北山錄 8.4.5

8.4.5

…and then greatly admonish them concerning the benefits of generating merit and performing good works.) Therefore, one who guides the multitude should promote people before their merits are widely known, and discipline them before disorder arises, so that people revere their authority and favor, exerting themselves in awe and caution; this can be called a good beginning. Once the beginning is established, things proceed silently like the five breaths harmonizing and the eight winds marking the seasons; all is fully orderly, and words and deeds are measured. Even if there are reproaches and floggings (reproaches mean verbal rebukes; floggings mean the cane), there will be no occasion to employ them; this can be called a good ending. Few people achieve a good ending, yet [Ling]yu achieved lasting renown for it (only Lingyu was able to do this; few others could). Observing this, although he did not beat or humiliate them, but expelled them from the assembly, this at times might also be considered severe (expelling means banishment; like handing over the robes and bowl and being expelled from the hall today). The sūtra says: 'This is killing; this is the retribution for killing. This is hell; this is the retribution of hell.' The vinaya permits rebukes and censures for the sake of instruction without it being an offense; what is the meaning of this? It is simply to aim at punishment so that punishment becomes unnecessary (this means strictly warning against offenses so people do not commit them). Therefore, praising the good encourages goodness; exposing the bad stops evil. Loving words to Rāhula, and reprimands to Devadatta—how could it be otherwise? (Rāhula was the Buddha's son; Devadatta was the Buddha's foe.) The humane person exercises forbearance in the mind, while the deceitful person exercises forbearance in the mouth (the humane person is loyal and honest, thus their forbearance is in the mind; the deceitful person is scheming, thus their forbearance is in the mouth). When it is in the mind, it elevates others and promotes benefit; when it is in the mouth, it ruins others and feigns compassion. Petty people of today listen to the mouth and do not understand the heart; they regard a compliant face as kindness and favor (because people are pleased by fine words, a pleasing face, and excessive respect), and regard lofty conduct as arrogance and stubbornness. They do not realize that Kings Yi and Li of Zhou (unruly rulers of the Ji Zhou) descended into the courtyard to receive the feudal lords, becoming weak and foolish, and were thus curtailed; while Emperor Yan and Xuanyuan raised armies to suppress disorder, yet cannot be called rulers who lacked wuwei (Emperor Yan attacked the Gonggong clan; the Yellow Emperor fought Chiyou). For a teacher, the benefit lies in the Dharma; why worry about what people say? (Care means worry. Benefiting others is not abandoned because of harm. It is like governing a state; why fear execution and punishment?) But in the world, there are those who accumulate deception and obscure uprightness, whose virtue is low but whose reputation is lofty, extending an inflated fame for compassion and gathering a crowd like flies to carrion; this leads unprincipled men to obscure their own conduct and take them as their model (making those lacking integrity imitate them). They even twist it to mean that the Great Sage's compassion will not fall upon them [with punishments], thereby causing the five types of intractable horses and the seven categories of people to be tamed to fall into perdition forever. Now in the degenerate age of our teaching (degenerate age means the final era), the followers of the Dharma face many difficulties, as the wicked band together to further disorder, as firm as clustered mulberry trees (bao means growing in clusters). If one wishes to rely on my rectitude, one must weigh what is feasible and act with caution regarding the turning points; this too is the teaching of the sages. In antiquity, the guest Tripiṭaka master, upon seeing an offense concealed, reprimanded them and they complied with reform (according to the vinaya, when a monk commits a saṃghāvaśeṣa offense, he is ordered to live apart for ten days, called parivāsa, meaning examining one's offense. If before ten days are up, he commits another saṃghāvaśeṣa without concealing it, and declares that he has disclosed it, then one should not perform the karman for concealing an offense. There was a guest Tripiṭaka master who saw this, rebuked them, and thus they reformed). Śāriputra, when encountering an illicit karman, (in antiquity, when the male and female monastery servants grew up, four monks performed a karman to marry them off; Śāriputra knew it was contrary to the Dharma, and wishing to rebuke them, first informed the Buddha; the Buddha said: 'You should not rebuke them, as one does not rebuke a multitude; moreover, they are many and you are alone, and I fear it will bring harm upon you'; thus he remained silent and did not stop them) acted just as Duke Liu did in fleeing the Di tribes, yielding to virtue through weakness (Duke Liu was a descendant of Houji; Houji served Yao and was enfeoffed at Tai as Minister of Agriculture; losing his office, he fled to the west; Duke Liu restored his office; the Rong people coveted his land and expelled him; by the time of King Tai, they moved to Bin and dwelt south of Mount Qi; King Wen received the mandate, King Wu conquered Yin, and they took all under Heaven); and just as King Wen did in attacking the forces of Chong, deploying strength to quell disorder (Chong was a feudal state; Marquis of Chong, Feizhong, was an unvirtuous spy for King Zhou; thus King Wen raised weapons and attacked him; there was a drought, but as the army marched, rain fell). Both were instances of broad, illuminating discernment in adapting to circumstances. As for those who plot for wrongful wealth and pursue untimely blessings, tearing down low pavilions to rebuild them on a grand scale, or replacing modest bells and drums with lavish, perilous displays (using seized wealth to pursue hasty, ostentatious projects, erecting spacious halls and gleaming bells and balustrades)—their wealth comes from injustice and excess, and their deeds arise from greed and rashness; truly, their sins and merits do not offset each other! Now, releasing living creatures stems from pitying those about to be slaughtered (when Qi was about to sacrifice an ox to consecrate a bell, King Xuan ordered it replaced with a sheep; Mencius said: 'The king was begrudging one ox'; the king said: 'I could not bear to see it go to death'; Mencius said: 'The king only saw the ox and did not see the sheep. A gentleman, regarding animals, sees them alive and cannot bear to see them die; hears their cries and cannot bear to eat their flesh; this is why a gentleman stays away from the kitchen'), meeting them and preserving their lives; this is called the merit of nurturing life. Long ago, when Zhao Jianzi released animals on New Year's Day, the people of the state netted and caught them to present to him; when beneficence is born of harm, it is better not to release them at all. Therefore, those who maintain [the monastic community] calculate virtue rather than profit, and so their benefit is broadened through virtue; if they calculate profit rather than virtue, their virtue is curtailed by profit. Alas! The Dharma has declined; the kalpa is at its lowest dregs. Sages and worldlings are separated; devas and nāgas lie hidden and restrained, while demons wield their power. It is hard to distinguish the correct from the vulgar. Relying on stūpas and temples as heavy anchors, and leaning upon the chaste and wise for support—can it merely be sheltering under the shade of fragrant altars, nourishing the body with Dharma offerings, while the rise and fall of the teaching is never held in one's heart, and one amuses oneself with laughter and talk from morning to night? In an instant, like a white steed passing a crack (white steed refers to dust motes flying past a skylight), the soul sinks into the long night of the grave (zhun means deep; xi means night; the eternal night is the long night of birth and death; words of the Viscount of Chu), having contributed not even a single basket of earth to the field of monastic merit, while sinking into the pains of a hundred punishments within the Iron Enclosure! Contemplating this principle in stillness, who would not feel chilled to the core and a pang of sorrow in the nose? Yet the dark guidelines have long been disordered; the monastic precincts are vast in vain. Population registers are kept in princely halls, and taxation returns to the commanderies and counties. Monks serve and welcome officials, like village clerks trembling before high superiors. Therefore, the upright and meek avoid encounters and avoid controversies by staying away (cleansing themselves to keep clear of prefectures and counties), while the foolish and corrupt waste effort and wealth without benefit. The golden fields have turned to brambles and thorns; truly, this is the cause of our affliction.