北山錄 1.9.7

1.9.7

道不虛行（聖人知西國有佛。 以非時故未欲行其道也）姑修伯益之經大禹之迹。 著三綱五常（姑且也。 謂刪尚書等。 明九州治水山川之事）被于諸夏。 是謂一天下也。 至若皮服雕題左袵窮髮（題額也。 此四夷之類）為王化之所陋。 其歸命貢琛。 有來則書否則已（已不書之）況在大千之野浩然無垠。 於方冊斯闕。 不欲衍其文也（聖人慎疑。 其未審之事不欲書之）有以釋宗為誕（誕虛大也）彼流競者也。 夫誕則天厭之久矣。 安得行乎天下哉。 誠恐槍榆枋則笑乎南溟之遠也（尺鷃飛所不過槍榆枋而笑大鵬一飛九萬。 榆枋二木名。 槍七良集也）故酌聖人之心以求。 則萬計或一（萬慮一獲也）封區內之心以求。 則於一罔克（罔無也。 克能也。 則於一事亦不能也。 封滯也）夫蠻與觸（蠻觸二國之事。 如前蝸角處已解）聞僬僥侏儒盈尺之軀寔駭（寔實也。 駭驚也。 僬僥國人長一尺五寸。 侏儒國人長三尺也）僬僥侏儒聞防風鄋䐽長狄僑如（此國人並長三丈。 僬僥侏儒小人也）其骨專車。 其喉戟舂（皆大人也。 吳破塗山獲專車之骨。 問夫子云。 禹時防風氏後至戮之。 此其骨也。 鄋䐽國長狄喬如伐魯叔孫得臣。 以戈舂其喉而殺之也）其駭亦蠻觸耳彭祖之傷於殤子也（彭祖。 殷大夫。 姓戔。 名坑。 字長孺。 壽年八百歲。 二十歲已下為長殤。 十五歲已下至十二為中殤。 七歲已上為下殤也）而不知為王母之殤子也。 蛇以鉏鋙傲乎風（鉏鋙不齊貌也）夔以跉（勅錦反）踔（丑略反）傲乎蛇（趻踔跛也。 蛇雖鉏鋙不端齊而行猶勝風。 無形而行。 夔雖一足而跛猶勝蛇全無足也）故恃小者不知其大。 恃近者不知其遠。 恃寡者不知其眾。 夫何不然哉。

the Way would not be practiced in vain. (The sages knew that in the western lands there was a Buddha, but because it was not the time, they did not yet wish to practice his Way.) For the time being, they merely cultivated the Classic of Boyi and the traces of the Great Yu, established the three bonds and five constant virtues, (Gu [姑] means temporarily. It refers to editing the Shangshu and so forth, clarifying the matters of the nine provinces, water regulation, and mountains and rivers.) and extended them across the various Xia; this was what they called unifying all under heaven. As for those with skins for clothing, tattooed foreheads, left-fastened lapels, and sheared hair, (Ti [題] means forehead. These are the kinds of the four barbarian tribes.) they were disdained by the royal transformation; when they submitted and presented treasures, if they came, it was recorded, and if not, it was let be. (Yi [已] means not recording them.) How much more, then, for the wilderness of the great-thousand [world], vast and boundless! In the historical tablets it was left deficient, as they did not wish to amplify their writings. (The sages were prudent regarding doubts; matters not yet thoroughly examined, they did not wish to write down.) There are those who consider the Buddhist tradition preposterous; (Dan [誕] means false and exaggerated.) these are people who merely compete in fleeting currents! Now, if it were preposterous, heaven would long have rejected it; how could it be practiced throughout the world? I truly fear that those darting into the elms and sapanwoods laugh at the distance of the Southern Ocean! (The wren flies no further than darting into elms and sapanwoods, yet it laughs at the great Peng flying ninety thousand li at once. Yu and fang are the names of two trees. Qiang [槍] is pronounced like the fanqiie of qi and liang, meaning to gather or strike.) Therefore, if one seeks by fathoming the mind of the sage, out of ten thousand deliberations one may perhaps grasp one; (Grasping one thing out of ten thousand thoughts.) but if one seeks with a mind confined within borders, one will succeed in nothing at all. (Wang [罔] means without; ke [克] means able. That is, one cannot accomplish even a single matter. Feng [封] means obstructed.) Now, when the kingdoms of Man and Chu (The matter of the two kingdoms of Man and Chu has already been explained above under the snail's horns.) hear of the Jiaoyao and dwarfs, whose bodies measure only a foot, they are truly startled. (Shi [寔] means truly; hai [駭] means startled. The people of the Jiaoyao kingdom are one foot five inches tall; the dwarfs are three feet tall.) And when the Jiaoyao and dwarfs hear of Fangfeng, the Souman, and the tall Di Qiaoru— (The people of these kingdoms are all thirty feet tall. The Jiaoyao and dwarfs are diminutive persons.) whose bones filled a whole cart, and whose throats took halberds like pestles— (These were all giants. When Wu conquered Mount Tu, they obtained bones that filled a cart. They asked Confucius, who said: 'In the time of Yu, the lord of Fangfeng arrived late and was executed; these are his bones.' When the tall Di Qiaoru of the Souman kingdom attacked Lu, Shusun Dechen struck his throat with a spear like a pestle and killed him.) their astonishment is also like that between Man and Chu! Pengzu's grieving for one who died young (Pengzu was a grand master of the Yin, surnamed Qian, named Keng, styled Changru, who lived eight hundred years. Under twenty is an elder unripened death, under fifteen down to twelve is a middle unripened death, and above seven is a lower unripened death.) was done without realizing that he himself was an unripened child in the eyes of the Queen Mother of the West! The snake, with its crooked gait, boasts over the wind; (Chiwu [鉏鋙] is the appearance of irregularity.) the kui, with its hobbling hop, boasts over the snake. (Zhiduo [跉踔] means limping. Although the snake crawls irregularly and not upright, it still surpasses the wind, which moves without form. Although the kui has only one foot and limps, it still surpasses the snake, which has no feet at all.) Therefore, those who rely on the small do not know the great; those who rely on the near do not know the far; those who rely on the few do not know the many. How could it be otherwise?