鐔津文集 16.16

16.16

韓子序送高閒曰。今閒師浮屠氏。一死生解外繆。是其為心。必泊然無所起。其於世必淡然無所嗜。韓子為此說。似知佛之法真奧有益人之性命焉。夫一死生者。謂死猶生也。生猶死也。在理若無其生死者也。既見其理不死不生。則其人不貪生不惡死也。夫解外謬者。自其性理之外男女情污嗜欲淫惑百端。皆其謬妄也。繆妄已釋。死生既齊。故其人之性命。乃潔靜而得其至正者也。老子曰。清靜為天下正。斯言似之。夫性命既正。豈必在閑輩待其死而更生為聖神為大至人耶。即當世自真可為正人為至行既賢益賢不善必善。而韓子不須與閑之言。其原道乃曰。絕爾相生養之道。以求其所謂清靜寂滅也。夫清靜寂滅者。正謂導人齊死生解外繆妄情著之累耳。以全夫性命之正者也。韓子為書。不復顧前後。乃遽作原道。而後生末學心不通理。視之以謂韓子之意止乎是也。遂循手迹以至終身。昧其性命而斐然傲佛。不識韓子為言之不思也。就使從閑而言自閑釋氏之所由。非欲推其道為益於世。意苟有益於世而君子何不稱之。孔子曰。大人不倡游言。蓋言無益於用而不言也。謂韓子聖賢之徒。安得為無益之言耶。將韓子雖謂文人於道尚果有所未至乎。吾不知也。

In his preface seeing off Gao Xian, Master Han said: 'Now Master Xian follows the Buddhists; he unifies death and life and dissolves outer absurdities. In what he makes of his mind, it must be tranquil and without arousal; toward the world, he must be detached and without craving.' In making this statement, Master Han seems to have understood that the Buddha's teachings are truly profound and beneficial to the nature and life of human beings. Unifying death and life means that death is like life and life is like death; according to principle, it is as if there were no birth or death. Once one perceives this principle of no dying and no being born, then that person does not crave life nor abhor death. Dissolving outer absurdities means that outside one's essential nature and principle, the defilements of passion between male and female, appetites, desires, and the hundred kinds of lustful delusion are all fallacious absurdities. Once absurdities are released and birth and death are equalized, the person's nature and life become pure, tranquil, and attain the utmost correctness. Laozi said: 'Purity and stillness are the standard for the world.' These words resemble this. When nature and life are already correct, why must it be that people like Xian have to wait until they die and are reborn to become sages, spirits, or great realized persons? In the present world itself, one can truly become an upright person of supreme conduct: already worthy, one becomes more worthy; what was not good must become good. Yet Master Han did not keep to his words to Xian; in his *Yuandao*, he instead said: 'They sever your ways of mutual birth and nourishment to seek what they call purity, stillness, and extinction (nirvāṇa).' Purity, stillness, and extinction precisely mean guiding people to equalize birth and death, dissolve outer absurdities, and relieve the encumbrance of clinging passions, so as to complete the correctness of their nature and life. When Master Han wrote, he did not look back to what he had said before and after, but precipitously wrote the *Yuandao*; and later, superficial scholars whose minds do not penetrate principle look at it and suppose that Master Han's intention ended there. They follow his tracks to the end of their lives, darkening their nature and life and arrogantly defying the Buddha, not realizing that Master Han spoke without reflection. Even if we follow what was said to Xian, it merely took Xian's Buddhist allegiance as the basis without intending to promote his Dao as beneficial to the world; yet if an idea is truly beneficial to the world, why would a gentleman not praise it? Confucius said: 'A great man does not initiate idle words,' which means that if words are not beneficial in application, one does not speak them. If one considers Master Han a disciple of the sages and worthies, how could he utter useless words? Or could it be that, although Master Han is called a man of letters, he truly had not arrived at the Dao? I do not know.