北山錄 2.2.6

2.2.6

Nothing was left unrecorded by him; therefore, his scripture fascicles are counted by the tens of thousands, and his words by the hundreds of millions. (Commentary: Thus Nāgārjuna could not finish reading their title slips in the Dragon Palace after ninety days.) This is like going to a river and drinking water: one drinks one's fill and is naturally satisfied; how could one know the rest? The scriptures of the two sages of the Central Lands (Commentary: referring to the Dutiful Son [King Wen] and Master Xuan [Confucius]) dwell among the hundred schools like the Northern Pole among the suspended celestial bodies. (Commentary: Confucius and the *Classic of Filial Piety* are the Northern Pole; the various masters are the myriad stars.) And beyond Confucius and Laozi, there are still maxims modeled on the sages. Yang Zhu and Hui Shi were of the school of emptiness and nothingness; (Commentary: from the *Zhuangzi*.) Mo Di and Han Fei were of the school of statecraft. (Commentary: from the *Records of the Grand Historian*.) In between, Sima Qian compiled history, (Commentary: Sima Qian, courtesy name Zijian, a man of Emperor Wu of the Han; as Grand Astrologer, he continued his father's work in compiling the *Records of the Grand Historian* in one hundred and thirty fascicles.) giving precedence to Huang-Lao and placing the Six Classics second; (Commentary: The Six Classics refers to the *Spring and Autumn Annals*, *Book of Rites*, *Mao Poetry*, *Classic of Documents*, *Book of Changes*, and *Classic of Music*.) Ban Gu in his Treatise on Literature (Commentary: Ban Gu, courtesy name Mengjian, compiled the *History of the Former Han* in one hundred and twenty fascicles.) began with the Ruists and placed the Dao and De second; these, together with our tradition, make the three teachings. (Commentary: the so-called Ruism, Daoism, and Buddhism.) They display a radiance like the sun and moon that never decays; as for their decline and prosperity, their adoption and rejection, all depend upon the times. (Commentary: Whether accepted or rejected, whether declining or flourishing, all depend upon the allotments of time.) Among later writers, some had words that surpassed their reasoning, while others had talents that fell short of the matters at hand. (Commentary: In some, though the diction was rich, the reasoning was sparse; in others, though the events were fully cited, their talent and ability were insufficient.) Striving for ornament, they abandoned reality; (Commentary: It means omissions; those fond of historical style often lost sight of real facts.) esteeming the profound, they rejected the yellow [robes]. Those who understood this were grieved that their dwelling [in this floating world] was so brief: who could enter into debate with the deceased? (Commentary: Having recognized the error of one-sided attachments, yet lamenting that the floating world is so short, who could debate right and wrong with people of earlier generations?) Those who did not understand simply recited them in their hearts, spreading them without limit. (Commentary: Those who do not understand merely know to memorize and recite them in their hearts, spreading them endlessly, and that is all.) Now, the Ruist teaching takes court audiences, ancestral sacrifices, mourning, and warfare as the guiding bonds of the state; (Commentary: "Court audiences" refers to the rites of grand audiences, visits, and meetings. "Sacrifices" refers to ancestral temples and the six pure offerings. "Mourning" refers to the rites of condolences, presents, burials, and attending funerals. "Warfare" refers to practicing military arts and punitive expeditions.) by comprehensively practicing its Way, they are seldom thrown into disorder. (Commentary: "*You*" means where; "*wen*" means disorder. If one can manage these matters comprehensively and practice them, then in the rites there will be little disorder.) As for the teachings of Śākya and Laozi, their principles lie in the void and profound, while their traces involve both provisional and real; (Commentary: Their principles being empty, non-existent, and profound, their ways are either provisional or real.) this leads those of average capacity and below (Commentary: The superior person hears it and practices it; the average person hears it and keeps it as if it exists and does not exist; the inferior person laughs loudly and ridicules it.) to flatter and twist interpretations, which are either spurious or delusional, so that the music of Zheng corrupts the elegant odes, and fish eyes are passed off as pearls. Thus, on the Daoist side, there is the *Scripture of Converting the Barbarians* (Commentary: compiled by the Daoist priest Wang Fu during the Jin dynasty, originally in one fascicle, and later gradually augmented to eleven fascicles) and the "Three Destructions", "Ten Differences", and "Nine Confusions" regarding the Barbarians and the Chinese; (Commentary: These are all Daoist texts criticizing Buddhism.) while on the Buddhist side, there are the *Destroying Confusion*, *Refuting the Barbarians and Chinese*, (Commentary: Zhen Luan's *Xiaodao lun* and so forth, all in the *Hongming ji*.) and the *Destroying Heresy and Discerning the Orthodox*. (Commentary: compiled by the Tang śramaṇa Falin.) In tumultuous rivalry they overstepped each other: what went forth in error was also countered in error; (Commentary: They contradicted each other like spear and shield.) their feelings were full of jealousy and partisanship; (Commentary: "Jealousy" means despising it; "partisanship" means favoring it.) their reasoning did not follow straightforwardness, but entangled with each other like twisted cords, (Commentary: taking the crooked as straight.) responding to each other like echo to sound. Blended onto wooden and bamboo slips (Commentary: "Blended" means mixed together.) and sealed up in cords and bindings, (Commentary: "Cords and bindings" means sealed up.) how could this pertain to the root of the twelve divisions [of scriptures] or the five thousand words? (Commentary: In the intentions of the sages, there are originally no texts of right and wrong.) The Western Regions synthesize the teachings of the Buddha's lifetime into three periods: namely, the teaching of existence (Commentary: which refers to the Āgamas and so forth), the teaching of emptiness (Commentary: which refers to the Prajñā sutras in eight divisions and so forth), and the teaching of neither emptiness nor existence (Commentary: which refers to the *Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra*). In this land, they distinguish the taxonomy by five periods: first, the Four Truths (Commentary: referring to the four matters of suffering, accumulation, cessation, and the path, which is the Lesser Vehicle teaching); second, Prajñā (Commentary: referring to the emptiness teaching of the Prajñā sutras in eight divisions); third, Vimalakīrti and Viśeṣacinti, etc. (Commentary: referring to the inconceivable teaching of the *Vimalakīrti* and so forth); fourth, the *Lotus Sutra* (Commentary: the Middle Way teaching that converges the two [vehicles] into the one); and fifth, the *Mahāparinirvāṇa Sutra* (Commentary: the teaching of perfect quiescence). Some say this is not so. For now, we preserve the ancient one. (Commentary: meaning the teaching of the three periods.)