北山錄 1.9.7

1.9.7

the Way would not be practiced in vain. (The sages knew that in the western lands there was a Buddha, but because it was not the time, they did not yet wish to practice his Way.) For the time being, they merely cultivated the Classic of Boyi and the traces of the Great Yu, established the three bonds and five constant virtues, (Gu [姑] means temporarily. It refers to editing the Shangshu and so forth, clarifying the matters of the nine provinces, water regulation, and mountains and rivers.) and extended them across the various Xia; this was what they called unifying all under heaven. As for those with skins for clothing, tattooed foreheads, left-fastened lapels, and sheared hair, (Ti [題] means forehead. These are the kinds of the four barbarian tribes.) they were disdained by the royal transformation; when they submitted and presented treasures, if they came, it was recorded, and if not, it was let be. (Yi [已] means not recording them.) How much more, then, for the wilderness of the great-thousand [world], vast and boundless! In the historical tablets it was left deficient, as they did not wish to amplify their writings. (The sages were prudent regarding doubts; matters not yet thoroughly examined, they did not wish to write down.) There are those who consider the Buddhist tradition preposterous; (Dan [誕] means false and exaggerated.) these are people who merely compete in fleeting currents! Now, if it were preposterous, heaven would long have rejected it; how could it be practiced throughout the world? I truly fear that those darting into the elms and sapanwoods laugh at the distance of the Southern Ocean! (The wren flies no further than darting into elms and sapanwoods, yet it laughs at the great Peng flying ninety thousand li at once. Yu and fang are the names of two trees. Qiang [槍] is pronounced like the fanqiie of qi and liang, meaning to gather or strike.) Therefore, if one seeks by fathoming the mind of the sage, out of ten thousand deliberations one may perhaps grasp one; (Grasping one thing out of ten thousand thoughts.) but if one seeks with a mind confined within borders, one will succeed in nothing at all. (Wang [罔] means without; ke [克] means able. That is, one cannot accomplish even a single matter. Feng [封] means obstructed.) Now, when the kingdoms of Man and Chu (The matter of the two kingdoms of Man and Chu has already been explained above under the snail's horns.) hear of the Jiaoyao and dwarfs, whose bodies measure only a foot, they are truly startled. (Shi [寔] means truly; hai [駭] means startled. The people of the Jiaoyao kingdom are one foot five inches tall; the dwarfs are three feet tall.) And when the Jiaoyao and dwarfs hear of Fangfeng, the Souman, and the tall Di Qiaoru— (The people of these kingdoms are all thirty feet tall. The Jiaoyao and dwarfs are diminutive persons.) whose bones filled a whole cart, and whose throats took halberds like pestles— (These were all giants. When Wu conquered Mount Tu, they obtained bones that filled a cart. They asked Confucius, who said: 'In the time of Yu, the lord of Fangfeng arrived late and was executed; these are his bones.' When the tall Di Qiaoru of the Souman kingdom attacked Lu, Shusun Dechen struck his throat with a spear like a pestle and killed him.) their astonishment is also like that between Man and Chu! Pengzu's grieving for one who died young (Pengzu was a grand master of the Yin, surnamed Qian, named Keng, styled Changru, who lived eight hundred years. Under twenty is an elder unripened death, under fifteen down to twelve is a middle unripened death, and above seven is a lower unripened death.) was done without realizing that he himself was an unripened child in the eyes of the Queen Mother of the West! The snake, with its crooked gait, boasts over the wind; (Chiwu [鉏鋙] is the appearance of irregularity.) the kui, with its hobbling hop, boasts over the snake. (Zhiduo [跉踔] means limping. Although the snake crawls irregularly and not upright, it still surpasses the wind, which moves without form. Although the kui has only one foot and limps, it still surpasses the snake, which has no feet at all.) Therefore, those who rely on the small do not know the great; those who rely on the near do not know the far; those who rely on the few do not know the many. How could it be otherwise?