[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) › 7.1.5 # 北山錄 7.1.5 北山錄 7.1.5 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [7.1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.7.1.5) 以己所未知謂人之未知。 曾不參較眾匠決其所專。 是以微善所習而愚所不習。 顧其器則滿無以加也（籠羅於鄙俚之徒鼓扇向庸愚之內）夫夢者覺乃知是夢。 迷者悟乃知是迷。 向使正處。 迷夢之間。 人謂迷夢者。 彼必詬咤矣（詬咤怒罵也）觀乎往所製撰者。 鮮有正於名理。 如續高僧傳云。 鸚鵡死云滅度。 道法徂世稱定中坐化（一切定心無有死生）什公誄言薨（天子日崩。 如天地崩壞也。 諸侯曰薨。 如山摧之聲也。 今或以什公比諸侯也）玄奘大捨懺。 謂之捨墮（墮罪名也。 謂三十尼薩耆也。 如畜長衣。 十日應兩人對手假捨謂之捨。 若過十日不捨。 則結尼薩耆罪。 謂之墮。 故日捨墮。 今捨財懺罪。 但可云捨懺也）蓋流俗淺誤。 不忌之談也。 仲尼云。 君子於其言無所苟而已矣（苟且也）故衛君待子而為政。 子曰必也正名乎（衛靈公召夫子。 子路問。 夫子若至衛將何先行。 子云。 先正百物之名。 名不正則言不順。 言不順則事不成）靈幹講華嚴經。 作華藏觀。 臨終天樂來迎。 幹辭不欲往。 俄見大水瀰漫坐蓮華中。 彼傳者若不達。 夫天宮亦在乎華藏也（說者意云。 靈幹不欲生天。 要生諸佛土。 則不達華藏包含法界豈無諸天乎。 蓋傳者謬也）曇榮有僧行道見光中七佛。 告云。 是賢劫普明佛。 今以百劫修相好。 真化求之。 如實未得矣（十地滿心金剛定後。 方百劫修相好。 千劫學佛威儀。 萬劫學化行等。 若是真身。 豈容凡見。 若是化身。 安能修相好也）夫事不足紀。 言不為典。 何煩簡牘耶（事非稽古何足編傳）。 是以大辯無言。 言則導意。 意必有歸。 故洞微而語要。 盡詞而旨密。 於其誣則不書（如續傳序。 法進作水觀。 家人取柴。 見繩床上有好清水。 拾二石子安之。 進暮還覺背痛等。 此乃謬之甚也。 且作觀是獨影墳唯假想。 若令別人見則屬性境。 此乃宣公孟浪之談也）振世必紀。 是謂彛准。 於儒老亦然哉。 若乃評今古諦否臧。 不可以尊嚴稱。 不可以卑辱廢。 不可以親厚黨。 不可以嫌隟頗（夫為史筆。 一曰才。 二曰學。 三曰斷。 自非董孤南史之流。 莫當此任也）彼魯之三桓（季孫仲孫。 叔孫。 皆魯桓公之後）識豈齊於顏閔漢之七貴（金張之族。 七代貴盛也。 左思云。 金張籍舊業七葉珥漢貂）才豈出於揚馬（揚雄。 字子雲。 著大玄經。 法言。 方言等。 司馬相如。 字長卿。 著封禪文文賦等）有子視桐棺四寸知死不欲速朽卜商引詩人興詠發起予之嘆（子曰。 起予者商也）自金言遐萃。 綴述多門。 廣本略本。 名義不同。 單譯重譯。 有無差異（藏經有一譯謂之單。 二三已上謂之重譯也）故大聖俾依義不依語。 此先見之著也。 佛有八音四辯（八音。 一清淨音。 二柔軟音。 三和適音。 四諦了音。 五不女音。 六不誤音。 七深遠音。 八不竭音。 四辯者。 一法無礙辯。 二詞無礙辯。 三義無礙辯。 四總持無礙辯）超乎群有。 叡心冲照。 靈誥真雅。 而譯者率情淺易。 章句漏慢。 致使搢紳縫掖（搢扱笏也。 紳大帶也。 縫掖大袖儒服也）相顧意有所非也（以其詞非典雅。 如安世高）其間則有採摭墳素。 雕琢文字。 語過涉俗（如竺法護支謙等所譯經。 文全如著述之體）理乖精密。 尤失聖人之格言也。 難乎哉。 古今宣譯。 咸推什公門下。 質文繁簡。 雅得其所。 開卷屬耳。 泠然古風。 甞致意於譯者。 為就梵本。 為就刊削乎。 如法華法師品。 羅什不載其首。 普門品。 闍那續出其末（此妙法華經文少正法華與添品文具足也）。 其間亦有誤為文者。 如真諦翻俱舍。 云見法有非得。 玄奘出婆沙。 加一十六字（大毘婆沙。 只於真諦三藏所譯俱舍上。 > Supposing what one does not oneself know to be unknown to others, one never cross-examines the various masters to resolve one's specialty. Thus one is conversant with trivial goods, yet unversed in what is foolish; regarding one's vessel, it is full and cannot be augmented (entangling the crude and vulgar, and fanning the flames among the mediocre and foolish). Now, one who dreams knows it is a dream only upon awakening; one who is deluded knows it is delusion only upon enlightenment. Supposing one were right in the midst of delusion and dream, if someone called them deluded and dreaming, they would certainly scold and berate them (to scold and berate is to shout in anger). Examining what was composed and written in the past, rare is that which is correct in terms and principles. For instance, the \*Continued Biographies of Eminent Monks\* says that when a parrot died, it was called 'passing into extinction'; when Daofa passed away from the world, it was called 'sitting transformation within samādhi' (in any mind in samādhi, there is no dying or being born); the elegy for Master \[Kumāra\]jīva says he 'passed away' (for a Son of Heaven one says \*beng\*, like heaven and earth collapsing; for feudal lords one says \*hong\*, like the sound of a mountain crumbling; here Master Jīva is perhaps compared to a feudal lord); and Xuanzang calls the confession of great relinquishment 'relinquishment-fall' (fall is the name of an offense, referring to the thirty \*naiḥsargika\* offenses; for example, keeping extra robes: within ten days two persons should meet and perform a surrogate relinquishment, which is called 'relinquishment'; if ten days pass without relinquishment, then the \*naiḥsargika\* offense is incurred, which is called 'fall'; hence it is called 'relinquishment-fall'; now, when relinquishing wealth to repent of offenses, one should simply say 'repentance by relinquishment'). These are superficial errors of common convention, heedless discourse. Confucius said: 'A gentleman is simply not careless in his speech' (careless means remiss). Therefore, when the ruler of Wei awaited the Master to govern, the Master said, 'Must it not be the rectification of names?' (Duke Ling of Wei summoned the Master; Zilu asked, 'If the Master goes to Wei, what will he put first?' The Master said, 'First rectify the names of the myriad things. If names are not correct, then words are not in accord; if words are not in accord, then affairs cannot be completed'). Linggan lectured on the \*Avataṃsaka Sūtra\* and performed the contemplation of the Lotus Storehouse; as his end drew near, heavenly music came to welcome him, but Gan declined and did not wish to go; in an instant, he saw great waters flooding, and he sat in a lotus flower. If that biographer did not understand, is not the heavenly palace also within the Lotus Storehouse? (The meaning of the narrator was that Linggan did not wish to be born in heaven, but sought to be born in the realms of the buddhas; yet failing to understand that the Lotus Storehouse encompasses the Dharma realm, how could it be without the heavens? It is an error of the biographer). In Tanrong's \[time\], there was a monk practicing the path who saw seven buddhas within light, who told him: 'This is the Buddha Samantaprabhā of the Bhadrakalpa; now, for a hundred kalpas, he is cultivating the major and minor marks.' Seeking this through the true and transformed bodies, in reality, it cannot be sustained (only after fulfilling the tenth ground and entering the vajropama-samādhi does one cultivate the marks for a hundred kalpas, learn the buddha's deportment for a thousand kalpas, and practice transformation and conduct for ten thousand kalpas; if it were the true body, how could it be seen by an ordinary being? If it were a transformation body, how could it cultivate the marks?). If an event is not worthy of record, and words do not make an enduring standard, why bother with bamboo and paper? (If an affair does not consult antiquity, how is it worthy of being compiled into a chronicle?). Therefore, great eloquence is wordless; if it speaks, it conveys meaning, and the meaning must have a resolution. Hence, one penetrates the subtle and speaks what is essential; one exhausts words while the purport remains profound; and what is spurious is not recorded (as in the preface to the \*Continued Biographies\*, where Fajin performed the water contemplation; when his household gathered firewood, they saw pure clear water on the rope bed and placed two stones in it; when Jin returned in the evening, he felt pain in his back, etc.; this is exceedingly erroneous; moreover, practicing contemplation is a solo mental image, a mere imaginative projection; if others are made to see it, then it belongs to the realm of real nature; this is reckless talk by Master Daoxuan). What arouses the world must be recorded; this is called the standard norm. For the Ruists and Laozi, it is also thus! If one appraises past and present and examines the good and bad, one cannot praise on account of honor and reverence, nor dismiss on account of lowliness and disgrace; one cannot take sides on account of close intimacy, nor show bias on account of enmity and grudge (for writing history: the first is talent, the second is learning, and the third is judgment; unless one is of the like of Dong Hu or the Historian of the South, none can undertake this duty). Did the knowledge of the Three Huan families of Lu (the Jusun, the Zhongsun, and the Shusun; all were descendants of Duke Huan of Lu) equal that of Yan \[Hui\] and Min \[Ziqian\]? Did the talent of the Seven Nobles of the Han (the clans of Jin and Zhang, noble and flourishing for seven generations; Zuo Si said: 'Jin and Zhang drew upon ancestral heritage, wearing the sable tails of Han for seven generations') surpass that of Yang \[Xiong\] and Ma \[Sima Xiangru\] (Yang Xiong, courtesy name Ziyun, authored the \*Taixuanjing\*, \*Fayan\*, \*Fangyan\*, etc.; Sima Xiangru, courtesy name Changqing, authored the \*Fengshanwen\*, \*Wenfuti\*, etc.)? Youzi, seeing the four-inch paulownia coffin, knew that in death one does not wish for rapid decay; Bu Shang cited the poet's inspirational verses, evoking the sigh: 'It is Shang who stimulates me!' (The Master said: 'Shang is the one who stimulates me'). Since the golden words gathered from afar, compositions have followed many paths. Broad editions and abridged editions differ in names and meanings; single translations and re-translations vary in omissions and additions (a single translation in the canon is called 'single'; two, three, or more are called 're-translations'). Therefore, the Great Sage instructed one to rely on the meaning and not on the words; this is the clarity of his foresight. The Buddha has eight sounds and four unhindered eloquence\[s\] (the eight sounds: first, pure sound; second, gentle sound; third, harmonious sound; fourth, clear and distinct sound; fifth, non-feminine sound; sixth, unerring sound; seventh, deep and distant sound; eighth, inexhaustible sound; the four unhindered eloquences: first, unhindered eloquence regarding dharmas; second, unhindered eloquence regarding phrasing; third, unhindered eloquence regarding meanings; fourth, unhindered eloquence of dhāraṇī), transcending all existence; his sagacious mind shines clearly, and his divine edicts are true and elegant. Yet translators follow personal whim and adopt superficial simplicity, their chapters and verses leaking and negligent, causing officials and scholars (those who tuck the tablet in their sash and wear wide sleeves; tucking the tablet and wearing a large belt; wide sleeves being the attire of Ruists) to look at one another and find fault in their hearts (because the phrasing was not classic and refined, as with An Shigao). Meanwhile, some gathered from classic histories and embellished words, their phrasing overly steeped in the worldly (such as the sūtras translated by Zhu Fahu, Zhi Qian, and others; the writing entirely resembles the style of independent works), their principles deviating from precision, greatly losing the aphorisms of the sage. How difficult it is! In ancient and modern proclamations and translations, all defer to the school of Master \[Kumāra\]jīva. Substance and ornamentation, complexity and brevity, were fittingly placed; opening the scroll and lending an ear, there is the cool breeze of ancient style. I have often directed my thoughts to the translators: was it done by adhering to the Sanskrit texts, or by polishing and pruning? As in the 'Dharmabhāṇaka' chapter of the \*Lotus Sūtra\*, Kumārajīva did not include its beginning; and in the 'Samantamukha' chapter, Jñāna\[gupta\] later supplemented its end (the text of this \*Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra\* was shorter, whereas the \*Zheng fahua\* and the \*Tianpin\* texts were complete). Among them, there are also those who made errors in the text: for instance, Paramārtha translated the \*Abhidharmakośa\*, stating that the dharma of seeing has \*aprāpti\*; Xuanzang published the \*Vibhāṣā\*, adding sixteen characters (the \*Mahāvibhāṣā\* was merely added upon the \*Kośa\* translated by the Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha). > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 7.1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.7.1.4) - [Next: 7.1.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.7.1.6) - [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.7.1.5) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.7.1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2113.7.1.5) · Pramāṇa