[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [北山錄](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113) › 10.2.3 # 北山錄 10.2.3 北山錄 10.2.3 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [10.2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.10.2.3) 常恐運出非意淪湑將及（淪湑漸漬也）竊見清澄諸道人教實應本心。 夫涇以渭分。 則清濁殊勢。 枉以直正。 則不仁自遠。 此命既行。 則二理斯得。 然後令飾偽者絕假道之路。 懷真者無負俗之嫌。 道俗交通。 三寶復隆矣（古者沙汰總有二意。 一為崇重教門惡其渝濫。 故澄汰姦冗務令清淨。 宋世祖．王度．顏延之．蕭暮之．周朗．虞愿．張普惠李瑒．衛元嵩．顧觀．那子才．高道讓．盧思道．唐高祖十四人也。 二為憎嫉昌顯危身挾怨。 故須除蕩以暢胸襟。 魏太武．周高祖．蔡暮．劉晝．楊衒之．荀濟章．仇于陀．劉惠琳．范縝．傅弈．王文同十一人。 實心毀滅也）玄教於是不及廬山。 夫血胎粒食者。 信不信何二焉。 但人稟五材正氣者。 必保乎正性正命（賢者稟五行之清氣）克昭懋行（能明勉勵之行）其憑福田。 故乃信也。 稟冷氣者。 必僻恣淫愎（愎悷也）滅沒天理。 其假禍亡。 故不信也。 若使唐虞元凱夏殷伊傅（唐虞堯舜也。 元凱十六相。 夏禹殷湯也。 伊尹傳說也）周之十亂（亂治也。 太公周公召公畢公榮公南宮括散宜生太顛閻天文母十人也）漢之三傑（張良。 蕭何。 韓信）仰眄金容。 俯聆玉軸。 則未甞不信。 興五內言動群有彼何然。 蓋為善惟日不足故也（此等雖未偶教興。 若遇之心大崇信也）若使桀．紂．莊．跖．陽貨．子臧．視之。 瞽如聽之聵如（桀夏□也。 紂殷□□也。 莊蹻楚蜀惡賊盜跖魯暴賊。 陽貨季桓子家臣暴虐於魯。 子臧鄭子臧也。 瞽聞善不足化也）彼何哉然。 蓋凶人為不善。 亦惟日不足故也。 惟生之有涯。 體非金石。 樂未備志。 哀以繼之。 老聖稱身為大患。 仲尼嘆交臂若失（浮生流速何足貴也）而釋教何讎誠心務損不為福始。 而處禍先真所謂能惡不能善之失也。 若彼果有。 雖欲自絕。 何傷於日月乎（若彼教門所說。 因果實本有。 汝縱毀之亦何能傷其道。 子貢曰。 人雖欲自絕。 何傷於日月乎）若彼果無。 慕立虛善。 足以遠害（若佛教所說因果之事本無。 虛求善譽。 亦足遠害也）夫虛去殺猶愈屠釣。 虛輟財猶愈竊盜。 虛潔己猶愈濁濫。 帷箔不修（謂不治閨門）況孰知其必不虛哉。 而釋教竊財貨財也。 食肉貨肉也。 害人貨要目領也（貨賣交易也。 今切他財。 當亦還財。 今食其肉。 當亦被他食。 今害人之要日領當却遭害。 是交易之道也。 領項也）苟使不貨。 善則實矣（誠能不盜不殺等。 稱自為善。 其事實也）其言既實。 其人豈虛乎。 佛圖澄．衡岳思大。 能遠視多生（皆得先觀）支林．道安能。 博識強學。 劉遺民．劉虬。 弓旌不顧（皆晉之高士。 辭榮者也。 古招士以弓旌也）許詢．宗炳。 襤縷畢歲。 豈佛法無其實。 而能使彼建志不拔耶（此皆賢明之士。 情豈謬哉）昔武德初。 大臣不圖邇臣希旨（高祖時。 傅弈以唐出李姓。 以老子為祖。 遂譖之令澄汰也）。 以帝系發自玄元。 文明廣大與天下咸一。 將害我教。 蜂蠆且毒。 貝錦有章（貝錦文飾之詞也）惟帝時聰明終罔攸蔽（罔無也。 攸所也。 蔽暗也。 傅弈等雖扇惑聖。 聰帝無所暗蔽也）彼娼嫉不克彥聖之夫（娼貪也。 嫉蠧也。 克勝也。 彥聖法淋道宣等。 彼傅弈情雖貪蠧。 終不能勝彼者也）庸\[倖-干+貝\]其德。 無所膚浸（僨僵也。 用殕其兇德使浸潤之譖。 膚受之愬不能行焉）杲杲愛日。 將墜復舉。 靄靄油雲。 既散又族（佛日沈而又明。 慧雲散而復聚）實有唐宗廟社稷之靈也。 克保于子孫黎民之福也。 夫天地邦域。 以元牧司之（天生蒸民樹之司牧）以鬼神綏之（綏安也。 神者聰明正直福善禍淫者也）苟人君失理。 則靈神是捨（神尼傳。 宇文氏毀滅佛法。 神尼見善神皆西去。 後果國滅也。 近柴氏毀鎮州銅大悲。 > "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...) > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 10.2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.10.2.2) - [Next: 10.2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.10.2.4) - [Up: 10.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.10.2) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113~en-mt.10.2.3) — English, machine translation ## Linked texts (1) - [高僧傳](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2059.6.28) — 慧皎, Classical Chinese --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.10.2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.10.2.3) · Pramāṇa