北山錄 6.4.2

6.4.2

The four seas are unified; there is neither prejudice nor rejection (["neither prejudice nor rejection" means] neither thickness nor thinness). Why merely select [monks] by the monastic age of the field of merit and satiate them with the offerings of burning incense burners? (A monk receives the full precepts only after reaching twenty years of age; having passed through summer and winter, this is called "summer-monastic age" [vassa].) If their deportment and standards are not controlled, how do the black-robed and white-robed differ? (Nowadays monks merely rely on seniority in monastic age to occupy the higher seats and receive offerings, yet totally fail to cultivate and regulate their dignified deportment.) Now, among the practices of the sages, none is superior to abstention and the precepts; among the minds of the sages, none is superior to compassion and frugality. If one does not observe abstention and the precepts, one slanders the practices of the sages; if one lacks compassion and frugality, one contravenes the minds of the sages. Slandering their practices and contravening their minds, the eight difficulties will be reached without having to take a step (the eight difficulties are: 1. hell, 2. hungry ghosts, 3. animals, 4. the northern continent, 5. the heaven of non-conception, 6. being born blind, deaf, and mute, 7. worldly wisdom and eloquence, 8. being born before or after a Buddha; these are all stations that obstruct the noble path); the five sufferings will arrive without waiting to be summoned. To this world, the next world, and the ghostly spirits of future lifetimes, they will create deep hatred and immense enmity (because slander in this lifetime causes the spiritual consciousness to sink and fall in future lifetimes, accumulating resentment and hatred). If one supposes that the Great Way is a matter of open-mindedness and that minor practices harm virtue, then what place remains for the bodhisattva precept scriptures? (If one cannot uphold the Hinayāna precepts, how could one uphold the bodhisattva precepts? The Hinayāna precepts originally flow forth from the Mahāyāna.) Therefore, to act thus is like wearing a tiger's pelt while having the body of a rat, or falsely assuming the form of a horse (for a monk to be unable to uphold the precepts and yet promote the Great while berating the Minor is truly like having the form of a dog or rat while falsely assuming the substance of a tiger or horse). Although they wish to borrow words to evade blame, in truth they only gloss over their offenses. The deviant teachings say: "Dhyāna is the learning of the mind. When the mind merges with spiritual transformation, it departs without walking; when about to halt, it instead speeds away. Its motion is like surging waves; its stillness is like the silence of an abyss. One should leave it to self-attainment and give free rein to it in wuwei. Why must one sit upright with a withered body, relying on the existent to seek the nonexistent? One who attains it is a person of a hundred years; one who does not attain it is also a person of a hundred years. Furthermore, sectarian paths arrogantly contend, and their doors and windows are overgrown and obscure (even if one realizes its principle, one still does not escape arising and ceasing; how much worse if one's traces surpass Vairocana—is that not arrogant contention? If form and mind are a chaotic blur, are they not overgrown and filthy?). If one seeks it in reality, who would awaken to it? It is not as good as rising and resting, reclining and leaning back, easing one's own body for a while; or letting bells, Sanskrit chanting, lecturing, and recitation thoroughly entertain one's mind. As for dhyāna, I have no use for it!" (This means an attitude that values lecturing and chanting and takes no delight in the flavor of dhyāna.) The critic says: How vague is its falsity! How far-reaching is its danger! (["Vague" means] superficial; ["far-reaching" means] distant. Once one listens to deviant teachings, their shallow and slandering falsity seems like far-reaching contemplation, yet it completely deviates from the profound and abstruse principles and interests, leading to extreme danger. When the principle is neglected, there is danger.) Having ascended and then tumbled, there is truly cause only for regret! What the five destinies cannot bind, and by which the three vehicles mount the carriage strap (a bridle binds a horse; a carriage strap is the rope for mounting a carriage; for one who realizes the principle of emptiness, the five destinies cannot constrain his body, and how could the three vehicles contain his rank? He transcends and emerges), stilling the clamorous dust on the thoroughfares and opening the profound mechanism of the spiritual gate (["thoroughfare" means] a great road; ["mechanism" means] a door-pivot)—none takes precedence over practitioners of dhyāna! Therefore, gentlemen who cultivate virtue and ward off evil have never failed to dwell like a corpse and feed like a nestling so as to arrive at wuwei (["ward off" means] to prevent; ["nestling" means] a young bird; for a gentleman who has forgotten the mind, his dwelling is without action like a corpse, and his eating is without contention like a nestling, placid and nothing more). If there are those who do not proceed by this way, then their words and thoughts will be tangled like hemp, their schemes will flow like a current, their bodies will be driven by their minds, their suffering will be exhausted only with their years, and in a state of confusion and staring blankly (["staring blankly" means] raising the eyes), bustling and faltering (a description of small steps), how could there be any peaceful leisure? (Those of today who claim [to practice] dhyāna are unable to remain quiescent; body and mind shift and turn following external objects, driven day and night. How could that be called peaceful leisure?) However, dhyāna is shared by internal and external [teachings], and its ranks differ between the lesser and the greater (dhyāna involves disliking the lower stages and aspiring to the higher stages, subduing afflictions so they do not arise; performing the six practices is an observation common to the internal teachings, external paths, Mahāyāna, and Hinayāna, and is not merely a single word or phrase). Each has depth or shallowness according to cultivation and realization (there are access concentrations and basic concentrations, principle and phenomena; the Mahāyāna and Hinayāna differ in depth). Just like the three animals—the elephant, the horse, and the hare—crossing the river, this was indeed sung by the former sages (the Hinayāna is compared to the hare, the middle vehicle to the horse, and the Mahāyāna to the elephant; their depths differ). In the past, during the Jin and Song dynasties, most of the Tripiṭaka masters who came from the west taught through the methods of dhyāna. Harmonious and solemn, they practiced them in silence, not using them to dazzle the world. For instance, the power of concentration of Zhu Daoyou was deep and far-reaching: as he chanted scriptures on a high cliff, a pack of tigers came before him to listen; when one tiger alone fell asleep, You struck its head with a ruyi sceptre to make it listen. Guṇavarman did not rise [from meditation] for many days; when disciples went to check on him, they saw a white lion standing against a pillar, and the open air was filled everywhere with blooming blue lotuses. Thus braving the rain, he was not soaked; treading in mud, he was not soiled. In the Wei, there was Bhadra, who transmitted mind-awakening to Huiguang. Guang lacked the power of concentration in his youth, but ended up as the State Chief Monk through his mastery of the Tripiṭaka texts (originally surnamed Yang, a native of Dingzhou. Bhadra saw him, found him extraordinary, and had him leave home; his intelligence was peerless, and at the time he was called the Sage Śrāmaṇera. In the Southern Qi he served as a monastic official, and later became State Chief Monk; he was very accomplished in literature, which circulated in the world). Only Sengchou attained Bhadra's Way: he parted tigers with his monk's staff and averted disasters with his kāṣāya robe (Dhyāna Master Chou was at Mount Wangwu, where he saw two tigers fighting; he parted them with his monk's staff, and each went its way. Lu Xiujing and others under the Northern Qi submitted a memorial requesting a contest of magic with the monks; they chanted spells causing the monks' robes, bowls, and other items to whirl and fly into the air. The State Chief Monk ordered Tanxian to face them. The opponents again chanted spells causing a large log to rise into the air; [Tanxian] then took Dhyāna Master Chou's patched robe and placed it on top; thereupon, though they cast spells and performed rites, they could not move it at all. The Emperor was greatly pleased). When Chou first entered concentration, he did not rise for nine days. Bhadra said: 'Since the Pamir Mountains, the pinnacle of dhyāna learning is you, and you alone!' At the end of the Eastern Wei, Bodhidharma set forth the teaching of the Four Practices, which comprehensively gathered the true profundities (the four practices are: 1. the practice of repaying grievances: when encountering affection or enmity, willingly accepting them, knowing this is the work of one's past with no resentment or enmity; 2. the practice of following conditions: feeling neither joy nor anger toward any circumstances; 3. the practice of seeking nothing: having no greedy seeking; 4. the practice of accordance with the Dharma).