北山錄 3.4.6

3.4.6

causing others to model themselves on them without transgression, and ordering their every movement with purposeful propriety. (Order means standard. They themselves strictly maintain it, causing later generations to model themselves on it and act accordingly.) During the Tianbao era of the Northern Qi, there was the monk Tanxian, whose origins were unknown. In eating and drinking he was like ordinary folk, yet at times he spoke words of great breadth and loftiness. The Supreme Controller [of Monks] recognized his extraordinary nature (Fashang served as Supreme Controller of Monks, hence was titled 'Supreme Controller') and was secretly close to him. At that time it happened that the Daoist Lu Xiujing fled to Qi from Liang. (Xiujing had earlier slandered Buddhism in Liang; Emperor Wu of Liang wished to execute him, so he fled to Qi, where he once again sought a contest.) An imperial edict commanded the śramaṇas to face ten of Xiujing’s disciples, decreeing a contest of superiority. Under the incantations of the demonic arts of Xiujing's disciples, the śramaṇas' robes and bowls would spin and fly through the air, and beam timbers upon being incanted would stand upright or lie crosswise. Looking around, the śramaṇas were unable to counter them, and [the Daoists] boasted loudly: 'What the śramaṇas see once, I shall see twice!' The emperor ordered the Supreme Controller, and the Controller sought out Tanxian. Tanxian was sitting drunk at the end of the assembly. The assembly reported: 'He is drunk.' [Fashang] said: 'They style themselves Libationers; precisely a drunkard will be able to face them!' He immediately ordered attendants to support him up to the seat. Thereupon he laughed, raised one foot, and said: 'I have already seen one; how can there be two?' Xiujing's disciples were silenced with shame. Tanxian then ordered that the robe and bowl of Dhyāna Master Chou be brought and told them to cast an incantation upon them. In the end, they could not move them. The emperor ordered that they be lifted up (lifting the robe and bowl); from one person to five pairs (ten people), none could lift them. Placing them on the beam timber, incantations were cast upon it, but with no effect. Xiujing's disciples shrank back in shame (shrinking back means being startled and ashamed), gave up their arts, and said: 'The Buddha calls himself "inner"; what is inner is small. You call us "outer"; what is outer is great.' Tanxian replied at once: 'The Son of Heaven is inside, while the hundred officials are outside. How could small and great be contrariwise?' The people of Qi thereby were indebted to us. Though an ox is emaciated, it still falls upon the pig. (Emaciated means thin; to fall upon means to collapse onto; a pig means swine. This says that though an ox is thin, if it falls it can still crush a pig. It means that though greatly weakened, it still crushes what is small. This is text from the Spring and Autumn Annals, a metaphor for Jin and Lu.) How could this not be so? In the beginning of our dynasty, when Xu Shiji was campaigning in Hebei, food provisions fell short and the royal army grew exhausted. He sought to borrow grain from a monastery, but the monks said: 'The monastic property must not be used.' When Huixiu heard this, he told them: 'If this campaign has no success, the state will be in peril. If the state is in peril, the monastery's survival is something that cannot be.' He summoned his assembly, quelled their opposition, and informed the army (summoning the monastic assembly, dispersing the news to the soldiers, and distributing [the grain]), opening the granaries to provide them with food. When Shenyao at first wished to abolish Buddhism, Hebei alone was not subject to the edict, because Duke Ying had memorialized it. (In the fourth year of the Qiande era of Song, Shu was conquered; later, the soldiers of the Chuan area rebelled. When the royal army campaigned against Quan Shixiong, the army provisions fell short. The Tiantai Cloister in Pengzhou opened the grain stores of the assembly of monks to relieve them. By the sixth year of the Kaibao era, the sovereign decreed that double be returned, and furthermore added exceptional grace and rewards.) In recent times, Daoqian of Suizhou was majestic in appearance and deportment, and was adept at lecturing on the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra. At times he would accompany his meals with meat and fish; monks and layfolk were very alienated from him. Qian said: 'I supplement my strength in order to lecture; please do not harbor resentment.' When he passed away in the heat of midsummer, his bodily fluids seeped forth, but their fragrant scent was intensely pungent (intense means extremely so), surpassing that of agarwood and sandalwood. The people of the district especially expressed their grief and veneration. Therefore, the way of expedience reaches the utmost! (The upper word 'reach' means to arrive at; the lower word 'utmost' means the extreme. One is able to reach the utmost Way.) Zhongni said: 'One may stand firm with them, but not yet exercise expedience with them.' (Text from the Analects. One may only establish affairs with them, but not yet exercise expedience which counters the constant norm, first running contrary to it and later according with it.) 'The flowers of the cherry tree, / Fluttering, turn over.' (The cherry tree is the tangdi; it is also called yuli. It is also said that the plum tree under the carriage is three feet tall; by the second month it blooms with pale red and dense flowers. Other flowers first close and then open, like the constant norm. This flower first opens and then closes, a metaphor for the way of expedience: at first seemingly contrary, but later according with the Way.) 'Is it not that I do not think of you? / But your house is far away.' (This is the ode that serves as a metaphor for the way of expedience: 'Is it not that I do not think of you, the worthy man? It is that the worthy man's house is far away.' This ode is not complete; below it says: 'He did not think of her at all; what distance is there?' It is just that one does not think; if one thinks, one arrives.) Truly, is it not difficult? Therefore, the mind is solely upright and one, while the mechanism depends on bending and rising. (Upright means correct. One's active mind rests in upright oneness, while the mechanism and expedient way may bend or rise, never fixed.) In fact, it is supremely impartial, but in function it seems supremely private; yet the benevolent and wise, observing its benefit, though it appears contrary, attain their end; observing it to be without benefit, they should accord with [the constant] and preserve it. (One must not rigidly cling to it.) Now, when Li and Xishi frown (Xishi was a beautiful woman; Li was an ugly woman; to frown means to knit the brows in distress), the frown is one and the same, yet Li knew she did not measure up; if so, not frowning would have been the hard thing for her knowledge. (Xishi was beautiful; when she frowned she became even more charming. The ugly woman of the eastern neighborhood was inherently ugly; when she imitated Xishi's frown, she became even uglier. This metaphor means that Xiujing and the others, seeking a contest, only became increasingly perverse.)