北山錄 3.4.6

3.4.6

使人則之無踰。 閑一俯一仰有為也（閑法也。 己自嚴峻秉持。 使後人依法則之而行也）北齊天保中。 僧曇顯莫知所來。 飲啖同俗。 時放言宏遠。 上統知其異（法上為僧統故號上統）密與交厚。 時遇黃冠陸修。 靜自梁奔齊（脩靜先在梁毀讟佛教。 梁武欲誅之故奔齊。 又求試也）勅沙門與靜徒十人對。 詔較量優劣。 靜徒妖術所祝。 沙門衣鉢或至飛轉者。 祝梁木或至橫竪者。 顧沙門不能對。 而大言曰。 沙門所見一我當見二。 帝命上統。 統求曇顯。 顯醉居會末。 眾告曰。 某醉焉。 上曰。 彼稱祭酒。 正可醉人能對。 遽令掖舉昇座既而笑舉一足曰。 吾已見一鄉可二乎。 靜徒默恥。 顯又命取稠禪師衣鉢俾彼祝之。 終不可動。 帝使舉之（舉衣鉢也）自一人至五耦（十人也）俱不起。 置梁木上祝之亦無驗。 靜徒戰忸（戰忸驚慚也）廢術而言曰。 佛自稱內內小也。 謂我為外外大也。 顯應聲曰。 天子在內。 百官在外。 小大安悖哉。 齊人由是德乎我也。 牛雖瘠猶僨於豚上（瘠瘦也。 僨僵也。 豚豕也。 言牛雖瘦若倒猶可壓於猪上也。 言雖大劣猶壓於小。 此春秋文。 喻晉魯也）何斯不然歟。 國初徐世勣討河北。 饋餫不給。 王師且羸。 貸糧於寺。 而僧曰。 常住不可。 慧休聞而告之曰。 若此舉無功。 則國之虞矣。 國虞而寺存未之能也。 召其徒沮眾告師（召僧眾散告兵師而給散也）發廩賑食。 神堯初欲罷釋教。 唯河北不被詔。 以英公表聞故也（宋乾德四年克蜀。 後川軍作亂。 王師討全師雄軍食不給。 彭州天台院發眾僧倉廩以濟之。 至開寶六年。 主上勅倍還。 仍別加恩獎也）近世遂州道謙。 體貌都偉。 善講涅槃。 時或以腥羶侑味。 道俗甚不相與。 謙曰。 濟力為講。 願勿嫌也。 當盛暑殞。 肌膏流浸。 芬馥酷烈（酷甚也）沈檀之不若。 邦里特申哀敬。 故權道也至至也（上至字及也。 下至字極也。 能及於至極之道也）仲尼云。 可與立未可與權（論語文。 但可與立事。 未可與權道反於常道。 先反而後合也）棠棣之華偏其反而（棠棣移也。 亦曰郁李。 又云車下李樹高三尺。 已來二月開花淺紅花稠。 眾花先合後開如常道也。 此花先開後合喻權道也。 初似相反而後合道也）豈不爾思室是遠而（此是權道所喻之詩。 豈不爾思賢人為賢人之室遠。 此詩未足。 下云。 末之思也。 夫何遠之有。 自是不思思即及也）誠不以難乎。 故心惟貞一機由俯仰（貞正也。 行心存於正一機權之道。 則或俯或仰不定也）事實至公用若至私而仁智。 觀其益雖違而達也。 觀無益當順而守也（不必定執之也）夫厲與西施嚬（西施美女也。 厲醜女也。 嚬戚也）所嚬是一而厲知其不及。 則若勿嚬於知之艱矣（西施貌美。 嚬戚而轉艷。 東鄰醜女本醜効西施嚬戚而轉醜也。 此意喻修靜等求試而轉乖也）。

causing others to model themselves on them without transgression, and ordering their every movement with purposeful propriety. (Order means standard. They themselves strictly maintain it, causing later generations to model themselves on it and act accordingly.) During the Tianbao era of the Northern Qi, there was the monk Tanxian, whose origins were unknown. In eating and drinking he was like ordinary folk, yet at times he spoke words of great breadth and loftiness. The Supreme Controller [of Monks] recognized his extraordinary nature (Fashang served as Supreme Controller of Monks, hence was titled 'Supreme Controller') and was secretly close to him. At that time it happened that the Daoist Lu Xiujing fled to Qi from Liang. (Xiujing had earlier slandered Buddhism in Liang; Emperor Wu of Liang wished to execute him, so he fled to Qi, where he once again sought a contest.) An imperial edict commanded the śramaṇas to face ten of Xiujing’s disciples, decreeing a contest of superiority. Under the incantations of the demonic arts of Xiujing's disciples, the śramaṇas' robes and bowls would spin and fly through the air, and beam timbers upon being incanted would stand upright or lie crosswise. Looking around, the śramaṇas were unable to counter them, and [the Daoists] boasted loudly: 'What the śramaṇas see once, I shall see twice!' The emperor ordered the Supreme Controller, and the Controller sought out Tanxian. Tanxian was sitting drunk at the end of the assembly. The assembly reported: 'He is drunk.' [Fashang] said: 'They style themselves Libationers; precisely a drunkard will be able to face them!' He immediately ordered attendants to support him up to the seat. Thereupon he laughed, raised one foot, and said: 'I have already seen one; how can there be two?' Xiujing's disciples were silenced with shame. Tanxian then ordered that the robe and bowl of Dhyāna Master Chou be brought and told them to cast an incantation upon them. In the end, they could not move them. The emperor ordered that they be lifted up (lifting the robe and bowl); from one person to five pairs (ten people), none could lift them. Placing them on the beam timber, incantations were cast upon it, but with no effect. Xiujing's disciples shrank back in shame (shrinking back means being startled and ashamed), gave up their arts, and said: 'The Buddha calls himself "inner"; what is inner is small. You call us "outer"; what is outer is great.' Tanxian replied at once: 'The Son of Heaven is inside, while the hundred officials are outside. How could small and great be contrariwise?' The people of Qi thereby were indebted to us. Though an ox is emaciated, it still falls upon the pig. (Emaciated means thin; to fall upon means to collapse onto; a pig means swine. This says that though an ox is thin, if it falls it can still crush a pig. It means that though greatly weakened, it still crushes what is small. This is text from the Spring and Autumn Annals, a metaphor for Jin and Lu.) How could this not be so? In the beginning of our dynasty, when Xu Shiji was campaigning in Hebei, food provisions fell short and the royal army grew exhausted. He sought to borrow grain from a monastery, but the monks said: 'The monastic property must not be used.' When Huixiu heard this, he told them: 'If this campaign has no success, the state will be in peril. If the state is in peril, the monastery's survival is something that cannot be.' He summoned his assembly, quelled their opposition, and informed the army (summoning the monastic assembly, dispersing the news to the soldiers, and distributing [the grain]), opening the granaries to provide them with food. When Shenyao at first wished to abolish Buddhism, Hebei alone was not subject to the edict, because Duke Ying had memorialized it. (In the fourth year of the Qiande era of Song, Shu was conquered; later, the soldiers of the Chuan area rebelled. When the royal army campaigned against Quan Shixiong, the army provisions fell short. The Tiantai Cloister in Pengzhou opened the grain stores of the assembly of monks to relieve them. By the sixth year of the Kaibao era, the sovereign decreed that double be returned, and furthermore added exceptional grace and rewards.) In recent times, Daoqian of Suizhou was majestic in appearance and deportment, and was adept at lecturing on the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra. At times he would accompany his meals with meat and fish; monks and layfolk were very alienated from him. Qian said: 'I supplement my strength in order to lecture; please do not harbor resentment.' When he passed away in the heat of midsummer, his bodily fluids seeped forth, but their fragrant scent was intensely pungent (intense means extremely so), surpassing that of agarwood and sandalwood. The people of the district especially expressed their grief and veneration. Therefore, the way of expedience reaches the utmost! (The upper word 'reach' means to arrive at; the lower word 'utmost' means the extreme. One is able to reach the utmost Way.) Zhongni said: 'One may stand firm with them, but not yet exercise expedience with them.' (Text from the Analects. One may only establish affairs with them, but not yet exercise expedience which counters the constant norm, first running contrary to it and later according with it.) 'The flowers of the cherry tree, / Fluttering, turn over.' (The cherry tree is the tangdi; it is also called yuli. It is also said that the plum tree under the carriage is three feet tall; by the second month it blooms with pale red and dense flowers. Other flowers first close and then open, like the constant norm. This flower first opens and then closes, a metaphor for the way of expedience: at first seemingly contrary, but later according with the Way.) 'Is it not that I do not think of you? / But your house is far away.' (This is the ode that serves as a metaphor for the way of expedience: 'Is it not that I do not think of you, the worthy man? It is that the worthy man's house is far away.' This ode is not complete; below it says: 'He did not think of her at all; what distance is there?' It is just that one does not think; if one thinks, one arrives.) Truly, is it not difficult? Therefore, the mind is solely upright and one, while the mechanism depends on bending and rising. (Upright means correct. One's active mind rests in upright oneness, while the mechanism and expedient way may bend or rise, never fixed.) In fact, it is supremely impartial, but in function it seems supremely private; yet the benevolent and wise, observing its benefit, though it appears contrary, attain their end; observing it to be without benefit, they should accord with [the constant] and preserve it. (One must not rigidly cling to it.) Now, when Li and Xishi frown (Xishi was a beautiful woman; Li was an ugly woman; to frown means to knit the brows in distress), the frown is one and the same, yet Li knew she did not measure up; if so, not frowning would have been the hard thing for her knowledge. (Xishi was beautiful; when she frowned she became even more charming. The ugly woman of the eastern neighborhood was inherently ugly; when she imitated Xishi's frown, she became even uglier. This metaphor means that Xiujing and the others, seeking a contest, only became increasingly perverse.)