[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) › 10.2.4 # 北山錄 10.2.4 北山錄 10.2.4 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [10.2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.10.2.4) 致惡疾而終也）不保于山川。 山川匪寧。 則災禍作矣故天反其常。 地載其妖。 人懷其亂。 稼穡病矣（山崩川竭。 星辰失度。 地動山鳴。 賊盜競起。 妖怪作興。 水旱為沴也）粢盛何有焉。 昔桀紂周幽（桀夏癸也寵末嬉。 紂殷辛也寵姐己。 周幽寵褒姒。 皆以美色昏亂朝政。 而失天下也）酒池肉林。 作奇技淫巧。 以悅婦人（紂有酒池肉林醩山脯丘。 有炮烙之刑。 斮朝涉之脛。 剖賢人之心。 刳剔孕婦等）為虐不及於神祇。 尚山崩川震。 星流鬼哭。 況剪除善道。 萬靈無依。 詎得鳴鳳造于郊玉燭為之調太階如砥乎（堯時鳳巢阿閣。 四時和謂之玉燭）于時高業沙門慧淨。 法琳洎宿儒望彥。 瑤華疊綷（綷五色之文也。 子對反）金奏諧響。 懷之以德。 強之以義。 淬礪矛斧。 傾塞巢穴。 有門下典儀李師政。 撰內德通命正邪論三篇。 舉其所惑。 詳校黜剝（文在古弘明集第十四卷也）文而有據最備斯作足以毘贊真門。 闡楊玄極。 後世觀者宜杜口塞淵。 不復疑謗。 但文沈隱不為凡淺之所知也（近代有歸正論。 及釋教廢興記等。 亦其事也）且忠臣孝子。 宜徼福防害（繳求也）以保君親。 敬恭禱祀。 精謹藥石。 何必知其無益而故務也（只如秦皇好道。 漢帝求仙。 或變金銀抂燒鈆录竟有何成者也）揆其無傷而故犯也。 禮云。 疑事無質如崔皓率己專斷。 以貽君親之戚（魏武以惡疾而終。 崔皓戮尸者也）安得崔也。 謂之忠孝乎。 今有蓬心之士。 尚欲與崔何其昏也（與者許也）覆軌之跡。 孰得貳焉。 若以東漢已前世未有佛。 家國自寧。 今宜復其昔者（此牒外人難也）則義軒已前未有文字。 天下遂性（羲軒前未有文字。 帝道無為自理也）姬孔漸滋。 人用梏械（所以拘手足也）殆于瘥札（瘥小死也。 札大死也則今疫癘之疾也）秦正坑之。 亦何罪也（秦正始皇也。 三十四年。 博士淳于越奏。 令封子弟為諸侯。 李斯云。 諸生不師古而學古非兩世。 諸非秦記皆燒之。 諸有藏詩書及百家語悉燒。 偶語詩書者死）若以四夷之人𦌎弋鮮食（𦌎免網也。 弋以生絲線繫箭而射鳥。 夫子弋不射宿也）孰為施戒（四夷之人以殺戮為耕作何有施戒事也）而世襲穹廬者（穹廬蕃帳）則四夷之民。 何甞有姬孔之教。 行於禮義。 而君臣父子繼焉。 是則姬孔亦可廢也（東漢已前無佛法。 東漢已前國自理。 四夷之國無儒教。 四夷之國亦自理。 佛教如可廢。 則儒教亦可廢也）若以平施俾家給人足（謂普施賙急也）不必在乎齊戒者。 誠亦驅其人於塗炭矣（若不持齊戒而施。 則以殺盜淫等惠人是也）夫慈心惠下。 宗廟不修。 不得謂之孝也（慈雖及下。 敬不及祖。 豈曰孝乎）豐物恣惡。 香火不修。 不得謂之福也（如殺馬祭天等）其無孝無福而望人安固。 如憑攸枿而待蔭者也（枿斷樹之餘也。 殺命求福。 如依無葉之樹。 豈有蔭也）若以佛無形響。 復不可奉者。 則郊祀先王先公。 孰有見聞而敦其禮乎（考祖亦無見聞。 何故祀之）若以鬼神不實。 先儒但導人為敬者。 則何患佛教不實。 而使人為善耶。 但謗者構惡不盈耳。 不足以駭聽。 聽者聞惡不暢心。 不足以承謗。 故聽與謗。 其過均矣。 而氛囂之世。 愛則廣其美。 惡則厚其過。 夫有虞氏仁孝之宗也。 汲冢以平陽之變。 非揖讓而取也（汲冢書云。 舜囚堯於平陽。 以奪其位。 非受禪也。 今見有囚堯城也）伊尹人臣之表也。 汲冢以桐宮反刺乃復夏政也（伊尹相太甲。 太甲不用伊尹之訓。 伊尹放之桐宮。 三年俟其改過。 乃歸復其位。 以盡仁臣之道。 今汲冢書云。 伊尹放太甲于桐宮。 太甲自竇中潛出。 殺伊尹而自立。 與尚書之文全別）凡是非徑侹之論。 何有窮乎。 故當承堯典殷書乃可經矣。 仲尼曰。 > \[...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: > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 10.2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.10.2.3) - [Next: 10.2.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.10.2.5) - [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.10.2.4) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.10.2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.10.2.4) · Pramāṇa