北山錄 5.2.12

5.2.12

"His knowledge was nowhere uncomprehensive; why did he not concentrate his mind to seek transformation so as to achieve eternal life? King Mu of Zhou (who rode the eight steeds and met the Queen Mother at the Jasper Pool; could he not have sought the elixir of longevity and feathered immortality?), the First Emperor of Qin (whose fangshi went to Penglai to gather the elixir, yet who died at last in Shaqu), Emperor Wu of Han (who favored the Dao and sought immortals, yet returned in the end to Haoli), and King Zhao of Yan—how many of their fangshi remain? Many were those who admired and were deluded; who among them attained it? Reviewing what was gained, it was not more than what was lost. Now Lao Dan held the purest essence and harbored spiritual potency; he established five thousand words to govern household and state. The flavor of the Dao congealed in Great Harmony; supreme virtue was contained in Great Emptiness. Thus he could be long-lived or youthful, hidden or manifest. As for driving hornless dragons and luan-birds, flanking himself with sun and moon, towering over the universe, and passing into and out of life and death, these were manifestations of his spiritual function to illustrate the virtue of the Dao. It did not mean that without abandoning fleshly rankness or purifying thoughts, one could, merely by applying effort to herbs and woods, preserve that life which is ruined by delicacies and rots the intestines. Therefore the ancient sage said: 'The form of great virtue accords only with the Dao' (kong means great; cong means to accord with. It means that the actions of a person possessing great and accommodating virtue accord solely with the ultimate Dao of emptiness). A master takes virtue and righteousness as the root, and occasionally makes use of external appearances to spread the branches. If there is illness in the root, what use are the branches? (Virtuous conduct is the root; technical arts are the branches.) Although our teaching possesses the transformations of divine transcendents and the five superknowledges, these are all accomplished only through the power of samādhi. In the Jin, Shan Daokai ingested pine resin and swallowed small stones, being able to walk seven hundred li a day, yet could not exceed a lifespan of one hundred years (the eminent monk Shan Daokai loved the Dao and regularly ate pine resin, yet returned in the end to impermanence). In the Liang, Huiyue fed on pine trees for over thirty years and approached the age of one hundred (also an eminent monk; the Book of Rites says one hundred years is termed qiyi), yet of the way to eternal life, nothing was heard. But worldly ways love length and loathe brevity, deluded and unable to decide for themselves. Our teaching takes renouncing slaughter and bestowing food as the cause for long life; why not follow this? Worldly ways love permanence and loathe decay, deluded and unable to decide for themselves. Our teaching takes averting distress and granting the Dharma as the cause for indestructible [nature]; why not strive for this? As for speaking from the mundane world, lingering for ten thousand years is equally over, like morning and dusk. The movement of continual novelty has never ceased to submit things to transformation. Long life is transformation during this life; brevity is transformation prior to or after this life. How does either differ from not transforming? (Zhuangzi said: 'The living grieve for the dead; the dead grieve for the living.') Therefore the realized ones of old rested content with the time and dwelled in accord, where sorrow and joy could find no entry. Mengsun asked Yang Zhu: 'Suppose there is a person here who loves life and prizes his person, praying for immortality—is this possible?' He replied: 'In principle there is no perpetual life. Life is not something that prizing it can preserve; the body is not something that loving it can enrich. Moreover, what purpose is there in perpetual life? The likes and dislikes of the five passions of old are still the same today. The safety and peril of the four limbs of old are still the same today. The bitter and sweet of worldly affairs of old are still the same today. The shifts between order and disorder of old are still the same today. Having heard them, seen them, and experienced them through and through, one already tires of a hundred years as too many, not to mention the suffering of perpetual life!' (Living in the world, if one does not advance in the Dao and practice, what purpose is there in longevity?) The Guest said: 'Zigong asked Confucius: "Do the dead possess consciousness?" The Master said: "If I were to say they possess consciousness, I fear filial sons and obedient grandsons would neglect the living to dispatch the dead. If I were to say they possess no consciousness, I fear unfilial descendants would abandon their parents and not bury them. Ci, if you wish to know whether they possess consciousness or not, it is not an urgent matter for today; later you will know of yourself." (This comes from the Kongzi jiayu.) Zhong Xianzi said (Zhong Xianzi was Zhongsun Mie): "The Xia clan used spirit vessels to show the people there is no consciousness; the Yin people used sacrificial vessels to show the people there is consciousness; the Zhou people used both to show the people that there is doubt." The scripture of causes and conditions will certainly exhaust this matter.' (This is the matter of causes and conditions over the three periods of time. Ruist teaching had not clarified it, hence there was this question.) The Host said: 'When a dead person's form perishes, the spirit departs, continually continuing through the five destinies, cycling without end. (With ignorance initiating the formation factor, evoking desire and grasping for moisture, the ten factors of the present are causes, and the two factors of the future are effects, revolving in saṃsāra without end.) Here, what is born there is regarded as dying; there, what died here is regarded as being born. (This is from Zhuangzi's writings: 'Death comes from life, life comes from death. Where there is life there is death; where there is death there is life.') Therefore, becoming a ghost, one possesses consciousness; in dying without becoming a ghost, one does not possess consciousness. Moreover, ghosts may be large or small: the large know largely, and the small know small matters. As for the sacred peaks and great rivers, the altars of soil and grain, they are grand as standards and regulations; those in the eaves and gutters, in doorways and hearths, are minute as wangliang and weishe spirits. When Jilu asked about serving ghosts and spirits, Confucius likewise did not answer (only saying: 'While you are not yet able to serve men, how can you serve ghosts?'), because the dark path is obscure and dim, and he feared augmenting the delusions of the living. He Chengtian of the Song said: "Where there is life, there must be death. When the form is ruined, the spirit scatters, just as spring flourishes and autumn withers, the four seasons alternating. How could there be taking another form? The Book of Odes says: 'The three sovereigns are in heaven,' speaking of spiritual souls ascending to the distance." (This is his Treatise on the Extinction of the Soul.) Yan Yanzhi reprimanded him, saying: "If spiritual souls truly differ from herbs and trees, does not the discourse on receiving a form gain even more support? It must be that the three sovereigns accumulated wholesome retribution to be born in heaven. If there were merely a spiritual soul without physical shape, I know not what it could rely upon to stand in heaven." Fan Zhen of the Liang, in his Treatise on the Extinction of the Soul and Body, said: "Sacrifices and feasts in ancestral temples are the way of the Duke of Zhou and Confucius to show reverence. Shengsheng and Boyou were weird monsters and prodigies (Hu Tu went to Quwo and saw Shengsheng, who had him drive his chariot, saying: 'Yiwu treated me without propriety. I have obtained permission from the Heavenly Emperor: Jin will be subordinated to Qin.' After speaking, he vanished; Duke Hui was indeed captured by Qin later. When Zheng killed Boyou, he later suddenly appeared in armor). Although there are ghosts among humankind, they are naturally just one kind of thing between heaven and earth, like humans and beasts, not made from the dead." At that time, an edict ordered the hundred officials to examine and instruct him closely, [showing that] this man was foolish, opposed the sages' methods, and was beyond teaching. The Book of Changes says: "Looking upward to observe the heavenly patterns, looking downward to inspect the earthly layouts, thereby one knows the causes of darkness and light. Tracing things to their beginning and returning to their end, thereby one knows the explanation of death and life. Essential qi makes things; the wandering soul makes change. Thereby one knows the circumstances of ghosts and spirits." How ultimate indeed is this statement!'