北山錄 1.11.4

1.11.4

'I pray that those who owe their lives cast themselves into this net of mine.' The Analects states: 'The Master fished with a hook, but did not use a net.' Merely taking with a single hook, though killing, did not take many. These are all texts of the Ruist teaching progressively practicing non-killing.) The teaching of Laozi reaches the middle [level]: first, compassion; second, frugality; third, not daring to take the lead in the world (these are what Daoism calls the Three Treasures). The teaching of Śākya reaches the utmost: from birds and beasts to grass and soil, any violation is unfailingly penalized (these are the admonitions of the vinaya texts). If one uses the teaching of Śākya, it causes people to dwell in the exhaustion of contaminants (āsravakṣaya). If one uses the teaching of Laozi, it causes the people to reach empty harmony. If one uses the teaching of Kongzi, it causes the people to ascend to benevolence and longevity. Therefore, the Great Sage was born during [the reign of] a flourishing king (referring to the era of King Zhao of the Zhou), and the people of the Five Indias, the cities of a thousand chariots, and the lords of a hundred chariots were all elevated to sage-like wisdom (the cities of a thousand chariots and the lords of a hundred chariots refer to the feudal lords of King Śuddhodana; in the age when the Buddha was born, all the kingdoms attained the fruits [of the path] and equaled the sages). The two teachings were born in a declining age, and the Great Way stumbled amidst gradual decay (from the time King You, the twelfth ruler of the Zhou, favored Baosi and lost control of the world, King Ping moved the capital to Luoyi, the feudal lords waged private campaigns, and rites and music collapsed and decayed; this is called the declining Zhou). Therefore, the Old Sage concealed his dragon virtue, hiding beneath the pillars; purple vapor floated over the pass, and he strode forth into the flowing sands (Laozi served as an archivist beneath the pillars for the Zhou; seeing the virtue of the Zhou decline, he went forth through the pass to the flowing sands, and for the Pass Guardian Yin Xi expounded the two chapters on the Way and Virtue). Zhongni transmitted the ways of Yao and Shun, and modeled himself upon Wen and Wu; returning from Wei to Lu, he compiled the Spring and Autumn Annals. Stirred by spiritual response, he covered his face with his sleeves and cried that his Way was exhausted—none of this was his original aspiration (in the eleventh year of Duke Ai of Lu, Zhongni returned from Wei to Lu; in the fourteenth year, the capture of the lin during the western hunt occurred, and he compiled the Spring and Autumn Annals). Those who understood the Way were Guan Yin; those who understood the Ruist Way were Yan Hui; those who practiced the two teachings were the hundred kings. Laozi became an exalted immortal; Zhongni became the Uncrowned King. The sage plans were vast and overflowing, boundless alongside heaven and earth. At that time, an indignant onlooker said (this is a hypothetical question between guest and host): 'If you do not deprecate the two teachings, that is already excessive; why then do you praise their virtue?' ('Hu' means 'why'; they are merely teachings, what virtue do they have?) I replied that he does not understand the spear and the shield (in ancient times there was one who sold spears and shields, praising the merits of both: speaking of the shield, he said no spear could pierce it; speaking of the spear, he said it could pierce ten shields. Someone said: 'Take your spear and pierce your shield, how about that?' and he was left speechless). Our scriptures take the two masters as ultimate manifestations; if we now despise them (referring to Mahākāśyapa as Laozi and the Youth Māṇava as Zhongni), then how could we contradict their meaning? In the fifty-second year of King Mu, the year renshen, on the fifteenth day of the second month, the Great Sage manifested extinction. On this day, black clouds arose on all four sides, and a great wind shook the earth. In the west there were twelve paths of white rainbows, piercing through from south to north, not vanishing throughout the night. The King asked the Grand Astrologer Heduo. Heduo said: 'A Great Sage in the west has passed into extinction; these are his signs of decline.' Earlier, when King Mu heard that there was a sage in the west and repeatedly beheld light and vapors ('ji' means 'repeatedly'), he feared this was unsuited to the Zhou Way (he feared that the sage would come and encroach upon his territory), and ordered the Marquis of Lü to assemble the feudal lords at Mount Tu (Mount Tu is in Kuaiji, the division of Wu and Yue; the Marquis of Lü was Lü Ji), in order to prepare for changes. When it came to this point, everyone was greatly relieved (now hearing that the sage of the west had passed away, all were joyful). Formerly, the Great Sage entrusted the Dharma treasury to Mahākāśyapa (the Mahākāśyapa clan is the surname of Mahākāśyapa; he received the Tathāgata's testament). His work accomplished, he went to the bodhimaṇḍa of the Twin Trees (namely, by the banks of the Hiraṇyavatī River at the city of Kuśinagara). With his final injunction upon the seven-jeweled couch, he lay down with his head to the north. In the quiet night, it was utterly serene and silent; the moon of the Correct and Universal Knower vanished into the mountain of Great Nirvāṇa (the Buddha's body is likened to the moon; complete extinction is likened to the mountain). The ten thousand creatures wailed and lamented; springs choked and mountains crumbled; baneful stars precipitously fell; the various rivers flowed backward. Ānanda's mind was submerged in an ocean of grief; Rāhula merely contemplated impermanence. Those with training and those beyond training sorrowfully and quietly departed. The devas exclaimed: 'How bitter!' Its śāla grove (in Sanskrit 'śāla', translated here as 'resolute'; it withstands the winter without withering)—the four pairs and eight trees merged into two trees, their hanging branches drooping downward, clustered together in pure white like the color of white cranes; for this reason it was called the Crane Trees. Its hardy leaves bore frost, withstanding the winter without withering, hence it was called the Resolute Forest. Earlier, when the Great Sage was about to return to the unconditioned (that is, before his extinction), he departed from Vaiśālī and arrived at the southern bank of the river. Stepping upon a large square stone, he looked back at Ānanda and said: 'This is the trace left by my final gaze upon the Diamond Throne and the city of Rājagṛha' (the kingdom of Vaiśālī is seven hundred li south of the Ganges in the territory of Central India; the place where the sages and worthies held the council is the kingdom of Viyali). Therefore, on the stone today there are the Buddha's two footprints, one foot and eight inches long and one third as wide (six inches wide), bearing underneath the mark of the thousand-spoked wheel, with svastika-flower designs, vases, fish, and the like at the tips of the toes, brilliantly radiant (even today these patterns can be seen upon the stone). From ancient times, heretics destroyed them, yet they returned to their original state. Here the Sage lodged his traces to manifest his teaching: while the teaching endures, the traces do not perish. When beholders weep at their enduring presence, their long-cherished yearnings are sustained. The second month of the Zhou is the present twelfth month (the Zhou dynasty took the eleventh month, the month containing the zi celestial branch, as the start of the year; thus the present twelfth month was the second month of the Zhou). The fifteenth day is the end of the month in the western land (in the western countries, within a month of thirty days, they divide the first fifteen days as the bright half and the latter fifteen days as the dark half; from the first day of the month is the new moon of the bright half, and the fifteenth day is the full moon/end of the bright half; from the sixteenth day is the start of the dark half, and the final day is the end of the dark half). Their twelve months are each called by the name of a constellation (the first month is Caitra; the second month is Vaiśākha; the third month is Jyeṣṭha; the fourth month is Āṣāḍha; the fifth month is Śrāvaṇa; the sixth month is Bhādrapada; the seventh month is Āśvina; the eighth month is Kārttika; the ninth month is Mārgaśīrṣa; the tenth month is Pauṣa; the eleventh month is Māgha; the twelfth month is Phālguna). When the constellation begins, it is the start of the month; when the constellation ends, it is the end of the month. Therefore, this sixteenth day corresponds to their first day of the month. Combining thirty days forms [a month] (the first fifteen days being the bright half).