北山錄 1.11.5

1.11.5

the last fifteen days are the dark fortnight.) The first half of the month is called the dying of the dark shadow (meaning that at the beginning of the month the dark shadow gradually wanes), while the latter half of the month is called the waxing of the bright light (meaning that at the sixteenth day the moonlight is at its fullest). Dividing the twelve months into three seasons: beginning from the sixteenth day of the first month to the fifteenth day of the fifth month is the hot season (meaning the Xia calendar); from the sixteenth day of this [month] to the fifteenth day of the ninth month is the rainy season; from the sixteenth day of this [month] to the fifteenth day of the first month is the cold season. The winds of coolness and heat broadly tally with this astronomical calendar. In ancient times, the first months of the Three Dynasties each had what they adopted and discarded. The Xia lineage favoured black and established the yin month as the start of the year (Yu of Xia was of the Si clan, named Wenming; because of the auspicious omen of Heaven bestowing the dark jade tablet, he took the month of yin as the beginning of the year, calling it the Human Commencement; sacrifices, banners, and garments all favoured black, taking dawn as the new moon); the Yin people favoured white and established the chou month as the start of the year (Tang of Yin was of the Zi clan, named Lü, courtesy name Tianyi; he had the auspicious omen of a white wolf holding a hook; he took the month of chou as the beginning of the year, calling it the Earthly Commencement; sacrifices, banners, and garments all favoured white, taking the fifth watch as the new moon); the Zhou people favoured red and established the zi month as the start of the year (Zhou was of the Ji clan, named Fa; he had the auspicious omen of fire flowing onto the king's roof; he took the month of zi as the beginning of the year, calling it the Heavenly Commencement; sacrifices, banners, and garments all favoured red, taking midnight as the new moon). Now, the Great Sage lived during the Zhou era, and therefore one may speak of the eleventh month as the start of the year, which differs from today's world (since the Buddha was born in the Zhou era, all the months and years found in the scriptures follow the first month and new moon of the Zhou dynasty, which differs from the present Xia calendar that establishes yin). In this month, heaven and earth are shut and closed; dragons and snakes hibernate; the faint yang secretly spreads in the springs below; the budding shoots have not yet reached the soil above. Those born by means of this arrive in response to the movement of qi; those extinguished by means of this depart in response to the alternation [of seasons] (the Master of Beishan holds that the Buddha's extinction followed the Zhou calendar's nirvāṇa, differing from the present nirvāṇa of the fifteenth day of the second month; "hooked shoots" means that things newly sprouting are curved like hooks; "budding" means sprouting). Now, one who abides in the end and cannot die is not a sage (a sage has no obstruction with things; his birth shows marks identical to the ordinary, and his extinction shows transformation returning to the true; though manifesting birth, there is no birth; though displaying extinction, it is not extinction); one who, having died, cannot be born is not a sage (when conditions in this realm are exhausted, he is seen transforming other realms; he is not like the lesser sages who merely reduce their bodies to ash; therefore it says that he always resides on Vulture Peak and in truth does not undergo extinction). One who is neither dead nor born, yet is able to die and be born—this is called a Great Sage (one who originally does not pertain to birth and death, yet manifests identity with birth and death, is truly a Great Sage). And between the six directions, myriad kinds are under his charge; he does not discard saṃskṛta, nor does he grow indolent in wuwei; they are born and born again without ever having an end; and as for the Sage's responding births, what end could they have? ("Charge" means to master; "discard" means to abandon; "grow indolent" means to be lazy. The Buddha is the master of myriad kinds, yet does not abandon saṃskṛta, thus manifesting marks; he does not grow lazy in wuwei, thus his transformations end and he returns to quiescence. When conditions in this realm are exhausted, he transforms other realms, hence he never has an ultimate end). Therefore, the Great Sage is born into a world where birth is possible, and extinguished in a world where extinction is possible; birth and extinction reside in beings, certainly not in himself (displaying the marks of birth and extinction, the true origin originally lacks them; thus it says, "while beings see the end of the kalpa burned by great fire, this land of mine is safe and secure"). Being born on the eighth day signifies the initial blossoming advancing toward fullness (the Zhou fourth month when the Buddha was born is the present second month; things are just flourishing; the eighth day means the moon gradually approaches fullness); being extinguished on the fifteenth day reveals the turn from waxing to waning (since on the fifteenth day the moon's fullness is at its peak, fearing that sentient beings would give rise to eternalist views, he manifested impermanence; after the sixteenth, the moon gradually wanes). Fullness fosters flourishing; waning impairs plenitude (because on the eighth day it gradually waxes, it fosters flourishing; because after the fifteenth day it gradually wanes, it impairs plenitude). Calculating these days, one thereby sees the saṃskṛta of birth and extinction. Moreover, being born precisely at daytime and passing away contrary to daytime: this is because birth is manifest and death is obscure, a sign of daytime exertion and evening rest (the Buddha being born during the day and entering extinction at night: birth is bright and clear; death is dark and obscure; furthermore, birth abiding in dawn necessarily has the function of diligent labor; death abiding in evening is the meaning of leisure and rest). Alas, sentient beings in their profusion are as if in a dream: some see the Buddha born, extinguished, recent, ancient, with a body eternally abiding, or originally unborn (according to what their minds awaken to, there are differences; although the marks of transformation are manifold, the dharmakāya originally has no birth or extinction). It is like being in the same room yet having different dreams: those dreamers do not know what the others dream. Only after having a great awakening does one know what they dreamed (some sacred teachings say the Buddha was born on the eighth day of the fourth month, descended into birth on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, leaped over the city wall on the eighth day of the second month, attained the Way on the eighth day of the twelfth month, and entered extinction on the fifteenth day of the second month. Other sacred teachings say he was born on the eighth day of the second month, leaped over the city wall on the eighth day of the second month, and entered extinction on the eighth day of the second month. Still others say he was born on the eighth day of the second month, leaped over the city wall on the eighth day of the twelfth month, attained the Way on the eighth day of the tenth month, and entered extinction on the fifteenth day of the twelfth month. The records of the various traditions differ, like different dreams in one room). Truly, each has their share; those who differ cannot unite their sameness, and those who are the same cannot separate their differences (those who take the eighth day of the fourth month as his birth speak according to the Xia calendar; those who take the eighth day of the second month speak according to the Zhou calendar, which is what the Master of Beishan holds now; taking both as the eighth day of the second month is the reckoning of a particular Hīnayāna school in India). There are those who take the tenth year of King Zhuang as the time of the Buddha's birth, relying on the chronicles of Lu, forcibly twisting the meaning of the scriptures, displaying merely the craft of far-fetched fabrication (this is Fei Changfang: taking the tenth year of King Zhuang of Zhou, which is the fourth year of Duke Zhuang of Lu, when 'the fixed stars were not seen and stars fell like rain', he made this to be the Buddha's birth. This was wild fabrication based on the Spring and Autumn Annals. The Buddha was born in the twenty-fourth year of King Zhao, the fourth ruler of Zhou, on the eighth day of the fourth month; King Zhuang was the fifteenth ruler. Moreover, the 'fixed stars not seen' occurred on the fifth day of the fourth month, which was after the Buddha's extinction, when Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva converted five hundred immortals on the Snowy Mountains and returned to his native land, his radiance overshadowing the fixed stars so they were not seen). There are those who take the fifteenth day of the third month as the time of the Buddha's extinction, which is the statement of the Sthavira school of the Western Regions. As for the rest, they are not so.