[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [法苑珠林](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122) › 55.51 # 法苑珠林 55.51 法苑珠林 55.51 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [55.51](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.55.51) 邪惑問曰。詩書所未言。以為修多。不足尚矣。方外對曰。夫天文曆像之祕奧。地理山川之卓詭。經脈孔穴之診候。針藥符呪之方術。詩書有所不載。周孔未之明言。然考之吉凶而有徵矣。察其行用而多効焉。又且周孔未言之物。蠢蠢無窮。詩書不載之法。茫茫何限。信矣書不盡言。言不盡意。何得拘六經之局教。而背三乘之通旨哉。夫能事未興於上古。聖人開務於後代。故棟宇易橧巢之居。文字代結繩之制。飲血茹毛之饌。則先用而未珍。粒食火化之功。雖後作而非弊。亦如幼噉藜藿長飡梁肉。少為布衣老遇侯服。豈得以藜藿先獲謂勝梁肉之味。侯服晚遇不如布衣之貴乎。 > The Deluded Heterodox asked: “What is not spoken of in the Classic of Poetry and Classic of Documents—the sūtras—is not worth esteeming.” The One Beyond the World replied: “The secret profundities of astronomical and calendrical phenomena, the marvelous oddities of geography, mountains, and rivers, the diagnoses of meridians and acupoints, the methods of acupuncture, herbs, talismans, and spells: there are things among these not recorded in the Poetry and Documents, and not explicitly spoken of by the Duke of Zhou and Confucius. Yet when tested against auspicious and inauspicious portents, there is proof; when examined in application, they are mostly effective. Furthermore, the things unspoken of by the Duke of Zhou and Confucius are endlessly teeming; the teachings not recorded in the Poetry and Documents are boundless and infinite. Truly, ‘writing does not fully express speech, and speech does not fully express meaning.’ How can one be constrained by the narrow teachings of the Six Classics, and turn one’s back on the universal purport of the Three Vehicles? Great accomplishments had not yet arisen in high antiquity; the sages opened up undertakings in later ages. Thus, halls and buildings replaced dwelling in tree-nests; writing replaced the system of knotted cords. The diet of drinking blood and eating fur was used first, yet it was not treasured; the benefit of eating grains and cooking with fire was created later, yet it was not flawed. It is also like eating coarse greens in childhood and dining on fine grain and meat when grown, or wearing plain cloth when young and receiving noble robes when old. How can one claim that because coarse greens were obtained first, they surpass the flavor of fine grain and meat; or that noble robes met with late in life are inferior to the nobility of plain cloth? > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 55.50](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.55.50) - [Next: 55.52](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.55.52) - [Up: 55](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.55) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122~en-mt.55.51) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.55.51](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2122.55.51) · Pramāṇa