[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) › 5.2.3 # 北山錄 5.2.3 北山錄 5.2.3 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [5.2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.5.2.3) 何言聖人歟（論語。 子欲之九夷。 或曰。 陋如之何。 孔子曰。 君子居之。 何陋之有。 君子尚爾。 聖人居之。 即化固不為陋）夫皇天無親。 惟德是輔。 學無常師。 主善為師（主親也。 有善則從意而從之）天下之善一也。 安可以隄封為限哉（但以利濟為心。 豈以封域為限）故大禹姬文聖王也（大禹出西羌生於石細。 今茂州路也。 周文生於邠皆戎羌）由余日磾賢臣也（由余。 戎使至秦。 秦築宮室。 由余譏之云。 若非鬼工則須人造也。 金日碑。 漢武時蕃人。 在漢宮甚賢也）生不在中夏。 太康周幽荒君也（太康夏王好田遊。 五子作歌以諫之。 十旬不返也。 周幽王寵褒姒以滅身也）寒浞申侯悖臣也（寒浞伯明氏之讒子弟也。 滅羿而立。 申侯滅周幽王也）生不在四夷。 豈以邦域而論賢鄙哉。 而黃帝登崑崙。 老聖適流沙（黃帝登崑崙山。 問道廣成子。 老子適流沙。 尋釋迦文也）俱貴其所聞。 慕其所同。 而後往也（同聲相應同道相求）夫胡馬服皂（皂隸養馬賤職）胡樂張廷（如琵琶羌笛等）胡琮充府（琮璧出異域）未則云陋耶。 故希出俗之道。 當為背俗之儀（圓頂方袍也）處其儀而不欲勉其道者。 中才已上適恥也（處無塵之地。 作背俗之儀。 不能進德脩業。 而遑遑於財利之鄉。 上士顧之恥也）而孔聖云。 不敢毀傷者。 蓋言為眚召害之誡也（眚過也。 害災也。 孝經。 身體髮膚不敢毀傷。 蓋誡其過害也）至若泰伯以斷髮為至德。 預讓以漆身為秉忠（吳泰伯周太王之長子。 以幼弟季歷賢。 又生聖子文王。 昌知其必有天下。 遂避之適吳。 剪髮文身。 孔子以之為至德也。 史記。 趙襄子殺智伯。 預讓思為智伯報之。 襄子知令國人逐之。 預讓乃漆身以變形。 吞炭以改聲而入其國。 史記以為忠。 則斷髮變形。 未為不忠不孝也）其能立德揚名。 何甞以全髮膚之為孝也。 由是華夏古今知其厚益則而象之不以變形儀則英賢廢。 存冠服則家國興。 故友瑗不假簪紱（季友衛遽瑗皆賢二子之賢。 豈因簪紱之致）桓卯不以髠赭（桓魋少正卯皆不仁。 豈因髠赭也）何榮此辱彼哉。 昔趙武靈王始變胡服（趙武靈王謂樓緩曰。 吾欲胡服。 曰善。 群臣不欲。 肥義侍王。 又告之曰。 吾欲胡服。 而恐後世將議寡人奈何。 義曰。 臣聞。 疑事無功。 疑行無名。 王既定負遺俗之慮。 治無顧天下之議矣。 愚者闇於成事。 智者見於未萌。 然則王何疑焉。 於是遂胡服也）隋唐之後。 漸改衣冠。 所貴在治。 建為王度。 記事記言未見譏之者也（為政貴在治民。 立其王度。 未見譏其胡服也）夫仲尼非虞夏之臣。 而宗乎三代禮樂（虞夏商也）吳越非魯衛屬國。 而行乎姬文周公孔氏之教。 洎秦正新室所置百官刑政典法。 後世帝王多亦尋於時政因而無替（正始皇新室王莽二雖無道。 所置百官法度。 或因而不改也）若以二世王莽同居中夏。 故遞相㳂襲。 非彼絕域者。 或則失於用天司牧之意也（天生蒸民。 樹之司牧。 又云。 用天之道。 何限夷夏也）夫一日月所照皆吾天下。 吾行天下之善。 孰則不為吾天下者乎。 昔楚王亡弓任楚得之。 仲尼云。 惜乎其不大也。 何不使人得之（楚王失弓曰但不過楚人得之。 仲尼聞之曰。 惜乎何不曰人亡弓人得之）但今言者皆盡稱西域為胡。 而實胡在䓗嶺之下三十餘國。 嶺西身毒國謂婆羅門國也。 然於其間非無雜類。 嵌目雕決。 如此方伊洛。 戎狄逼邇王畿。 故身毒極鄙胡稱（今河南伊洛之間。 皆有戎居也）然王浮化胡經云。 胡人凶獷。 故化之為佛令髠赭絕嗣夫何惑哉。 當春秋時。 赤狄白狄為列國𡨥讎。 獫狁孔熾。 蠻夷猾夏（孔甚也。 猾亂也。 當春秋時。 狄伐晉魯等也）如何邇而不服遠。 於流沙之外大荒之末。 > why speak only of sages? (In the Analects: The Master wished to dwell among the Nine Yi tribes. Someone said, "They are crude, how can you do so?" Confucius said, "If a gentleman dwells among them, what crudeness could there be?" If a gentleman is like this, then if a sage dwells there, transformation naturally does not consider them crude.) Heaven has no favorites; it aids only virtue. Learning has no fixed teacher; one takes the good as master. (To take as master means to attach oneself to; wherever there is good, one follows one's inclination to adhere to it.) The good under heaven is one: how could it be constrained by boundary lines? (If one's mind is set only on benefiting and delivering, how could one be bounded by territorial borders?) Therefore the Great Yu and Ji Wen were sage kings, (The Great Yu came from the Western Qiang and was born in Shiniu, in modern-day Maozhou circuit. King Wen of Zhou was born in Bin; both were Rong and Qiang.) while Youyu and Jin Midi were worthy ministers, (Youyu was an envoy from the Rong who went to Qin. Qin built palace halls, and Youyu criticized them, saying, "If these were not the work of ghosts, then they must have burdened the people." Jin Midi was an alien in the time of Emperor Wu of the Han, who was exceedingly worthy in the Han palace.) yet their births were not in the Central Xia. Taikang and King You of Zhou were dissolute lords, (Taikang was a king of Xia who was fond of hunting. His five younger brothers made songs to remonstrate with him, as he did not return for a hundred days. King You of Zhou doted on Baosi and brought about his own destruction.) and Han Zhuo and the Marquis of Shen were rebellious ministers, (Han Zhuo was a slanderous scion of the Boming clan who destroyed Yi and took his place. The Marquis of Shen destroyed King You of Zhou.) yet their births were not among the Four Barbarians. How could one judge worthiness or baseness by territorial realms? And Huangdi ascended Mount Kunlun, while the Lao Sage journeyed to the shifting sands, (Huangdi ascended Mount Kunlun to inquire into the Dao from Guangchengzi. Laozi journeyed to the shifting sands to seek Śākyamuni.) both esteeming what they heard and yearning for what resonated with them before they set out. (Corresponding voices answer each other; those sharing the same Dao seek each other out.) Now, barbarian horses are tamed in the stables, (Grooms tending horses are menial offices.) barbarian music is played in the court, (Such as the pipa and Qiang flute.) and barbarian cong-jades fill the treasury—(Cong and bi jades come from foreign lands.) were these ever called crude? Therefore, to aspire to the path of leaving the world, one must adopt the decorum of turning one's back on the world. (The shaven head and square robes.) To occupy its decorum yet not wish to exert oneself in its path is precisely what brings shame upon those of middling talent and above. (Occupying a place free of worldly dust and assuming the demeanor of renouncing the world, yet unable to advance in virtue and cultivate one's work, but instead restlessly busying oneself in the realm of wealth and profit—superior gentlemen look upon this with shame.) And when the sage Confucius spoke of "not daring to damage or injure," it was a warning against incurring harm through faults. (A fault is an error. Harm is calamity. The Classic of Filial Piety: "Body, hair, and skin must not be damaged or injured." This is a warning against faults and calamities.) As for Taibo taking the cutting of his hair as utmost virtue, and Yu Rang taking the lacquering of his body as upholding loyalty—(Wu Taibo was the eldest son of King Tai of Zhou. Because his youngest brother Jili was worthy, and moreover had fathered the sage son King Wen, \[Taibo\] knew that \[Wen\] would surely possess the realm, so he retreated to Wu, cut his hair, and tattooed his body; Confucius regarded this as utmost virtue. The Shiji: Zhao Xiangzi killed Zhi Bo. Yu Rang thought of avenging Zhi Bo. Xiangzi found out and ordered his countrymen to pursue him. Yu Rang then lacquered his body to alter his appearance and swallowed charcoal to alter his voice, entering his state. The Shiji regarded this as loyalty; hence cutting hair and changing appearance are not thereby disloyal or unfilial.) if they were able to establish virtue and make their names renowned, how could \[filial piety\] ever consist merely in preserving hair and skin intact? Thus, ancient and modern Huaxia, knowing their profound benefits, modeled themselves after them; not by altering appearances are the brilliant and worthy cast aside, nor does the state flourish merely by preserving caps and robes. Therefore Jiyou and Qu Yuan did not rely on hairpins and ribbons, (Ji You and Weiqu Yuan were both worthy; how could the worthiness of these two men have been brought about by hairpins and ribbons?) nor did Huan Tui and Shaozheng Mao become wicked through shaven heads and convict garments—(Huan Tui and Shaozheng Mao were both unbenevolent; how could it be because of shaven heads and convict garments?) why honor the one and disdain the other? In the past, King Wuling of Zhao first adopted barbarian clothing. (King Wuling of Zhao said to Lou Huan, "I wish to adopt barbarian clothing." Lou said, "Excellent." The ministers were unwilling. Feiyi attended the king, who also addressed him, saying, "I wish to adopt barbarian clothing, but I fear that later generations will criticize me; what should I do?" Yi said, "I have heard that undertaking doubtful matters yields no merit, and doubtful actions bring no fame. Since Your Majesty has determined to cast aside the burden of worldly customs, rule without looking back at the world's criticism! The foolish are blind to accomplished deeds; the wise perceive before things sprout. Why then should Your Majesty doubt?" Thereupon he adopted barbarian clothing.) After the Sui and Tang, caps and gowns were gradually reformed; what is esteemed is order, which is established as the royal standard. In recorded events and recorded speeches, none has been seen to ridicule this. (In governance, what is esteemed is ordering the people and establishing the royal standard; one has not seen ridicule directed at barbarian clothing.) Now Zhongni was not a minister of Yu or Xia, yet he revered the rites and music of the Three Dynasties; (Yu, Xia, and Shang.) Wu and Yue were not vassal states of Lu and Wei, yet they practiced the teachings of Ji Wen, the Duke of Zhou, and the Confucius clan. Even down to the official ranks, penal administration, and statutes instituted by Zheng of Qin and the Xin Court, later emperors and kings mostly adhered to current administration and continued them without discontinuance. (Although Qin Shi Huang and Wang Mang of the Xin were both devoid of the Way, the ranks and measures they instituted were often adopted without change.) If it were because the Second Emperor and Wang Mang lived together in the Central Xia that they were handed down and adopted in succession, whereas those from beyond the borders were not, then one would fail to understand the intent of employing Heaven's mandate to shepherd the people. (Heaven gave birth to the teeming masses and set up shepherds over them. It is also said: "To employ the Way of Heaven, why limit it to barbarian or Xia?") Now, all that is illuminated by the one sun and moon is our realm under heaven; if we practice the good of all under heaven, what then does not belong to our realm under heaven? In the past, when the King of Chu lost his bow and was content that someone of Chu would find it, Zhongni said, "A pity that his mind was not grander! Why not say a person will find it?" (The King of Chu lost his bow and said, "It will not go beyond someone of Chu finding it." When Zhongni heard this, he said, "A pity! Why did he not say: 'A person lost a bow, a person found it'?") However, those who speak today all indiscriminately refer to the Western Regions as "Hu," yet in truth the Hu comprise over thirty states beneath the Congling Mountains, whereas to the west of the mountains lies the state of Shendu, which is called the land of the Brahmans. Nevertheless, among them there are not lacking mixed groups with sunken eyes and chiselled eyebrows—just as in the Yi and Luo regions of this realm, where the Rong and Di press close against the royal domain; hence Shendu utterly disdains the name of "Hu." (Between the Yi and Luo rivers in present-day Henan, Rong people also reside.) Yet Wang Fu's Scripture of Converting the Barbarians says that because the Hu people were fierce and savage, he converted them by becoming the Buddha to make them shave their heads, wear convict garments, and sever their lineages—how deluded this is! In the Spring and Autumn period, the Red Di and White Di were deadly enemies of the feudal states, the Xianyun were fiercely rampant, and the Man and Yi threw Xia into disorder. (Kong means extremely. Hua means to disorder. In the Spring and Autumn period, the Di invaded Jin, Lu, and others.) Why did they not submit those who were near, but instead went far beyond the shifting sands to the edge of the great wilderness? > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 5.2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.5.2.2) - [Next: 5.2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.5.2.4) - [Up: 5.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.5.2) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113~en-mt.5.2.3) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.5.2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.5.2.3) · Pramāṇa