北山錄 6.4.4

6.4.4

He therefore came forth from the Western land, crossed the sea to Liang, but the people of Liang did not place much faith [in him]. Looking north, he saw an atmosphere of the Great Vehicle, and thereupon went to Wei. (What is narrated here from the Baolin zhuan differs from the Gaoseng zhuan.) The critic says: The words lack accuracy, citing distortions to obscure the straight—how can this be called wisdom? Yet through the patriarchal masters' gate, the world returns to benevolence. The dhyāna virtue is of itself lofty; does it really await the transmission of the Dharma before first becoming an ancestral teaching? Furthermore, some have examined the chronological order: Bhikṣu Simha already corresponded to the Qi dynasty, while Bodhidharma, being the twenty-ninth, turns out to fall under the Jin dynasty. How could they blunder so regarding the dates? (Bodhidharma's disciples were expelled during the Jin period. From Hongshi of the Qin to the end of the Song was eighty years. Moreover, the Southern Qi lasted twenty-four years, separating them by over a century. How could the twenty-ninth patriarch precede the twenty-fourth patriarch by a hundred and twenty years?) There has also been a tradition of Lu Ban's stūpas (Lu Ban lived during the post-Spring and Autumn period, whereas stūpas only appeared from the Jin and Song dynasties onward) and the Right General's Prajñā (popular tradition claims the Jin Right General Wang Xizhi personally wrote out the Heart Sūtra, completely unaware that the Heart Sūtra was translated in the Zhenguan reign of the Tang dynasty by Tripiṭaka Master Xuanzang). Had they previously known that Ban was in the Spring and Autumn period and Wang lived under Emperor Mu of the Jin, they would not have spoken thus. The deviant voice says: Bodhidharma was poisoned six times in secret by Bodhiruci and Guangtong in his food. Five times he vomited it out; by the sixth time, he did not vomit it out and passed away. Furthermore, he said to his disciples, 'When our lineage reaches the sixth generation, its life will be as if suspended by a thread.' From this we know that even the loftiest mountain will be collapsed by rotten soil, and the sturdiest tall tree will be hollowed out by wood-boring grubs. Therefore, it caused our ancestral master not to live long, suffering harm and ultimately grieving for our descendants. (Bodhiruci is translated here as Juexi. A man of North India, he was completely versed in the Tripiṭaka and exquisitely entered dhāraṇī. With his resolve set on broad propagation, he circulated his teachings widely. In the first year of the Yongping reign of Emperor Xuanwu of the Northern Wei, a yichou year, he reached Luoyang and translated thirty-nine works of sūtras and treatises in 127 fascicles. His brush-recorded drafts filled an entire room. He also mastered various esoteric arts; he once sat by the mouth of a well, suspended a wash-basin in empty space, or chanted a spell over the well causing water to surge up, scooping it out for use. Vinaya Master Guangtong was an outstanding hero of his generation; moreover, holding the reins of the saṃgha, how could he act in such a manner? The Baolin zhuan contains an extreme number of errors; later scholars ought to examine it more carefully.) The critic says: When depraved men encroach upon the upright, the upright in the end turns into the depraved; when delusional men speak of the true, the true on the contrary becomes delusion. How distressing that within our own circle, Buddhist factions slaughter one another over fame and profit, even reaching such an extreme! Their intention was that lofty virtue is envied by others, and they used this deeply to display themselves, (meaning that Bodhidharma's lofty virtue was envied by Bodhiruci and others,) but they failed to realize that the harm to themselves was likewise extreme. Long ago, when the Northern Wei and Northern Zhou proscribed the Dharma, their edicts availed themselves of Master Gu's Treatise on the Three Destructions and the like (Master Gu Huan) to falsely accuse the Buddhists of evils; compared to this, it was actually not worse. The Book of Odes says: 'When people lack goodness, they blame one another in the region.' Does it not mean this? A fine general executed through slandering mouths truly gladdens the heart of the enemy; (like Bai Qi dying at Duiyou and the like;) a person of lofty virtue tarnished by slanderers truly aids the contempt of external factions (aiding the slanders of external schools). Those who listen to slander without covering their ears are also of the sort that encourage slander. The men of the Dao of old were calm and boundless, and all beauties followed them; therefore fierce tigers did not seize them, and birds of prey did not claw them (zhi means to strike; jue means to seize; it means not displaying power to show courage). How much more so for men! If he met with poison six times and ate it knowingly, why would he seek his own death? If he ate it unknowingly, who could call him possessed of the Dao? (How could he be called a sage?) As for Lingyang and Wucheng, we have never heard that they fell victim to poisoned wine; (Lingyang and Wucheng were both men of the Dao of old; they were still not harmed by poison;) could it be that only the Gate of Emptiness has such things? Therefore, one who is skilled in practicing the Dao does not cause others to love him—he makes people cut off even their love, so how much less would he cause others to harm him! Those masters Bodhiruci and Guangtong both widely disseminated virtuous transformations; they were the utmost hopes of humans and devas, encouraging the worthy and aiding the good, jointly raising the wind of teaching. In Master Guang's gate, there were ten men of virtuous conduct. (Among Huiguang's disciples, there were diverse renowned figures.) How dare these sycophants now slander and denigrate them! (Confucius said: 'This is why I despise the sycophants.') If they were cast to jackals and tigers, who could say the punishment was excessive? Moreover, 'in hearing litigations, I am like anyone else'; if when examining oneself to be benevolent one cannot be resolute, how can an evil man's becoming benevolent ever be resolute? (The benevolent fundamentally takes bravery and decisiveness as righteousness. Now evil men produce writings of slander against good people; if one cannot examine and decide right and wrong, but believes them, how could benevolence in such a case have the function of bravery?) Therefore, the noble person inwardly pardons himself to measure others. (The way of the noble person is nothing but loyalty and reciprocity; measuring others by oneself is called loyalty and reciprocity.) In antiquity, when the lords of Yu and Rui disputed over fields, they were still ashamed before the Western Earl. (The two states of Yu and Rui litigated over fields without resolution year after year. They then said to each other, 'The Western Earl is benevolent; why not go and have him judge?' Entering his borders, they saw farmers yielding the boundaries of their fields, travelers yielding the road, and court ministers yielding their seats. They said, 'We petty people cannot enter the court of a noble person!' Thereupon they ceded the land to be fallow. Confucius said, 'King Wen may be called of utmost virtue; people followed him without instruction.') Chu Ni, though an assassin, still respected the Jin minister. (Chu Ni was a knight-errant. Receiving the order of the Duke of Jin to assassinate Zhao Dun, he found Zhao Dun about to attend court early, fully robed and dozing. Seeing this, Ni said, 'He is the master of the people. To assassinate the master of the people is disloyal; to fail the lord's command is untrustworthy.' Thereupon he dashed his head against a pagoda tree and died.) Yet the ancestral master of Chan died of a plot! This surely cannot count as virtue. (Supposing it were a deceitful lie that Bodhidharma died at the hands of Bodhiruci, how could he be one of virtue?) Furthermore, it is said that Great Master Ke did not die under the withered tree by the order of the magistrate of Cheng'an, but rather died of poisoning by Chan Master He. This disparages Ancestor Ke even more! (Monk Ke, also named Huike, of the Ji clan, was a man of Hulao. Versed in Chan learning, he took Bodhidharma as his master. When assaulted by bandits who hacked off his arm, he controlled his mind with the Dharma and felt no pain, begging for food as before. Master Hua and Chan Master He were both renowned and virtuous men of their time. Some say that Master He poisoned him with drugs; this is a profound slander against Ke.) Those who love to prevail will inevitably strengthen their enemies.