北山錄 10.2.1

10.2.1

大荒之西（天子王畿五百里甸服。 五百里侯服。 五百里綏服。 五百里要服。 五百里荒服。 荒服去京師二千五百里。 今指大荒之外。 極西之境也）申毒殊風（即西天之風化。 與震旦有異也）太古之始。 至聖未生（所謂如來也）有外道仙。 為世宗教首。 則僧伽衛世（初時有僧伽外道。 立二十五諦義。 衛世外道。 說六句義等也）中則六師（一不蘭迦葉。 二阿夷滿。 三瞿耶婁。 四波休旃。 五先比盧持。 六尼乾子）終於九十五種（即蘊離蘊計我等外道也）高視巖藪。 謀勍吾敵。 將危害正法。 荐食玄侶。 侵軼真境。 伐毀舟梁。 雖怙其眾。 不若吾寡。 是以舍利弗一舉勞度差之儔殄瘁矣（彈盡也。 即勝論外道也。 以此仙人形醜好夜出乞食。 故號鵂鶹。 為五頂子立六句義。 後化為石。 為陳那菩薩破之。 一吼而石粉碎矣）故以直擊亂薎有不濟。 但慢壘既高。 邪戈難偃。 稠林嘯聚。 迷津徒涉。 俾苦海波瀾浩而無際。 險道罾繳。 綿亘不蔇（繳射鳥器也。 罾取魚器也。 蔇至也。 修行者不至矣）聖人以是為瘼。 群生以是永悼。 嘻何莫如之何也已。 自白馬西來梵文貢洛（後漢明帝永平十年。 攝摩騰與竺法蘭以白馬馱經像方來至洛也）信毀迭扇。 君臣不一（時五岳道士褚善信等求比試焚燒經像也）且遐域之壤。 九服謂之荒表。 兌方之俗。 四海目為戎人（九服九州兌方西國）而彼復謂中華封略為儒邦。 䓗嶺東陲為邊裔。 夫人情各重其所處。 而傲乎他邦。 而皆曰佛何不生中國（震旦人自以此土為中國）傳聞。 中天夏至。 測影而盡其表（西天中印度夏至之日。 樹竿於日中無影。 蓋得閻浮之中日行正居上。 故彼稱中也）此方雖邵伯相宅周公往營（周本都鄗京召公相宅於陝鄏周公至成周營之。 則今洛京是也）而周禮云。 大司徒職日至之景尺有五寸（洛京雖震旦之心。 夏至之日午時樹竿尚有一尺五寸之景。 則別地更多也）謂之地中天地之所合。 四時之所交。 風雨之所會。 陰陽之所和。 百物阜安。 乃建王國。 今河南陽城縣。 得中夏之中。 而影且有餘矣。 其不在陽城則又過乎一尺五寸矣。 而天上千里地下一寸。 故此西域萬里之外。 又戎夏為邦。 古今何定。 伊洛化則為戎（左傳。 有伊洛之戎。 又有伐陸渾之戎。 皆在洛也）吳越變而為夏（吳越本夷。 而勾踐夫差皆為中國霸主矣）故至聖乘時。 本不限於方俗。 但以大千閻浮為內地。 可此即此。 可彼即彼。 豈以文武不在洛。 則非天下之君乎（文王居西戎。 武王居岐下）而西域時無輪王。 分天下為四主。 東以人為主。 正由禮樂出乎此方。 仁義冠乎八荒。 舉稱中非必由於地。 宋何承天問慧嚴曰。 佛國用何曆。 嚴曰。 彼夏至之日方中無影。 五行尚土德。 八寸為尺。 一兩當此方十二兩。 建辰為歲首（慧嚴親至西天迴故能明此事也）及討覈分至（春秋分冬夏至）薄食宿度阿衡陰陽乃以為然。 但以西來三藏越海重譯涉歷于艱險。 輕百死而致乎一生。 既至而不知鄉國之所在。 固可悲也。 其所翻譯。 方諸寰中之典既乖視聽深違背欲將使積昏之士背風靡草。 逆坂走丸。 祇增其忿。 誠又難也（以翻譯三藏來既遐遠。 不達此方語言。 致令詞有質朴文非流美。 如安世高所譯等經。 不了之士。 逆便相非。 增於謗讟。 則為未可者也）夫雍門周承孟甞騷屑悽感。 為之鼓琴琴一發。 而涕泗零落。 不知其極（雍門齊地也。 孟甞田文齊公子也。 周承為之鼓琴琴發。 而涕不能止）而邪愚之夫承王侯疑貳阻薄。 為之鼓脣脣一啟。 而訕謗搖動。 莫我已矣（此敘輕毀宗教之士因時政之官於吾教疑貳之間。 承便鼓扇于脣齒以毀謗。 致令王侯心迴而信用之也）是以假彼重位鴻才。 言為物準。

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.