北山錄 5.2.12

5.2.12

知無不博。 何不精意求之變化。 以克永世乎。 周穆（乘八駿。 會王母於瑤池。 可不求長生羽化之藥）秦皇（方士往蓬萊採藥。 竟死沙丘）漢武（好道求仙。 竟歸蒿里）燕昭方士有幾存乎。 惑慕者眾矣。 得者誰矣。 歷於所獲不多於所喪矣。 夫老耼含粹孕靈。 立五千文治于家國。 道味凝乎太和。 至德含乎太虛。 故能壽能少以隱以顯。 至若駕螭鸞。 挾日月。 磅礴宇宙。 出入死生。 假彼神用以彰道德。 非謂不撤腥肥不潔心慮。 但由克意草木。 而能駐彼爽口腐腸之性命者也。 故老聖云。 孔德之容惟道是從（孔甚也。 從順也。 言甚有容德之人。 所行唯以虛極之道是順也）夫師以德義為本。 疑游覆以張其末。 其或本之病矣。 末奚以為（德行為本。 伎藝為末）而吾教雖有神仙五通之化。 皆由定力而後乃成矣。 晉單道開服松脂吞細石。 能日行七百里。 而不能過百年之壽（高僧單道開。 好道常餐松脂。 竟歸無常）梁慧約餌松木凡三十餘年。 年近于期頤（亦高僧。 禮記期頤百歲也）長生之道未有聞也。 但世途好修惡短惑惑然不自決。 吾教以去殺施食為長壽因。 胡不遵歟。 世途好堅惡朽惑惑然不自決。 吾教以除難授法為不壞因。 胡不勉歟。 至若以凡世言之處萬載。 若旦暮同盡者也。 夫新新之運未甞不為物就化。 修者君此世之化。 短者先後世之化。 與不化奚異焉（莊生云。 生者死之悲。 死者生之悲也）故古之達者安時而處。 順哀樂之所不能入矣。 孟孫問於楊朱曰。 有人於此。 愛生貴身。 以祈不死可乎。 曰理無久生。 夫生非貴所能存。 身非愛所能厚。 且久生奚為。 五情好惡古猶今也。 四體安危古猶今也。 世事苦樂古猶今也。 變易治亂古猶今也。 既聞之矣。 既見之矣。 既遍之矣。 百年猶厭其多。 況久生之苦乎（居世若不進道。 修行長生亦奚以為）賓曰。 子貢問於孔子曰。 死人有知乎。 子曰。 吾欲言有知。 將恐孝子順孫妨生以送死。 吾欲言無知。 將恐不孝之子孫棄其親而不葬賜。 欲知有知與無知。 非今之急。 後當自知之矣（出家語也）仲獻子曰（仲獻子。 仲孫蔑也）夏后氏用盟器示民無知也。 殷人用祭器示民有知也。 周人兼用之示民有疑也。 因緣之經將必極焉（此乃三世因緣之事。 儒教未明。 故有茲問也）主人曰。 死者形謝而精神有往。 綿續五道輪復無窮（以無明發行支感愛取潤。 見在十支因。 未來二支果。 輪迴無已）此以彼生為死。 彼以此死為生也（南華文也。 死有生是生有死也。 生有生則死有死也）故為鬼則有知是死不為鬼則無知也。 而鬼有小大焉。 大則知大。 小則知小。 至若岳瀆社稷為綱為紀大焉。 在檐霤在戶竈為罔[虫*(兩-(入*入)+(人*人))]為蜲蛇小焉。 季路問事鬼神。 仲尼亦所未答（但云未能事人焉能事鬼）以其冥道幽昧慮益生人之惑矣。 宋何承天云。 生必有死。 形斃神散。 猶春榮秋落四時代換。 奚有更受形哉。 詩曰。 三后在天。 言精靈之昇遐也（神滅論也）顏延之讓曰。 若精靈必果異乎。 草木則受形之論無乃更資。 將由三后萃善報在生天。 若徒有精靈尚無體狀。 未知在天當何憑以立也。 梁范縝形神滅論云。 宗廟祭饗。 周孔之道以敬也。 申生伯有恢怪之妖也（狐突往曲沃見申生使之御云夷吾對余無禮余得請於帝當以晉卑秦言訖而滅後惠公果為秦獲鄭殺伯有後忽介甲而見也）雖人間有鬼。 自是天地之一物。 如人畜類。 非死者而為之也。 當時詔百官精詳曉諭其人愚反非聖人之法不可教也。 易曰。 仰以觀於天文。 俯以察於地理。 是知幽明之故原始反終。 是故知死生之說。 精氣為物。 遊魂為變。 是故知鬼神之情狀。 斯言所謂至矣哉。

"His knowledge was nowhere uncomprehensive; why did he not concentrate his mind to seek transformation so as to achieve eternal life? King Mu of Zhou (who rode the eight steeds and met the Queen Mother at the Jasper Pool; could he not have sought the elixir of longevity and feathered immortality?), the First Emperor of Qin (whose fangshi went to Penglai to gather the elixir, yet who died at last in Shaqu), Emperor Wu of Han (who favored the Dao and sought immortals, yet returned in the end to Haoli), and King Zhao of Yan—how many of their fangshi remain? Many were those who admired and were deluded; who among them attained it? Reviewing what was gained, it was not more than what was lost. Now Lao Dan held the purest essence and harbored spiritual potency; he established five thousand words to govern household and state. The flavor of the Dao congealed in Great Harmony; supreme virtue was contained in Great Emptiness. Thus he could be long-lived or youthful, hidden or manifest. As for driving hornless dragons and luan-birds, flanking himself with sun and moon, towering over the universe, and passing into and out of life and death, these were manifestations of his spiritual function to illustrate the virtue of the Dao. It did not mean that without abandoning fleshly rankness or purifying thoughts, one could, merely by applying effort to herbs and woods, preserve that life which is ruined by delicacies and rots the intestines. Therefore the ancient sage said: 'The form of great virtue accords only with the Dao' (kong means great; cong means to accord with. It means that the actions of a person possessing great and accommodating virtue accord solely with the ultimate Dao of emptiness). A master takes virtue and righteousness as the root, and occasionally makes use of external appearances to spread the branches. If there is illness in the root, what use are the branches? (Virtuous conduct is the root; technical arts are the branches.) Although our teaching possesses the transformations of divine transcendents and the five superknowledges, these are all accomplished only through the power of samādhi. In the Jin, Shan Daokai ingested pine resin and swallowed small stones, being able to walk seven hundred li a day, yet could not exceed a lifespan of one hundred years (the eminent monk Shan Daokai loved the Dao and regularly ate pine resin, yet returned in the end to impermanence). In the Liang, Huiyue fed on pine trees for over thirty years and approached the age of one hundred (also an eminent monk; the Book of Rites says one hundred years is termed qiyi), yet of the way to eternal life, nothing was heard. But worldly ways love length and loathe brevity, deluded and unable to decide for themselves. Our teaching takes renouncing slaughter and bestowing food as the cause for long life; why not follow this? Worldly ways love permanence and loathe decay, deluded and unable to decide for themselves. Our teaching takes averting distress and granting the Dharma as the cause for indestructible [nature]; why not strive for this? As for speaking from the mundane world, lingering for ten thousand years is equally over, like morning and dusk. The movement of continual novelty has never ceased to submit things to transformation. Long life is transformation during this life; brevity is transformation prior to or after this life. How does either differ from not transforming? (Zhuangzi said: 'The living grieve for the dead; the dead grieve for the living.') Therefore the realized ones of old rested content with the time and dwelled in accord, where sorrow and joy could find no entry. Mengsun asked Yang Zhu: 'Suppose there is a person here who loves life and prizes his person, praying for immortality—is this possible?' He replied: 'In principle there is no perpetual life. Life is not something that prizing it can preserve; the body is not something that loving it can enrich. Moreover, what purpose is there in perpetual life? The likes and dislikes of the five passions of old are still the same today. The safety and peril of the four limbs of old are still the same today. The bitter and sweet of worldly affairs of old are still the same today. The shifts between order and disorder of old are still the same today. Having heard them, seen them, and experienced them through and through, one already tires of a hundred years as too many, not to mention the suffering of perpetual life!' (Living in the world, if one does not advance in the Dao and practice, what purpose is there in longevity?) The Guest said: 'Zigong asked Confucius: "Do the dead possess consciousness?" The Master said: "If I were to say they possess consciousness, I fear filial sons and obedient grandsons would neglect the living to dispatch the dead. If I were to say they possess no consciousness, I fear unfilial descendants would abandon their parents and not bury them. Ci, if you wish to know whether they possess consciousness or not, it is not an urgent matter for today; later you will know of yourself." (This comes from the Kongzi jiayu.) Zhong Xianzi said (Zhong Xianzi was Zhongsun Mie): "The Xia clan used spirit vessels to show the people there is no consciousness; the Yin people used sacrificial vessels to show the people there is consciousness; the Zhou people used both to show the people that there is doubt." The scripture of causes and conditions will certainly exhaust this matter.' (This is the matter of causes and conditions over the three periods of time. Ruist teaching had not clarified it, hence there was this question.) The Host said: 'When a dead person's form perishes, the spirit departs, continually continuing through the five destinies, cycling without end. (With ignorance initiating the formation factor, evoking desire and grasping for moisture, the ten factors of the present are causes, and the two factors of the future are effects, revolving in saṃsāra without end.) Here, what is born there is regarded as dying; there, what died here is regarded as being born. (This is from Zhuangzi's writings: 'Death comes from life, life comes from death. Where there is life there is death; where there is death there is life.') Therefore, becoming a ghost, one possesses consciousness; in dying without becoming a ghost, one does not possess consciousness. Moreover, ghosts may be large or small: the large know largely, and the small know small matters. As for the sacred peaks and great rivers, the altars of soil and grain, they are grand as standards and regulations; those in the eaves and gutters, in doorways and hearths, are minute as wangliang and weishe spirits. When Jilu asked about serving ghosts and spirits, Confucius likewise did not answer (only saying: 'While you are not yet able to serve men, how can you serve ghosts?'), because the dark path is obscure and dim, and he feared augmenting the delusions of the living. He Chengtian of the Song said: "Where there is life, there must be death. When the form is ruined, the spirit scatters, just as spring flourishes and autumn withers, the four seasons alternating. How could there be taking another form? The Book of Odes says: 'The three sovereigns are in heaven,' speaking of spiritual souls ascending to the distance." (This is his Treatise on the Extinction of the Soul.) Yan Yanzhi reprimanded him, saying: "If spiritual souls truly differ from herbs and trees, does not the discourse on receiving a form gain even more support? It must be that the three sovereigns accumulated wholesome retribution to be born in heaven. If there were merely a spiritual soul without physical shape, I know not what it could rely upon to stand in heaven." Fan Zhen of the Liang, in his Treatise on the Extinction of the Soul and Body, said: "Sacrifices and feasts in ancestral temples are the way of the Duke of Zhou and Confucius to show reverence. Shengsheng and Boyou were weird monsters and prodigies (Hu Tu went to Quwo and saw Shengsheng, who had him drive his chariot, saying: 'Yiwu treated me without propriety. I have obtained permission from the Heavenly Emperor: Jin will be subordinated to Qin.' After speaking, he vanished; Duke Hui was indeed captured by Qin later. When Zheng killed Boyou, he later suddenly appeared in armor). Although there are ghosts among humankind, they are naturally just one kind of thing between heaven and earth, like humans and beasts, not made from the dead." At that time, an edict ordered the hundred officials to examine and instruct him closely, [showing that] this man was foolish, opposed the sages' methods, and was beyond teaching. The Book of Changes says: "Looking upward to observe the heavenly patterns, looking downward to inspect the earthly layouts, thereby one knows the causes of darkness and light. Tracing things to their beginning and returning to their end, thereby one knows the explanation of death and life. Essential qi makes things; the wandering soul makes change. Thereby one knows the circumstances of ghosts and spirits." How ultimate indeed is this statement!'