北山錄 4.2.4

4.2.4

其人內外群書皆略遍觀。 陰陽計數亦皆通會。 佛經妙義固所遊刃。 翻覆籌算無可比肩。 恨足下不同日而見也。 慧遠初為儒。 年過乎弱冠。 遇道安於太行恒山。 喜曰。 以為真吾師也。 常欲總攝綱維。 以大法為己任。 以夜續晝。 貧旅多闕。 曇翼每給以燈燭之費。 安聞之曰。 道士誠知人矣。 甞他日安歎曰。 使道流東土其在遠乎。 遠後盛德既彰。 聲華洽聞。 外國咸稱漢有大乘道士。 每東向廬山稽首焚香遐誠展敬。 羅什入關。 遠致書通好。 什答書其卒章曰。 經云末後東方有護法菩薩。 勗哉仁者善弘其事。 殷仲堪之荊州至山。 與遠臨北㵎談易移景不倦。 盧循初據江州。 以父嘏同為書生。 歡然篤舊。 有諫者曰。 循為國冠。 與之厚得不疑乎。 遠曰。 我佛法中情無取捨。 豈不為識者所察。 洎宋武討循。 左右曰。 遠公素篤循交。 裕曰。 遠公世表之人。 心無彼此。 乃齎書遺錢米。 遠講喪服記。 宗雷並執卷（宗炳雷次宗）。 雷後著義疏。 首稱雷氏宗炳嘲之曰。 昔與足下共。 於釋和尚間面受此義。 今便題卷首稱雷氏乎。 慧持形長八尺。 常躡屣衲衣半脛。 將入蜀。 兄止之曰。 人生愛聚。 汝獨樂離如何。 持曰。 若滯情愛聚本不應出家。 今既割欲求道。 正以西方為期耳。 同學慧永於西林嶺上別立一室欲禪。 輒往居焉。 常有一虎在屋。 賓至則使去。 於一日會何無忌於虎溪。 遠從徒百餘莊而肅。 永獨衲衣草屨荷鍚提鉢。 松下飄然而來。 時以清散之風多於遠也。 其門德行有道祖僧迁道流。 富有才思。 遠每謂祖等曰。 夫易悟盡如汝輩。 則吾不復憂後生矣。 （孔子曰。 聞義不能徙是吾憂也）其後迁流夭世。 遠曰。 此子並才義英茂清悟日新。 使此長往一何痛哉。 有慧要者。 患山中無刻漏。 乃於水上立十二葉芙蓉。 因波轉以定十二時。 晷景無差耳（又甞作木鵡。 令飛數百步。 有張山人者。 廣政中於蜀主殿前立渾儀樓。 注以水銀。 令木人執二時牌子。 隨水銀轉對殿報時。 晷刻不差。 張山人。 名思訓。 本遂州人。 後入京。 係司天監）有僧澈者。 善篇牘。 甞至山南攀松而嘯（盧山南也）於是和風遠集。 眾鳥悲鳴。 超然有勝氣。 退而諮於遠曰。 律禁管絃歌舞。 一吟一嘯可得為乎。 遠曰。 以亂意言之皆為違法。 澈聞唯而止。 其姑道儀見於高尼傳也（尼傳四卷）議者以為佛圖澄之門豫樟杞梓也（即安公是）道安之門崐藍琮璧也（琮璧美王出於崐山藍田　遠公是也）羅什之門瑚璉簠簋也（生肇等也。 殷瑚夏璉周簠簋也）慧遠之門犀象齒革也（道祖等。 象之是犀之革也）慧光之門孔翠羽毛也（光姓楊。 定州人。 師佛陀出家。 俊異朗悟。 所習諸經便為人說。 師為出家更多頴俊。 時俗呼為聖沙彌。 尤攻律部。 造䟽注經甚多。 門學如林。 入室九人。 道暉為首。 儒生馮袞也）玄奘之門沈檀蘭蕙（窺基。 字洪道。 造百本䟽）去聖逾遠。 道德降矣。 藝行美矣（晉宋之代。 多脩禪觀。 得道者多。 隋唐已降。 慧學者多。 藝解美矣。 得道者少）將非泉涸之魚失江湖之所在多其昫沫耶（逐聲教而依蕩。 隨慧解以澆漓）宋人魏人南北兩都（宋劉氏都江南。 魏元氏都洛邑）宋風尚華。 魏風猶淳。 淳則寡不據道。 華則多遊於藝（晉宋高僧。 藝解光時。 弘闡法教。 故曰華也。 元魏高僧以禪觀行業據道。 故曰渟然在人不在他也）夫何以知觀乎。 北則枝葉。 生於德教。 南則枝葉生辭行。 昔臧氏宰漆雕氏。 以大蔡繁簡知臧氏之優劣（臧氏魯大夫。 漆雕開魯賢人。 宰家宰也。 臧氏世貯大蔡之龜。 文仲賢三年一十。 武仲二年一卜。 已下一年一卜。 簡少也。 繁多也。

‘This man has perused roughly all books, both inner and outer. He has also thoroughly mastered the calculations of yin and yang. With the subtle purports of the Buddhist scriptures he moves with consummate skill; in weighing, examining, and calculating, no one can stand shoulder to shoulder with him. I only regret that you, sir, cannot meet him on the same day.’ Huiyuan was initially a Ruist. When he had passed his capping age, he met Dao'an at Mount Taihang and Mount Heng. Delighted, he said, ‘This is truly my master!’ He always wished to take comprehensive charge of the guiding principles [of the Dharma], making the Great Dharma his own responsibility. Continuing through the night into the day, a poor traveler with many wants, Tanyi constantly provided him with the expenses for lamps and candles. Dao'an heard of this and said, ‘That man of the Dao truly knows men!’ On another day Dao'an sighed, saying, ‘If the Dao is to flow through the Eastern Land, will it not rest with Yuan?’ Later, when Yuan's abundant virtue had become renowned and his glorious reputation was widely heard, all the foreign lands said that Han had a Mahāyāna man of the Dao; whenever facing east toward Mount Lu, they would bow their heads, burn incense, and show respect with distant sincerity. When Kumārajīva entered the Pass, Yuan sent a letter to establish friendly relations. In the closing section of his reply, Kumārajīva wrote: ‘The scripture says that in the final age there will be a Dharma-protecting bodhisattva in the east. Exert yourself, benevolent one, and properly propagate this affair!’ When Yin Zhongkan was going to Jingzhou, he came to the mountain; sitting with Yuan overlooking the North Torrent, he discussed the *Book of Changes* as the shadows shifted, untiring. When Lu Xun first occupied Jiangzhou, because his father Ga had been a fellow student with Yuan, Yuan cordially rekindled the old friendship. Someone admonished him, saying, ‘Xun is a bandit of the state; if you are close with him, will you not incur suspicion?’ Yuan said, ‘In our Buddha-Dharma, the mind has no grasping or rejecting; how could this not be observed by the discerning?’ When Emperor Wu of Song launched an expedition against Xun, his attendants said, ‘Master Yuan has always maintained close ties with Xun.’ Liu Yu said, ‘Master Yuan is a man beyond the mundane realm, whose mind has no “this” or “that.”’ He then sent a letter bestowing money and rice. When Yuan lectured on the *Sangfu ji*, Zong Bing and Lei Cizong both held texts (Zong Bing and Lei Cizong). Later, Lei composed a subcommentary and titled its opening under the name of the Lei clan. Zong Bing mocked him, saying, ‘Formerly I was together with you, sir, and we received these purports face-to-face from Master Shi. Now are you directly titling the head of the roll under the name of the Lei clan?’ Huichi was eight spans tall; he always wore slippers and a patched robe reaching only halfway down his calves. When he was about to enter Shu, his elder brother stopped him, saying, ‘In human life, people love coming together; how can you alone delight in parting?’ Chi said, ‘If my feelings were attached to loving assembly, I should not have left the household in the first place. Now, having severed desires to seek the Dao, I take the Western Land as my goal.’ His fellow student Huiyong built a separate cell on the ridge of Xilin, wishing to practice dhyāna, and immediately went to live there. A tiger always stayed in the room; when guests arrived, he would make it leave. One day he met He Wuji at Tiger Brook: Yuan was followed by more than a hundred disciples, solemn and disciplined, while Yong alone, in a patched robe and straw sandals, carrying his pewter staff and holding his bowl, drifted along under the pines. At the time, people considered his free and detached manner to surpass that of Yuan. Among those of virtuous conduct in his circle were Daozu, Sengqian, and Daoliu, who were richly endowed with talent and intellect. Yuan would often say to Daozu and the others, ‘If those of easy understanding were all like you people, then I would no longer worry about the younger generation!’ (Confucius said, ‘Hearing what is right and being unable to move toward it—that is my worry.’) Later, when Qian and Liu died young, Yuan said, ‘These men were brilliant in talent and meaning, and their lucid awakening grew daily. That they have departed forever—what sorrow!’ There was a certain Huiyao who, distressed that there was no water clock in the mountains, placed a twelve-petaled lotus on the water, determining the twelve double-hours by the turning of the waves, so that the sun's shadow never erred (he also once made a wooden parrot and made it fly several hundred paces. There was a Mountain Man Zhang who, during the Guangzheng era, erected an armillary tower before the hall of the Ruler of Shu; filling it with mercury, he had wooden figures hold tablets for the twelve double-hours, turning with the mercury to report the time facing the hall, without a moment's error. Mountain Man Zhang was named Sixun, originally from Suizhou; later he entered the capital and was attached to the Astrological Bureau). There was a certain monk named Che who was skilled in literary compositions. He once went south of the mountain, climbed a pine tree, and gave a long whistle (south of Mount Lu). Thereupon a gentle breeze gathered from afar, and numerous birds sang sorrowfully; it had a transcendent and exquisite atmosphere. He withdrew and inquired of Yuan, saying, ‘The Vinaya prohibits wind and string music, singing and dancing; may one make a single chant or whistle?’ Yuan said, ‘In terms of scattering the mind, they are all contrary to the Dharma.’ Hearing this, Che answered respectfully and stopped. His paternal aunt Daoyi appears in the *Biographies of Eminent Nuns* (*Biographies of Nuns*, in four fascicles). Commentators consider the school of Fotudeng to be camphor trees, catalpas, and rotas (namely Master Dao'an); the school of Dao'an to be the jade cong and discs of Mount Kunlun and Lantian (cong and discs of fine jade come from Mount Kunlun and Lantian; Master Yuan is such); the school of Kumārajīva to be sacrificial jade vessels, the houlian, fu, and gui (Daosheng, Sengzhao, and the others; the hou of the Yin, the lian of the Xia, and the fu and gui of the Zhou); the school of Huiyuan to be rhinoceros horns and elephant tusks, hide and leather (Daozu and the others; tusks of elephants and hide of rhinoceroses); the school of Huiguang to be the plumage of peacocks and kingfishers (Guang was surnamed Yang, from Dingzhou. He left the household under Master Buddhabhadra. Outstanding, radiant, and keenly perceptive, whatever scriptures he studied he immediately explained to others. His master ordained even more eminent and gifted disciples; worldly people called him the “Holy Śrāmaṇera.” He especially applied himself to the Vinaya section, composing many subcommentaries and annotations on scriptures. His disciples were like a forest; nine entered his inner chamber, with Daohui at their head, and the Ruist scholar Feng Gun); and the school of Xuanzang to be aloeswood, sandalwood, epidendrums, and thoroughworts (Kuiji, courtesy name Hongdao, composed one hundred subcommentaries). As we move further from the sages, virtue and the Way decline, while arts and practices become refined (in the Jin and Song dynasties, many cultivated dhyāna-contemplation, and those who attained the Way were numerous; from the Sui and Tang downward, scholars of doctrinal understanding were many, and artistic understanding was refined, but those who attained the Way were few). Is this not like fish when the spring dries up, having lost the great rivers and lakes, being rich only in moistening foam? (Chasing sounds and teachings to rely on wandering, following intellectual comprehension to become degenerate). Between the men of Song and the men of Wei, of the southern and northern capitals (the Liu-Song made their capital south of the Yangzi; the Yuan-Wei made their capital in Luoyang), the Song style favored ornamentation, while the Wei style remained pure. When pure, few fail to base themselves on the Way; when ornamental, many disport themselves in the arts (eminent monks of the Jin and Song illuminated their age with artistic understanding and broadly expounded the Dharma teachings, hence they are called ornamental; eminent monks of the Yuan-Wei, by virtue of dhyāna-contemplation and operational conduct, based themselves on the Way, hence they are called pure; it lies in the person, not anywhere else). How do we know this? In the north, branches and leaves grew out of virtuous instruction; in the south, branches and leaves grew out of rhetoric and external actions. Anciently, when a member of the Zang clan served as steward to the Qidiao clan, by the frequency or rarity of consulting the great tortoises of Cai, people knew the superiority or inferiority of the Zang clan (the Zang clan were grandees of Lu; Qidiao Kai was a worthy of Lu; ‘steward’ means the household steward. The Zang clan stored for generations the tortoises of Great Cai: Wenzhong was worthy, divining once every three years; Wuzhong divined once every two years; from then downward, they divined once a year. ‘Rare’ means few; ‘frequent’ means many).