北山錄 4.2.4

4.2.4

‘This man has perused roughly all books, both inner and outer. He has also thoroughly mastered the calculations of yin and yang. With the subtle purports of the Buddhist scriptures he moves with consummate skill; in weighing, examining, and calculating, no one can stand shoulder to shoulder with him. I only regret that you, sir, cannot meet him on the same day.’ Huiyuan was initially a Ruist. When he had passed his capping age, he met Dao'an at Mount Taihang and Mount Heng. Delighted, he said, ‘This is truly my master!’ He always wished to take comprehensive charge of the guiding principles [of the Dharma], making the Great Dharma his own responsibility. Continuing through the night into the day, a poor traveler with many wants, Tanyi constantly provided him with the expenses for lamps and candles. Dao'an heard of this and said, ‘That man of the Dao truly knows men!’ On another day Dao'an sighed, saying, ‘If the Dao is to flow through the Eastern Land, will it not rest with Yuan?’ Later, when Yuan's abundant virtue had become renowned and his glorious reputation was widely heard, all the foreign lands said that Han had a Mahāyāna man of the Dao; whenever facing east toward Mount Lu, they would bow their heads, burn incense, and show respect with distant sincerity. When Kumārajīva entered the Pass, Yuan sent a letter to establish friendly relations. In the closing section of his reply, Kumārajīva wrote: ‘The scripture says that in the final age there will be a Dharma-protecting bodhisattva in the east. Exert yourself, benevolent one, and properly propagate this affair!’ When Yin Zhongkan was going to Jingzhou, he came to the mountain; sitting with Yuan overlooking the North Torrent, he discussed the *Book of Changes* as the shadows shifted, untiring. When Lu Xun first occupied Jiangzhou, because his father Ga had been a fellow student with Yuan, Yuan cordially rekindled the old friendship. Someone admonished him, saying, ‘Xun is a bandit of the state; if you are close with him, will you not incur suspicion?’ Yuan said, ‘In our Buddha-Dharma, the mind has no grasping or rejecting; how could this not be observed by the discerning?’ When Emperor Wu of Song launched an expedition against Xun, his attendants said, ‘Master Yuan has always maintained close ties with Xun.’ Liu Yu said, ‘Master Yuan is a man beyond the mundane realm, whose mind has no “this” or “that.”’ He then sent a letter bestowing money and rice. When Yuan lectured on the *Sangfu ji*, Zong Bing and Lei Cizong both held texts (Zong Bing and Lei Cizong). Later, Lei composed a subcommentary and titled its opening under the name of the Lei clan. Zong Bing mocked him, saying, ‘Formerly I was together with you, sir, and we received these purports face-to-face from Master Shi. Now are you directly titling the head of the roll under the name of the Lei clan?’ Huichi was eight spans tall; he always wore slippers and a patched robe reaching only halfway down his calves. When he was about to enter Shu, his elder brother stopped him, saying, ‘In human life, people love coming together; how can you alone delight in parting?’ Chi said, ‘If my feelings were attached to loving assembly, I should not have left the household in the first place. Now, having severed desires to seek the Dao, I take the Western Land as my goal.’ His fellow student Huiyong built a separate cell on the ridge of Xilin, wishing to practice dhyāna, and immediately went to live there. A tiger always stayed in the room; when guests arrived, he would make it leave. One day he met He Wuji at Tiger Brook: Yuan was followed by more than a hundred disciples, solemn and disciplined, while Yong alone, in a patched robe and straw sandals, carrying his pewter staff and holding his bowl, drifted along under the pines. At the time, people considered his free and detached manner to surpass that of Yuan. Among those of virtuous conduct in his circle were Daozu, Sengqian, and Daoliu, who were richly endowed with talent and intellect. Yuan would often say to Daozu and the others, ‘If those of easy understanding were all like you people, then I would no longer worry about the younger generation!’ (Confucius said, ‘Hearing what is right and being unable to move toward it—that is my worry.’) Later, when Qian and Liu died young, Yuan said, ‘These men were brilliant in talent and meaning, and their lucid awakening grew daily. That they have departed forever—what sorrow!’ There was a certain Huiyao who, distressed that there was no water clock in the mountains, placed a twelve-petaled lotus on the water, determining the twelve double-hours by the turning of the waves, so that the sun's shadow never erred (he also once made a wooden parrot and made it fly several hundred paces. There was a Mountain Man Zhang who, during the Guangzheng era, erected an armillary tower before the hall of the Ruler of Shu; filling it with mercury, he had wooden figures hold tablets for the twelve double-hours, turning with the mercury to report the time facing the hall, without a moment's error. Mountain Man Zhang was named Sixun, originally from Suizhou; later he entered the capital and was attached to the Astrological Bureau). There was a certain monk named Che who was skilled in literary compositions. He once went south of the mountain, climbed a pine tree, and gave a long whistle (south of Mount Lu). Thereupon a gentle breeze gathered from afar, and numerous birds sang sorrowfully; it had a transcendent and exquisite atmosphere. He withdrew and inquired of Yuan, saying, ‘The Vinaya prohibits wind and string music, singing and dancing; may one make a single chant or whistle?’ Yuan said, ‘In terms of scattering the mind, they are all contrary to the Dharma.’ Hearing this, Che answered respectfully and stopped. His paternal aunt Daoyi appears in the *Biographies of Eminent Nuns* (*Biographies of Nuns*, in four fascicles). Commentators consider the school of Fotudeng to be camphor trees, catalpas, and rotas (namely Master Dao'an); the school of Dao'an to be the jade cong and discs of Mount Kunlun and Lantian (cong and discs of fine jade come from Mount Kunlun and Lantian; Master Yuan is such); the school of Kumārajīva to be sacrificial jade vessels, the houlian, fu, and gui (Daosheng, Sengzhao, and the others; the hou of the Yin, the lian of the Xia, and the fu and gui of the Zhou); the school of Huiyuan to be rhinoceros horns and elephant tusks, hide and leather (Daozu and the others; tusks of elephants and hide of rhinoceroses); the school of Huiguang to be the plumage of peacocks and kingfishers (Guang was surnamed Yang, from Dingzhou. He left the household under Master Buddhabhadra. Outstanding, radiant, and keenly perceptive, whatever scriptures he studied he immediately explained to others. His master ordained even more eminent and gifted disciples; worldly people called him the “Holy Śrāmaṇera.” He especially applied himself to the Vinaya section, composing many subcommentaries and annotations on scriptures. His disciples were like a forest; nine entered his inner chamber, with Daohui at their head, and the Ruist scholar Feng Gun); and the school of Xuanzang to be aloeswood, sandalwood, epidendrums, and thoroughworts (Kuiji, courtesy name Hongdao, composed one hundred subcommentaries). As we move further from the sages, virtue and the Way decline, while arts and practices become refined (in the Jin and Song dynasties, many cultivated dhyāna-contemplation, and those who attained the Way were numerous; from the Sui and Tang downward, scholars of doctrinal understanding were many, and artistic understanding was refined, but those who attained the Way were few). Is this not like fish when the spring dries up, having lost the great rivers and lakes, being rich only in moistening foam? (Chasing sounds and teachings to rely on wandering, following intellectual comprehension to become degenerate). Between the men of Song and the men of Wei, of the southern and northern capitals (the Liu-Song made their capital south of the Yangzi; the Yuan-Wei made their capital in Luoyang), the Song style favored ornamentation, while the Wei style remained pure. When pure, few fail to base themselves on the Way; when ornamental, many disport themselves in the arts (eminent monks of the Jin and Song illuminated their age with artistic understanding and broadly expounded the Dharma teachings, hence they are called ornamental; eminent monks of the Yuan-Wei, by virtue of dhyāna-contemplation and operational conduct, based themselves on the Way, hence they are called pure; it lies in the person, not anywhere else). How do we know this? In the north, branches and leaves grew out of virtuous instruction; in the south, branches and leaves grew out of rhetoric and external actions. Anciently, when a member of the Zang clan served as steward to the Qidiao clan, by the frequency or rarity of consulting the great tortoises of Cai, people knew the superiority or inferiority of the Zang clan (the Zang clan were grandees of Lu; Qidiao Kai was a worthy of Lu; ‘steward’ means the household steward. The Zang clan stored for generations the tortoises of Great Cai: Wenzhong was worthy, divining once every three years; Wuzhong divined once every two years; from then downward, they divined once a year. ‘Rare’ means few; ‘frequent’ means many).