北山錄 9.2.1

9.2.1

器弘者以虛受為美。 心遠者以贍聞為優（禮云。 玉不琢不成器。 人不學不知道。 子云。 日知其所亡月無亡其能也。 溫故知新。 可以為師矣。 優勝也）。 故我大聖暨古先哲王嘉讚博能高稱上智。 使圓顱方趾賢愚於焉別矣（人而不學。 其猶正牆面而立。 虎豹之鞟猶犬羊之鞟也）薩婆多師（西天小乘宗也。 此云廣解師。 博通敏智。 導利法化者也）十二時中許一時學外。 故於其宗悉能區別內外典籍。 善解論義。 曇無德部（此云法鏡部。 即化他部分出也）俗藝呪術為防己害。 兼以閑邪開學不犯也（其宗立五藏。 一律。 二經。 三論。 四呪。 五菩薩藏也）華嚴經讚菩薩偈云。 雅思淵才文中王。 歌舞譚說眾所欣（第十四卷）智論顯結集羅漢德云。 讀誦三藏。 知內外經書。 外道十八種大書。 亦盡讀知（即毘伽羅吠陀論等）緬覿前風。 聖人皆不限所知。 捐其小善。 近崇文德。 遠成種智（熏習以成其種性）昔有羅漢。 不識赤鹽之義。 外黨諸俗。 深以為誚（舍衛城法預婆羅門。 常請僧食。 問其義。 能答者自與美食。 不能者令下人與麤惡食。 由是比丘皆不往其家。 因至佛所。 佛不遠有羅漢比丘。 法預乃問之。 何名赤鹽。 鹽有幾種。 比丘言。 我知汝是法預。 輕慢比丘。 今復惱我。 鹽止是鹽。 聞比丘語已。 心懷罔然。 來至佛所。 佛云。 此比丘未從師學。 故不能曉答鹽也。 有比丘名弗絺盧。 佛令往問鹽義。 比丘云。 鹽有二義。 一種味如大海水同一鹹味。 二性味者有黑鹽．赤鹽．辛頭鹽．拔遮鹽．毘攬鹽．迦遮鹽．私多鹽．毘迦鹽。 略語二種。 若生若煮。 是名鹽義。 法預聞之。 歡喜而退）蓋出朽宅則生死凡夫藐哉何及（藐遠也。 聖人出於朽故火宅。 在生死凡夫不能及也）語外事則解脫聖智或不如凡夫也（但以一行一智斷惑證聖。 於所知未遍。 或不及凡夫）故採棟桴於杞梓。 繳羽儀於鴻鵠。 畋文彩於虎豹。 則於物幾矣（幾近也。 棟桴與杞梓近。 羽儀與鴻鵠近。 文彩與虎豹近。 以類求之可也。 繳弋射箭也）索遍知於羅漢則否矣（四加行位。 尚如暗中放箭。 或中或否。 況小聖哉）昔王城野人不謂大聖智周萬物。 問以鄙賤芻牧之事。 大聖俯其事而申之。 牧族奇其聞踴躍而信。 因皆階乎道也（放牛難陀。 以佛生王宮出家成道。 必不曉放牧之事。 豈曰遍知。 遂往問佛。 佛謂說放牛經一卷。 皆四時所放安養之事。 其族歡喜出家。 皆獲道果也）故釋氏子內審諸己。 於進修之門。 可學而不學。 可知而不知。 結以不學無知之罪也。 西域所學。 總有五明（一聲明。 謂詮顯文字。 二醫方明。 謂醫術卜算。 三工巧明。 謂一切伎藝。 四因明。 謂宗因喻三揩定邪正。 五內明。 謂識達因果。 究暢真宗也）其攝拕苾馱。 此曰聲明。 則五明之一也。 以其廣記諸法聲教故也。 而彼俗典總曰毘何羯喇拏。 舊曰毘伽羅論也。 大數有五。 如此方之五經焉。 一曰悉曇章。 以成就吉祥為義。 被于創學之流也。 本以四十九字相承。 成一十八章。 總有一萬餘字。 合三百餘頌。 頌凡四句。 句以八字。 合三十二字。 傳是大自在天說（此文在西天相傳。 今不可盡知也）二蘇呾囉（即素呾覽。 此云契經即解聲教之經也）則是一切聲明之根本正經也。 略詮要議。 有一千頌。 是上古鴻儒波爾仙所撰。 其人為大自在天所護。 面有三目。 三馱覩。 有一千頌。 專顯字功。 如上經矣（亦如上經是聲明之根本）四三棄囉。 是荒梗義。 意比田隴之夫創開畎畝。 其有三章。 章各一千頌（有三篇也）廣顯聲韻。 合成字體（若此方之乎側四聲。 為學之先也）五苾栗底蘇呾囉。 即是蘇呾囉釋也（上之四件是正經。

Those of vast capacity regard receptive openness as an excellence; those of far-reaching minds regard extensive learning as superior (The *Liji* says: "If jade is not cut, it cannot become a vessel; if a person does not study, they will not know the Way." The Master said: "Daily to know what one lacks, and monthly not to forget what one can do." "To review the old and know the new—one may thereby become a teacher." "Superior" means preeminent). Therefore our Great Sage and the wise kings of antiquity praised broad capabilities and highly lauded superior wisdom, so that those with round heads and square feet could thereby distinguish the worthy from the foolish (If a person does not study, it is like standing facing straight against a wall. The tanned hide of a tiger or leopard is like the tanned hide of a dog or sheep). The masters of the Sarvāstivāda (This is a Hīnayāna school of the Western Heavens. Here it is translated as "Masters of Extensive Explanation." Those who are broadly versed, sharp-witted, and guide and benefit teaching and transformation) allow one out of the twelve hours to study external works. Thus within their tradition they are fully able to distinguish between inner and outer scriptures and skillfully resolve doctrinal debates. In the Dharmaguptaka school (Here translated as the "Dharma Mirror School," which branched out from the school of converting others), secular arts and incantations, studied to prevent harm to oneself as well as to keep out depravity, are permitted without offense (That tradition establishes five pitakas: first, the Vinaya; second, the Sūtra; third, the Abhidharma; fourth, the Dhāraṇī; and fifth, the Bodhisattva-piṭaka). A verse in the *Avataṃsaka-sūtra* praising the bodhisattva says: "With elegant thought and profound talent, a king among men of letters, / singing, dancing, and eloquent speech, they are delight to all" (Fascicle 14). The *Mahāprajñāpāramitōpadeśa*, revealing the virtues of the arhats who assembled the canon, says: "They recited the three baskets and understood inner and outer scriptures; the eighteen great books of the non-Buddhists were also entirely read and known by them" (Namely the *Vyākaraṇa*, *Veda* treatises, and so forth). Remotely observing the customs of the ancients, the sages never limited what they knew; they did not dismiss small goods, but in the immediate present elevated literary virtue, and for the distant future achieved the wisdom of all species (Perfuming the mind through practice to accomplish their seed nature). In antiquity, there was an arhat who did not understand the meaning of red salt, and the non-Buddhists and worldly people ridiculed him deeply (In the city of Śrāvastī, the brahmin Dharmarūci always invited monks for meals. He would ask about doctrinal meanings: to those who could answer, he personally gave fine food; to those who could not, he ordered servants to give coarse, bad food. Because of this, the bhikṣus all stopped going to his house. Eventually he went to the Buddha's place. Not far from the Buddha there was an arhat bhikṣu; Dharmarūci asked him: "What is meant by red salt? How many kinds of salt are there?" The bhikṣu said: "I know you are Dharmarūci, who disparages and disdains bhikṣus; now you trouble me again. Salt is merely salt." Having heard the bhikṣu's words, his mind was perplexed, and he came before the Buddha. The Buddha said: "This bhikṣu has not studied under a master; therefore he cannot clearly explain and answer about salt." There was a bhikṣu named Vatsīputra; the Buddha had him go and ask the meaning of salt. The bhikṣu said: "Salt has two aspects. The first is its single flavor, like the great ocean water having the same salty taste. The second is the variety of its natures and tastes: there are black salt, red salt, saindhava salt, viḍa salt, romaka salt, kāca salt, sitā salt, and bika salt. To speak briefly of two kinds, there are the raw and the boiled. This is called the meaning of salt." Dharmarūci heard this, rejoiced, and withdrew). When it comes to leaving the burning house, how could ordinary beings in birth-and-death ever compare to them? (Far distant indeed. The sages have escaped the dilapidated burning house; those ordinary beings in birth-and-death cannot compare to them.) Yet when speaking of external affairs, the sagely wisdom of liberation may sometimes be inferior to ordinary beings (Merely through a single practice and a single wisdom they sever delusions and realize sageliness, but their knowledge is not yet all-encompassing, and may be inferior to ordinary beings). Therefore, gathering ridgepoles and rafters from the catalpa and cedar, securing plumes and down from wild swans, and hunting for colorful pelts among tigers and leopards—in these things one seeks what is near to their nature (Near means close. Ridgepoles and rafters are close to catalpa and cedar; plumes and down are close to wild swans; colorful pelts are close to tigers and leopards. It is permissible to seek them according to their category. To "secure" means shooting arrows with cords). But to seek omniscience in an arhat is not so (In the four stages of application, it is still like shooting arrows in the dark, sometimes hitting and sometimes missing; how much more so for the lesser sages!). In the past, a rustic in the Royal City did not believe that the Great Sage's wisdom encompassed all things, and questioned him on the base and lowly matters of herding cattle. The Great Sage condescended to explain these matters in detail; the herding clan marvelled at what they heard, leaped for joy with faith, and consequently all attained the Way (Nanda the cowherd thought that since the Buddha was born in a royal palace and left home to attain the Way, he certainly would not understand cattle herding, so how could he be called all-knowing? He then went to question the Buddha. The Buddha preached for him the one-fascicle *Cowherd Sūtra*, covering all matters of pasturing and nurturing through the four seasons. His clan rejoiced and left home, and all attained the fruit of the Way). Therefore, the disciples of the Śākya clan examine themselves internally: within the gate of advancing in cultivation, what can be studied yet is not studied, and what can be known yet is not known, constitutes the offense of unstudied ignorance. What is studied in the Western Heavens consists generally of the five sciences (First, grammar and linguistics, which elucidate characters and words. Second, medicine, which treats medical arts and divination. Third, the arts and crafts, which cover all skills and crafts. Fourth, logic and epistemology, which decisively settle the heterodox and orthodox through the proposition, reason, and example. Fifth, inner science, which recognizes and penetrates cause and effect, and thoroughly understands the true tradition). *Śabda-vidyā*, rendered here as the science of sound and linguistics, is one of the five sciences, because it broadly records the teachings of sounds and words of all phenomena. Their secular classics are collectively called *Vyākaraṇa*, formerly termed the *Vigara Treatise*. Generally there are five great divisions, like the Five Classics of this land. The first is called the *Siddhaṃ* chapter, taking the meaning of accomplishing auspiciousness, bestowed upon beginning students. It was originally transmitted through forty-nine characters, forming eighteen chapters, totaling over ten thousand characters and combining over three hundred verses. Each verse has four lines, and each line has eight characters, combining to thirty-two characters. It is transmitted as having been spoken by Maheśvara (This text is transmitted in the Western Heavens; today it cannot be fully known). The second is the *Sūtra* (which is *sūtra*, here called a canonical scripture, meaning the scripture that explains linguistic teachings), which is the fundamental authentic scripture of all linguistics. Summarizing essential principles, it contains one thousand verses, composed by the ancient great scholar Pāṇini. That man was protected by Maheśvara and had three eyes on his face. The third is the *Dhātu*, with one thousand verses, dedicated to clarifying the functions of verbal roots, just like the aforementioned scripture (It is also a fundamental text of linguistics, just like the aforementioned scripture). The fourth is *Saṃkīrṇa*, meaning uncultivated wasteland, compared in sense to a farmer of the fields first clearing furrows and ridges. It has three chapters, each with one thousand verses (Having three sections), broadly elucidating sounds and rhymes to compose character forms (Like the level, oblique, and four tones of this land, which are the beginning of study). The fifth is the *Vṛtti-sūtra*, which is the commentary on the *Sūtra* (The above four items are the authentic scriptures.