北山錄 6.2.3

6.2.3

[According to the rites,] one wails for a father's friend outside the ancestral temple gate, for a teacher in the bedchamber, for a friend outside the bedchamber door, and for an acquaintance in the open country. But in the Buddhist tradition, this differs from the [classical] rites (it is different from the Ruist rites). Now, a teacher is the root of virtue and arts: without virtue, how could one establish oneself? Without a teacher, how could there be instruction? From kings and dukes down to merchants and tillers of the soil (a tiller is a farmer, like Changju and Jieni, who continued furrowing without pausing when they saw Zilu), all revere their teachers. Furthermore, the Buddhist tradition places paramount importance on that from which the precepts arise (sons of gentlemen, farmers, artisans, and merchants still establish their teachers; how much more so the Buddhists who shave their hair, dye their robes, and transmit the precepts!). Therefore, if one possesses the precepts, one is named a śramaṇa; if one lacks the precepts, one is not a śramaṇa. To be born from the precepts is thus called true birth, and the precepts are conferred by a teacher (the precepts are called the Vinaya Pitaka, which guards against wrongdoing and halts evil; it is identical to the Sanskrit vinaya). Hence, one regards the teacher as a father (a teacher originally had no mourning garb, but now is treated the same as a father). In foreign languages, an upādhyāya is rendered here as 'one through whose power [life] is born,' meaning he possesses the power to give birth to the disciple's precepts and Dharma. In foreign languages, an ācārya is rendered here as a 'model of conduct,' meaning he can guide and regulate one's deportment and sense of duty. Of these kinds, there are five: namely, the tonsure [master], the ten precepts [master], the reliance [master], the karmavācā [master], and the instruction [master] (karmavācā refers to reciting the motions when receiving the precepts). Among them, some initiate the shedding of hairpins and ornaments and the assumption of prohibitions for oneself; others bring to fruition one's Dharma-body and wisdom-learning through oneself. Now, the world considers the ruler, the father, and the teacher to form a single continuous debt of kindness: the father gives birth to one, the teacher instructs one, and the ruler feeds one. Therefore, there are three [forms of mourning]: the full mourning (zhifang), the equivalent mourning (fangsang), and the mental mourning (xinsang) (mourning for a father is zhifang, for a ruler is fangsang, and for a teacher is xinsang). Yet the Buddhist tradition exalts [the teacher] because of the precept-dharma (the precepts are the foundation of entering the Path, and the teacher is the cause of transcending the world). One does not merely wail in the bedchamber and observe mental mourning; one ought to wear coarse hemp and straw sandals, equating him to the father's unhemmed sackcloth (mourning garb for a teacher is identical to that for a father; the filial piety of unhemmed sackcloth lasts twenty-five months). However, it is not necessary to lean on a staff before rising, to wail as if one's voice would never return (meaning crying until one's breath is entirely exhausted), or to respond merely with 'yes' without conversation (these are all rites for mourning a father, which need not strictly apply to mourning a teacher). In all other respects, one follows the rites (aside from these, all is the same as the rites for mourning a father). Nowadays, the sons of crooked alleys (crooked alleys mean the sons of humble clans in village lanes) cry out to the blue sky, bewailing a cruel punishment, altogether unmindful of the suspicion that they are treating [a master] as an actual father (nowadays when monks lose their teachers, they wail loudly, crying out 'Azure Heaven!' and so forth; these are not in accordance with the rites, raising suspicion regarding one's real father, and it is proper to discard them). As for clay carts and straw figures, they are vessels for the spirits of the dead: since one does not anticipate the teacher entering the realm of ghosts, of what use are these? (All such mortuary goods are useless.) When Daodeng of the Northern Wei died, Emperor Xiaowen issued an edict saying: 'Our master, the Dharma Master Deng, has suddenly passed away. We are shaken with grief and cannot restrain Our sorrow. While making careful preparations for the funeral, We cannot attend at once; following the teacher-disciple relationship according to the rites, We shall wail outside the gate.' (According to the rites, one wails for a teacher outside the bedchamber door.) When Tanyan of the Sui passed away, the Emperor was stricken with grief and suspended court audiences; from the Prince of Teng on down, all disheveled their hair, went barefoot, and followed the funeral procession wailing. Later generations have been unable to add to or subtract from this. The Historian of the Columns left no trace across the shifting sands, or underwent corpse-liberation at Huaili; his disciples heard of no mourning rites (Laozi, seeing the decline of the virtue of the Zhou, rode an ox out through Hangu Pass and went west into the shifting sands. Moreover, Zhuang Zhou says that Laozi died in Huaili of Fufeng, and Qin Yi mourned him by wailing three times and departing. Since then, the mourning dress system of his disciples has never been heard of). When the Minister of Crime of Lu died, his disciples were doubtful about what mourning garb to wear. Zigong said: 'Formerly, when the Master mourned Yan Yuan and Zilu, he did so as if mourning a son, yet wore no mourning garb. I propose that we mourn the Master as if mourning a father, yet wear no mourning garb.' Thereupon, the disciples all wore hemp headbands and went out (they did not wear mourning robes for lamentation, but added hemp headbands and observed mental mourning for three years; this is recorded in the 'Tan Gong'). Coming down to the Han and Wei dynasties, mourning for teachers grew even more profound, reaching the point where it was made equivalent to mourning a father. Today, the rites have grown superficial, and few wear mourning headbands (mian is mourning garb). Formerly, Master Huiyuan prescribed seven days of mourning, because worldly feelings are difficult to sever, so as to allow one to express grief; to exceed this would be to bind oneself by [secular] rites (since monks originally belong to the transcendent teaching, yet worldly feelings are not entirely cast off, he instituted a seven-day rite to express grief; to exceed this would be to constrain oneself with Ruist teachings). When Liu Qiu, the recluse of the Qi dynasty, died, his disciples, though instructed in the inner teachings, mourned him as a father without mourning garb (Liu Qiu lived in Jingzhou. Later he shook out his robes and declined official service, abstaining from grains, wearing hemp clothes, and residing in a thatched hut. He discarded worldly texts, investigated Buddhist principles thoroughly, and set forth the doctrine of sudden enlightenment; at that time none could confute him. He annotated the Lotus Sūtra and lectured on the Nirvāṇa, Large Prajñāpāramitā, and other sūtras. In the beginning of the Jianwu era, he was summoned to be a Erudite of the National University. He died in Jiangzhou. White clouds lingered, a strange fragrance filled the room, and sounding chimes were heard in the empty air; he was sixty years old. His disciples mourned him as a father, yet wore no mourning garb. Yu Shen said: 'His writings are a model for the world; his conduct is a standard for scholars'; hence he was posthumously titled Master Wenfan). In the Sui dynasty, Tiantai [Zhiyi] admonished against wailing or wearing mourning garb. Each of these accorded with the requirements of its own time. Now Liu Qiu did not look back upon the offering of lambs or wild geese (ministers hold lambs and grandees hold wild geese. Liu Qiu was initially magistrate of Dangyang, then transferred to Nancheng, whereupon he shook out his robes and resigned voluntarily; he was forty-two years old. Contemporary discussions compared him to Shu and Bing of the Han, who rejected glory and cared nothing for emoluments or rank); he had already cast aside bodily form. When he faced his current death, it was not that he had just begun to die. If he had made them observe mourning rites, it would have been akin to pretending to value lambs and wild geese. Therefore, he minimized benevolence and righteousness so as to display simplicity and an unadorned end, and his disciples followed the proposal of Confucius's school. For Tiantai, more than fifty prefectures received the refuges and precepts from him; if they had followed the practice of unbleached silk and plain white, half the country would have been clad in mourning clothes! Thus it was proper to suppress this and follow the customs of India. Zhongni said: 'In funeral ceremonies, it is better that there be sorrow rather than elaborate order.' (Funeral rites should achieve moderation; if it is smooth and orderly, it is better to be genuinely mournful.) This shows the profound intention to reform the times. Now the custom of Qin and Luo is that mourning is indeed mourning; but when any of the ten teachers passes away, how should grief be graduated and diminished? (The preceptor can be treated the same as unhemmed sackcloth; the root precept master can have greater-conquest mourning; the instruction master can have lesser-conquest mourning; from the karmavācā master down to the tonsure master, the ten precepts master, the eight precepts master, the five precepts master, the reliance master, and the Dharma-conferring master, all can be given fine hemp mourning.) If it were not mourning, that would be all; but since it is mourning, how could there be no differentiation? Therefore, the precept master may receive greater-conquest mourning (nine months of mourning garb), the instruction master lesser-conquest mourning (five months), and the rest fine hemp mourning (three months). As for friends, the rites state: 'Living together, when entering one wears the hemp headband, but when leaving one does not.' If friends are all in other states, then one only observes mental mourning for a teacher for three years, and for a friend for one year; therefore, when grass has grown on a friend's grave, one does not wail.