鐔津文集 1
English (machine translation) 1
- Language
- English
Contents
- 1.10 — 4 parts
1.1
Table of Contents of the Collected Writings of Tanjin
1.2
Fascicle 0
Record of Conduct (this is the preface) (composed by Chen Shunyu)
Fascicle 1
Fujiao pian, Part 1
Yuanjiao
Exhortations (including preface, four pieces in total)
Fascicle 2
Fujiao pian, Part 2
Guang yuanjiao (including preface, twenty-six pieces in total)
Fascicle 3
Fujiao pian, Part 3
Xiaolun (including preface, thirteen pieces in total)
Tanjing zan
Zhendi wusheng lun
Fascicle 4
Huangji lun
Zhongyong jie (five pieces)
Fascicle 5
Lun yuan (forty pieces in total)
Rites and Music
Great Governance
Supreme Governance
Rewards and Punishments
Moral Transformation
Penalties
Laws
Public and Private
On Trustworthiness
Explaining Mandates
Imperial Inquiries
Fascicle 6
Lun yuan
Inquiries on Warfare
Appraising Deference
Inquiries on Hegemony
Discourse on Humility
Human Culture
Nature
Virtue
Preserving the Mind
Explanation of Good Fortune
Appraising Reclusion
Metaphors for Function
Suitability of Things
Good and Evil
Nature and Sentiments
Nine Schools
Four Beginnings
Fascicle 7
Lun yuan
Rectitude and Balance
Clarifying Distinctions
Examining Tendencies
Judicial Momentum
The Exemplary Person
Wisdom
Humanity
Appraisal of Characters
Dispelling Ridicule
Customs
Benevolence and Filial Piety
Inquiries on the Classics
Inquiries on Friendship
The Way of the Teacher
Virtue and the Way
Governing the Mind (End of Lun yuan)
Miscellaneous Writings (six pieces)
Record on Restoring Antiquity
Discourse on Writing
Consultation on Drought
Disputation on Boyi and Liuxia Hui
Account of Emperor Taizong of the Tang
Explanation of the Art of the Changes
Fascicle 8
Miscellaneous Writings (six pieces)
Free and Easy Wandering
Proclamation on Mount Xi
Lament for the Dragon-Slayer
Record of the Dragon's Roar
Jizi's Explanation
Jizi's Explanation of Arrogance
Letters
Ten-Thousand-Word Memorial Presented to Emperor Renzong
Fascicle 9
Letters
Second Memorial Presented to Emperor Renzong
Epistles (thirteen letters in total)
To Grand Councilor Han (four letters)
To Grand Councilor Fu
To Auxiliary Hanlin Scholar Zhang
To Bureau Director Tian
To Assistant Executive Officer Zeng
To Academicians of the Hanlin Academy Zhao
To Academician of the Hanlin Academy Lü
To Vice Minister Ouyang
To Grand Councilor Zeng
Thanking Grand Defender Li
Fascicle 10
Letters and Formal Petitions
To Assistant Editorial Director Guan Yanchang
In Reply to Collator Ru
To Assistant Editorial Director Zhang Biaomin
To the Two Assistant Editorial Directors, Zhang and Pan
To Editorial Director Ma
To Vice Director Zhou Ganzhi
In Reply to Assistant Editorial Director Wang Zhengzhong
Prior Petition to Vice Minister Cai Junmo upon Accepting the Invitation to Mount Fori
To the General Vice Prefect and Other Officials
To the Venerables of the Various Mountains and Monastic Officials
Letter to the Various Dānapatis
Official Petition on Setting Out to Accept the Invitation to Mount Fori
Prior Petition Received from Vice Minister Hu of the Hanlin Academy, Prefect of Hangzhou
Prior Petition Received from the Magistrate of Qiantang
Prior Letter Received from Chan Master Dajue
Thanking Reader-in-Waiting and Vice Minister Wang
Thanking Shen, Director of the Bureau of Honours and Judicial Commissioner
Thanking Prefect Wang Mijian for Bestowing Poems
To Supervising Secretary Li of Yingzhou
To Judicial Commissioner Wang of Guangxi
To Worthy and Good Scholar Chen Lingju
To Supervising Secretary Wang of Runzhou
To Academician and Judicial Commissioner Wang
To Staff Supervisor Lu
To Erudite Scholar of the National Academy and Magistrate Zhang
Thanking Vice Magistrate Fang of Qiantang
Thanking Vice Magistrate Zhao of Renhe
Thanking Vice Minister Shen for Visiting
Poem Sent to Drafting Academician Zu upon Leaving Office in Hangzhou
To Yang Gongji
Returning the Visiting Card to Supervisor Zhang
To Chan Master Yue of Shimen
To Chan Master Nan of Huanglong (separate sheet)
In Reply to Chan Master Nan of Mount Huanglong (subsequent sheet)
To Chan Master Yuantong
Again to Chan Master Yuantong
In Reply to Chan Master Yuantong on Yielding the Monastery
In Reply to Elder Wanshou
To Elder Wanshou
Thanking Monastic Rectifier Baoyue of Hangzhou
Reply Declining the Tea Banquet at Jinshan
To the Prior of Donglin
To Venerable Chu
Dispatch of Patrons to the Dānapatis
Fascicle 11
Prefaces (twenty-three pieces in total)
Preface to the Chuanfa zhengzong dingzu tu (submitted along with the Patriarchal Chart)
Preface to the Dharma Jewel Record of the Sixth Patriarch
Preface to the Recorded Sayings of Venerable Liang of Mingzhou
Preface to the Wuling ji
Preface to the Yuanzong ji
Preface to the Poem on Moving the Stone
Preface to the Ten Chants on Faxiang
Preface to the Poems of Faxi Tang
Preface to the Shanci Tang
Preface to the Qu Xuan
Preface to the Collection of Mountain Excursion Poems in Responding Verses
Postface to the Mountain Excursion Poems
Preface on Changing the Courtesy Name for Venerable Yue
Preface on Changing the Courtesy Name for Zhou Ganzhi
Preface Seeing Off Department Director Yao of the Ministry of War to Xunyang
Preface to Poems Seeing Off Court Gentleman for Consultant Guo Gongfu
Preface to the Song Seeing Off Wang Zhongning
Preface to Poems Seeing Off Zhou Ganzhi
Preface to Poems Seeing Off Zhou Gongji
Preface Seeing Off Assistant Editorial Director Zhou Ganzhi Returning South
Preface Seeing Off Cultivated Talent Lin Yefu Returning to Chaoyang
Preface to the Song Seeing Off Master Ji (Fancai) Returning to Tiantai
Preface Seeing Off Dharma Master Zhen Returning to Mount Lu
Fascicle 12
Treatises, Records, Inscriptions, and Stelae (twelve pieces in total)
Treatise on Mount Wulin
Record of Excursion to Nanping
Explanation of the Name of Duxiu Stone
Record of the Revolving Wheel Great Canon at Chongshou Chan Cloister in Wuwei Commandery
Record of the Thousand Buddhas Pavilion at Chongfu Cloister in Zhangzhou
Inscription for the Twin Pavilions of Letan
Inscription for Qing Xuan
Inscription for Nan Xuan
Inscription for an Old Inkstone
Inscribed on the Wall of the Lotus Fragrance Pavilion
Stele for Wenzhongzi
Versified Record for Dharma Master Ciyun of Tianzhu
Fascicle 13
Stelae, Records, Inscriptions, Grave Tablets, and Eulogies (seven pieces)
Funerary Stupa Inscription for Chan Master Qin of Zisheng in Xiuzhou
Record of the Portrait Hall of Venerable Xian of Zisheng in Xiuzhou
Stupa Inscription for the Late Master Puci of Lingyin in Hangzhou
Grave Tablet for the Late Great Worthy Shao of Baosheng Temple on Mount Shibishan
Funeral Lament for Duke Zhongshan, Retired Vice Minister
Funeral Lament for Staff Supervisor Li Huishu
Funeral Lament for Zhou Shuzhi
Accounts, Inscriptions, Afterwords, Praises, Biographies, and Appraisals (twelve pieces in total)
Account of the Practicing-the-Way Śarīra of Jingyan Temple in Xiuzhou
Portrait Hall of Master Yuan of Mount Lu
Inscribed after the Biography of Mei Fu
Written after the Biography of Wenzhongzi
Written after the Collected Works of Hanlin Academician Li
Written after the Biography of Marquis Zhuge Wu
Written after the Biography of Fan Sui
Eulogy on the Biography of Grand Defender Duan
Eulogy on Loving Goodness
Biography of Lu Chan
Biography of Han Kuang
Appraisal of the Calligraphy of Venerable Qing of Beishan
Fascicle 14
Fei Han, Part 1
Section 1 (with preface)
Fascicle 15
Fei Han, Part 2
Sections 2 through 13
Fascicle 16
Fei Han, Part 3
Sections 14 through 30
Fascicle 17
Old-Style and Regulated Poems (sixty poems in total)
Fascicle 18
Poems in Responding Verses on Mountain Excursions with Yang Gongji and Chonghui (sixty-nine poems in total)
Fascicle 19
Appendix: Writings of Various Masters
Preface by Shi Huaiwu of the Dongjiao Thatched Cottage at Yuxi
Another Preface Composed by Ying Daowen
Poem on Paying Homage to Chan Master Song's Stupa by Huihong of Shimen (thirty-one rhymes)
Poem Mourning Chan Master Song by Shouduan of Mount Laṅkā (one hundred rhymes, with introduction)
Eulogy by Xiujing of Mount Tianzhu in Longshu (with introduction)
Written after the Autograph Letter of Master Mingjiao by Lingyuan Yu (two poems)
Composed by Yuanxu of Songyu Zhai on Mount Tiantai (with preface)
Text of a Monastic Appeal
Preface by Tianning Hongzong Zhinan, Metropolitan Monk Rector of Jiaxing
Preface by Wenxiu, Abbot of Mount Jingshan in Hangzhou
1.3
End of the Table of Contents of the Collected Writings of Tanjin.
1.4
Record of the Conduct of Master Mingjiao of Tanjin (The stone-inscribed version is on Mount Lingyin in Hangzhou)
1.5
Composed by Chen Shunyu, Vice Director of the Bureau of Agricultural Colonies under the Department of Ministries
1.6
On the fourth day of the sixth month in the fifth year of the Xining era of the Song (1072 CE), there was a great śramaṇa, Master Mingjiao, who manifested passing away at Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou. His worldly age was sixty-six; his monastic seniority was fifty-three. On the eighth day of that month, [his body] was cremated (jhāpita) according to the monastic regulations. Gathering his bones, three of the six sense faculties were found uncorrupted. Śarīra emerged from his parietal bone, white and red, crystal-clear and pure, three of them in the shape of large beans, and the wooden rosary he habitually carried was also uncorrupted. Thereupon, the people of the region, monastics, and literati passed the news to one another, marveling in awe and paying homage. On the fourth day of the following month, all the uncorrupted remains were brought together and interred to the left of his former residence, the Yong'an Cloister. When he was alive, he once had a deep conversation with his companion, the lay scholar Chen Shunyu, on the boundary between life and death, and entrusted his posthumous affairs [to him]. For this reason, [I] cannot remain without writing an account. The master's posthumous taboo name was Qisong, his courtesy name was Zhongling, and he styled himself Qianzi. He was a native of Tanjin in Tengzhou. His family name was Li, and his mother was of the Zhong clan. At age seven, he left home; at thirteen, he was tonsured and ordained. The following year, he received the full ordination. At nineteen, he went wandering: traveling south along the Yangtze and Xiang rivers, he climbed Mount Heng and Mount Lu. He constantly wore an image of Avalokiteśvara upon his head and recited her name a hundred thousand times a day. Thereupon, he became versed in the worldly classics, scriptures, chapters, and sentences without having studied them. He received the Dharma from the Venerable Cong of Dongshan in Yunzhou. During the Qingli era, he entered the region of Wu and arrived in Qiantang. Delighting in its lakes and mountains, he first untied his carriage there. At that time, scholars throughout the realm were studying ancient prose, admiring Han Tuizhi's rejection of Buddhism and elevation of Confucius. In the southeast, Zhang Biaomin, Huang Aoyu, and Li Taibo were especially eminent and heroic, and students took them as their guides. Living in solitude, Zhongling wrote more than ten essays, including the *Yuanjiao* and the *Xiaolun*, clarifying that the Ways of Confucianism and Buddhism are unified by a single thread, in order to contest their arguments. When those gentlemen read them, they both loved their literary style and were awed by the superiority of their reasoning, which none could refute. They subsequently associated with him. Whenever he met scholar-officials who hated Buddhism, Zhongling never failed to speak earnestly on its behalf. Because of this, the detractors gradually ceased, and later there were even those who grew extremely fond of it; it was Zhongling who initiated this. He dwelt in a single room, completely unadorned without extraneous belongings. He engaged in pure conversation with visitors, continuously lasting the entire day. Unless a guest was a gentleman of refined purity and righteous conduct, he could not approach him. At that time, Vice Director Lang retired on account of age and returned home; he was his closest friend beyond worldly concerns. Once, he wished to travel together to Mount Jing, and their travel gear was ready; the Vice Director had also dropped a hint to the local gentry to take part, hoping that they would meet Zhongling and thereby honor and support him. Zhongling learned of this and refused to go. He sent someone to decline with thanks, saying, 'If I follow what I love, why must I seek wealth and hold the whip [of a menial]?' All his purity and integrity were of this sort. During the Huangyou era, he went to live at Mount Nanheng in Yue; after a short time, he retired and returned. He again composed the *Chanmen dingzu tu* (Chart Determining the Patriarchs of Chan) and the *Chuanfa zhengzong ji* (Record of the True Lineage of Dharma Transmission). When Zhongling wrote these works, he was deeply moved by sorrow over the decline of the Chan school. Consequently, he conducted a great investigation of the scriptures and treatises: taking Mahākāśyapa alone receiving the treasury of the great Dharma eye after the Buddha as the first patriarch, he traced downwards to Bodhidharma, forming the twenty-eight patriarchs, all of whom were intimately entrusted [with the mind-dharma], not establishing words and letters, which is called the 'special transmission outside the teachings.' Before long, Surveillance Commissioner Lord Li Jin obtained his books and, admiring his high renown, memorialized the throne to grant him the purple square robe. Zhongling reflected again: 'Fortuitously, I was born in an era when the Son of Heaven and his great ministers protect the Way and understand the Dharma.' He then took his books and traveled to the capital. The Prefect and Longtu Academician Wang Zhongyi presented them to the throne. Emperor Renzong examined them and issued an edict committing them to the Institute for the Translation of Sutras for compilation and arrangement, in order to show his praise and favor, and additionally conferred upon him the title 'Master Mingjiao.' Zhongling submitted two memorials declining it, but was not permitted to do so. In the court, from Prime Minister Han on down, none failed to invite him for an audience and hold him in high esteem. He was kept at Minxian Temple, but he refused invitations and returned to the southeast. Soon after, those among the Buddhists who were lecturers on the scriptures disliked his words on the 'special transmission' and were ashamed that the lineages they honored were not among the so-called twenty-eight persons; thus they joined together to fabricate theories to criticize him. Hearing of this, Zhongling rolled up his sleeves and gnashed his teeth, and wrote further books, extensively citing the scriptures and treatises of sages and worthies, and the anthologies and records of the ancients as evidence, reaching nearly several tens of thousands of words. Whenever there were gentlemen who were virtuous and fond of Buddhism, they often went to him to air their grievances. Over time, even those who were close to Zhongling all his life still regretted that he could not forget right and wrong along with the multitude. But when he passed away, his three-inch tongue, which had been used to debate what is right and wrong, ultimately remained uncorrupted along with several items to illuminate it. Alas, if his judgements had been unfair and his disputations had not accorded with the Way, how could this have been achieved? Nonetheless, that in which Zhongling found self-fulfillment and took joy in himself was not involved in this. How could it be spoken of to those of shallow views and meager learning? When Zhongling was in the southeast, finally, the Hanlin Academician Cai Junmo, when governing Hangzhou, invited him to reside at Mount Fori and treated him with great generosity; he lived there for several years. However, his speech was elevated and his conduct lofty; he made no concessions to students, and no one was able to follow him. He had disciples named Ciyu, Dongqing, and Dongguang. His writings from the *Dingzu tu* onward are called the *Jiayou ji*; there is also the *Zhiping ji*, comprising more than one hundred fascicles in total, with more than six hundred thousand words. His nephew, the śramaṇa Fadeng, was able to reverently preserve them to provide proof for future generations. Recorded on the fifth day of the twelfth month in the eighth year of the Xining era (1075 CE).
1.7
Composed by the śramaṇa Qisong of Dongshan, Tanjin, Tengzhou.
1.8
Auxiliary Essays on the Teachings (*Fujiao bian*), Part One
1.9
Tracing the Origin of the Teachings (*Yuanjiao*)
1.10.1
All things have nature and emotion. From antiquity to the present there are death and life. Yet death, life, nature, and emotion have never failed to exist by depending upon one another. Death indeed depends on life; life indeed depends on emotion; emotion indeed depends on nature. That all things drift and sink in birth and death is because emotion burdens them. A sage had a grand vision: he traced their causes prior to birth, showing whence they come; he pointed out their consummation after death, teaching how they should cultivate themselves. Therefore, using his Way to guide the world, he expelled passion and falsity in the present, so that their necessary consummation in the future would be aided. Now, as for life, since there are a 'before' and an 'after' which interact with the 'present', does this not make the three times? Seeing that future good consummations stem from cultivation in the present, one can certainly see that failure and success in the present stem from what was practiced in the past. Emotion is that which arises from nature; all are emotions. If the habits of emotion have good and bad, at the moment of their transformation, they interact darkly with their own kind and are formed. Among the emotional habits thus formed, some are slight and some are deep; the vessel and capacity are in some cases great and in some cases small. The sage treated them appropriately; therefore he set forth his teaching as the five vehicles and as the three baskets (Tripiṭaka). Diverging from the five vehicles, there are yet further branchings, so multitudinous that they can scarcely be numbered. At the highest, they fully consummate his sagely Way; at the lowest, they reach the humble tasks of worldly farmers, merchants, artisans, physicians, and the hundred crafts: to all he showed why they are so. Yet both these and the five vehicles are all subsumed within the three baskets. To cite the principal ones, the five vehicles head them. The first is called the human vehicle; the second is called the heavenly vehicle; the third is called the śrāvaka vehicle; the fourth is called the pratyekabuddha vehicle; the fifth is called the bodhisattva vehicle. What are called the latter three vehicles guide their followers to transcendently leave the world, causing them to be purely cleansed of defilement and proceed directly to the true reality, acting spiritually and penetrating it, so that the world cannot pry into it. What are called the former two vehicles, because worldly feelings are so tightly bound and desires cannot be dismissed at once, regulate them according to their feelings. What is called the human vehicle refers to the five precepts. The first is not killing, which means one ought to love life and must not violently harm a single creature on one's own whim, not merely not eating their meat. The second is not stealing, which means not taking what is not right, not merely not seizing another's goods. The third is not engaging in sexual misconduct, which means not disordering oneself with anyone who is not one's spouse. The fourth is not lying, which means not deceiving others with words. The fifth is not drinking alcohol, which means not disordering one's cultivated mind with intoxication. What is called the heavenly vehicle broadens the five precepts and is called the ten virtues. The first is not killing; the second is not stealing; the third is not engaging in sexual misconduct; the fourth is not lying: these four have the same meaning as in the five precepts. The fifth is not engaging in frivolous speech, which means not speaking words that embellish wrongdoing. The sixth is not engaging in double-tongued speech, which means not saying one thing to a person's face and another behind their back. The seventh is not engaging in harsh speech, which means not cursing and also not uttering unrighteous words. The eighth is not envying, which means not bearing jealousy. The ninth is not harboring resentment, which means not letting wrath and malice lodge in the heart. The tenth is not being deluded, which means not being blind to good and evil. Now, cultivating all ten of these is the recompense whereby one is born in heaven; cultivating the former five is the provision whereby one becomes human. If all under Heaven were to cultivate themselves respectively with these, even supposing they were not born in heaven, each person would still become thoroughly good; and that everyone should be good while the world is not well ordered has never occurred. Formerly, Emperor Wen of Song said to his minister He Shangzhi: 'I have just read the treatises written by Yan Yanzhi and Zong Bing, which elucidate the Buddha's Dharma with extreme clarity and reason, and both serve to open and encourage people's minds. If all within our borders were influenced by this transformation, I could let my robes hang down, fold my hands, and bring about Great Peace while sitting still. What further business would there be?' Shangzhi then advanced and said: 'In a village of a hundred families, if ten people uphold the five precepts, then ten people will be honest and cautious. In a town of a thousand households, if a hundred people cultivate the ten virtues, then a hundred people will live in harmony. If this customary teaching is maintained throughout the realm, then among millions of registered households there will be millions of benevolent people. If one can practice one good deed, one eliminates one evil deed; if one eliminates one evil deed, one puts an end to one punishment. When one punishment ceases in the family, ten thousand punishments cease in the state. Then Your Majesty's words about bringing about Great Peace while sitting still are indeed correct.' These words hit the mark. If we compare them with Confucianism, then with its so-called five constants of benevolence and righteousness, they differ in name but are one in essence. Now, benevolence and righteousness were the traces of governance for a single lifetime by the ancient kings. Discussing them in terms of traces, they have never failed to be different; tracing them back in terms of principle, they have never failed to be identical. Traces issue from principle, while principle is the ancestor of traces; traces are the branch, while principle is the root. It is fitting for the gentleman to seek the root and put aside the branch. The saying goes: 'Look at what he does; observe his motives; examine what gives him peace. How can a man conceal himself? How can a man conceal himself?' Mencius said: 'If you do not measure their base but only level their tops, a piece of wood an inch square could be made to stand higher than a pointed tower.' This means that one must measure their base and balance their tops before speaking of them. If one holds a single lifetime's traces to account for what is meant by the three times, how is that different from someone walking ten paces interrogating someone walking a hundred paces, saying: 'Why are your footprints so numerous? Why are they not as few as mine?' How could such a person know the distance of where the other was going or how many paces he had taken? Thus when sages establish teachings, their expansions have different suitabilities. Speaking of a single lifetime, one ought to follow human feelings to govern between physical form and life. Speaking of the three times, one ought to rectify the human spirit, pointing to conditions and karma beyond life and death. Although Shennong's records of the hundred medicinal herbs differed, they were identical in curing disease; although Houji's designations of the hundred grains varied, they were identical in nourishing people. Sages' establishment of teachings is different, yet they are identical in doing good. It may be asked: 'The Buddha's Way governs the three times, which is not something reached by ear and eye. By what do you know it clearly?' I answer: 'I say that when a person dies, their spirit does not die; this is the proof of it. The spirit being in a person is like fire being in firewood. Although the former firewood is reduced to ashes along with the fire, how could that by which the fire now burns ever be reduced to ashes?' It may be asked: 'The principle of the spirit is dark and subtle. Once its physical form has perished, who can control where it goes? Does it turn out to be a human, or does it turn out to be a flying, diving, different kind of creature?' I answer: 'This can be understood. If one infers it from the karma of their emotional habits, then its retribution does not err.'
1.10.2
Have you not heard of what the *Hongfan* calls the 'five blessings' and 'six extremities'? The five blessings mean that when people conform in their minds with the sovereign's ultimate (*huangji*), Heaven uses these five to respond by encouraging them forward. The six extremities mean that when people do not conform in their minds with the sovereign's ultimate, Heaven uses these six to respond by deterring them through dread. Now, when their physical forms are present, the resonance of good and evil is already like this; when their spirits depart, how could the retribution for good and evil not be likewise? A Buddhist scripture says: 'All phenomena take form generated by the mind.' This is what it refers to. [One might] ask: 'It is said that the Buddhist Path severs passions, yet what it does is like this—how is that not passion? Does the Buddha also have passions?' I say: Whatever possesses form and image universally has passions; could the Buddha alone have no passion? The Buddha merely practices passion while being without passion. [The interlocutor] asks: 'Since what the Buddha does resembles benevolence and righteousness, how could benevolence and righteousness not be called passions?' I say: What is benevolence? It means kindness and love. What is righteousness? It means fittingness. Fittingness and love both arise from nature and take form in application—if not passions, what are they? Speaking in terms of passions, benevolence and righteousness are the good among passions. If one acts from passion, the tendency borders on expediency; if one acts without passion, the tendency borders on principle. Natures are alike; passions differ. When they differ, the world rarely fails to contend; when they are alike, the world rarely fails to be at peace. The sages wished to guide them to where they would find peace, and therefore extended nature to make it identical with all living beings. The sages wished to quell their contentions, and therefore extended their bosom to encompass all things. Speaking of things, whether insects, motile fauna, or flora, the Buddha universally benefits them all, never scattering or harming them. Speaking of living beings, whether noble or base, worthy or ignoble, the Buddha guides them all equally, causing them to seek it for themselves, extending their nature so as to identify themselves with all living beings—could this not be called Great Sincerity? Extending his bosom to encompass all things entirely—could this not be called Great Compassion? Because of Great Compassion, his moving of people is deep; because of Great Sincerity, his transforming of things is easy. Therefore, within the Central Realms and beyond the four border tribes and eight barbarian peoples, when their people hear the words of the Buddha that doing good brings blessings and doing evil brings guilt, few fail to soberly withdraw their evil intentions and joyfully bring forth their good purposes, holding fast to his teachings with earnest devotion, not daring to let them go. As for what was previously spoken of as the five precepts and ten virtuous actions, how could neighborhood lanes ever fail to transform each other in practicing them? From village to town, from town to prefecture, from prefecture to state, among the scholars of the court and within the imperial palaces of the Son of Heaven: when their cultivation reaches its utmost, not killing must be benevolence; not stealing must be integrity; not engaging in misconduct must be rectitude; not lying must be trustworthiness; not becoming intoxicated avoids confusion; not using frivolous speech must be sincere; not being double-tongued avoids slander; not speaking harshly avoids causing humiliation; not harboring wrath avoids enmity; not being jealous avoids contention; not being foolish avoids delusion. Having even one among these is enough to make oneself sincere and extend it to others; how much more so the completeness of the five precepts and ten virtuous actions! How could there be a younger brother who is not fraternal toward his elder brother, a son who is not filial toward his parents, a wife who does not respect her husband, friends who do not bring goodness to one another, a minister who is not loyal to his sovereign, or a sovereign who is not benevolent toward his people? There are none such in the world! Those who practice them fear only that excessive or deficient practice will become a fixation; how could the Buddha casually foster fixations in people? In this manner, how could the Buddha's Path be merely the private practice of a single person? Rather, it also holds regard for the world, the state, and the family! How could it ever fail to preserve ruler and minister, father and son? How could it hinder the way of giving life and nurturing people? It is only that its origination did not spread forth from magistrates, and the principle behind its transformation is hidden and difficult to see; thus worldly people are unable to believe it completely. The *Changes* says: 'Silently completing it, achieving trust without speaking: this resides in virtuous conduct.' Mencius says: 'The people daily shift toward goodness without knowing who brings it about.' Is it not so? People have long been deluded by passions; when passions become extreme, they nearly lead to ruin and depravity. The ancient sages grieved over this, and established their laws to govern sequentially, being called Emperors or being called Kings. Though their ways were varied, they still had not enough time to save them. They showed kindness to them through benevolence; they instructed them through righteousness. Rewards sought to advance their goodness; punishments sought to deter their evil. Yet while punishments grew daily more burdensome and rewards grew daily more costly, worldly customs only grew more depraved. If they had heard that without rewards and punishments one could obtain the people's shifting toward goodness and keeping far from evil, even sages like Yao and Shun would surely have rejoiced and welcomed it happily. Would they say: 'This person does not do good according to our way, so we will not accept his goodness; it must be through our way that one does good before it can be considered good'? If it were like this, then the sages would be appropriating the Way as their private property. How could the Way of the sages ever be private? When a swimming dragon stirs in the rivers and seas, clouds gather luxuriantly on all sides; when a fierce tiger roars in the mountain forests, gusting winds whistle forth. This is because like kinds naturally respond to one another. Thus the good person associates with good people without need of kinship; the evil person accommodates evil people without need of favor. Shun was fond of asking questions and examining ordinary remarks; he concealed evil and brought forward goodness. When he heard a single good word or saw a single good deed, it was like breaching the rivers and seas—a rushing torrent that nothing could check. When Yu heard a good word, he bowed. Confucius once remarked: 'A good person I have not been able to meet; if I could meet someone with constancy, that would suffice.' He also said: 'When three people walk together, there will surely be a teacher for me among them. I select what is good in them and follow it, and what is not good in them I correct.' When Yanzi attained a single good thing, he clasped it earnestly to his bosom and did not dare lose it. Mencius remarked: 'Delighting in goodness surpasses the whole world.' He also remarked: 'Making oneself sincere has a way: if one is not clear about goodness, one cannot make oneself sincere.' These five gentlemen were the ancient people who took great delight in goodness. Since their category of goodness was fundamentally of the same kind as the Buddha's, had they not died and could have seen the transmission of our Path, they would surely have followed and promoted it without hesitation. Alas, it is also the misfortune of later generations that they could not meet and verify each other, still causing the followers of the two traditions to hesitate and mistrust one another. Alas, it is human nature to always be devoted to oneself and slight others, affirming oneself and denying the other! When denying is excessive, contention arises; when devotion is excessive, narrowness arises. The gentleman merely understands comprehensively—why must he be arbitrarily devoted? The gentleman merely acts appropriately—why must he be arbitrarily dismissive? Eating, drinking, and sex—all people can know to value these, yet the gentleman does not value them. What the gentleman values is that he can know the Way and recognize principle. Now, when there is a Great Path and a profound principle like this, can I fail to know and recognize it?
1.10.3
I feel much shame before others. I once ventured to argue: If one wishes people to be sincerely convinced in mind and cultivate themselves, nothing compares to moving them from within. If one wishes people's words to be compliant and their outward demeanor to be obedient, nothing compares to regulating them from without. As for regulating them from without, if one does not establish teachings by means of the human way, one cannot effect it. As for moving them from within, if one does not establish teachings by means of the spiritual way, one cannot unfailingly transform them. Therefore, as for the Buddha's practice of the Way, he prioritized the spiritual and placed the human second; this was precisely what is meant by moving the within and regulating the without. By 'spiritual' (shen), I mean the human spirit (jingshen); it does not refer to the lewd and deluding affairs of ghosts and spirits. It means that when a person cultivates his spirit and makes his conduct good, in life blessings will respond, and in death his spirit will rise clear. If one's spirit is uncultivated and one's conduct deviant and false, in life there will be no auspiciousness, and in death one's spirit will suffer punishment. Therefore, when all under Heaven hear this, their minds are moved: the wicked are deterred and the good are encouraged. Through such silent transformation, in what era has this not been present? Yet when his teaching arose in China, it must have responded to the appropriate cosmic timing and arrived through the mutual resonance of human hearts. Otherwise, why would people cultivate themselves according to his Dharma, Heaven and Earth respond to it, and ghosts and spirits imitate it? If its fitting cosmic timing had not yet run out and the principle of mutual resonance had not been exhausted, how could one casually preserve it merely out of affection, or casually discard it out of hatred? Comparing it to human affairs, it is like kings or hegemons who act by following the times and responding to men; how could it be otherwise? How much more so when there are the marvelous Way and hidden expedients, which moreover extend into human affairs! The marvelous Way means purity and calm extinction. It means completely extinguishing all encumbrances and purifying one's inherent nature; it does not mean deadening one's life to take up empty devastation and annihilation. When one attains this to the utmost, one becomes a sage or a spirit, transcending this world. Hidden expedients mean using the Way to give rise to the application of non-application. It means rescuing all living beings and bringing them out of drowning in the passions. If we examine its transforming of things so that they transform themselves, the sovereign's way is close to it; if we examine its expedient use in responding to the world, there is nowhere it does not reach. Regarding its transformation, later generations indeed cannot attain it; regarding its expedients, if one silently embodies them, there is no age in which they cannot be realized. In antiquity, when the Sage was about to pass into extinction, he entrusted his Dharma to kings, ministers, elders, and men of power. This was not out of self-interest or a desire to artificially exalt himself among men; it was simply that he wished to enact the Way through their way, and to do good through their goodness. The Buddha's sūtras indeed have many methods. But the disciples of later ages have been unable to impart them appropriately to people, leading those who believe to believe excessively. This causes rulers with an infatuation with the good to readily wish to abandon the state and lower themselves to become slaves; and it causes worldly people of shallow awakening to abruptly wish to abandon their vocations and exclusively aspire to the loftiness of monks. This cannot be called using the Buddha's mind to practice the Way. Do not the sūtras say: 'All Buddhas preach the Dharma according to what is fitting; their intent is difficult to understand'? Therefore, practicing the Buddha's way does not merely consist in blackening one's robes and shaving one's hair! How could the Buddha's mind be so narrowly confined? Yet there are those who wish to criticize him as being like Yang Zhu and Mozi. Yang Zhu and Mozi were obstinate in one extreme and constrained by worldliness; to compare them to the Buddha—is that not going too far? People in the world do not probe into the Buddha's principles to scrutinize them in detail, but merely clamorously decry the Buddha as absurd, saying his words are uncanonical. The Buddha's vision surpassed ordinary people by far; how could one judge another's vision by what one cannot see oneself? Is it absurd to say that the Buddha speaks of many kalpas? In the world there is certainly the accumulation of months into years, and the accumulation of years into generations; how can one know that generations do not accumulate to become a kalpa? If one considers it untrue merely because the matter is distant and not in contact with one's ears and eyes, then as for the affairs of high antiquity spoken of in the Six Classics, without receiving their transmission today, who among us witnessed them firsthand? Can these be called absurd? Is it absurd to say that the Buddha's words are vast? In the world, there are indeed minds that wander soaring into the void; though the four corners, zenith, and nadir are boundless and dim, how could there be a boundary? When the Buddha says his worlds are limitless, why should it not be so? Is it absurd to say that the Buddha speaks of transformations? In the world, there are indeed dreams within dreams. When one is dreaming, the events one encounters and one's circumstances in the dream—some the same, some different—all resemble reality. Since there are dreams within a dream, how can one know there are no transformations within death? Since the Buddha's vision was far-reaching and his knowledge of things was extensive, the Sage broadened his teachings to instruct many kinds [of beings], wishing that there be nowhere they went where they were not transformed. Now it is said: 'The Buddha was a sage of the West; his Dharma is suited to barbarians and not to China.' This too is something earlier Confucians failed to reflect upon. 'Sage' is an appellation for one who possesses the great Way. How could there be someone possessing the great Way who may not be called a sage? And how could there be a sage's Way that cannot be practiced wherever it reaches? If one judges it solely on the grounds that the person came from barbarians: Shun was a man of the Eastern Yi, and King Wen was a man of the Western Yi, yet their Ways succeeded each other and were practiced in China; can one treat the persons as barbarians and therefore reject their Ways? What is more, the place from which the Buddha came was not barbarian! Someone might say: 'The Buddha only spoke of nature. As for nature, the Yijing and the Zhongyong have already discussed it; there is no use for the Buddha.' This is also not so. If our Buddha's discussion of nature is identical with the worldly books, then the sages shared the same nature. If they are the same, why reject it? And if they are different, how should we deal with it? When waters gather much of what is the same, they become deep rivers and seas; when soil gathers much of what is the same, it piles up into mountains and peaks; when great men gather much of what is the same, they broaden into virtue and the Way. Alas, how can I find many fellows of like mind, to make their minds equally sincere, to purify their bodies equally with fasts and precepts, and to extend virtue equally to others, so as to bring blessings to our parents and assist our sovereign in bringing peace to all under Heaven? Someone asked: 'Why are you so insatiable? Your kind fills all under Heaven in a disorderly swarm, not enrolled among the four classes of people. You merely boast of almsgiving and karmic retribution to feed and clothe yourselves off others. If you do not impoverish all under Heaven, that is already good fortune! How can you mend and govern the world, or bring blessings to sovereign and parents?' I replied: 'How unbending! Sit down, and I will tell you. Do you not know that within the gates of the ancient kings, they discussed virtue and righteousness rather than calculating manual labor? When the ancient kings regulated the people, they feared that the world would fall into decay and the people would mix in disorder, readily breeding chaos, and so they erected safeguards for them. Thus they divided the people into four classes, causing each to belong to its own category. How could this mean prohibiting people from using profit to confer kindness upon others? Take the Buddhists of today: in silence they are sincere; in speech they are good. Wherever they go, they use their Way to exhort people to abandon evil and turn toward the good. That their single robes and food rely on what others have in excess is not covetousness.
1.10.4
If someone is unable to be like this, the fault is that person's own; how could the Buddha's Dharma be in error? Mencius said: 'Here is a man who is filial at home and fraternal abroad, and who preserves the way of the ancient kings to await future learners, and yet he cannot obtain food from you. Why do you honor carpenters and carriage-makers, while disparaging those who practice benevolence and righteousness?' Is not Confucianism the same? Before Yao and Shun, the people were not divided into four classes; at that time, were all those people farmers and artisans? We have not heard that their food and necessities were insufficient. In the time of King Ping of Zhou, the well-field system was still maintained, yet the people were already exhausted and destitute. When Qin abolished the royal regulations, all under Heaven became even more disordered. At that time, neither the Buddha nor Laozi had yet appeared; could their teachings have been inflicted on the four classes of people to become a pestilence? For humans living between Heaven and Earth, their food and necessities probably have a predetermined share. Your anxiety for the world is too excessive, and your calculation for mankind is too narrow! As for karmic retribution: Confucians speak of auspicious omens and calamitous warnings, stating that 'the family that accumulates good will surely have an abundance of blessings; the family that accumulates evil will surely have an abundance of calamities.' This is already quite clear. As for what is called almsgiving: the Buddha held that when a person wishes to give and confer kindness, it must stem from a good mind. If the mind is truly good, when it matches auspicious omens, how could there not be a response? Who has spoken in vain? Relinquishing and bestowing kindness is truly difficult for human nature to accomplish. If one can indeed accomplish what is difficult to accomplish, is not one's goodness supreme? The Analects says: 'If there were one who gave broadly to the people and was able to aid the multitude, how would that be? Could he be called benevolent?' The Master said: 'Why merely benevolent? Surely he must be a sage! Even Yao and Shun would still fall short of it.' This means that even sages found it difficult, and feared they could not accomplish it. That the Buddha necessarily exhorted people with this was simply intended to release people from greed and stinginess, and to broaden their good minds. The world should examine whether one's giving to others is public-spirited or selfish; one should not arrogantly disparage the act of giving. When the rituals are to serve Heaven, Earth, ghosts, and spirits, even for a single day's sacrifice, there must be several days of fasting; this is because they wish people to make their minds sincere and purify their bodies, thereby praying for blessings to certainly come upon the world. Now, as for Buddhists, their minds are constantly sincere, and their fasting and precepts last their whole lives. Compared to the few days of fasting, their blessings will also arrive; how could they be entirely without benefit? The interlocutor said: 'A man has his chamber and a woman her home; preserving one's hair and skin intact to serve the physical form handed down by one's parents is the way of human relationships. Yet your kind violates this to practice your cultivation, aspiring transcendently to stand above all under Heaven. But how many actually cultivate it? In such confusion, how is it worth distinguishing them?' I said: 'Those who follow the Buddha fast, keep precepts, and cultivate their minds; they do not grasp at profit and righteousness, and even forget fame. When they reach the utmost, they penetrate to the spiritual and luminous. Their virtue is indeed supreme! When they extend their Way to others, there is no being they do not wish to improve; their Way is indeed vast! Repaying kindness through the Way, what kindness cannot be repaid? Continuing virtue through virtue, what virtue cannot be continued? Although one does not marry, one uses one's virtue to benefit one's parents; although one's physical form is outwardly damaged, one uses one's Way to rescue one's parents. Did not Taibo mutilate his body? Yet the Sage praised his virtue. Did not Boyi and Shuqi refrain from marrying and dwell forever in the mountain forests? Yet the Sage esteemed them as worthy. Mencius praised him, saying: 'Boyi was the pure one among the sages.' We have not heard that they were belittled for mutilating their bodies or remaining unmarried. Why do you find fault only with our disciples? The world has departed from the proper path for a long time. Even worthy fathers and elder brothers like Yao, Shun, and the Duke of Zhou could not necessarily restrain their sons and younger brothers. Today, we are increasingly distant from the time of the Buddha, and the teaching is entering its degenerate age; how could there not be corrupt people who lodge among us to live in indolence? Even with the Dharma, what can be done? In a vast forest, there are inevitably useless trees; in a vast field, there are inevitably unripened sprouts. One should simply straighten them; one must not abandon the Way on account of the person.' The interlocutor said: 'Your words and your teaching appear detailed and are truly worthy of esteem. However, the arguments distinguishing the teachings are all flourishing at present. In comparison, which is superior?' I said: 'I am an old fool. Teachings such as these are all the teachings of sages; how would a lesser person like me dare to presume to debate them? Yet Buddhism is my Way; of Confucianism, I have also secretly heard a little; as for Laozi, I have paid considerable attention. If I cannot help but speak of them: the various teachings are like wading across the same river, where hitching up the robes is deep or shallow. Confucians are sages who govern the mundane world; the Buddha is a sage who governs the supramundane world.'
1.11
Exhortation Writings, Part One
1.12
Not a month had passed since my five treatises appeared when a visitor came to my door and said, 'I have heard something of the Great Way. Just recently I examined your Guang yuanjiao, and it may be called a deep exploration of the Way. Your Exhortations (Quan shu) serve as a gradual warning to the world. Generally, students must start with the shallow and only then proceed to the deep, so that things will not be burdensome and may be readily accomplished. If you now place Guang yuanjiao first and the Exhortations afterward, I do not understand your intention.' I replied, 'I had no other organizational principle in this; I simply composed Yuanjiao and Guang yuanjiao successively, and so arranged them in sequence according to that order.' The visitor said, 'I would indeed like you to promote the Exhortations to the front and place Guang yuanjiao behind them, so that for those who read them, precedence is well ordered, following from the shallow to the profound—would that not be better?' I agreed with him. The visitor then requested further, saying, 'Although these five treatises each have their own titles, would it not be even better to give them a collective name so that they may circulate for a hundred generations without being separated?' Thereupon I thanked the visitor and said, 'Nowadays, many of the gentry and literati despise our Way, yet you alone take delight in assisting it. You may truly be called sincere toward the Way and impartial in doing good.' Straightway I instructed the artisans to transpose the two treatises and expand the work into three fascicles, naming the five treatises collectively the Fujiao pian (Treatises in Support of the Teaching).
First 15 of 23 passages. Read on
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- 鐔津文集 — Classical Chinese