鐔津文集 9.11

9.11

月日沙門某謹北望伏揖。獻書昭文相公閣下。某昔者以禪書幸朝廷。賜與祕藏為佛法之教。萬世耿光天下。其徒莫不且喜且慶。此是閣下鈞造與成其事而又稱道。其文乃播諸賢士大夫。迄今天下莫不知。其辱閣下見知之深也。受賜於閣下之厚也。光賁山林之多也。平日欲思獻一言以報閣下之德而未果。然適以其書而通于下執事者。乃效其素志耳。然閣下輔相功烈冠絕于古今者。蓋閣下善用堯舜禹湯文武周公孔子孟軻荀況之道而然也。今有人著書深切著明。以推衍彼十聖賢之道。而正乎世之治亂。其極深研幾。自謂不忝乎賈誼董仲舒之為書也。是可資乎閣下雄才遠識萬分之一二耳。伏念某放浪世外。其迹與世雖異輒。著其書慮俗無知嫉而忽之。故祕之自謂潛子不敢顯其名也。今閣下至公與天下之人而為善也。不區域其華野顯晦者。天下服之。乃不遠千里寓其書而投之。苟有可觀其說不妄萬一果有所資贊。則某也少報閣下之嘉德而得以展其微效也。其漂蕩江湖拘潔獨立與俗不合。而其憫者非者相半。儻或閣下賜之一字褒而揚之。此又慰安其平生守蘊光賁其幽獨之大惠也。仰黷盛命干冒台明。罪無所逃不宣。某謹白。

On the [blank] day of the [blank] month, the śramaṇa [Qisong] respectfully gazes north and bows with hands clasped, offering this letter to the Chancellor of Zhaowen Pavilion, beneath his seat. In the past, through the good fortune of the imperial court, my Chan writings were bestowed into the secret canon to serve as the teaching of the Buddhadharma, shining brightly for ten thousand generations; its followers throughout the empire all rejoiced and celebrated. This was entirely shaped and brought to completion by your Excellency, who moreover praised its writing and spread it among worthy scholar-officials, so that today there is no one in the empire who does not know the depth to which I was favoured by your recognition, the abundance of the benefits I received from you, and how greatly you added lustre to the mountain forests! In ordinary days I wished to present a word to repay your Excellency's virtue, but could not do so; now, presenting my writings through your subordinates merely fulfills that longstanding aspiration. Your Excellency's meritorious achievements in assisting the ruler surpass those of all past and present, precisely because your Excellency skillfully employs the Way of Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, King Wen, King Wu, the Duke of Zhou, Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi. Now someone has written a book that is incisive, profound, and clear, explicating the Way of those ten sages and worthies to rectify order and disorder in the world; fathoming the depths and investigating the subtle, he considers himself not inferior to the writings of Jia Yi and Dong Zhongshu. This might assist your Excellency’s grand talent and far-reaching vision by one or two parts in ten thousand. I humbly reflect that I wander freely beyond the world, and my traces are different from the ordinary; whenever I wrote books, I feared that worldly people in their ignorance would become jealous and neglect them, and therefore I kept them secret, calling myself Qianzi, not daring to make my name known. Now your Excellency is supremely impartial and promotes goodness in the people of the empire, drawing no boundaries between the refined and the rustic, the prominent and the hidden, so that the empire submits to you. Therefore, not considering a thousand miles too far, I sent my book to present it to you. If there is something worthy of notice and its arguments are not false, should it by one chance in ten thousand truly provide assistance, then I would slightly repay your Excellency's fine virtue and be able to demonstrate my slight efficacy. Drifting along the rivers and lakes, reserved and upright, standing alone, I do not fit with the worldly; those who pity me and those who blame me are half and half. If your Excellency should bestow a single word to praise and promote it, this would further console what I have preserved throughout my life and be a great favour adding lustre to my solitary seclusion. Looking up, I sully your exalted command and presume upon your ministerial brilliance. My guilt has nowhere to hide. Not elaborating further, [Qisong] respectfully states.