北山錄 7.1.4

7.1.4

And in reaching the boundary there are four [variations]: one foot reaching the boundary, both feet reaching the boundary, one foot reaching the monastery, and both feet reaching the monastery. Combined with the previous ones, they make seven. For the five assemblies—bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, śikṣamāṇās, śrāmaṇeras, and śrāmaṇerikās—the earlier rains retreat has five sevens, making thirty-five [variations], and the later rains retreat also has thirty-five, making seventy. The middle rains retreat has only mental resolution and face-to-face declaration, two times two times five, making ten. Together they make eighty. Entering the rains retreat by mental resolution refers to dwelling alone without anyone [else] with whom to perform the rite. As for the face-to-face rite: as usual, if by forgetfulness it happens to be forgotten, even if one remembers only at dawn on the seventeenth day, it still constitutes an entry into the retreat. Since the middle rains retreat lasts only one month, it lacks this [provision]. 'Reaching the boundary' and so forth means that coming from outside, if one enters with even a single foot before dawn arrives at the monastery, it is also valid.) Those who went before could not have seen everything, and how could those who come after lack limited understanding? How could one wish, on the basis of a single generation in Madhyadeśa, to fix the eternal teachings of the Sage across all ten directions? The scripture says: 'Though a person live a hundred years without understanding the Dharma of arising and ceasing, it is better to live a single day and attain understanding of it.' At that time, there was a bhikṣu who followed his master's erroneous instruction and recited: 'Though a person live a hundred years without seeing the water-heron, it is better to live a single day and behold it.' Ānanda heard this and sighed. He went to correct him, but in the end the master would not allow him to alter it—such are the roots of sectarian factionalism! Indeed, among masters none is greater than the Buddha. Yet later students each take their own teacher as their master and do not acknowledge the Buddha as their master. Thus there are those who gather superficial words to suit the unliberated commoners, cast aside the scriptures and statues, and proclaim their own nature, saying: 'This is our school's doctrine' (meaning the men of mere phrases). As for the exegetical traditions, all of them verify by commentaries and treatises, formulating expressions and determining principles without ever relying on the scriptures. Fluent and practiced in their craft, they say: 'I received this from my master' (meaning the exegetical lineages). Now a teacher may be followed for learning, but one must not cling rigidly to what was learned from him (insight lies with the teacher, but adaptability rests with oneself). Commentaries and annotations may be used as fish traps and hare snares, but one must not cling to the traps and snares (a trap is an implement for catching fish; a snare is an implement for catching hares). Obstinate students who cling fast to the letter have even gone so far as to […] (not allowing the words to injure the meaning). If an officer is loyal to his feudal lord but disloyal to the Son of Heaven, then the royal transformation will be compromised. If a family elder is loyal to a grand master but disloyal to the feudal lord, then the ducal house will be endangered (this arises from abandoning the scriptural texts to grasp at commentaries and treatises). Therefore, factionalism harms the sovereign. Yet those men are not benevolent, nor do they recognize their own factionalism; they merely maintain solemn affection within it and pursue profit and fame through it. If their faction is harmed, what they gain will no longer belong to themselves. Formerly, Devadatta fell into blazing fire because of his five heterodoxies (Devadatta entered hell on account of the five deadly offenses); yet in the Western Regions there are still those who practice his teachings. Is this not like the one who suffers from terrible body odor (foul vapor under the armpits, nowadays called crow stench) yet does not live in isolation—truly there are those who are drawn to their own kind (every person has their faction)! The noble man is reverent and prudent, performing his duties with care (reverent means respectful; performing duties means being employed), whereas the petty person hates the good and hardens his factionalism to the extreme (the way of envying the good and joining with evil). Look closely! The people of this generation all conceal their inadequacies and feign their competence, detesting those who surpass them and delighting in those who fall short. Showing off before those who fall short of oneself is like boasting of dark and yellow hues before the blind, or enjoying the gong and zhi notes before the deaf: it is done completely in vain. If one were to observe with the vision of Lilou and listen with the hearing of Shi Kuang (Lilou could see an autumn down at a hundred paces; Shi Kuang could discern the rise and fall of states by listening to sounds), then what they examined closely, I would fully comprehend. Therefore, high discourse and extraordinary discussions must be like boring through the dark to open a window: they are sure to reveal something. As for praise and blame being free from flattery, so that elevation and demotion are clearly distinguished (elevation means esteeming; demotion means discarding; when praise and blame do not cater to the world, one may be called a noble person): what the whole world affirms, one may judge not to be so; what the whole world rejects, one may judge to be so (when the multitude hates someone, one must examine it; when the multitude likes someone, one must examine it). For instance, Duke Ling of Wei was benighted and wicked, yet Zhongni regarded him as a worthy ruler, because he employed the wise and assigned duties to the capable, so that the altars of soil and grain were not destroyed (benighted means dim-witted; wicked means evil; Duke Ling, though unprincipled, did not perish because Wangsun Jia managed military affairs, Priest Tuo managed the ancestral temple, and Zhongshu Yu managed guests; because he employed such men, the Master praised him). Zang Wenzhong possessed profound wisdom, yet Zhongni regarded him as unworthy, lacking both benevolence and wisdom, each to the count of three (Zang Wenzhong had three instances of lacking benevolence: demoting Zhan Qin, allowing irregular sacrifices, and making his concubines weave rushes; and three instances of lacking wisdom: abolishing the six checkpoints, sacrificing to the seabird, and manufacturing empty vessels). Guan [Zhong]'s merit lay in uniting the realm nine times, yet he was relegated to being [a man of] petty capacity (he assisted Duke Huan not to royal virtue but through the arts of hegemony, and thus was deemed petty). Zigong's assessment of the Duke of Lu's dropping the jade was dismissed as mere misfortune (in the fifteenth year of Duke Ding of Lu, Duke Yin of Zhu came for an audience holding the jade too high with his gaze turned upward, while Duke Ding received the jade with his gaze cast downward; Zigong said: 'Observed through the rites, both of these rulers will face death or exile.' In that year Duke Ding died, and in the seventh year of Duke Ai the ruler of Zhu fled into exile; all turned out just as he had said). For this reason, with the mouth serving as a garden of rhetoric and the mind as a storehouse of wisdom, smoothing the sharp angles of non-virtue (the corners and sharp angles; one who has wisdom can round them off) and bringing forth the radiant luster of submerged goodness—only then can one be called a great mirror for evaluating human character (a great sash-mirror means a looking glass). Nowadays, when one man makes an erroneous criticism, myriads echo him; when one man lavishes unwarranted praise, myriads also echo him (those who follow the current and chase after clumps of earth are many). Submissively assenting, they have no idea what is truly good or bad. As for those factions of base contention and lust for victory, they do not square their own foolishness but dash forward and clash in combat (taking what they have practiced as spears and shields, and treating their fellows as formidable foes), like catapults hurling stones (a catapult uses wood to propel stones to strike enemies, like modern well-sweeps, commonly known as stone-throwers), imagining they can overwhelm the enemy on the battlefield (pronounced yi, meaning borderlands). Lacking any restraint toward those who do not side with them, they bite and kick ferociously, appearing truly fearsome (factions and sectarians mutually bring about destruction, embodying the saying: 'Loving someone, one wishes them to live; hating them, one wishes them to die'). One who is broad in arts need not be cautious, but one of refined discernment finds it hard to conform. If one is broad, the age will not deem it essential; if one is refined, people will resent one's scrutiny (one whose conduct surpasses others is therefore slandered by the world; one whose concerns stem from solitary insight is bound to be treated with arrogance by others). Yet one must not fail to affirm what is so simply because others do not affirm it. Nowadays, fluttery students (fluttering refers to small, flitting creatures), regarding commentaries, treatises, and dhyāna methods, all disparage others and extol themselves, declaring what they themselves have not yet heard to be what no one has heard.