[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) › 2.4.3 # 北山錄 2.4.3 北山錄 2.4.3 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [2.4.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.2.4.3) 無為而自化也）昔魯桓之廟（桓公則魯惠公之子隱公弟仲子所生者）有欹器焉（形如小瓦甕。 以之盛水。 虛則欹。 欹傾也。 中則正。 滿則覆。 喻守中正也）示人以中正之表。 夫中則正。 正則虛滿合度。 超然特植。 始在于目。 而畢應乎心。 淵而諒矣（特樹之者。 令初視之於目。 而終悟之於心。 玄而可信也）書曰。 剛而無虐。 簡而無傲（舜典文也。 剛失入虐。 簡失入傲）子溫而厲。 威而不猛（論語文。 溫和也。 又嚴厲也。 雖嚴而又不猛烈也）皆聖人君子。 權衡物理。 心融事會。 而不失其中也（已上雖外典所明。 皆取其中庸之義也。 北山和尚意。 指學空學有者宜得其中）智論以大士觀於色空。 如屠牛師弟子（大智度論文。 與莊子文意全同也）莊氏以為庖丁解牛。 目無全牛（庖丁為文惠君解牛。 手之所觸。 肩之所倚。 足之所履。 膝之所踦。 𮀒然嚮然。 奏刀騞然莫不中音合於柔林之舞。 乃中經首之會。 以神遇而不以目視。 以一刀十九年解數千牛。 刀刃若新。 發於硎者。 彼節有間而刀刃無厚。 以無厚入有間。 恢恢乎其於遊刃必有餘也。 此乃莊生寓言況道也。 取其利用不滯之意）夫何故耶。 牛之質戴角垂胡（胡項肉也）有也。 骨節間無也。 無厚之刃入有間之軀。 安得不恢恢焉。 何牛之有也。 屠牛師昭其易也（未解牛時。 所見無非牛者。 三年之後。 未甞見全牛。 以神遇者也）屠牛師弟子昭其難也。 其猶良庖族庖更刀有近久也（良庖歲更刀割也。 族庖月更刀析也。 與十九年刀異也）故體中者不以實物為礙（得其道者物不能礙也）而妙高納於芥。 實委瀚注於豪隙（委瀚海也）誠可得而易矣（淨名經意）老聖云。 兕無所投其角。 虎無所措其爪。 兵無所容其刃（此不求害物無害心也。 故無投角措爪容刃之所矣）莊氏云。 大浸稽天而不溺（大浸海也。 稽同也。 逍遙篇文）大旱金石流土山燋而不熱（不為寒暑而遷其相。 不為世物而奪其操也）仲尼見呂梁丈人懸流三十仞。 恃忠信而游泳（七尺為仞。 恃忠信之道。 而不懼險阻也）豈不皆以含大中之理。 和品物之性。 而能至於此耶。 故蹈水赴火。 觸刃履危。 身能輕舉。 耳可洞聽。 目可徹視。 正由心虛而已（老子云。 虛其心。 實其腹）夫心虛故不逆於萬物（無彼我而接之也）萬物亦與我玄順。 浩然之性無往不合（虛心求物。 所遇玄會也）且夫水火物之害也（水能漂溺。 火能焚爇。 皆是物之害也）而鱗育於泉（魚龍得水以生）獸生於火（如有火鼠火龜皆生於火中）彼豈假禦水火之術乎。 但性合於燥濕。 氣同於寒燠。 故相容而不相違。 相生而不相害。 誠則全也（既不相傷則信水火能全於物）況有道者而德全於萬類乎。 故大士以此心學。 目之曰禪。 禪者靜慮也（梵語三摩呬多。 此云靜慮。 此定能止寂心慮也）外境不足以遷情目之曰定（梵云三昧。 此云正定）定者專一也。 其有以身即佛屏除像設居大聖之位者。 誠愚悖虐己者也（如金剛禪之徒）苟誠之以水火。 寧得多其幸而免哉（若投之於水火。 又豈能逃於害乎）下識惑其游言不理其實行。 附瞽而求直路難已矣（如盲引盲之類也）夫為道之人。 知心行心使心三者。 審諸已然後語其所至。 知心謂了其真妄。 行心謂滅其愛憎。 使心謂變其垢淨（心淨則世界淨等也）今始學之流。 方欲似知。 於餘則闕。 何求自誷焉（今之禪師。 往往有自謂得。 而誣誷於人者。 如山果金剛禪等妖妄者多矣）故大悲無窮。 香飯無窮也。 大智不礙。 方丈不礙也（如維摩詰大悲無窮。 所取香飯不盡。 所脩智行不障礙。 今方丈所感亦不障礙也）經云。 若得作佛時。 具三十二相等（法華經文）始可謂永盡矣。 衡岳天台（即思大和尚居南岳也。 > act through wuwei and transform on their own.) In ancient times, in the ancestral temple of Duke Huan of Lu (Duke Huan was the son of Duke Hui of Lu, born of Duke Yin's younger brother's wife Zhongzi), there was an inclined vessel (shaped like a small earthen jar; used to hold water; when empty it tilts—qi means to tilt—when half-full it stands upright, and when full it overturns; a metaphor for holding to the centered and upright). It showed people the outward mark of centeredness and uprightness. For when centered it is upright, and when upright, emptiness and fullness meet their proper measure; standing exceptionally upright, it begins in the eyes and ultimately responds in the mind, profound and dependable (set up especially so that one first sees it with the eyes and in the end awakens to it in the mind, profound and trustworthy). The Book of Documents says: “Firm yet not tyrannical, simple yet not arrogant” (text from the “Canon of Shun”; firmness, if misdirected, lapses into tyranny; simplicity, if misdirected, lapses into arrogance). “The Master was mild yet severe, authoritative yet not fierce” (text from the Analects; mild means gentle; yet severe; though severe, he was not fierce). All these are sagely people and noble persons weighing the principle of things, their minds harmonising with affairs, and not losing the mean (although the above are explanations from external texts, they all adopt the meaning of the Doctrine of the Mean; the Venerable Master of Beishan intends to show that those who study emptiness and those who study existence ought to attain the mean). The Treatise on Great Wisdom compares the great person’s observation of form and emptiness to the apprentice of an ox-butcher (text from the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa; identical in meaning to the text of Zhuangzi). Master Zhuang took it to be Cook Ding butchering an ox, his eyes seeing no whole ox (Cook Ding butchered an ox for Lord Wenhui; wherever his hand touched, his shoulder leant, his foot trod, and his knee pressed, there was a slithering and swooshing, and the knife went chok, not failing to sound in rhythm with the dance of the Mulberry Grove, and in harmony with the movements of the Jingshou; he met it with spirit rather than viewing it with eyes; with a single knife over nineteen years he butchered several thousand oxen, yet the blade was as if newly whetted; between those joints there are spaces, and the blade has no thickness; inserting that which has no thickness into that which has space, how spacious and roomy it must be for playing the blade! This is Master Zhuang’s fable to illustrate the Way, taking its meaning of smooth application without impediment). For what reason? The body of an ox, bearing horns and hanging dewlap (hu means the flesh of the neck), is existence; between the bones and joints there is nonexistence. When a blade of no thickness enters a body with spaces, how could it not be spacious? What ox is there? The ox-butcher showed its ease (before butchering the ox, all he saw was an ox; after three years, he never saw a whole ox, meeting it with spirit). The apprentice of the ox-butcher showed its difficulty. It is like a good cook or a mediocre cook changing knives sooner or later (a good cook changes his knife yearly because he cuts; a mediocre cook changes his knife monthly because he hacks; this differs from the nineteen-year knife). Therefore, one who embodies the mean is not obstructed by concrete things (one who attains the Way cannot be obstructed by things). Mount Meru is admitted into a mustard seed; the vast ocean is poured into the tip of a fine hair (weihan means the sea). Truly this can be easily attained (the sense of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa). The ancient sage \[Laozi\] said: “The rhinoceros has nowhere to thrust its horn; the tiger has nowhere to place its claws; weapons have nowhere to insert their blades” (this means not seeking to harm things and having no mind to harm; hence there is no place to thrust a horn, place claws, or insert blades). Master Zhuang said: “A great flood reaching the sky does not drown him (a great flood means the sea; ji means to reach up to; text from the ‘Carefree Wandering’ chapter); a great drought that melts metal and stone and scorches earth and mountains does not make him hot” (he does not alter his appearance on account of cold or heat; his integrity is not stripped away by worldly things). Zhongni saw the old man of Lüliang plunge into a cataract of thirty ren, swimming by relying on loyalty and trustworthiness (seven feet make one ren; relying on the way of loyalty and trustworthiness, he did not fear perils). Is it not that, possessing the principle of the Great Mean and harmonising with the nature of various things, they were able to reach this? Therefore, treading on water and heading into fire, touching blades and walking on perils, the body can leap lightly, the ears can hear thoroughly, and the eyes can see through clearly, precisely because the mind is empty (Laozi says: “Empty their minds, fill their bellies”). Because the mind is empty, it does not oppose the myriad things (connecting with them without distinction of self and other). The myriad things also accord with oneself profoundly; one’s vast nature nowhere fails to harmonize (seeking things with an empty mind, what one encounters accords profoundly). Furthermore, water and fire are harms to things (water can drown and drift; fire can burn and scorch; both are harms to things); yet fish are nurtured in springs (fish and dragons attain water and live), and beasts are born in fire (as with fire-rats and fire-turtles, which are all born amidst fire). Do they resort to techniques for resisting water and fire? It is merely that their natures accord with dryness and moisture, and their qi conforms to cold and warmth. Hence they tolerate each other without conflict, and generate each other without injury; when genuine, they remain whole (since they do not harm each other, believe that water and fire can keep things whole). How much more so for one who possesses the Way, whose virtue is complete across the myriad kinds? Therefore, when great persons cultivate this mind, they term it chan; chan means quiet contemplation (in Sanskrit samāhita, translated here as quiet contemplation; this concentration can bring quietness and stillness to the mind's thoughts). When external sensory objects are insufficient to stir emotion, they term it ding (in Sanskrit samādhi, translated here as correct concentration); ding means single-minded absorption. Those who claim that the body itself is the Buddha, discard images and shrines, and dwell in the station of the Great Sage are truly foolish, rebellious, and cruel to themselves (such as the followers of Vajra Chan). If tested against water and fire, how could they be so fortunate as to escape? (If thrown into water or fire, how could they escape harm?) Those of inferior understanding are confused by their idle talk and do not examine their actual practice; following the blind in seeking a straight path is difficult indeed! (It is like the blind leading the blind). Those who practice the Way must understand the mind, practice with the mind, and direct the mind—examining these three within themselves before speaking of what they have attained. Understanding the mind means comprehending its reality and delusion; practicing with the mind means extinguishing its love and hate; directing the mind means transforming its defilement and purity (as in: when the mind is pure, the realm is pure). Today, beginners merely desire the appearance of knowledge, yet fall short in the rest; why seek to deceive themselves? (Today’s Chan teachers often claim attainment and deceive others; frauds like the Shanguo and Vajra Chan are numerous). Therefore, great compassion is boundless, and the fragrant rice is boundless; great wisdom is unobstructed, and the ten-foot-square chamber is unobstructed (as with Vimalakīrti’s boundless great compassion, the fragrant rice he fetched was inexhaustible, and the wise conduct he cultivated was unobstructed; what his ten-foot-square room accommodated was also unobstructed). The sūtra says: “When one attains buddhahood, one is endowed with the thirty-two marks, etc.” (text from the Lotus Sūtra). Only then may it be called eternally ended. Hengyue and Tiantai (namely Great Master Huisi residing on Nanyue); > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 2.4.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.2.4.2) - [Next: 2.4.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.2.4.4) - [Up: 2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.2.4) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113~en-mt.2.4.3) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.2.4.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.2.4.3) · Pramāṇa