[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) › 7.1.2 # 北山錄 7.1.2 北山錄 7.1.2 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [7.1.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.7.1.2) 美化城之居。 居而無實。 會至寶所（佛說中小之教。 謂之權設。 如人欲至寶所。 中路心退。 導師乃於中化作一滅。 權言寶所。 候憩息方言是權。 引之更進寶所。 九部小乘教）於言如同。 其意常不同也。 有言乖而旨和如教誡經。 比丘不袒。 大聖貽其責也。 城喻經。 既袒不通肩。 又責之也（袒謂露膊。 通肩兩膊俱覆。 且非袒也）鶖子以正言。 似反取捨未諭（未知可執）佛言行供養袒也。 作福田不應袒也。 所貴善時。 非堅白之可離（取捨適時。 進退從權。 非如磨而不磷方日堅乎。 涅而不淄方日白乎）甞告頻婆娑羅王曰。 勿縱惡比丘令僧田蕪穢其罪甚於剜大千眼（王舍城主）有時以破戒比丘如萎薝蔔王官素服勿得刑罰（遺教經云。 薝蔔花雖萎。 猶勝諸餘花。 破戒諸比丘。 猶勝諸外道。 又云。 我諸比丘若犯王法。 或殺或打。 若剝袈裟逼令還俗。 若驅出國。 如生剝三百頭牛。 其罪尚輕）蓋由仁王過仁。 使愚者恣慝（慝惡也）惡王過惡。 使人枉濫慮失其中設兩經以防損也。 戒經。 始命展轉相諫。 終命但自觀身（戒經。 僧殘有三諫之文。 七佛戒又云。 但自觀身行莫觀作不作）蓋為直己而不能直人者。 制使胥諫也。 伐善而好訟過者。 制令退省諸已也。 有事隱而言實。 如憍梵波提。 墮數粒粟。 而五百世為牛。 彼當更有牛業。 而但彰乎一事也（即牛呞比丘。 過去世摘一莖禾墮數粒粟。 五百世作牛蹄牛口。 佛恐世人譏之。 遂令長居三十三天）阿那律施一食。 而九十一劫受人天樂（此云無滅。 天眼第一）彼以善緣相資。 成於多劫。 然由肇自一食。 隱末而稱本也。 如世稱富者。 食一金錢。 彼始以一金錢。 而後成於富者也。 夫同躋十號何則強劣而稱拜者益有豐寡耶（同以十號成佛稱禮於有見獲益不同也）蓋舉一時一行。 而示乎不一之緣也（若西方偏於接引。 藥師偏於救患等）有理非而言過。 如飲酒捉寶。 定非沙門（戒經所禁）記提婆達一劫入地獄（提婆達造五逆入地獄一劫）重心害蟻。 罪重殺人（如特起上品瞋心害蟻。 重於誤意殺人）。 雖於事則微。 而緣情則極。 皆聖人至責之詞也。 故經云。 我說須陀洹人得成佛。 汝不解我意（據迴心修行說）我說不成佛汝亦不解我意也（據定性灰身未廻心者說）夫皇聖照機。 卷舒無必（必專必也）有以教起從人。 故前說人天。 後以諦緣而損之也（人天謂五戒十善等。 諦謂四諦也。 緣謂十二緣生也）前說諦緣。 後以一乘而損之也（令捨羊鹿趣大白牛）損至無損乃歸。 曰大道有以教不從人。 如華嚴前會。 小聖在席。 視聽之所昧塞也（初八會。 雖小聖在席。 而不見不聞。 蓋非其境。 至第九會。 方見聞也）有以人不從教。 如初轉法輪。 十二億眾發無上道意（佛初成道。 謂提謂長者說法。 有十二億眾得無生法忍）攝末歸本。 無量人天得法眼淨。 夫如是不鉤深不達矣。 昔仲尼修春秋陳褒貶。 而游夏之徒莫敢措以一詞。 豈不以智不及乎。 至若問仁問政聞斯行。 諸所問是一。 所告不同（如論語）雖萬流俱潤。 而不滓其源也。 故曰信近於義言可復也（有義不必信。 可審覆之也）昔大菽氏（目乾連也上。 古有仙。 居山寂處。 常採菉豆而食。 因以為姓。 曰採菽氏。 尊者之母是其族也）記七日後雨（記七日當雨而不雨。 則目連觀不細也）牸牛白犢終用克爽（又記。 婆羅門家牸牛生犢。 額白而尾白。 此皆目連之麤心也）五百無學。 同以天眼討論天地。 皆二三其說。 蓋分理事亦或乖也。 夫十二分教。 如晝夜有時。 寒暑有月。 醫藥味分。 闕則寡力。 多則無要（已上皆不可闕法亦如是）婆沙謂如三周偱曆四聖諦數。 若論之不極也（三周數四諦謂減緣減行觀也）夫大乘我不障小果。 > \[The sūtra\] praises dwelling in the conjured city, yet to dwell there is not the reality, for one must ultimately reach the jewel cache (The Buddha's teaching of the intermediate and lesser is called an expedient provision. It is like a person wishing to reach a jewel cache whose resolve falters midway. The guide then conjures up a city along the way and expediently calls it the jewel cache; once they have rested, he reveals it to be expedient and leads them onward to the jewel cache. This refers to the nine divisions of the Hinayāna teachings). In words they appear the same, yet their intention is ever different. There are cases where the words conflict while the purport harmonises: as in the Jiaojie jing (Sūtra of Admonition), where a monk does not bare his shoulder, the Great Sage rebukes him; whereas in the Chengyu jing (Sūtra of the Parable of the City), when he bared his shoulder but did not cover both shoulders, \[the Buddha\] again rebuked him (To bare means to expose the shoulder; covering both shoulders envelops both, which is not baring). Śāriputra, regarding correct speech, seemed \[perplexed as to\] the seeming contradiction of adoption and rejection, not yet having understood (not yet knowing what to uphold). The Buddha said: when making offerings one bares the shoulder; when acting as a field of merit one ought not to bare it. What is valued is fitness for the time, not the separation of hardness and whiteness (Adopting and rejecting befit the time, advancing and retreating follow expedience; is it not like 'ground down, yet not made thin, may indeed be called hard; steeped in black, yet not turned dark, may indeed be called white'?). He once told King Bimbisāra: 'Do not indulge wicked monks, causing the field of the Saṅgha to be overgrown with weeds; such guilt exceeds that of gouging out the eyes of the great trichiliocosm' (the ruler of Rājagṛha). At other times, he likened a monk who broke the precepts to a withered campaka flower: 'Kings, officials, and white-robed \[layfolk\] must not inflict punishment \[upon him\]' (The Yijiao jing says: 'Though the campaka flower is withered, it still surpasses other flowers; monks who break the precepts still surpass the heterodox.' It also says: 'If my monks violate royal law, whether executed or beaten, or if their kāṣāyas are stripped and they are forced to return to lay life, or expelled from the state—that is like flaying three hundred living oxen alive, yet its sin is still lighter'). This was because a benevolent king was excessively benevolent, allowing the foolish to indulge in wickedness (te means evil); whereas a cruel king was excessively cruel, doing violence and injustice to people. Fearing a departure from the middle, \[the Buddha\] established two sūtras to guard against loss. In the Prātimokṣa Sūtra, he initially commanded mutual admonition among them, yet ultimately commanded each only to observe their own body (In the Prātimokṣa Sūtra, the saṃghāvaśeṣa contains the provision for three admonitions. The Precepts of the Seven Buddhas also say: 'Only observe one's own bodily conduct, do not observe what others do or do not do'). For those who rectify themselves but cannot rectify others, he instituted that they admonish one another; for those who boast of their goodness and relish litigating the faults of others, he instituted that they withdraw and examine themselves. There are cases where the matter is concealed yet the statement is literal: as when Gavāmpati dropped a few grains of millet and was reborn as an ox for five hundred lifetimes. He surely had other karmic actions leading to rebirth as an ox, yet \[the Buddha\] only made manifest this single incident (This is the monk 'Ruminating Ox.' In a past life he plucked a single stalk of grain and dropped a few grains of millet, resulting in five hundred lifetimes with bovine hooves and a bovine mouth. The Buddha, fearing that worldly people would ridicule him, ordered him to dwell permanently in the Thirty-Three Heavens). Aniruddha gave a single meal of food, and for ninety-one kalpas enjoyed the bliss of humans and devas (translated as 'Unfailing'; foremost in divine vision). Because his good conditions assisted one another, they came to fruition across many kalpas; yet because it originated from a single meal, \[the Buddha\] concealed the branches and praised the root. It is like the world praising a wealthy man as having eaten a single gold coin; he began with a single gold coin, and later became wealthy. Now, as all equally attain the Ten Epithets, why are there strong and weak among them, and why do those who praise and bow to them receive benefits that are abundant or meager? (All equally become Buddhas with the Ten Epithets, yet those who praise and pay homage differ in the benefits they obtain according to what is perceived). This is simply citing a single time and a single action to indicate non-uniform conditions (such as the Western \[Paradise\] specialising in welcoming and guiding, Bhaiṣajyaguru specialising in rescuing from adversity, and so forth). There are cases where the principle is not so, yet the words are severe: as when drinking alcohol or holding jewels definitively renders one no śramaṇa (prohibitions of the Vinaya); predicting that Devadatta would enter hell for a kalpa (Devadatta committed the five heinous sins and entered hell for one kalpa); or that harming an ant with a grave mind incurs a sin graver than killing a human (as when specifically generating wrath of the highest grade to kill an ant, which is heavier than killing a person by mistake). Though in terms of the act it is slight, in terms of the underlying emotional state it is extreme: these are all the Sage's expressions of ultimate censure. Therefore the sūtra says: 'When I say that a srotaāpanna can attain Buddhahood, you do not understand my intention (referring to those who have turned their minds to cultivate practice); when I say they cannot attain Buddhahood, neither do you understand my intention' (referring to those of fixed nature who reduce the body to ashes and have not turned their minds). The August Sage illumines the spiritual capacities; his contraction and expansion have no fixed rule (bi means exclusive insistence). In some cases, the teaching arises following people: hence he first taught of humans and devas, and later diminished this with the truths and conditions (humans and devas refer to the five precepts, ten virtues, and so forth; the truths refer to the Four Truths; conditions refer to the twelvefold conditioned arising). Having first taught truths and conditions, he later diminished them with the One Vehicle (causing them to abandon the sheep and deer carts to advance toward the great white ox cart). Diminishing until there is nothing left to diminish, one returns to what is called the Great Way. In some cases, the teaching does not follow people: as in the earlier assemblies of the Avataṃsaka, where lesser sages were present in the assembly, yet their seeing and hearing were obscured and blocked (During the first eight assemblies, though lesser sages were present, they neither saw nor heard, for it was not their realm; only upon reaching the ninth assembly did they see and hear). In some cases, people do not follow the teaching: as when the wheel of the Dharma was first turned, twelve hundred million in the multitude resolved their minds upon the unsurpassed Path (When the Buddha first attained enlightenment, he preached the Dharma for Elder Trapuṣa, and twelve hundred million attained the forbearance of the non-arising of phenomena). Gathering the branches to return to the root, immeasurable humans and devas attained the purity of the Dharma eye. If it were not thus, one could not hook the depths or reach the distant. In ancient times, Confucius compiled the Spring and Autumn Annals, setting forth praise and blame, and disciples such as Zi-you and Zi-xia dared not alter a single word. Was this not because their wisdom could not reach it? As for asking about benevolence, asking about government, or 'acting upon what one has heard'—the questions asked were identical, yet what he told them differed (as in the Analects). Though the ten thousand streams are all moistened, they do not contaminate their source. Therefore it is said: 'When trust is close to righteousness, one's word can be fulfilled' (where there is righteousness one need not cling to blind trust; it may be carefully examined and repeated). In antiquity, the Great Bean Gatherer (Maudgalyāyana. In high antiquity there was an immortal living in mountain seclusion who regularly gathered mung beans to eat, whence came his family name, called 'Gatherer of Beans.' The Venerable One's mother belonged to this clan) predicted that it would rain after seven days (predicting that it would rain in seven days, yet it did not rain; this was Maudgalyāyana's observation lacking subtlety); and that a cow with a white calf would in the end prove mistaken (he also predicted that a Brahmin's cow would give birth to a calf with a white forehead and a white tail; these were all Maudgalyāyana's coarse mind). Five hundred aśaikṣas collectively used the divine eye to debate heaven and earth, and their accounts differed into two and three; when dividing principle and phenomena, discrepancies may also occur. The twelve divisions of the teaching are like day and night having their seasons, cold and heat having their months, and medicine having its proportions of flavors: if something is missing, its efficacy is meager; if there is too much, it lacks essential focus (none of the above can be lacking, and the Dharma is also like this). The Vibhāṣā speaks of it being like traversing the count of the Four Noble Truths through three circumambulations; if one does not discuss it exhaustively (the three circumambulations counting the Four Truths refers to the contemplation of reducing conditions and reducing practices)... Now, the Mahāyāna self does not obstruct lesser fruits. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 7.1.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.7.1.1) - [Next: 7.1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.7.1.3) - [Up: 7.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.7.1) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113~en-mt.7.1.2) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.7.1.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.7.1.2) · Pramāṇa