the west flows the Vakṣu River. From the northern beryl lion's mouth flows out [the Gaṅgā]. Each enters the seas of the four quarters.) and the river flowing east branches off from the Congling Mountains, flowing concealed beneath. The wondrous branch of the Fusang tree rises into the Great Radiance; this is perhaps the Jambū tree. The largest measures a hundred yojanas, and its fruit is edible. (When the Buddha was in the world, an arhat obtained one; from the skin, stretching his arm the length of a cubit, he only then reached the fruit's pit. Dividing it, he bestowed it on the great assembly. Its color was like that of ripe mulberries.) It flourishes at the southernmost extremity of this continent. The vastness of the Kun and the Peng is perhaps of the kind of the makara fish and the garuḍa. (The "Carefree Wandering" chapter of Zhuangzi says: "There is a Kun fish that transforms into a Peng bird, flying toward the south with wings spread like clouds hanging from heaven." This is perhaps identical to the makara fish, golden-winged bird, and others in the scriptures. The garuḍa is indeed the king of golden-winged birds.) The King of Chu did not recognize the duckweed fruit. (King Zhao crossed the river and saw an object as large as a peck measure and as red as the sun, which struck the king's boat. None recognized it. He sent emissaries to ask Confucius, who said: "It is the duckweed fruit, which may be eaten; it appears when there is virtue.") The clan of Zang ordered sacrifices to the seabird yuanju. (The yuanju is a seabird; flying and encountering a windstorm, it came to rest at the eastern gate of Lu. Zang Wenzhong, acting as grand master, did not recognize it and ordered horses harnessed to sacrifice to it. Confucius said: "It is a yuanju; that bird is larger than a donkey.") Had they not met the sage Confucius, they would have deemed those two creatures bizarre and monstrous. (Hui [恢] means immense; gui [詭] means strange and monstrous.) Therefore, throughout the regions of the Xia, ancient and modern, from the lands of Yan to the lands of Yue, within the passes and beyond them, words denote identical things with different names. (Fang [方] means the four quarters; Xia means the Central Xia. Yan is in the north, Yue in the south. Their spoken languages and designations differ.) How much more, then, between foreign lands—how could they fully agree? (Shen [矧] means how much more. Wei [韙] means to agree or be correct.) At the base of Sumeru, the waters of eight merits form a vast ocean. (First, clear; second, cold; third, soft; fourth, light; fifth, fragrant; sixth, devoid of foul smell; seventh, drinking it does not harm the throat; eighth, it does not harm the belly.) Its depth and breadth match those of Sumeru. (Sumeru enters the water by eighty-four thousand [yojanas]; the ocean is also eighty-four thousand deep.) The ocean encircles the mountain. Along the outer rim of the ocean is Mount Yugandhara, encircling the ocean like a wheel, with a height and thickness half that of Sumeru. (These mountains encircle Mount Sumeru like chariot wheels, called the Seven Golden Mountains. The first is Yugandhara, the second Īṣādhara, the third Khadiraka, the fourth Sudarśana, the fifth Aśvakarṇa, the sixth Vinataka, the seventh Nimindhara. They rise forty-two thousand yojanas above the water.) Above, they are level with the sun and moon. The remaining mountains and oceans encircle them alternately, steadily diminishing and narrowing, (Successively halved in turn.) until outside the seventh mountain lies the salt ocean. (These are the so-called Yugandhara Ocean, Īṣādhara Ocean, Khadiraka Ocean, Sudarśana Ocean, Aśvakarṇa Ocean, Vinataka Ocean, and Nimindhara Ocean. Another list gives: 1. the Salt Ocean, 2. the Milk Ocean, 3. the Curd Ocean, 4. the Clarified Butter Ocean, 5. the Honey-Water Ocean, 6. the Auspicious Ocean, and 7. the Wine Ocean.) The four great continents face the four sides of the Wondrously High, each lying in one quarter of the salt ocean. This is called a small world. (That is, one four-continent [world].) A thousand small worlds are called a small-thousand [world]. (A thousand four-continent [worlds], a thousand six-desire heavens, and a thousand Brahmā worlds are called a small-thousand world.) A thousand times a small-thousand is called a medium-thousand. (A thousand small-thousand worlds and a thousand second-dhyāna [heavens] are called a medium-thousand world.) A thousand times a medium-thousand is a great-thousand. (A thousand medium-thousand worlds and a thousand third-dhyāna [heavens] are called a great-thousand world.) From this we know that heaven and earth are boundless, and that within the streaming forms of the manifold beings, what can be claimed to lie outside the six directions? The Ruist robes and the black monastic robes each argue for their own preeminence. (You [優] means superior.) There was a Master Pursuing Mystery, endowed with the learning of the Ruists and whose home was rich in Daoist scriptures. He said: "Recently, I have evaluated these: only the expanse of the Śākya clan is so immense that I have nothing by which to liken or discuss it. Although the offshoots of the sages all partook of the dregs, (Zao [糟] means wine dregs; po [粕] means oil residue. Both denote the remaining dregs of the sages.) when it comes to the sweet and the sour, the rich and the lean, (Yu [腴] means fat; ji [瘠] means lean.) who would not say they differ? Thus, remote kalpas cannot be calculated by Lishou, (Lishou was an ancient master of calculation.) and the Radiant Luminary cannot be overtaken by Kuafu. (The Radiant Luminary is the sun. Kuafu chased the sun, but failing to reach it, drank from the Yellow River until parched and exhausted, throwing down his staff, which turned into the Deng forest.) Those regions of the sun, vermilion cliffs, caves of the moon, and dark wastes are merely the borders of the four seas. (Jie [截] means edge. The east is the region of the sun; south, vermilion cliffs; west, the caves of the moon; north, the dark wastes.) The armillary sphere, the celestial vault, the high dome, and the night-sky theory (These are all names from ancient historical treatises on astronomy.) merely record a single clod of creation. In ancient times, the sages of the Central Kingdom (meaning Boyang, Confucius, and others) knew what was to come and stored what had passed, examined the past and knew the future, plumbed the divine and comprehended transformation, probed beginnings to encompass ends. If the time was not right,