北山錄 10.2

To the west of the Great Wilderness (within the Son of Heaven's royal domain of five hundred li is the dīan domain; five hundred li beyond is the hòu domain; five hundred li beyond is the suī domain; five hundred li beyond is the yào domain; five hundred li beyond is the huāng domain. The huāng domain is two thousand five hundred li from the capital. Here it refers to beyond the Great Wilderness, the regions of the farthest west), Shendu has different customs (meaning the customs and transforming influence of Western India differ from those of Zhina). In the beginning of primeval antiquity, before the Supreme Sage was born (referring to the Tathāgata), there were non-Buddhist ṛṣis who served as founders of religions in the world. Originally, there were the Sāṃkhya and the Vaiśeṣika (at first there was the Sāṃkhya non-Buddhist tradition, which established the doctrine of the twenty-five principles, and the Vaiśeṣika non-Buddhist tradition, which expounded the six categories and so forth); in the middle there were the six teachers (first, Pūraṇa Kāśyapa; second, Ajita Keśakambalin; third, Gośālīputra; fourth, Pakudha Kaccāyana; fifth, Sañjaya Belaṭṭhiputta; sixth, Nirgrantha Jñātaputra); and eventually ninety-five varieties (namely the non-Buddhists who conceived an 'I' inside the aggregates, apart from the aggregates, and so forth). Looking haughtily upon mountain crags and marshlands, they plotted to match themselves against us as adversaries, intending to bring harm to the true Dharma, repeatedly devour the dark companions, encroach upon the true realm, and fell and destroy the boats and bridges. Although they relied on their vast numbers, they were no match for our few; thus Śāriputra, in a single move, utterly crushed the cohorts of Raudrākṣa (vanquished them entirely. This refers to the Vaiśeṣika non-Buddhists. Because this ṛṣi was ugly in appearance and liked to go out begging food at night, he was called Ulūka. He established the six categories for Pañcaśikha. Later he transformed into a stone, which was shattered by Bodhisattva Dignāga, who reduced it to powder with a single roar). Therefore, striking disorder with uprightness, there is nothing that cannot be accomplished. Yet once the ramparts of pride stand tall, the weapons of heterodoxy are hard to lay down; gathering like screaming bands in dense thickets, people ford the deluded fords in vain, causing the billowing waves of the ocean of suffering to become vast and boundless, and casting fishing nets and corded arrows along perilous paths, unbroken and never ceasing (the corded arrow is a device for shooting birds; the net is a device for catching fish; 'ceasing' means reaching an end—practitioners do not reach it). The sages considered this a sorrow; the multitude of living beings forever lamented it. Alas, what could be done about it! Since the White Horse came from the west and the Sanskrit texts were presented to Luoyang (in the tenth year of the Yongping reign of Emperor Ming of the Later Han, Shemoteng [Kāśyapa Mātanga] and Zhu Falan [Dharmaratna], loading scriptures and images on a white horse, first arrived at Luoyang), faith and slander have fanned each other by turns, and rulers and ministers have not been of one mind (at that time, the Daoist masters of the Five Marchmounts, Chu Shanxin and others, sought a contest by burning scriptures and images). Moreover, as for the soils of distant realms, the Nine Domains call them the outer wasteland; as for the customs of the western quarter, the Four Seas regard them as barbarians (the Nine Domains are the Nine Provinces; the western quarter refers to the Western Kingdoms). Yet they, in turn, refer to the territories of the Central Florescence as 'the land of the Ruists' and the eastern verge of the Pamirs as a borderland. It is human nature for each to value where they reside and look down on other realms, so that all say, 'Why was the Buddha not born in the Central Kingdom?' (the people of Zhina themselves consider this land the Central Kingdom). By hearsay it is said: at the summer solstice in Central India, when measuring the shadow, it completely covers the gnomon (in Central India in the Western Heavens, at midday on the summer solstice, a pole erected in the sun casts no shadow; having obtained the very center of Jambudvīpa, the sun's course is directly overhead, hence they call it the center). Although in this land the Earl of Shao divined the site and the Duke of Zhou went to construct it (the Zhou originally had Haojing as capital; the Duke of Shao divined the site at Shanruo, and the Duke of Zhou came to Chengzhou to construct it, which is the present-day capital Luoyang), yet the Rites of Zhou states: 'The Grand Master of Instruction's office [records that] the shadow on the day of the solstice is one foot and five inches' (although the capital Luoyang is the heart of Zhina, at midday on the day of the summer solstice a pole erected still casts a shadow of one foot and five inches; in other regions it is even longer). It is called the center of the earth, where heaven and earth unite, where the four seasons intersect, where wind and rain converge, and where yin and yang harmonize; when the myriad things flourish in peace, only then is the royal capital established. Now, Yangcheng County in Henan has obtained the center of the Central Xia, yet its shadow still leaves a remainder. Regions that are not Yangcheng exceed one foot and five inches even further. And for every thousand li in heaven, there is one inch on earth; therefore, how could it be fixed for all time whether this land or that of the Western Regions, ten thousand li away, is barbarian or Xia? When the Yi and Luo rivers were transformed, they became barbarian (the Zuo zhuan says there were the Rong of the Yi and Luo rivers, and also the campaign against the Rong of Luhun, both in Luoyang); when Wu and Yue were transformed, they became Xia (Wu and Yue were originally barbarian, yet Goujian and Fuchai both became hegemons of the Central Kingdom). Therefore, when the Supreme Sage rides the times, he is fundamentally not limited by regions or customs; he simply takes the great chiliocosm and Jambudvīpa as his inner domain. If here is suitable, then here; if there is suitable, then there. Could it be said that because Kings Wen and Wu were not in Luoyang, they were not sovereigns of all under heaven? (King Wen resided among the Western Rong; King Wu resided beneath Qi). Furthermore, in the Western Regions, when there is no wheel-turning king, all under heaven is divided among four lords: the east takes humankind as paramount, precisely because ritual and music originate from this land, and benevolence and righteousness top the eight wildernesses. Designating something as 'central' is not necessarily dependent on geography. He Chengtian of the Song asked Huiyan, 'What calendar does the Buddha's country use?' Yan said, 'There, at midday on the day of the summer solstice, there is no shadow; among the five elements, they venerate the virtue of Earth; eight inches make a foot; one ounce equals twelve ounces of this land; and the chen month is established as the start of the year' (Huiyan personally went to the Western Heavens and returned, hence he was able to clarify this matter). When examining the equinoxes and solstices (the spring and autumn equinoxes and the winter and summer solstices), eclipses, constellations, and the balancing of yin and yang, he indeed deemed it to be so. But because the Tripiṭaka masters who came from the west crossed the seas through multiple translations and underwent hardships and perils, scorning a hundred deaths to attain a single life, once they arrived they did not even know where their homeland was, which is truly lamentable. When the texts they translated were compared with the scriptures within our realm, they ran contrary to what is seen and heard, and profoundly diverged from people's desires. Seeking to make those of accumulated delusion bend like grass before the wind was like rolling a pill up a steep slope—it merely increased their resentment, which was truly difficult as well (because the translating Tripiṭaka masters came from afar and did not fully command the language of this land, their phrasing was plain and their literary style lacked elegance, as in the scriptures translated by An Shigao and others. Those who did not understand immediately disparaged them, adding to slander and abuse, which was regrettable). Now, when Yongmen Zhou took advantage of Mengchang's agitated sorrow and played the zither for him, as soon as the zither sounded, Mengchang's tears fell copiously without end (Yongmen is in Qi; Mengchang is Tian Wen, a prince of Qi. Zhou played the zither for him, and when the zither sounded, his tears could not be stopped). But when crooked and foolish men take advantage of princes' and marquises' doubts and estrangement to wag their tongues for them, as soon as their lips open, calumny and slander shake things up without end (this describes how those who disparage the religion take advantage of the times when government officials doubt our teachings; seizing the opportunity, they flap their lips to defame them, causing princes and marquises to turn their hearts and give credence to them). It is for this reason that one must borrow their exalted positions and grand talents, so that their words serve as a standard for all things.

Conduct serves as the model for the times (The Buddha Dharma is entrusted to kings and ministers. Whenever officials in office or scholars of talent and learning offer their protection, the Three Jewels wherever present especially rely on being supported and honored. Their great talent and exalted rank are valued for propagating and guarding the religion. It means a plumbline; a model law). Those who accord are guided and assisted; those who rebel are struck and combated (Assisted means taking by the arm. Those who have faith and accord are taken by the arm and led; those who lack faith are struck, combated, and reprimanded). This enables the weak and lost to know where to turn, and like those who 'eat mulberries, to cherish a sweet voice' (When the yellow oriole eats mulberries its voice becomes beautiful; this is like hearing the Dharma and faithfully revering it). This forms the solid defense of metal walls and boiling moats for the Buddha Dharma (Relying on honored officials as external protectors, the Buddha Dharma has defenses like walls and moats), so that those who attack it never fail to be defeated, their discipline broken and their armies destroyed (If an external faction attacks, they are invariably and spontaneously overthrown and broken). Now, when difficulties are raised against the lineage of Śākya, why is it that Buddhists themselves cannot avert them? (When outsiders raise difficulties against the teachings of Śākya and one cites Śākya's teachings in response, what is the reason that they cannot avoid or deflect the difficulty?) This is like yin erring in its seasonal order, which requires the blazing sun to dry it; or yang erring in its seasonal order, which requires torrents of rain to shower down upon it (Protracted rain is an error of yin, which must have bright weather to be resolved. Protracted drought is an error of yang, which must have sweet rain to resolve it). If yin is aided by yin, or scalded water is aided by yang, then the nine years of flood and the seven years of drought would not be considered excessive (Yao suffered nine years of flood; Tang had seven years of drought). Therefore, as for the worthy and virtuous of antiquity: without status, how could they have authority? Without rewards, how could they bring joy? Without eloquence, how could they inspire faith? In their responses and counterarguments, many cited the teachings of Śākya as proof, which conversely fueled their opponents' arrogance (If in answering difficulties one only cites one's own teaching as evidence, it is like aiding yin with yin or aiding yang with yang). Thus, smoothing out difficulties, pacifying violence, bringing back the confused, and taking advantage of disorder, they thwarted the eloquence of Gongsun Long (Smoothing out means pacifying. Taking advantage of disorder means seizing victory. Gongsun Long was a man of Zhao. Yu Xiang thought to request the enfeoffment of Pingyuan on account of Handan; Long dissuaded him through quick eloquence. Later accounts state that Long had the debate of the 'White Horse') and cut short the slander of Shusun (Shusun Wushu slandered Zhongni [Confucius]. Zigong said, 'The Master cannot be slandered. The worthiness of others is like mounds and hills; the worthiness of the Master is like the sun and moon: none can surpass them'). Although there are those in square robes [monks], none compare to those who wear the ceremonial caps [court scholars] (Those who wear ceremonial caps are Ruist scholars; when someone slandered the Master, they could immediately counter it. How could Buddhist disciples in square robes, when encountering slander of their teacher, fail to offer an answer? Is this not shameful? They must rely on learning. Square robes refers to the kāṣāya). Formerly, He Chengtian composed the *Treatise on Penetrating Nature*, and Yan Yanzhi refuted it (Both were court officials of the Song; Yan was Guanglu Daifu. He had literary talent and was fond of drinking wine). Fan Zhen constructed the doctrine of the extinction of body and soul, and Shen Yue interrogated it (He was a worthy scholar of the Liang dynasty; the text is in the *Hongming ji*). Therefore, jackals and wolves cannot be subdued without a lion, and serpents and swine cannot be cut down without the sword Moye. When the scriptures refer to 'external protectors', if a person is truly like this (Truly like this means relying on a faithful mind as external support, being verified as such), then they do not lose that name. Alas! There are Heaven and Earth, there is generation and growth, there are those who believe, and there are those who do not believe (Since Heaven and Earth create and transform, there are myriad things and human relationships. Within human relationships there are believers and non-believers, because their sentiments differ). Among the believers were Han Xianzong (the second ruler of the Later Han, Emperor Ming), Fu Wuzhong (Fu Yi), the Great Emperor of Wu (Sun Quan), Zhi and Kan (Zhi Qian and Kan Ze), and in the Eastern Jin down to the end of its mandate, men like Wang Meng, Xi Chao, Xu Xun, and Xie Shang; in the Song, Wen and Ming, as well as the imperial princes and the peers of He [Shangzhi] and Yan [Yannian]; in the Wei, Zonggong; in the Southern Qi, Liu Qiu; in the Liang, the sovereign and ministers as well as Tao the Recluse (Tao Jingchun, style-name Yinjü, called the Zhenbai Hermit); and in the Northern Qi, Yan Zhitui (these were all men of deep faith). As for the non-believers, there were in the Jin, Cai Mo (style-name Daoming, of the Eastern Jin; the Eastern [Jin] Emperor ordered him to compose a eulogy praising the Buddha, but he firmly refused, speaking slander against the Buddha; he was sent to the judicial court and stripped of rank to become a commoner); in the illegitimate Zhao, Wang Du; in the Song, Zhou Lang and Yu Yuan; in the Wei, Zhang Puji, Li Yang, and Yang Xuanzhi; in the Qi, Liu Zhou; and in the Liang, Xun Ji (these were men who truly slandered the teaching and lacked faith). Now, believers are quiet and focused in one mind, their clarity exhausting the ten thousand transformations; or, not having yet forgotten worldly existence, they seek retribution and give offerings, valuing the principle of cause and conditions and strengthening a reverent and observant mind; in retreat they suffer no cruelty of being cast into a moat, and advancing they attain the beauty of contained brilliance (A moat is a pit; as if being cast into a pit). As for the non-believers, the function of their spirit is not open, their vulgar consciousness and turbid thoughts are petty; or they despise the loftiness and extravagance of banners and pagodas, the vast depth of the Dharma texts, the elevation and purity of monastic dwellings (The character variant means high and clean), and the venerated stature of Dharma followers. Venting their resentment (Venting means expressing), they utter rebellious words, but a team of four horses cannot overtake the tongue; thus they fall into deviant cliques—how lamentable! However, there were also those whose faith went to excess, such as Crown Prince Wenhui and the Prince of Jingling in the Qi; Emperor Gaozu [Wu] of the Liang; Emperors Wen and Xuan of the Chen; Emperors Wencheng, Xianwen, and Xiaowen of the Wei; and Gao Yang of the Qi (Northern Qi; all these accounts of believers appear in the *Hongming ji*). Some expounded golden verses; some cast aside the jewel throne; some permitted the common people to enter the monastic life; and some exhausted their state to build temples (The present Emperor of the Great Song has produced several sets of the Great Canon in gold and silver script, carved over one hundred and thirty thousand printing blocks for the Canon, adorned the temples across the realm, and annually grants ordination certificates from the Ministry of Sacrifices to over eight thousand monks; when Taizong first ascended the throne, he ordained youths registered throughout the realm to leave home). There were also those whose lack of faith went to excess, such as the Tuoba (Emperor Wu [Tuoba Tao] of the Wei), the Yuwen (Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou), Cui Hao (Later Wei), and Fu Yi (early Tang), who acted as calamity-breeding draught demons and ominous comets. As for sovereigns who deliberated on weeding out the clergy, this was truly the virtue of purifying and promoting the clean; they were not men without faith. Formerly, Huan Xuan issued an edict saying (An edict is an official decree), 'Among śramaṇas, those who can expound the scriptures and decrees, elucidate the doctrinal principles, and maintain the precepts in an orderly manner, suffice to proclaim the great transformation. All those who violate this shall be ordered to leave the monastic life.' Master [Hui]yuan sent a letter to Duke Huan, saying: 'The Buddha's teachings have fallen into decline; corruption and impurities have grown for days on end. Every time my reflections turn to this, indignation fills my breast.'

"I always feared that change would arise unexpectedly and ruin would be upon us (ruin: gradually being submerged). I have observed that the teaching of purifying and purging the various followers of the Way truly accords with the original intent. When the Jing is distinguished by the Wei, the clear and the muddy are differentiated in their tendencies. When the crooked is corrected by the straight, unbenevolence naturally recedes. Once this order is carried out, then both principles will be realized. Thereafter, let those who feign and dissemble have their path of false pretense cut off, and let those who cherish truth have no suspicion of turning their backs on the world. The religious and the secular will interact, and the Three Jewels will flourish once more." (In ancient times, siftings and purgings generally had two intentions: The first was to revere and honour the teaching, hating its deterioration and excess, hence purifying and eliminating treacherous and superfluous individuals, striving to bring about purity. Emperor Shizu of the Song, Wang Du, Yan Yanzhi, Xiao Mozhi, Zhou Lang, Yu Yuan, Zhang Puhui, Li Yang, Wei Yuansong, Gu Guan, Xing Zicai, Gao Daorang, Lu Sidao, and Emperor Gaozu of the Tang—these fourteen men were of this kind. The second was to loathe and envy its prosperity and prominence, endangering oneself to nurse grudges, hence seeking eradication to vent their spleen: Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei, Emperor Gaozu of the Northern Zhou, Cai Mu, Liu Zhou, Yang Xuanzhi, Xun Ji, Zhangchou Yutuo, Liu Huilin, Fan Zhen, Fu Yi, and Wang Wentong—these eleven men truly had the intention to destroy it.) Thereupon, the mysterious teaching did not extend [its purge] to Mount Lu. Now, among those born of blood and wombs who feed on grain, how can there be two sorts regarding faith and disbelief? It is simply that those humans who receive the correct qi of the Five Elements surely protect their upright nature and upright destiny (worthy individuals receive the clear qi of the Five Elements), and are able to make manifest diligent practice (able to illuminate efforts in cultivation); they rely on the field of merit, and thus they believe. Those who receive cold and turbid qi are surely perverse, unrestrained, lascivious, and obstinate (obstinate: refractory), obliterating heavenly principles; they avail themselves of calamity and perish, and thus they do not believe. If Tang [Yao], Yu [Shun], the Yuankai, Yu of Xia, Tang of Yin, Yi [Yin], and Fu [Yue] (Tang and Yu are Yao and Shun; the Yuankai are the sixteen ministers; Xia and Yin are Yu and Tang; Yi and Fu are Yi Yin and Fu Yue), the ten capable ministers of Zhou (to bring order is to govern: the Grand Duke, the Duke of Zhou, the Duke of Shao, the Duke of Bi, the Duke of Rong, Nangong Kuo, Sanyi Sheng, Tai Dian, Hong Yao, and the Mother of King Wen—these ten people), and the Three Heroes of the Han (Zhang Liang, Xiao He, and Han Xin) were to look up at the golden countenance and bend down to listen to the jade scrolls, they would never have failed to believe. When their innermost feelings were aroused to speak and act for all beings, why was it so? It is because in doing good, they only felt the days were not enough (though these people did not happen upon the flourishing of the teaching, had they encountered it, their hearts would have deeply revered and believed it). If Jie, Zhou, Zhuang Qiao, Bandit Zhi, Yang Huo, and Zicang were to look at it, they would be as though blind; if they were to listen to it, they would be as though deaf (Jie of the Xia; Zhou of the Yin; Zhuang Qiao was an evil bandit of Chu and Shu; Bandit Zhi was a violent bandit of Lu; Yang Huo was a household retainer of Ji Huanzi who was violent and oppressive in Lu; Zicang was Zicang of Zheng; being blind, hearing good is insufficient to transform them). Why was it so for them? It is because when evil people do unwholesomeness, they too only feel the days are not enough. Indeed, life has its limits; the body is not made of metal and stone. Before one's joy fulfills one's aspirations, grief follows upon it. The ancient sage [Laozi] called the physical body a great calamity; Confucius sighed that brushing arms [with passing time] was like losing it (a floating life passes so swiftly, how is it worth prizing?). What grudge does one have against the Buddhist teaching, to sincerely devote oneself to harming it, not initiating good fortune but putting oneself first in calamity? This is truly what is called the failing of being able to do evil but unable to do good. If that [doctrine of karmic] fruition really exists, even if one wishes to cut oneself off from it, how could it harm the sun and the moon? (If that which is taught in the doctrinal school—that cause and effect truly exist intrinsically—even if you slander it, how could you harm its Way? Zigong said: "Though a man wishes to cut himself off, how could he harm the sun and the moon?") Even if that [karmic] fruition did not exist, aspiring to establish nominal goodness would still suffice to keep away harm (even if the matter of cause and effect taught by Buddhism originally did not exist, merely pursuing the empty reputation of goodness would still suffice to keep away harm). Ceasing to kill in vain is still better than slaughtering and angling; relinquishing wealth in vain is still better than thieving; purifying oneself in vain is still better than corruption, excess, and unseemly conduct behind inner curtains (referring to not regulating the household). How much more so since who knows that it is definitely not vain? In the Buddhist teaching: stealing wealth incurs debt in wealth; eating meat incurs debt in meat; harming a person incurs debt in one's vital organs, eyes, and neck (debt means commercial exchange: stealing another's wealth now, one must repay wealth; eating another's meat now, one must be eaten by others; harming another's vital organs, eyes, and neck now, one will in turn suffer harm; this is the way of exchange; neck means the throat). If one does not incur debt, goodness is then real (if one can truly refrain from stealing, killing, etc., and claim to do good, its reality is genuine). Since its words are real, how could its persons be vain? Fotudeng and the Great Master [Hui]si of Mount Heng could look far into their many past lives (both attained earlier visions); Zhi Daolin and Dao'an were vastly learned and possessed formidable scholarship; Liu Yimin and Liu Qiu paid no heed to summons by bow and banner (all were lofty scholars of the Jin who declined worldly glory; in antiquity, scholars were summoned with bow and banner); Xu Xun and Zong Bing wore tattered rags to the end of their years. If the Buddhadharma had no reality, how could it make them establish their determination so immovably? (These were all worthy and bright scholars; how could their sentiments have been mistaken?) Formerly, in the beginning of the Wude era, great ministers did not plan, while close ministers flattered the imperial will (during the time of Emperor Gaozu, Fu Yi, because the Tang royal house bore the surname Li, took Laozi as their ancestor, and thereupon slandered it, ordering a purification and purge). Because the imperial lineage originated from Xuanyuan, and its brilliant culture was vast and unified with all under heaven, they intended to harm our teaching; the bees and scorpions were venomous, and the woven brocade had its patterns (woven brocade means embellishing words). Yet the emperor's intelligence and sagacity at the time were never obscured (never: without; obscured: darkened; though Fu Yi and others stirred and misled the sage, the emperor's intelligence was not darkened in any way). Those who were greedy and envious could not overcome the virtuous and sagacious men (greedy: covetous; envious: harmful; overcome: surpass; the virtuous and sagacious were Falin, Daoxuan, and others; though Fu Yi's intentions were covetous and harmful, he ultimately could not surpass them). In vain their evil virtues fell, and the soaking slander found nowhere to seep (fell: collapsed; in vain their malicious virtues collapsed, so that soaking slander and skin-deep grievances could not be enacted). The bright, cherished sun was about to set, but rose again; the thick, dense clouds, having dispersed, gathered once more (the Buddha-sun sank and then shone again; the clouds of wisdom dispersed and then re-gathered). This was truly due to the spiritual efficacy of the ancestral temples and altars of soil and grain of the Tang, which preserved the blessings of their descendants and the common people. Now, the domains of heaven and earth are governed by the supreme shepherd (Heaven gives birth to the multitudes and establishes shepherds to govern them), and pacified by the ghosts and spirits (pacified: calmed; spirits are bright, upright, blessing the good and bringing calamity upon the licentious). If the ruler of men loses the proper principle, the numinous spirits will abandon him (In the Biographies of Divine Nuns, when the Yuwen family destroyed the Buddhadharma, a divine nun saw the benevolent deities all departing to the west; afterwards, the state was indeed destroyed. Recently, the Chai clan destroyed the bronze Great Compassionate One in Zhenzhou...)

[...contracting a foul disease and died.) They could not protect the mountains and rivers. When mountains and rivers are not at peace, disasters and calamities arise. Therefore, heaven reverses its normal course, earth brings forth anomalies, people harbor rebellion, and the crops are blighted (mountains collapse and rivers run dry; the stars lose their courses, the earth quakes and mountains rumble, bandits and thieves arise in competition, monsters and prodigies appear, and floods and droughts become pestilential). How could there be grain for sacrificial vessels? Formerly, Jie, Zhou, and King You of Zhou (Jie was Gui of the Xia, who favored Meixi; Zhou was Xin of the Yin, who favored Daji; King You of Zhou favored Baosi; all of them confounded state affairs with female beauty and lost the world), with ponds of wine and forests of meat, devised strange arts and wanton contrivances to please women (Zhou had ponds of wine and forests of meat, dregs piled as hills and dried meats as mounds; he had the punishment of the roasting pillar, cut through the shins of morning-waders, cut open the hearts of worthy men, and ripped open pregnant women). Their cruelty did not yet extend to the spirits and gods, yet mountains still collapsed and rivers shook, stars fell like rain and ghosts wailed. How much more so when the good Way is sheared away and eradicated, so that the myriad spirits have nothing to rely upon—how could singing phoenixes arrive in the suburbs, the jade candle regulate [the seasons] accordingly, and the grand steps [of the stars] be as flat as a whetstone? (In the time of Yao, phoenixes nested in the palace eave-pavilions; the harmony of the four seasons is called the jade candle.) At that time, śramaṇas of eminent attainment such as Huijing and Falin, together with senior Ruists and renowned scholars, layered jade-flower patterns (cui means five-colored patterns; pronounced zi-dui) and harmonized the sounds of metal bells; they attracted them with virtue, strengthened them with righteousness, sharpened their spears and axes, and overturned and blocked up their lairs. There was Li Shizheng, an usher of the Chancellery, who composed the Neide tongming zhengxie lun in three scrolls, citing their perplexities and examining and stripping them down in detail (this text is in the fourteenth fascicle of the Gu hongming ji). Being literary and grounded in evidence, it is the most complete among these works; it is sufficient to assist the true gate and elucidate the profound pinnacle. Later viewers should stop their mouths and plug their deep springs, never again doubting or slandering. It is only because the text is profound and concealed that it is not understood by the shallow and ordinary (in recent times there are also the Gui zheng lun and the Shijiao feixing ji, which are matters of the same sort). Moreover, loyal ministers and filial sons should seek blessings and ward off harm (jiao means to seek) to protect their lord and parents, respectfully offer sacrifices and prayers, and take meticulous care with medicines and minerals. Why must one deliberately pursue them knowing them to be of no benefit? (Just like the First Emperor of Qin loving the Dao or Emperor Wu of Han seeking immortals, or transmuting gold and silver and vainly burning lead and cinnabar—what did they ultimately accomplish?) Or deliberately commit offenses reckoning they will do no harm? The Rites says: "Doubtful matters should not be determined arbitrarily." If, like Cui Hao, one follows one's own whim and decides arbitrarily, thereby bequeathing grief to one's lord and parents (Emperor Taiwu of Wei died of a foul disease, and Cui Hao's corpse was subjected to execution), how can Cui be called loyal or filial? Nowadays there are men of narrow and entangled minds who still wish to approve of Cui; how benighted they are! (Yu means to approve.) When tracking the overturned wagon, who could dare take a second turn? If one maintains that before the Eastern Han there was no Buddha in the world, yet the families and the state were spontaneously peaceful, and thus nowadays we should revert to that past (this is to cite the opponent's challenge), then before Fuxi and Shennong there was no writing, yet the realm followed its natural dispositions (before Fuxi and the Yellow Emperor there was no writing, and the imperial Way governed itself through non-action). With King Ji and Confucius writing gradually multiplied, and people were shackled and fettered (shackles are used to bind the hands and feet) to the point of pestilence and death (cha means minor death; zha means mass death, which refers to contemporary epidemic plagues). When Qin Shi Huang buried them in pits, what crime was that either? (Qin Zheng was the First Emperor. In his thirty-fourth year, Erudite Chunyu Yue presented a memorial proposing that the imperial sons and younger brothers be enfiefed as feudal lords. Li Si said: "The scholars do not take the present as their master, but study antiquity to criticize the present age. All chronicles not of Qin are to be burned; all who store the Songs, Documents, and sayings of the hundred schools are to have them burnt entirely. Those who speak in pairs of the Songs and Documents shall be put to death.") If one maintains that the people of the four barbarian tribes, hunting with nets and shooting birds with stringed arrows to eat raw meat (ju is a net for catching hares; yi is shooting birds with an arrow tied with raw silk cord; Confucius used a stringed arrow but did not shoot roosting birds), have no one who gives charity or keeps precepts (the people of the four barbarian tribes treat slaughter as their farming; how could they have matters of giving and precepts?), yet their generations inherit felt yurt tents (qionglu means barbarian tents), then when did the people of the four barbarian tribes ever have the teachings of King Ji and Confucius practicing rituals and righteousness, yet their lines of lords and ministers, fathers and sons, continue uninterrupted? If so, then King Ji and Confucius could also be abolished! (Before the Eastern Han there was no Buddhist Dharma, and before the Eastern Han the state governed itself; the states of the four barbarian tribes have no Ruist teachings, and the states of the four barbarian tribes also govern themselves. If Buddhism could be abolished, then Ruism could also be abolished.) If one maintains that general charity provides for households and satisfies individuals (meaning wide charity to relieve emergencies), so that it need not consist in fasting and precepts, this truly drives people into the mire and ashes (if one gives without observing the fast and precepts, this is to benefit people through killing, stealing, debauchery, and the like). Now, to have a compassionate heart that benefits inferiors while neglecting to cultivate the ancestral temple cannot be called filial (though compassion reaches subordinates, respect does not reach ancestors; how can this be called filial?). To indulge in evil amidst abundant wealth while neglecting incense and lamps cannot be called blessed (such as slaughtering horses to sacrifice to Heaven). To expect people to be secure and stable while lacking both filiality and blessing is like relying on a lopped stump to await shade (nie is the remnant of a felled tree; seeking blessing by killing life is like relying on a leafless tree—how could there be shade?). If one maintains that because the Buddha has neither physical form nor audible voice he cannot be worshipped, then when offering suburban sacrifices to the former kings and former dukes, who has ever seen or heard them, yet still accords them sincere rites? (One has neither seen nor heard the deceased ancestors either; why sacrifice to them?) If one maintains that ghosts and spirits are not real, and the former Ruists merely guided people to be respectful, then why worry that the Buddhist teachings might not be real, so long as they cause people to do good? It is merely that the evil fabricated by slanderers does not fill the ears, so it is insufficient to shock the listener; and when listeners hear evil, it does not delight their hearts, so it is insufficient to accept the slander. Therefore, the listener and the slanderer share equal fault. But in a noisy and turbid age, where there is love, people magnify its beauty; where there is hatred, they exaggerate its faults. Now, Youyu Shi (Emperor Shun) was the ancestor of benevolence and filiality, yet the Ji Tomb text claims that with the coup at Pingyang he took the throne not by abdication (the Ji Tomb texts say that Shun imprisoned Yao at Pingyang to seize his position, and did not receive the abdication; today there is still the City of Yao's Imprisonment). Yi Yin was the paragon of ministers, yet the Ji Tomb text claims that returning from Tong Palace he stabbed [Tai Jia] and restored the Xia regime (Yi Yin was prime minister to Tai Jia. Tai Jia did not follow Yi Yin's instructions, so Yi Yin exiled him to Tong Palace, waiting three years for him to reform his faults, and then restored him to his position, fulfilling the way of a benevolent minister. Nowadays the Ji Tomb texts say that Yi Yin exiled Tai Jia to Tong Palace, and Tai Jia secretly slipped out of a hole, killed Yi Yin, and established himself, which completely contradicts the text of the Shangshu). Where could there ever be an end to disputes over straight and crooked rights and wrongs? Therefore, one must uphold the Canon of Yao and the Books of Yin, and only then can one possess a classic standard. Confucius said:

"To attack heterodoxy brings harm indeed!" (The schools that force strained interpretations harm the correct meaning.) How could it be otherwise? Observing ancient and modern compositions (writings of the inner teaching), many first disparage the Duke of Zhou and Confucius and demote Laozi and Zhuangzi, considering this to show literary capability (such as the prefaces to commentaries on Hetuvidyā). This is the reason why they open the doors and admit robbers, provoking enemies and inciting factions (to incite means to instruct; recently, angering Daoism while also criticizing Confucianism is instructing them, so Daoism and Confucianism form factions to give support). Even a single bandit must not be treated lightly, how much less can one face the brunt of two bandits uniting? If the enemy indeed arrives, valiant and martial, taking stubborn rigidity as their shields and slander and abuse as their spears and pikes, angry and resentful, seething with glared eyes (glared eyes denote anger), this causes the foolish to laugh and clap their hands, while the benevolent are sorrowful and pained (laughing means smiling; clapping means dancing; the utterly foolish hear it and laugh at it; sorrowful means grieving and hating; the benevolent see it and abhor it). Wishing to drum them down and suppress them, or waving feathers to beckon them (recently wishing to muster momentum to suppress them, or raising feathers to summon them, both are impossible), this is truly hard to achieve. Now, a single spark from the flue of a stove begins on creeping weeds and blazes up into the palace halls; a single outburst from a wicked man begins among the mediocre and ascends to slander the sages and worthies (the fire from the flue of a stove can burn the palace chambers; does the slander of a wicked man fear the sages and worthies?). How can one not be truly cautious? (Not being without means how could one not be cautious in speech?) An ancient saying goes: "If one behaves without propriety, it will surely rebound upon oneself" (one who respects others will surely be respected by others; one who insults others will also have others as enemies). Formerly, Lü Bu (a general under Cao Cao of Wei) forced Yuan Huan to compose a letter reviling Liu Bei. Huan said: "Only virtue can humiliate a person; I have never heard of doing so with revilement. If he is indeed a gentleman, he will not feel disgraced by the general's words (the way of the gentleman is that when offended, he does not retaliate); if he is truly a petty person, and retaliates with the general's intent, then the disgrace lies here and not there." Therefore, when birds are desperate they peck; when beasts are desperate they seize (pronounced *fu*; the *Shuowen* says: contending to grasp an object); when people are desperate they deceive; when horses are desperate they bolt. He who can prevent pecking and bolting from arising—is he not of the supreme wisdom alone? Therefore, when our teaching meets with decline and injury, who does not form factions to practice further insult? Though their expressions are genial on the outside, their bowels are knotted within (injury means damage; insult means contempt; as the image teaching has fallen into decline, who does not join in factions to despise and scorn it? The scholars of Confucianism and Daoism, though deferential and obedient on the outside, inwardly harbor malice and jealousy). Yet if one acts resolutely to cultivate virtue, working invisibly and transforming silently, passing over their shortcomings and taking pleasure in their strengths, perhaps one in a hundred will taste the richness of our Way and naturally change their seats (towards those two teachings, merely practice kindness and virtue, promote that teaching's strengths, and overlook that teaching's insufficiencies; within a hundred people, perhaps by chance one will taste the Way and partake of the breeze, naturally turning their hearts toward it). One who travels to the Land of the Naked removes his garments to conform (when Yu arrived at the Land of the Naked, he happily took off his clothes, which was conforming to their customs). Moreover, people today are people of this land, and Confucianism and Daoism are the teachings of this country. Even if their customs recognize that nothing surpasses us, each will still temporarily bias toward their own school (to bias means to form factions; temporarily means for the time being). Bristling like scales and butting like horns, how could one not praise and follow them, be gentle and accommodating to them, pacify and guide them, so that they submit with pleasure? Does it really consist in common verbal recriminations? (This is what is called: "He who excels at war does not form battle ranks; he who excels at closing has no bolts"). If one worries that their doctrines do not reach the ultimate and that people will not swiftly shift their allegiance to our Way, yet the sages also responded to each capacity to guide beings. For instance, the Buddha expounded the merits of humans and gods for Trapuṣa and Bhallika; could the Great Sage not have wished that everyone entirely reach quiescence and cessation? Yet residing in that circumstance, it would not have been beneficial (even if expounding the ultimate teaching, if it does not accord with their faculties, it will not benefit others). Could the Old Sage Laozi not have wished that all entirely reach the vast emptiness? In the classic of two chapters he composed (the two chapters on the Way and Virtue), he concurrently discussed governing the family and state, so that those who save the world would not suppress or discard them (though expounding the Way and Virtue, he did not discard the methods of governing the state). Could Confucius not have wished that people all entirely reach the imperial way? In the Six Canons he cultivated, he also preserved the hegemons and kings, aiming to encompass them comprehensively without omission. Therefore, nothing covers greater than Heaven and Earth, and nothing transforms greater than the sages; and in truth, the two teachings toward us support without harming; and we toward the two teachings unify and have a return. Why is it that those who drink pure mellow wine do not dispute, while those who chew on the dregs dispute? (The consummate persons and gentlemen reach the same goal by different routes; the frivolous and petty persons bicker over right and wrong and form factions). Yet most people do not believe in their own foolishness, and are gleeful about things they can deceive themselves about (not knowing one's own foolishness and criticizing what one cannot reach). Ignorant of cinnabar and malachite, they love to praise or decry painted patterns; ignorant of lead and ink, they love to disparage or extol seal and clerical scripts; ignorant of rites and music, they love to alter standards and laws; ignorant of the *gong* and *yu* tones, they love to appraise melodies and pitchpipes. If anyone observes these words of mine, could they be without blame? My engagement with the profundity is privately to satisfy myself (seeking blame; *zhu* means seeing; fearing that later generations seeing the records of engaging with the profundity will blame oneself, now I merely follow my own disposition and write this). I dare not address it to gentlemen. On Shi Wen's zither (Wen Ruhai says he was an ancient adept of the zither), praise and blame both arrived—would he thus not play it? (He would not refrain from playing because of people's praise or blame). Grand Master Qu at fifty knew the wrongs of forty-nine years (Grand Master Qu Yuan of Wei, styled Boyu, saw a plowman and asked: "Between the black ox and the red ox, which has greater strength?" The plowman did not answer, but drove the oxen far away and then answered: "Both oxen are equally strong; if I answered unequally, I feared there would be resentment." Qu Yuan said: "A single farmer still fears the resentment of two oxen. Now at fifty, I know the wrongs of forty-nine years"). Confucius at sixty knew the wrongs of fifty-nine years. As for a petty person like me, it remains only to grow senile and close the coffin lid (closing the coffin means putting the lid on). The lord of Qi hung up a reward to await remonstrance, fearing lapses in governance (King Wei of Qi hung up a reward saying: "Those who remonstrate with us face to face will receive the highest reward; those who submit written remonstrance will receive the middle reward; those who criticize in the marketplace and court will receive the lowest reward"). The Han chancellor demoted his own rank to stop remonstrances (Xiao He leased the land within the imperial park to merchants contrary to the law; Emperor Gaozu was furious, and He thereupon took off his cap and walked barefoot to plead guilty, upon which the emperor released him), examining whether he could abide by his duty.