北山錄 2.4.3

2.4.3

act through wuwei and transform on their own.) In ancient times, in the ancestral temple of Duke Huan of Lu (Duke Huan was the son of Duke Hui of Lu, born of Duke Yin's younger brother's wife Zhongzi), there was an inclined vessel (shaped like a small earthen jar; used to hold water; when empty it tilts—qi means to tilt—when half-full it stands upright, and when full it overturns; a metaphor for holding to the centered and upright). It showed people the outward mark of centeredness and uprightness. For when centered it is upright, and when upright, emptiness and fullness meet their proper measure; standing exceptionally upright, it begins in the eyes and ultimately responds in the mind, profound and dependable (set up especially so that one first sees it with the eyes and in the end awakens to it in the mind, profound and trustworthy). The Book of Documents says: “Firm yet not tyrannical, simple yet not arrogant” (text from the “Canon of Shun”; firmness, if misdirected, lapses into tyranny; simplicity, if misdirected, lapses into arrogance). “The Master was mild yet severe, authoritative yet not fierce” (text from the Analects; mild means gentle; yet severe; though severe, he was not fierce). All these are sagely people and noble persons weighing the principle of things, their minds harmonising with affairs, and not losing the mean (although the above are explanations from external texts, they all adopt the meaning of the Doctrine of the Mean; the Venerable Master of Beishan intends to show that those who study emptiness and those who study existence ought to attain the mean). The Treatise on Great Wisdom compares the great person’s observation of form and emptiness to the apprentice of an ox-butcher (text from the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa; identical in meaning to the text of Zhuangzi). Master Zhuang took it to be Cook Ding butchering an ox, his eyes seeing no whole ox (Cook Ding butchered an ox for Lord Wenhui; wherever his hand touched, his shoulder leant, his foot trod, and his knee pressed, there was a slithering and swooshing, and the knife went chok, not failing to sound in rhythm with the dance of the Mulberry Grove, and in harmony with the movements of the Jingshou; he met it with spirit rather than viewing it with eyes; with a single knife over nineteen years he butchered several thousand oxen, yet the blade was as if newly whetted; between those joints there are spaces, and the blade has no thickness; inserting that which has no thickness into that which has space, how spacious and roomy it must be for playing the blade! This is Master Zhuang’s fable to illustrate the Way, taking its meaning of smooth application without impediment). For what reason? The body of an ox, bearing horns and hanging dewlap (hu means the flesh of the neck), is existence; between the bones and joints there is nonexistence. When a blade of no thickness enters a body with spaces, how could it not be spacious? What ox is there? The ox-butcher showed its ease (before butchering the ox, all he saw was an ox; after three years, he never saw a whole ox, meeting it with spirit). The apprentice of the ox-butcher showed its difficulty. It is like a good cook or a mediocre cook changing knives sooner or later (a good cook changes his knife yearly because he cuts; a mediocre cook changes his knife monthly because he hacks; this differs from the nineteen-year knife). Therefore, one who embodies the mean is not obstructed by concrete things (one who attains the Way cannot be obstructed by things). Mount Meru is admitted into a mustard seed; the vast ocean is poured into the tip of a fine hair (weihan means the sea). Truly this can be easily attained (the sense of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa). The ancient sage [Laozi] said: “The rhinoceros has nowhere to thrust its horn; the tiger has nowhere to place its claws; weapons have nowhere to insert their blades” (this means not seeking to harm things and having no mind to harm; hence there is no place to thrust a horn, place claws, or insert blades). Master Zhuang said: “A great flood reaching the sky does not drown him (a great flood means the sea; ji means to reach up to; text from the ‘Carefree Wandering’ chapter); a great drought that melts metal and stone and scorches earth and mountains does not make him hot” (he does not alter his appearance on account of cold or heat; his integrity is not stripped away by worldly things). Zhongni saw the old man of Lüliang plunge into a cataract of thirty ren, swimming by relying on loyalty and trustworthiness (seven feet make one ren; relying on the way of loyalty and trustworthiness, he did not fear perils). Is it not that, possessing the principle of the Great Mean and harmonising with the nature of various things, they were able to reach this? Therefore, treading on water and heading into fire, touching blades and walking on perils, the body can leap lightly, the ears can hear thoroughly, and the eyes can see through clearly, precisely because the mind is empty (Laozi says: “Empty their minds, fill their bellies”). Because the mind is empty, it does not oppose the myriad things (connecting with them without distinction of self and other). The myriad things also accord with oneself profoundly; one’s vast nature nowhere fails to harmonize (seeking things with an empty mind, what one encounters accords profoundly). Furthermore, water and fire are harms to things (water can drown and drift; fire can burn and scorch; both are harms to things); yet fish are nurtured in springs (fish and dragons attain water and live), and beasts are born in fire (as with fire-rats and fire-turtles, which are all born amidst fire). Do they resort to techniques for resisting water and fire? It is merely that their natures accord with dryness and moisture, and their qi conforms to cold and warmth. Hence they tolerate each other without conflict, and generate each other without injury; when genuine, they remain whole (since they do not harm each other, believe that water and fire can keep things whole). How much more so for one who possesses the Way, whose virtue is complete across the myriad kinds? Therefore, when great persons cultivate this mind, they term it chan; chan means quiet contemplation (in Sanskrit samāhita, translated here as quiet contemplation; this concentration can bring quietness and stillness to the mind's thoughts). When external sensory objects are insufficient to stir emotion, they term it ding (in Sanskrit samādhi, translated here as correct concentration); ding means single-minded absorption. Those who claim that the body itself is the Buddha, discard images and shrines, and dwell in the station of the Great Sage are truly foolish, rebellious, and cruel to themselves (such as the followers of Vajra Chan). If tested against water and fire, how could they be so fortunate as to escape? (If thrown into water or fire, how could they escape harm?) Those of inferior understanding are confused by their idle talk and do not examine their actual practice; following the blind in seeking a straight path is difficult indeed! (It is like the blind leading the blind). Those who practice the Way must understand the mind, practice with the mind, and direct the mind—examining these three within themselves before speaking of what they have attained. Understanding the mind means comprehending its reality and delusion; practicing with the mind means extinguishing its love and hate; directing the mind means transforming its defilement and purity (as in: when the mind is pure, the realm is pure). Today, beginners merely desire the appearance of knowledge, yet fall short in the rest; why seek to deceive themselves? (Today’s Chan teachers often claim attainment and deceive others; frauds like the Shanguo and Vajra Chan are numerous). Therefore, great compassion is boundless, and the fragrant rice is boundless; great wisdom is unobstructed, and the ten-foot-square chamber is unobstructed (as with Vimalakīrti’s boundless great compassion, the fragrant rice he fetched was inexhaustible, and the wise conduct he cultivated was unobstructed; what his ten-foot-square room accommodated was also unobstructed). The sūtra says: “When one attains buddhahood, one is endowed with the thirty-two marks, etc.” (text from the Lotus Sūtra). Only then may it be called eternally ended. Hengyue and Tiantai (namely Great Master Huisi residing on Nanyue);