The Poet Shen Yueh (441-513): The Reticent Marquis 0691067341, 9780691067346

Table of contents :
Ch 5 The Flowering of the Yung-Ming Style
End of Ch 5

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Richard B. J\在ather

THE POET SHEN YUEH

(441-513) THE RETICENT MARQUIS

Princeton University Press ﹒ Princeton， New Jersey

The officer charged with proposing a posthumous title suggested " Wen" (The Literary)， but Emperor Wu said， "Since his real feelings were never fully expressed， he should be called 'Yin' (The Reticent) . " History of the L叩19 1 3 . 243

Copyright (Ç) 1 988 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press， 41 William Street， Princeton， New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom : Princeton University Press， Guildford， Surrey All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mather， Richard B . ， 1 9 1 3 The poet Shen Yüeh (4丑 1 -5 1 3 ) . Bibliography IncIudes index . 1 . Shen， Yüeh， 44 1 - 5 1 3 -Biography. 2 . Poets， Chinese一一Biography. I. Title . PL2668 . S 54Z77 1 988 895. 1 ' 1 2 [B] 88- 1 1 38 ISBN 0-691 -06734-1 (alk. paper)

This book has been composed in Monotype Lasercomp Apollo type Clothbound editions of Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper， and binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. Paperbacks， although satisfactory for personal collections， are not usually suitable for library rebinding Printed in the United States of America by Princeton University Press， Princeton， New Jersey

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CONTENTS

Preface

ix

1 . Introduction

3

2 . The Shen Family of 叭Tu-hsing 3 . Shen Yüeh's Early Years 4 . The Historian

7

15

26

5 . The Flowering of the Yung-ming Style 37 6. The Taoist Recluse 7.

85

The Buddhist Layman

8 . Death in the Suburbs Bibliography Index

135 175

224

241

L I S T OP M A P S

1. Southern Ch' i Western Provinces (after T'an Ch'i-hsiang， Chung-kuo li-shih ti-t'u chi) . 2. Southern Ch'i Eastern Provi肛es (after T'an Ch'i-hsiang， Chung-kuo li-shih ti-t'u chi ) . 3.

Chien-k'ang.

Vll

PREFACE

Very early in my siudy of the inf1uence of Buddhism upon the literati of carly medicval China 1 became aware of the freguency with which the name Shcn Y山h 沈的(44 1 -5 1 3) appeared among thc authors of cssays in two important collections of documents: the Collection on the Propagation of the Light (Hung-ming chi弘明集) by Scng-yu僧祐(43 5 - 5 1 8) and the Expanded Collection on the Propaga tion of the L恕的 (Kuang hung-ming chi廣弘明祟) by Tao-hsüan :i主宣 (596-667) . 1 At the time 1 made a mental notc that some day I must look into what Shen Yüeh had to say . But it took many years to reach a point where 1 felt ready to tackle what would obviously become a long-term project. First， it seemed prudent to find out more about the third-through carly fifth-century Buddhist literati to whose tradition Shen Yüeh belonged. My attention was thus drawn to the colorful array of characters in Liu I-ch'ing's 劉 義慶 抖。3 -444) New Account of Tales of the World (Shih-shu川sin-yü 世說新語)， 2 especially Sun Ch'。 孫 綽(activc 330-365)3 and Hsieh Ling-yün 謝主運(385 -433)，4 who， in their acceptance of Buddhism， represcnted advancing levels of comprehension of that doctrine Anothcr subj ect， Wang Chin 玉 巾(d . 50雪)， author of the "Dhüta Temple Stele Inscription" ( "T'ou-t'o ssu pei-wen"豆頁 lit寺碑 文 ) ， 5 was 'J. Takakusu 高 楠)11頁次郎and K. Watanabe渡邊海旭， editors， Ta叫lÕ shinshii daizõkyδ 大正新 修 大城 經 ( The Chinese Buddhist Tripitaka of the Tai月hõ Era)， Tokyo， 1 922- 1 936， Vol. 古 2 : 1 -36 1 . 2 Y且可 Yung 楊 勇， editor， 助的一çhuo hsi月1少ü chiao-ch的1世說新語校蓮， Hong Kong， 1 969; translated， R. Mather， Shih-shuo hsin-)昕 A New Account af Tales of the World， 扎1inneapolis， 1 976 3 R .孔1ather， "The孔1ystical Ascent of the T'ien-t'ai Mountains: Sun Ch'o's Yu T'ien-t 'ai-shan戶， " Monmumenta Serica 20 ( 1 96 1 )， 226-245 4 R . Mather， "The Landscape Buddhism of the Fifth Century Poet Hsieh Ling­ yün， " J叩門Jal of As叩1 Studies 18 ( 1 958-59)， 6 7 - 79 5 Hsiao T'ung 蕭 統 (501 - 5 3 1)， editor， Wen-hsüan 文進 (Selections of R可ïned Literature) 59. 1 a - 14a (Chu可 hua shu-chü edition， Peking， 1 977); translated， R Mather， " 叭Tang Chin's Dhûta Temple Stele Inscription， " Journalο�' the American Oriental Soc阻ty 83 . 3 ( 1 963)， 338-359 IX

P RE F A C E

a contemporary of Shen Yüeh . When 1 finally turned my attention to Shen Yüeh himself around 1 967 1 was somewhat dismayed to discover that his poems were not easy to read and managed to postpone serious engagement with them until the autumn of 1 972， when a single-quarter leave from the University of Minnesota gave me three months of uninterrupted study at the Research Institute of Humanistic Sciences of Kyoto University. The draft translations 1 had begun at that time were continued in a desultory way until 1 could once more devote full attention to them during another quarter leave in the fall of 1 978 at the University of California in Berkeley. The following spring， in a seminar 1 was conducting as guest professor in the Department of Oriental Languages， 1 was at last able to begin organizing the materials that make up the bulk of the present volume. Of considerable assistance in the process were the reports and papers submitted by students in the seminar， in particular， those by Marilyn Saunders， Wendy Larson， and Judith Boltz . Back at the University of Minnesota 1 received further stimu­ lation from students in another Shen Yüeh seminar. 1 should par血 ticularly mention the contribution of Richard Jackson， who a few years earlier had also written his master' s thesis on Shen Yüeh' s "Poetic Essay on Living in the Suburbs" ("Chiao-ch前 fu" 郊居 賦 ) . 1 also owe a debt o f gratitude t o two research assistants i n different aspects of this study: To Sharyn Wang (Wa可 T 'ai 玉 臺) of the University' s Wilson Library， who assisted in the transcription of many poems into Middle Chinese reconstructions and gathered a useful bod y of secondary studies on the Yung-ming writers from Chinese and Japanese scholarly j ournals， and to Ha Longwen哈龍文， lately of the Institute of World Religions of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Peking， now completing a degree at the Univer­ sity of Minnesota， who over the past three years has shed a great deal of light on some of Shen Yüeh' s more obscure religious poems. In both cases 1 am grateful for research grants from the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota which made the assistance possible . After the first draft of the manuscript had been completed 1 profited greatly from very helpful editorial improvements suggested by Professor Michael True of Assumption College in Worcester， who was teaching American literature at the University of Nanking in the fall of 1 9 84 while 1 was there X

PREF A C E

history on a grant from the Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People' s Republic of China . Very painstaking and construc tive criticism was also offered by Alan Berkowitz， a graduate student from thc University of Washington in Seattle who was in Nanking doing research on Six Dynasties recluse s . I am particularly grate1'ul to three members of thc Nanjing University faculty : Pro1'essor Jiang Zanchu將勢 初 of the Department of Archaeology， Professor Sun Shuqi 孫 述主if of the Department of History， and Professor Zhong Chongxin 仲 崇 信 of the Department of Biology， all three 01' whom showed a lively interest in Shen Yüeh and went far out of their way in hclping to locate appropriate landmarks in the Nanking area， to say nothing of books and periodicals in the University library . Professor Zhong， famous in China for introducing spartina grass to stabilize the saline tidelands of the northeast seacoast， took great pains in helping to ident均plants and trees mentioned in Shen Yüeh' s poems. I should like to acknowledge here my apprcciation 1'or a generous grant from the Translations program of the National Endowment for the Humanities to pursue a parallel proj ect; my work on that anthology of four Yung-ming poets has naturally benefitcd this study as well . 1 am especially grate1'ul 1'or the personal encourage­ ment of the program' s 1'ormer director， Dr . Susan Mango . Closing this very incomplete catalogue of benefactors， 1 wish to thank my wife， Virginia Temple Mather， whose in1'ormed and sensi­ tive understandi時 of the subj ect and loyal support over the past forty-eight years havc bcen an unfailing source 01' strength. It is to hcr that this book is affectionately dedicated St. Paul June 1987

Xl

THE POET SHEN YUEH

.� M....... 1. INTRODUCTION

&月 �

The name of Shen Yüeh洗的(44 1 - 5 1 3) is not widely known even in China. Though nearly everyone has heard of the great poets of the succeeding age of T 'a可 (6 1 8-906)， especially Li PO 丰台and Tu Fu 杜 甫， people know of Shen Yüeh， if at all， only.as a propounder of rules for tonal euphony in poetry . If that were Shen' s only claim to fame， it would still be enough to win him a place among China' s literary great . But this was perhaps the least of his achievements. In fact， it was no achievement at all， if we listen to the critics of his own generation. Shen Yüeh deserves attention in our day， however， for other reasons. To begin with， like many a propounder of rules before and after him， he transcended his own self-imposed restrictions and left to the world a small but outstanding collection of poems dealing with truly universal themes . Second， he was also one of China's great historians， having edited and contributed to one of the twenty-five standard dynastic histories， the H的tory of the Sung (Sung-shu 宋 書)， which covers the years 405 -4 7 9 . Third， he was an articulate de­ fender of the Buddhist faith. Having converted in midlife， he became an ardent advocate of reforms at a time when Buddhism was still being assimilated into Chinese life and culture and was perceived by many to be incompatible with Chinese ideals. Fourth (and this is possibly the most interesting aspect of his life)， he held responsible posts under three successive dynasties-the Sung (420-479)， the Ch'i (479 - 502)， and the Liang (502 - 5 5 7)一tortured all the while by a desire to give up public life altogether and retire into the mountains as a recluse . He was constantly afflicted by guilt and low self-esteem， acutely aware of his inconsistency in continuing to hold office and uncomfortable in his recognition of his own affluence as it con­ trasted with the poverty he saw all around him . A dedicated vegetar而 ian， he would not knowingly eat or wear anything whose prepara3

C H A PTER 1

tion required the taking of lìfe， yet it was he who urged the first Liang emperor to kill the 1ast ru1er of Ch'i. All these facets of his persona1ity make Shen Yüeh a fascinating subj cct for study . But in this book 1 havc focused attention on Shen Yüeh for yet another reason. Thc conf1icts and changes taking place in his own life accurate1y reflect the conf1icts within the socicty of thc Southern Dynastics (3 1 7 - 5 89) 的 a wl叫e The ruling elite in the southern capita1 of Chien-k' ang建庫(modern Na此ing)， which 昀i s va訂r叫 garchy予" 1 was gradually 10s位ing powe盯r . In Shen Yüeh' s day most cabinet posts and important provincia1 governorships were still nominally controllcd by a small circle of northern 丘mlgr丘 families whosc ancestors had flcd south at the bcginning of the fourth century to escape thc ru1e of the Hsiung-nu and Hsien-pei con­ querors in the north . Slow1y they wcre being forced to yield to the economicall y more powcrful 10ca1 1andholding familics and the rising military elite of the south . The northern exiles' nostalgic dream of recovering their 10st home1and had faded from the vision of a11 but a handfu1 of fanatical patriots . The Southern Dynastics were beginning to accept their de facto status as a 10ca1 regime waiting on1y to be reincorporatcd into an evcntually unified empire Traditiona1 historians， with an eye for extracting edifying lessons from the most disma1 periods of the past， have generally designated the two hundred and fifty years of the Southern Dynasties as China's "Dark Ages . " They are a1so quick to point to the mora1 depravity of some of the rulers as the cause of so much b1ooàshed， chaos， and instabi1ity. But a fairer j udgment might point toward the spiritual and intellectual ferment of the period， artistically one of the most creative in a11 the three thousand years of China' s recorded history . In 1iteratu間， for examp1e， a highly sophisticated genre known as paralle1 prose ( p 'ien-t 'i wen拼體 文)， in which every statement is ba1anccd by another in carefully wrought cadences， reached the height of its achievement. Later critics cou1d easi1y fault its precios­ ity as a manifestation of degeneracy. But in the hands of the masters (incl吋i時 Shen Y位eh) it cou1d be an extreme1y e10quent and moving i啥S已ω巴 David G. Jo咄hnson， T，吋h忱e Med的羽叫i 正Chinese 01句啟ar陀'ch妙'y， B勘ou叫ld配er丸， 1 977， a叩I且1 Pa抗拉t仕n跎cia Buckley Ebrey， The Aristocratic Pamilies of Early Imperial China， Cam­ bridge， 1 978. 4

I N T R ODUC T IüN

medium . Similarly， the simple pentasyllabic lyric verses that first appeared in the Later Han (A . D . 2 5-220) werc undergoi略a thorough transformation in this period . Earlier pocts had intuitively achieved successful tonal effects in their work， but a small coterie under the patronage of the Southern Ch'i prince， Hsiao Tzu-liang 蕭 子 良 (d . 494)， began experimcnting with a 問w sct of rulcs and taboos known as the "four toncs and eight maladies" (ssu-sheng pa-ping 四 聲八病). Though their principles were not immediately accepted in their own time， the "Yung-ming Style， 川 namcd aftcr the period in which the rules were devised， became the foundation on which the mastcrs of the high T 'ang later built their musically pleasing and universally admired "regulated verses " (lü-shih 律詩) . Though comparatively few southern examples of sculpture and painting have survived or come to light in archaeological excava­ tions， enough is known for one to rcgard the period as artistically very rcfined . For this period Buddhist statues and wal1 paintings are more fully documented in Tun-huang along thc Silk Road in the northwest， or in Yün-kang， ncar the earlier T' o-pa Wei capital of P'i可 ch'c時 (in Shansi)， and in Lung-men， outsìde their later capital at Lo-yang (in Honan) . But some of the great sculptors and painters， such as Tai K'uci戴迫， Ku K'ai-chih輛愷 之 and K'ang Seng--hui 康僧兮， all of whom werc active in fourth-ccntury Chien-k'ang， have lcft their legacy through good copies of a later date . Thcy provided the intermediate link between the primitive awkwardncss of the classical age and the greater maturity and grace of the T 'ang artists who followed them As in the European Middle Ages， the very darkness of some aspects of life in the Southern Dynasties stimulatcd profound ques tionings and produced ncw insights into problems previously ncglccted through the fundamentally optimistic outlook of China' s classical philosophers. Rcligion-especially thc forcign import of Buddhism and the native religious tradition of Taoism-f1ourished as never before and underwcnt rapid transformations in this period . During his lifetime Shen Yüeh became deeply involved in con troversics over new ideas introduced through frcsh translations of Buddhist scriptures from India . Brought up in a devout Taoist family in the Celestial Masters Sect ( T'ien-shih ta o 天 師 進)， he eventually moved from that rather simple tradition of confession and healing 5

CHAPTER 1

inherited from the north toward a more inward and complex form of meditative Taoism. The Mao-shan芽 山 Sect， which had originated in the south in the fourth century， found a most persuasive advocate in Shen Yüeh's friend and sometime correspondent， T 'ao Hung­ ching 陶 弘 景 (45 6 - 5 36). Shen Yüeh's serious Buddhist phase began in his thirties during his close association with members of the ardently Buddhist Ch'i royal household. But until his death he never ceased to be a Taoist or to long for Taoist transcendence as a recluse Shen Yüeh not only experienced the political， social， literary， and τeligious developments of his time， but also epitomized them in his own person. Although he belonged to a southern military family of relatively low status， by the end of his life he had attained a position of great influence in the Liang court. He not only witnessed the literary developments of the Yung-ming period， but became the leading agent in their promulgation. The shifts in his own religious views and practice both reflected those of his contemporaries and strongly influenced them as well. As a historian he recorded for posterity what had happened immediately before and during his own lifetime . In nearly every sense of the word he was a man of his age . But in order to trace the multicolored strands that formed the tapestry of his life， one must begin the story several gencrations before he was born.

6

Irz days go肘旬， lhe firzal years of Westerrz H帥， Our fam你's巾mge of residerzce begarz Bschewi月'g profit arzd stabil吵irz Hai-hurz towrz， They started raisirzg mulberries along the Chiarzg " Poetic Essay 017 Living in the Suburbs" 21- 25

，"!盈�� 2. THE SHEN FAMILY OF WU圖HSING � 可 In the autobiographical final chapter ("Postface" 自序) of his H的tory of the Su愕 (Sung-shu 宋 書 1 00)1 Shen Yüeh provides a skeleton genealogy of his family . Leaving aside the ritualistic claims of descent from semidivine progenitors in prehistoric times， we may safely accept as authentic the unbroken succession of names with their minimal official titles following the settlement in Chiu-chiang 九 江 (Kiangsi) of Shen Tsun沈迫(日. ca. 150 B . C.)， S站he叩n Yi凹iγ twenty-f，、'our此th-generat廿ior口1 ancestor . This list closely parallels that of a collateral branch of the family that had once appeared on the "Stele Inscription Commemorating the Virtues of the Ancestors of the Shen Clan" ("Shen-shih shu tsu-te pei" 沈氏述祖德 碑) in the village of Chin-o 金 鵝， very near to Shen Yüeh's own home village of Yü-pu 餘 不 (both in Wu-hsing兵興， Commandery， Chekiang); it had been erected by Shen Lin-shih沈時士， a close relative and contemporary of Shen Yüch， some time betwecn 448 and 500.2 The stele evidently became badly eroded over time and was finally vandalized by bandits in 7 5 9， so when the famous calligrapher Yen Chen-ch'ing 顏 真卿was in the area in 773 he was prevailed upon by members of the Shen family still living there to rewrite it， adding his own colophon . 3 Both genealogies record the migration soon after A . D . 2 5 o f Shen Jung戒and his family down the Yangtze River from Hai-hun海昏 1 Sung-shu 宋書 (Hist(內of the Sung) 1 00. 2443 (Chu時 hua shu-chü edition， Peking， 1 974); see also [Nan-shih 南 夫 (H的tory of the Southerrz Dynasties) 5 7 . 1 4的， Hereafter all references to the standard histories are to the Chung-hua shu-chü edition (Peking， 1 972…) 2 Yen K'o-chün款可均 ( 1 762- 1 843)， editor， Ch 'üarz sharzg-ku sarz-tai Ch'irz-Harz sarz-kuo liu-ch 'ao werz仝上 古 三代秦漢 三 國 六 朝 文 Complete Prose Writi月'gs from High Arztiquity through the Six Dyrzasties 8 vols. (Chung-hua shu-chü reprint， Peking， 1 958); Ch 'üarz Harz-werz 全 ;其 文 40. 3 1 79-3 1 80 3 Yerz Lu-kurzg chi 顏 魯主� 1 3 . l O b (Ssu-pu ts'ung-k'an edition， Shanghai， 1 937) 7

CHAPTER 2

Prefecture in Chiu一chiang Commandery， where the Shens had lived since the middle of the second century， to the Wu…hsing region， after Jung had persuaded a recalcitrant local warlord in Chiu-chiang to submit to the authority of Emperor K閏月 wu (r . 2 弓 5 7) and the new regime of Eastern Han (25 -220) . For reasons not explained in either text Shen Jung declined the marquisate offered him by the grateful emperor and， "eschewing profit and stability in Hai-hun town， " proceeded forthwith to Wu-hsing in the rich agricultural lowlands south of Lake T 'ai 太 湖 where the family settled and " started raising mulberries . " While some remained on the soil as farmers， others pursued careers as minor officials . 4 During the four centuries (的een generations) of the Shens' residence in Wu-hsing preceding Shen Yüeh's birth in 44 1 the family gradually gained recognition as military leaders and organizers of local militia during times of crisis . 5 After the rise o f Eastern Chin (3 1 7-420)， with its capital in Chien­ k'ang建車(modern Nanking)， the Shens grew wealthy as well . One member of the clan， Shen Ch'ung沈克， a lieutenant of the notorious rebel， Wa可 Tun 主 敦(266-3 24)， ran a private minti月 enterprise， produci可 the famous small "coins of Master Shen" (Shen-lang ch 'ien 比郎錢) which， because of their convenience and scarcity， grew in value far beyond their original denomination.6 Thereafter the Shens became even more influential as moneylenders， and among the principal surnames of 叭Tu the name of Shen was never omitted . But for all their real power the local southern gentry families could never achieve the political or social status of the northern aristocratic émigr臼like the Wangs of Lang-yeh (J!ÍFIt�玉) or the Hsiehs of Ch' en… liu (1來留 謝 )， w ho had fled to Chiang-nan after the fall of north China to non-Chinese invaders between the years 307 and 3 1 2 . The latter group monopolized all the top ministries in the new capital. The disadvantage was even greater for military families like the Shens because of the low status of soldiers in traditional Chinese society . 4 See Chapter Eight， "The Poetic Essay on Living in the Suburbs" ("Chiao-chü fu")， Iines 2 1 -24 5 See Yoshikawa Tadao 吉 川忠 夫 ， " Shin Yaku no de叫ci to sono seikatsu"尤約的 f專記芒寺!l)生;舌 (Shen Yüeh's Biography and His Life)， Tiikai daigaku kiyii， Bungakubu東j每犬字紀婪，文字部1 1 ( 1 968)， 3 2 a - 33b 6 Chin-shu 晉 書 (History of Ihe Ch叫2 6 . 7 9 5 ; Yos必h趴1口此1 32 b

.

8

THE SHEN FAMILY OF WU-HSI N G

For the Shcns， grcat gcnerals that thcy were， never attained any status as scholars . Some were apparently not even literate . Shen Ch'ing-chih沈慶 之 (386-45 7)， for example， a commander under thc Sung (420-479)， claimed not to be able to read a single character. When required to produce impromptu verses at banquets and other ceremonial occasions， he would always dictate them for someone else to write down . 7 Illiteracy was not the only disadvantage o f the Shen military heritage. There was also the constant peril of fighting on the wrong side . That was what happened to Shen Yüeh's great-grandfather Mu-fu 穆 夫 (d . 400) . Shen Mu-fu had j oined the followers of a charismatic spirit medium from nearby Ch'ien巴吋t'ang錢塘(modern Hang-chou) named Tu Chιi叩u叩1口ln呵1 through Taoist arts (taωO←-shμ i主軒千什術f'何叫L守吋T) such as confession of wrongdo叫ing， ingestion of macrobiotic drugs， and magic . 8 After Tu's death his mantle fell successively on the shoulders of his disciple Sun T 'ai 孫 奉 ( d . 393)， and， later， Sun's nephew Sun En恩(d. 402). In the year 399 the latter rallied members of the southern landowning families and their retainers， many of whom were descended from impover ished northern refugee families， in defiance of the Chin government' s call to recruit them into the central army as a means of checking the size of the private armics . 9 Fighting largely by sea， Sun En's rebels terrorized the land-bound government troops before being put down in 402 by the Chin general Liu Lao-chih 劉 牢 之 (d . 402). Shen Mu-fu was Sun En's front division aide (ch 'ien-pu ts'a仔chün前部 參 軍)， carrying the awesome title Gcneral Brandishing Warlikeness (chen-wu chiang-chün採武將軍 )， and was given command of the rebel stronghold of Yü-yao 餘航on the estuary of the Che River (Che­ kiang) . lO Naturally， after an initial defeat early in 400， Shen Mu-fu and his brothers were apprehended by Liu Lao-chih and executed. 7 Sung-shu 7 7 . 2003 . 8 See Hisayuki Miyakawa， “ Local Cults Around Mt. Lu at the Time of Sun En's Rebellion， " in H . Welch and A. Seidel. editors， Facets of Taoi冊， New Haven， 1 979， 83-84 9 Ssu-ma Kuang 司 馬 光 ( 1 0 1 9- 1 086)， Tzu-chih t 'ung-chien資治通鑑 (Comprehen sive Mirror in the A id of Government) 1 1 1 . 3497 (Chung-hua shu-chü edition， Shang hai， 1 9 古6叫); s紀ee 且址ls叩oWe叮r口rn閏le位r E曰l C也hhorn (伊t廿r ans1at瓜te吋d， Jan由et Seli喀gma盯叩n吋1 tμ10η， New York， 1 969， 80 IO SU月'g-shu 1 00. 244古

9

C H A PT E R 2

Mu-fu's sons， including Shen Yüeh' s grandfather Lin-tzu 林 子 (377422)， managed to escape and lived for a while as outlaws . I t happened that the rising star i n the dark skies o f the declining Chin state was Liu Lao-chih' s aide， Liu Yü 劉 裕( 3 5 6 -422)， who twenty years later was to found the succeeding dynasty of Sung (420-479) . Lin-tzu and his brothers placed themselves in his service against Sun En's successor， Lu Hsün盧份， who carried on the struggle from the safe distance of the Kwangtung area in south China until 4 1 1 . Through almost fanatical loyalty to the central govern­ ment Lin-tzu sought to erase the b10t on the Shen family escutcheon created by his father's invo1vement in Sun En's rebellion. So suc­ cessful was he， in fact， that after the new dynasty had been estab­ lished in 420， Shen Lin-tzu was rewarded with an earldom which he modestly decline d . Later he a1so declined the prestigious title General Aiding in Founding the State (fu-kuo chiang-chün 輔 國將軍)， but remained near the court as a trusted ad viser until his death in 422， after which the refused titles were conferred on him posthumousl y . Lin-tzu's son， Shen Yüeh' s father， Shen p'u沈璞 (4 1 6-45 3)， grew up to be a precocious and extraordinarily circumspcct young man . As superintendent of records (chu-pu主簿) for the Prince of Shih hsing， Liu Hsün 劉 洛 ， who was serving as governor of the capital province of Yang (Kiangsu， Anhui， and Chekiang)， he came very deeply into the prince ' s trust and favor. Later p ' u proved himself a very capable military commander at the frontier post of Hsü-i目于峙 。n the Huai River in modern Kiangsu. There he served as grand warden and successfully defended its ramparts against invasion and siege by the T' o-pa Wei forces in 450. 1 1 But three years later， in the first month of 4 5 3 ， the Sung Emperor Wen (Liu I-lung 劉 義 龍 ， r. 424-4 5 3) was murdered by his eldest son， Crown Prince Liu Shao 劫， who was about to be disinherited for an earlier plot to do the same thing . This nefarious episode involved a Taoist shamaness expert in hex poison (wu-ku 巫 蠱 ) who was from Shen Yüeh' s home village of Yιpu 餘 不 ; certain mem bers of the Shen clan were a1so implicated. 12 What is worse， Liu Shao proceeded to usurp his father's throne and declared a new reign title. 11 T 'ung-chien 1 2 5 . 2958-2959 10

日 Yoshikawa， " Shin Yaku no denki， " 34b.

T H E S H E N F A M I L Y O F W U - H SI N G

When word of the parricide reached the usurper's youngest brother， Liu Chün見矢， third in line for the Sung throne， he retaliated instantly from his semiexile in Chiang Province (whose administrative scat was Chiu-chiang) . Sweeping down the Yangtze in righteous ven­ gcancc， he descended on the capital to punish the offenders . Next in line for the throne， however， was not Liu Chün， but his older brother Hsün 5睿， Prince of Shih-hsing， the very person under whose command Shen p'u was serving at the time. Since Hsün had also been implicated， at least tacitly， in the plot to do away with Emperor Wen， he too was ordered by his younger brother to appear and face his punishment. As a member of his staff， Shen p'u was instantly recalled to Chien-k'ang from his post as grand warden of Huai-nan 准 南 (in modern Anhu斗 Liu Hsün， who was in Ching-k' ou 京 口 (modern Chen-chiang) fifty miles downriver from Chien-k'ang， made haste to greet his avenging brother and surrender. Shen p'u， claiming illriess over the nasty turn of events， hesitated to move-a hesi崗位on that cost him his life . When Liu Chün arrived from Chiang-chou， he ordered Liu Shao， Liu Hsün， and their aides， including Shen p'u， summarily beheaded . The heads of Shao， Hsün， and p 'u， together with those ot their entire families， were then suspended in cages above the south gate of Chien-k'ang， and their bodies exposed in the marketplace. Shen Yüeh， who was twelve years old at the time， managed to escape with his mother and go into hiding . Liu Chün mounted the throne as the new ruler， known to posterity as Emperor Hsiao-v叭1 (r. 4 5 3 -464) . It was only after he had declared a general amnesty on New Year's Day of 454， that the Shens cautiously made a reappearance . 1 3 Not surprisingly， with his own trauma and the memory o f what had befallen his father and great叫grandfather branded permanently into h1S consciousness， Shen Yüeh became even more circumspect in his political career than any member of his family beforc him had been. Two things now seemed incontrovertibly clear to him : he had to avoid too-intimate alliances with members of the imperial family or other key figures at court and somehow or other break free of the military tradition of his family. Even though he could not avoid some involvement in thc unremit1 3 T'ung←cf7ien 1 28.40 1 0 .

11

C H A PTER 2

ting factionalism of court life to which he seemed irreversibly committcd， he learned how to protect himsclf. Sometimes self­ preservation meant appearing inconspicuous and colorless; at other times it involved periods of temporary reclusion during particularly dangerous purges at court. There were two such occasions during the Ch'i Dynasty (479- 502)， as we shall see below (Chapter Six) . But in 502 it was Shen Yüeh， then President of the Board of Civil Office 仙一pu shang-shu 丈部 尚 書 )， who personally urged Hsiao Yen 蕭衍 (464-549)， a distant relative of the Ch'i imperial family， to mount the throne and proclaim a new dynasty . He even went 50 far as to persuade Hsiao Yen to kill the deposed last ruler of Ch'i (Emperor Ho， r. 50 1 - 502)， a mere boy of fourteen years. It was a startli時ly uncharacteristic moment of decisive action which he later attempted to deny 14 and for which hc paid dearly with a guilty conscience for the rest of his life . In丐。7， soon after the founding of the new dynasty， heaped with honor and recognition， he slipped away from the court into semiretirement. 1 5 He was already sixty-six. As a rcsult of this selιprotective mask， he created in his own day a reputation for a certain reserve and reticence that has followed him even into modern times . It is true that in public life hc never quite revealed all that was in his heart. After his death in 5 1 3， when a posthumous title was being selected for him， the same Hsiao Yen， then Emperor Wu of Liang (r. 502- 549)， insisted it should be Yin-hou fi主 f羹， "The 此1arquis丸叫Tho Hid His True Feelings， " or "The Reticent Marquis . 川 Modern readers of his writings， vaguely aware of deep emotional undercurrents but frustrated by the veil drawn over his words， not only by fifteen hundred years， but also by his own deliberate ambiguities， are sometimes tempted to agree that the ， title is j ust. Like many ，川'j u山S抗t'川 cha征ra缸ct紀er吐l Z扭a瓜叫t刮ion肘， however， it is only half true. As for his second aim of escaping from the stigma of belonging to a military family， there was really only one route open to ambitious young men caught in this predicament-study. Mastery of the cultural milieu in which the aristocratic members of society moved， which was in fact their stock in trade， was the one thing besides wealth that marked them as qualified to assume positions of leader 14 Lω略-shu .g是書 1 3 .243.

12

1 5 I bid .

T H B S HB N F A 品1I L Y O F W U - H S ING

ship . Shen Yüeh seems to have developed this ambition very early. Evcn his mother， who knew better than anyone else the bitter handicap of marriage into a military family， became worricd over the amount of time the boy was spending at his books. If wc are to give credence to the somewhat stcreotyped account in his biog raphy， she reduced his ration of lamp oil in an cffort to force him to bed earlier. But the young Shen Yüeh only used the enforced darkness to recitc over and over what he had memorized by day light. 16 It was thc beginning of a lifclong passion for study and book acquisition-some books even acquired by theft， as he was later to confessY At his death his personal library numbered twenty thousand scrolls， the largest private collcction in the capital . l8 His devotion to learning did indecd accomplish its intended result . By the end of his long life he was the undisputed arbiter of literary taste in Chien-k'a時 . Liu Hsieh 劉 提 (ca. 465 - 5 20)， author of the classic work on literary criticism， Elaborations on the Essence of Literature ( Wen-hsin tiao-Iung 文 心離背包)， fiτst sought and gaincd his approval before publishing his work . 1 9 On the other hand， Chung Jung 鐘山裝 (468 日8)， author of another m句or work of criti­ cism， Gradings of Poets (Shih-p 'in 詩 品 )， is said to have approached him for a similar reason and been rebuffe d . Thereafter， in a fit of pique， he ranked Shen's poems only in the middle grade . 20 Whatever Chung Jung thought of him， howevcr， most othcτs ranked him among contemporary poets as " c ombining the poetic skill of Hsieh T 'iao 謝眺 (464-499) and the prose craftsmanship of Jen Fang 任坊 (460-508)， while surpassing neither. " 21 Such a balanced assessment--gcnerous， since Hsieh and Jen were both highly re garded， but not obsequious-would have pleased Shen Yüeh， who was even more painfully awarc of his own inadequacy than his 1 6 Ibid . ， 233 1 7 See Chaptcr Seven， the "Text of Confession and Repentance" ("Ch'an-hui wen"). 18 Liang叫lU (History of the Liang) 1 3 _ 242 凹Nan-shih 72_ 1 782 20 Ibid . ， 1 779; see also Helmut叭Tilhelm， "A Note on Chung Hung and His Shih-p '的 " Tse-tsung Chow， editor， Wen-lin_' Studies in the Chinese Humanities， Mad的on， 1 968， 1 1 3 -1 1 4 . As九'Vilhelm rightly observes， Chun且' s opposition t o Shen can be j ustified intcrnally by his dif[erin日 viewpoint without recourse to such a trivial explanation 2 1 Lia月'g-shu 1 3 . 242 13

C H A PT E R 2

detractors were. Near the end of his life he wrote to a young poet of his acquaintance who had j ust sent him some of his compositions for appraisal: Long ago， when 1 was young and in my prime， 1 was rather fond of this kind of writing. But while 1 was savoring its pleasures， suddenly 1 found myself tired and old. Indeed， this is not the only thing in which 1 am unable to keep up with those who have come after me!22 To have attained a longevity of seventy-two years when the average age of his contemporary courtiers at death was less than forty and to have acquired such universal acclaim as a writer in an age that produced such brilliant luminaries as the poet Hsieh T 'iao and the critic Liu Hsieh were no small achievements for the son of a southern military family . In an effort to understand how he could have done it， let us attempt to reconstruct from fragments preserved in the histories and in his own and others' writings the circuitous progress of his life 22 "Letter to Wang Yün (48 1 --549)" ("Yü Wa可 Yün shu"與王筠書)， Liang-shu 33.485

14

Jn r叮youth， I was left fatherfess and destitute and h叫no cfose rclatiues to re抄0叫n l w肌￡佔O仰ηf的he叩po叫int of1戶'al的lμ/r.愕l啟:g tωo eωdωr呵T叫tυ的h， toilin:g painfuLly a叫 in want from m01ηtill 的':ght， hobbfi月':g afon:g with meager appointments Lctter to Hsü九1icn

3. SHEN YUEH' S EARLY YEARS

Even allowing for some rhetorical exaggeration in Shen Yüeh's recollection of the lean years following his father' s death in the letter quoted above written fifty-six years later， it is certain the young Shen encountered his fair share of hardship on the slow climb up the ladder of official appointments. While he was still in hiding， perhaps in a Buddhist or Taoist temple near Wu-hsing， between his father' s execution i n the fifth month (May-June) o f 4 5 3 1 and Emperor Hsiao­ wu' s declaration of amnesty in the first month of the following year (February 454)，2 he was， despite the disclaimer， cared for by rela­ tives in one or another branch of the numerous Shen clan. After the amnesty， he lived for a while still dependent on the largesse of members of the clan . On one o ccasion， after begging for several hundred bushels (hu肘) of rice from an aff1uent clan member， he was insulted by the donor and forthwith returned the rice， going home empty-handed . His biographer adds， however， that ' 'v叫len he came into honor， he did not hold a grudge but employed him within his commandery administration . " 3 There is a period of nearly thirteen years between 454 and 467 for which we have almost no direct information about his activities. We know from what he said later that he conceived the idea of writing a H的tory of the Chin ( Chin-shu晉 書， covering the period 26雪-420) sometime around 460 when he was nineteen. This suggests that he was spending much of his time browsing through old books and documents. He was also indulging a lifelong passion for mountain climbing . A set of five poems included in the sixth-century anthol­ ogy 剝削ons of Refined Literature ( Wen-hsüan 文 進) under the title "Poems on Mt . Chung Written in Response to Instructions of the Prince of Hsi-yang" ( "Chung-shan shih ying Hsi-yang wang chiao" 1 T'ung-chien 1 2 7 . 4004.

2 Ibid . ， 401 0 .

3 Liang-shu

1 3 . 242 1'5

CHAPTER 3

M A P 1 . Southern Ch'i、兩{estern Provinces (after T'an Ch'j-hs

鐘 山 詩 庭、 西 陽 王教)， 吐must have been composed betwen 456 and 46 1 ， the period during which Liu Tzu-shang 劉 子 尚 (45。一46 5) was Prince of Hsi-ya時 (in modern Hupei) . Since the prince was only elcven when his principality was shifted to Yü-chang (in modern Kiangsi) in 46 1 ， 5 it seems most credible to ascribe the poems to the end of that period . Mt. Chung， the mountain on whose slopes Shen later built his own retirement villa， is part of a range to the northeast of Chien-k 'ang. The poems have an immediate appcal as natural description， but a deepcr layer of historical allusion and religious symbolism enriches their meaning: 1.

This magic hill records the virtue of the land， 4

16

Wcn-hsüan 2 2 . 2 1 b-23a.

5 Sung-shu

40. 2058.

主 山 紀地德

S H E N Y U E H'S E A Rt Y Y E ARS

Where sheerness of the land enhances magic of the peak . 此1t. Southernmost once marked the towers of Ch'in，6 Mt. Lesser Room lay near the royal fortress. 7 Here f1ags of halcyon and phoenix soar above the Ch' in-huai and the sea， 8 1而Thile hills and streams like scarves and belts9 wind round the sacred plain. The northern summit-oh， how steepPO Through forest undergrowthλdi只tant hint of greenish blue.

地險苛t起草

終I訪表奉草� 少室通王城 翠鳳翔丸tì每 秒J帶主主神1月

北牟何其J灰 林薄杏志青

2

Springing from earth are many wondrous ranges， 1VIlnglIng with clouds， never the same in shape Jumbled to又etheτ they combine to hide the sky; ln serried ranks gaze out at one another. Riswg sneer， tney build their scarlet strata， Layer on layer， raising azure barriers. ln bearing lofty as the Mount of Ninefold Doubts， II Tn spirit mighty as the Triple Isles . 1 2

發i也 多 奇嶽 于雲��一狀

合杏共處天 參差互相主 管律構丹哦

咬峙起青瑋

f自己隨九羊毛 高 氣與 三 山 』士

6 The First Emperor (Ch'in Shih-hua可 tí泰始皇帝， r. 246- 2 1 0 B .C. ) had built a tower on South MO!lntain (Nan-shan南山)， usually identified with Mt. Souther­ most (Chung-nan shan 終南山) south of his capital in Hsien-yang成陽， near modern Sian. Here the reference seems to be to Square Mountain (Fang-shan方山) just south of Chien-k'ang. It was said to have had its western flank sheared away by the First Emperor to neutralize its "royal" aura . Actually， its startlingly square dimensions are the result of prehistoric volcanic activity 7 Mou叫Lesser Room (Shao-shih shan少室山) 的 the western summit of the central sacred peak， Mt. Sung嵩， southeast of the Later Han capital ofLo-yang洛陽 in Honan. Emperor Wu of Han (r. 1 40-87 B.C. ) had bu山a Terrace for Mounting to Transcendence (Teng-hsien t'ai登1.1告) at the base of this peak . Here the reference may be to Overturned Boat Mour山in (Fu-chou shan是舟山)， a western spur of Mt Chung多重that lay directly north of the palace enclosure in Chien一k 'ang 8 The Ch'in-huai泰准 River f10ws westward around the southwest flank of Fang­ shan where it turns north to j oin the Yangtze River at Nanking 9 T take this to be a metaphor for rivers and streams . J O The most northerly o f M t . Chung's three peaks is also the highest. See Hsin-hsiu Chiang-ning-fu ch的 新l'多江寧 府 志 (A R ev凹d Gazetteer of Chiang-ning County， 的angsu) 6. 1 a b (Lü Yen-chao's 呂 燕日召cdition of 1 8 1 1 ， revised 1 880) 1 1 The legendary burial place of the sage kings Yao克and Shun舜:， loca ted in Hunan 叫.e . ， the three isles of transcendents in the Eastern Sea : Fang-chang 方文， P' eng-lai蓬萊， and Ying-chou 瀛州 17

CHAPTER

3

3.

Not only ìs the view itself most beautìful， But as 1 peer below I'm fìlled wìth stìll more wonder. Southward 1 behold the Tower of Gathered Treasure13 Westward gaze upon the Pool of Teemìng Brìlliance . 14 In the mountains everything may be enj oyed， As one with pleasure follows all the changes of the seasons: Vernal splendor blossoms from the hìllock's crown; Autumnal wìnds are born in cassìa boughs.

即事 說 多 美 臨 目少殊復奇 南 瞻儲胥 觀 西 草昆 明 :也

山 中 成可悅 賞逐四 日寺移 春光發壟首 秋風 生 桂 枝

4.

5

Often 1 meet companìons of the tranquil mind 1 5 Sìttìng in meditatìon at the mountaìn's feet. The Eìght Releases16 ripple in the rapids' flow; The Fourfold Dhyãnas17 lurk ìn cliffside coves . Opaque and dìm，的at last ìnvìsìble; Stìll and deserted， nothing now t o b e desired . 19 What 1 vow ìs that 1 too may wander ìn theìr company; My tìny heart with thìs would be content.

多 值 息心 侶 結祭 山 之足 尺解可島湖流

四 祥隱巖 曲 窈冥終不 見 蕭 條無 可 欲 所 願 從之遊 寸心 於此足

13 The Belvedere of Gathered Treasure (Ch'u-hsü kuan儲胥觀) was a tower within the palace grounds of the Former Han capital in Ch'ang叩 長安 (modern Sian) . The local counterpart in Chien-k'ang is not clear. 14 The Pool of Teeming Brilliance阱'un-ming ch'ih 昆明 池) was an artificial lake， also located on the palace grounds of Ch'ang-an. Here it is a reference to the Hsüa恥wu 玄 武 Lake， due north of the city of Chien-k'ang and slightly northwest of Mt. Chung itself. 1 5 "Co mpanions of the tranquil mind" (hsi甸的in lü息心仿) is a Chinese equivalent for Sanskrit sram仰a (Buddhist monk)， a term originally applied to pre-Buddhist ascetics. Most Chinese understood it to mean "those who tranquilize their minds through meditation. " 16 The Eight Releases (pa-chieh 八解; Skt. a:jç心vimok:ja) are: ( 1 ) analysis o f the object of desire， (2) temporary release from desìre， (3) permanent release from desire， (4) release from space and matter， (5) release from ignorance， (6) release from being， (7) release from thought and no-thought， and (8) achievement of enlightenment. 17 The Four Dhyãnas (ssu-ch'a丹田禪; Skt. catur-dhyãna) are variously described . In general they represent stages of decreasing awareness of the physical senses and more complete absorption into Reality. 1 8 Cf. Lao-tzu chu老子 注 2 1 . 1 2 (Chu-tzu chi-ch'eng editi凹， Shanghai， 1 9 54) : "Opaque and dim， among them is an essence" (窈兮 冥 兮 ， 其 中 有 精) . 19 Ibid . ， 3 . 2: "When they n o longer see anything t o be desired， the ruler may make the people' s minds free of rebellious thoughts" (不 見 可 欲， 使 民心不 亂) .

18

S H E N Y U E H'S E A R L Y Y E ARS

5.

M y lord the prince has roused himseJf to wander on; His feathered pennons stream along the Lofty Terrace.2 0 White clouds trail behind his jeweled footprints; Blue auroral mists are mingled with his cassia banners. Lingering long， he seeks the five life-giving drugs， 21 And looking 'round， hopes he will fjnd the three elixirs .22 Thereupon he lifts his bridle and drives on， Planning at year's end to come back again

君王挺進起 羽 持霞，崇基

白 宮隨 玉 趾 青 霞雜桂旗

�.奄留訪五築 顧步 佇乙之 於焉1CF輩無駕 歲 暮 以 為期

The five poems definitely form a sequence， each written in eight pentasyllabic lines with a single rhyme， and each usin只 parallehsm for at least two ot the tour couplets . J:'oem number two is parallcl throughout. The sequence of themes is also deliberate . The first poem provides a sonorous introduction with hyperbolic tribute to the Sung mandate and oblique references to past builders of empire . The second and third appear to express sheer enj oyment of the mountain scenery， but not without more allusions to the old Han court in the third poem， allusions that would serve equally to evoke visions of celestial Taoist paradise s . Poem four is more personal， as the poet contemplates a life of meditation inspired by passing a Buddhist monastcry on the mountain. Poem five recounts the youth­ ful prince' s eager quest for macrobiotic herbs and mushrooms in this numinous environment . Since he perished only a few years later (465) in a palacc coup at the age of fifteen， 23 there is an added note of irony for the later rcader . Shen Yüeh' s first recorded official appointment was his invitation in 467， when he was twenty-six， to serve in the administration of Ts'ai Hsing-tsung祭典宗 (4 1 7-474)， an old family friend stationed 2 0 I . e . ， Mt. Chung 21 The "five drugs" (叫 yao五義) are drugs prepared from the following five categor肘: ( 1 ) herbs and fl1ngi (ts'ao萃)， (2) trees and shrl1bs (mu木)， (3) insects and other crawling things (ch 'ung 蟲)， (4) minerals (sh的 石)， and (5) ccreals (如幸幼 22 There are several listings. The most apt would be: ( 1 ) stalacfite (shih-ch的 石 之); (2) “magic ml1shrooms" (li月g-chih靈 之)， a variety o[ [unQl1s growing in rotti且g trees， also known as "polypores"; and (3) ginseng (j仰的肌肉芝). 2 弓 Sung-shu 40.2059

19

CHAPTER 3

at Hsia-k' ou夏口 (modern Wu一han)， who was at that time governor of Ying Province (modern Hunan and H叩ei) and General Pacifying the West (an-hsi chia愕-chün 安 西將軍 ) . Shen b ecame his aide (ts加­ chün 參 軍 ) and pri vate secretary (chi-sh的 記 室 ) . When Ts'ai was transferred in 472 to Ching Province (northwestern H叩ei) with headguarters in Chiang-ling �J二f支farther up the Yangtze River， he took Shen with him in a similar capacity . Later Shen became magis­ trate of Chüeh-hsi辰，照 Prefecture in Ssu Province to the northeast. Ts'ai died in the eighth month of 474 and Shen returned to Hsia k' ou to j oin the staff of the Prince of Chin-hsi晉熙， Liu Hsieh變 (470-479)，24 who in the preceding year， at the tender age of three， had becn appointed the new governor of Ying Province. Sometime in 4 7 5 ， while wandering in the mountains near the provincial capi­ tal， he passed the Vih主ra of Rest and Meditation (Ch'i-ch'an ching­ she 棲 祥精令)， a Buddhist temple originally founded in 46 1 by the monk Shih Hui…tsung釋慧宗. It had been enlarged by Shen' s former patron， Ts'ai Hsing-tsung， during his incumbcncy as governor be-­ tween 467 and 472 . The vihãra was part of the Dh uta Temple (T' ou-t' 0 ssu 豆豆陀寺)， subj ect of the celebrated stele inscription "T' ou-t' 0 ssu pei-wen" 碑 文 by Wang Chin 王 巾 (d. 505) now prescrved in thc Wen-hsüan.25 In that document Ts'ai is credited with having added a μhigh platform and masted pagoda" and with having erected a "hall for meditation and chanting ， " 2 6 the latter doubtJess being the building in guestion. As Shcn Yüeh explained in the preface to his own inscription， dated 是75 : This monastery was erected by Lord Ts'ai while he was General Chastising [sic] the West (cheng-hsi chiang-chün征西 ) . At that tirr間， 1 was serving on the frontier (Ying Province) under his command and participated in the early stages of its construction. Today as 1 pass it again and see the old sit巴， ìt 24 The text of Lωng-shu 1 3 . 2 3 3 reads: "The Prince of Chin-an 晉安， " but this i s clearly impossible since the holder o f this title， Liu Tzu-hsün 釗 子 勛， who was b扯n吋ef1吟ye凹n吋1 46俑6， when he was ten years old， was killed that same year (see Sung-shu 80. 2020) 1 have therefore followed Suz叫/ the Four TrUlhs Ís hard to open; Do山or叭r門叫w叫y叫呵ays to the E(砍�r;;1川h tσfold Pat的h s的t訂叫1υll ti您'gh衍tl抄Y shw A血t ω 叩 n咆'g Truth i的s n肌仰o以} I打t 's onl抄'y ajρter get的tμ11丹7g 1ωo沾叫E封t， J k 丹 ow the γisk. Not only is dc/usion 's path we/l-wo阱， But even quick enlightenmenl is not without gradatÍons 一 '7hc Fasl oI thc Bisht Pn圳bitions // l

7 . THE BUDDHIST LAY 品生AN

Such a frank statement of the practical impossibility of μsud­ den enlightenment (tun-wu 頓 。悟) may seem surprising， coming as it does only one or two generations after the heady exhilaration that followed the discovery by Tao-sheng 追生 (ca. 360 的4) of this principle in thc Nirωna S叫ra (Mahãparinirvã仰-sutra ; Ta p仰-nieh­ p 'an chir皆 大般 涅 盤 經) . 2 It is， however， an accurate ref1ection of the religious climate of the Ch'i and Liang Dynasties and， certainly， of Shen Yüeh's own personal beliefs . 叭That had produced this down­ swing in the expectations of the "gentry Buddhists" of the south at the end of the fifth century? We know it was not permanent， because after the coming to prominence of Hui-neng 慧 能 (637-7 1 3) and the "Southern School" of Ch'an 祥， the "sudden versus gradual" con­ troversy was revived and has continued in one form or another to the present day . 3 But there were at least two factors that may have disillusioned conscientious laymen of Shen Yüeh 's day about the likelihood of any sudden enlightenment in their own lives. The first was the grim spectacle of internecine struggle within the pre­ sumably devout Buddhist impcrial family， with thc concomitant 1 Ch 'üan L叫啟 shih 4 . 1 230， "Pa-kuan chai" 八 闕 齋 "The Fast of the Eight Prohibitions" was the Chi即se name for the uposatha or confessional (see Chapter Three， note 42). The Chinese text for this poem 時 : 因 戒 倦輪!紙 習 l章 從 塵 朵 間 四 千FTj克難 間 ， 八-，l 扉 猶 裕， 得理 水 易 期 ， 失J各方主口 險， 迷 1金 說 已役， 本悟 � r- 無 所 2 Taishii 1 2 : 3 6 5 - 603 1 Sce Robert Gimello and Peter Gregory， editors， The Sudden/Gωdua/ Po/arity: A Recurrent The丹le in Chinese Thought， Institute for Transcultural Studies， Los Angeles (forthcoming) 135

CHAPTER 7

corruption of the state-supported clergy， against which Shen Yüeh himself had strong words to say . 4 The other， and probably more telling， factor was the growth in popularity among the clergy them selves of the Ch' eng-shih 成實 School of Buddhist scholasticism based on K山nãrajïva's translation in 4 1 1 of Harivarman's tl盯d­ century Satyasiddhisã的"a ( Ch 'eng-shih lun 成實 言的 Harivarman's work， a sort of backlash against the extreme nihilism of Mãdhyamika philosophy， which stressed the original "emptiness of self-being" (svabhãva-siinyatã) of all phenomena， hcld that at one level all the dharmas， or data of consciousness， arc indeed real and cannot be­ come "empty" until analyzed and reanalyzed through meditation into their component elements and only thus rcduced to emptiness . 6 While 1 am unaware o f any direct quotations from thc Ch 'eng 功的 lun itself in Shen's surviving writings， his ideas are thoroughly consistent with its teachings. There is also ample evidencc that he came under the influe配e of some of its maj or exponents in Chien一 k'a唔， such as the monks Sen呵1 (μ434-一一←490叫V who were the special mentors of both the Ch'i Crown Prince Wen-hui (Hsiao Ch'ang-mao) and his younger brother， the Prince of Ching-li時 (Hsiao Tzu-liang)， on whose staffs Shen Y品eh was serving between 48 1 and 490 . 8 Later Shen also had fairly frequent contact with the abbot of the Shining Mansion Monastery (Kuang-chai ssu 光 宅 寺)， Fa-yün 法 雲 (46 7 - 5 29)， another Ch 'eng-sh的 lun speciali哎， who had studied with both Seng-j ou and Hui-tz'u.9 It was Fa-yün who in 504 conveyed the invitation of the Liang Em peror Wu to Shen and ovcr sixty other courtiers to respond to Fan Chen's 花 鎮 (ca . 450 -ca. 5 1 5) earlier tract on the "Extinction of the Spirit" (" Shen-mieh lun" 神 減t{，f) . lO As we shall sce， Shen' s response on that occasion went far beyond the dutiful performances ground out undcr imperial pressure by the others--apologies for the doc4 See below. 5 Taishδ 32 : 239-373 6 See T'ang Yung-t'ung 湯 用 彤， Han-1;\ω liang-Chin 叩n-pei-ch 'ao fo-chiao-shih 溪 ，統兩 晉 南 北 朝 佛 教夫 ， Peki 峙 ， 1 956 rcpri哎， 7 1 8 730; Kenneth Ch'e口， Buddhism in China， Princeton， 1 964， 1 2 9- 1 3 1 . 7 T'an日， Fo-chiao-shih， 723 and 725 . " 1bid 9 Hsü kao-seng chuan 練 高 僧 傳 5 ( Taishð 50 : 464b). 10 Hung-mi 月�g chi 弘 明 $ ( Collection on the Propagation of the L穹的) 10 ( Taishð 5 2 : 60b).

1 36

THE BUDDHIST LAYMAN

trine of "indestructibility" inherited from the monk Hui-yüan 蓮、 遠 (344-4 1 6) as early as 404 . ] ] Here 1 w芯h only to point out that the principal impact of Ch' eng-shih "realism" on Shen Yüeh' s thought was practical， impinging on matters of ethical and ritual behavior the control of the passions， correct monastic disciplinc， the propcr practice of dhyãna， and the meaning of compassion Shen Yüeh was a poet， not a philosophcr or a theologian . His mind was more comfortable with sensible imagcs than with abstract ideas . For this reason he ncvcr constructed anything resembling a system， and we are often obliged to wrest more or less by force from unrelated and rather inconclusive contexts what wiU have to pass for his " conclusions" on a variety of subj ects . His Buddhist writings， for thc most part gathered in Tao-hsüan' s 迫宣 seventh-century Kuang hung-ming chi， l 2 range from two lengthy prefaces that he wrote for early anthologies of sutras， through various inscriptions (ming 銘) carved on the base of Buddhist images or on stele to commcmorate special occasions and "memoranda" (su 疏) accom­ panying vows made by himself or commissioned by members of the imperial family， to " discourses" (lun ，'，命) on substantive topics . In addition to these there are personal letters， poems， and two intensely private documents， “A Statement of Confession and Repentance" ("Ch'an-hui wen" 'r成 悔 文) and "Deathbed Memorial" ("Lin-chung piao" 眩， 終表)， all of which add personal dimensions to the other more public statements. 1 will attempt to extract from these often meandering and opague documcnts a sufficient sampling to recon­ struct an outline of his views on such topics as: (a) the relation of B叫dhism to China' s native traditions， (b) karma and enlightenment， (c) monastic discipline， and (d) the meaning of compassion B UD 凹 的 M AND CHINESE T R A D I T I O N . On the subj ect of Buddhism and Chinese tradition Shen Yüeh ' s opinions reflect the reccived attitude of most educated Buddhist laymen of his day. Truth is one， and peoplc who have achieved a modicum of civilization in any part 11 See "Sha-men pu-ching wang-che lun" i少 門 不 敬 王 者論 ("Discourse on Why a Monk Does Not Do Obeisance before Kings")， Hung-mi句 chi 弘 明 1在 5 ， espec凶ly the su bsectio日， "Hsing-chin shen-pu-mieh" 形 盡 神 不 減 ("When the Body Ends the Spirit 15 Not Extinguished") ( Taishõ 5 2 : 3 1 b -32b) 12 Taishõ 5 2 : 97-3 6 1

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CHAPTER 7

of the world gain more or less insight into it according to how ready they are to receive it. Most of China' s sages had already planted the seeds of the great Buddhist truths， such as compassion for other beings (karu仰)， selflessness (anãtman)， and the like， even if they were interpreted somewhat differently， so when the missionaries finally brought these doctrines in their ultimate fullness， they were recognized as clearer and more incisive statements of truths the Chinese had already known dimly from their own classics. In the "Preface to the Esoteric Canon" ("Nei-tien hsü" 內 典 序)， which Shen Yüeh wrote at the behest of the Prince of Ching-ling around the year 490， he explained :

The nine continents all have their distinctive customs and the peoples of the eight directions their divergent practices. In the matter of the Sanskrit texts， their circulation in the world has already been far-reaching. It seems they are the means whereby the past traces of the Buddha are made manifest and the distant sound of his voice clearly transmitted . Although Chinese characters and Indian alphabetic scripts (literally， "large and small seal scripts" [chuan-ch 'ou 著 給] ) di叮叮 in form， and the Chinese and westerners have different laws， when it comes to harmonizing with the feelings of the heart or accommodating the meaning of the teaching to the hearer， then of course the esoteric (Buddhist) and exoteric (Chinese) fit the same mold， and the human and divine tollow a single princíple. The ancient Chinese canons (fen-tien Jo責 典) and oracular texts (ch 'iu叩 丘 索 ) ， 1 3 are the historical records of this world ( yü-chung 域 中')， and the stories of the Buddha' s preexistences (pen-ch 'i 本起) and birth on earth (hsia-sheng 下 生 ) are the annals and biographies from beyond tl山 world (fang-wai 方 外). But on the whole they are in complete agreement. . . . Moreover， the sages of China and of the outside world have all produced scriptural canons. Even though their teachings have separate gates of entry， Truth (li J.里) does not lead to different distinations. Therefore the two scriptural canons一-the true and the secular (chen叫 真 俗)一-complement and support each other. Cont'ucius initiated tne beginnings; 釘kyamuni carried them through to the end . 14 In a somewhat later discussion， dating from after 502， Shen Yüeh carried on an animated correspondence with the Taoist leader， T'ao 叫 . e . ， the "Eight Clues" (Pa-so 八 索) and "Nine Hills" (Ch叫一ch 'iu 九 丘)， lost texts dealing respectively with the "Eight Trigrams" ( pa-kua j\外) and "Nine Provinces" (chiu-chou Ir.. 外D of dim antiquity. 14 Kuang hung-ming chi 1 9 (Ta的hõ 曰 : 2 3 1 c-232a)

1 38

THE B U DDHTST LAYMAN

Hung-ching， whom wc met in the last chapter， on the subj ect of Buddhism's cntry into China . The cωorrespondence is prescrved i切n ， thc [(uμω正ang hlμmg-mzn，η!g ch i under the t“it仕iε " Equaliz剖ing the Sagεs'川 ('叫'Chün-sheng 1仙un" t出hi臼s is not a debate about the r閃el垃ative merits of Buddhism and Taoism， but an effort to view human evcnts in the light of eternity and to explain wh y Buddhism did not reach China until the Later Han era . Shen is making the point that in the vastness of the Absolute (dharmakãya) relative timc is unimportant， but in the finite human realm particular events occur only whcn karmic conditions ( yüan 緣 ; Skt. pratyaya) are ready to respond ( ying JI}!.) to them . Thus， even though it would have bcen physically possible for Buddhist missionaries to reach China bcfore A . D . 67 (the official date of the arrival of the first mission at the court of the Later Han Emperor Mi月 in Lo-yang)， the spirituaL conditions for the acceptance of their message before that date wcre not yet ripe. Even if the Buddha himself had come earlicr， he would not have been recognized . In most of his responses T 'ao Hung-ching seems j ust to be the hard-headed skeptic. If the Duke of Chou (eleventh century n . c . ) didn't know about the Buddha， i t w a s probably because the Buddha hadn't been born yet. If no missionaries arrived earlicr than the Latcr Han Dynasty， that was also probably because they simply hadn't set out any earlier than that. lt had nothing to do with whether or not the karma of the Chinese was "ripe" for their message . Answers like that seemed only to irritate Shen Yüeh， and with obvious impatience he kept repeating in his rej oinders: “I've already dis­ cussed it in my previous discourse， so 1 will not go over it again" ; “1 have already exhausted this i n the earlier discourse"; " In my carlier discourse 1 have alread y discussed it fully， so 1 will not repeat my explanation! " ; etc . ， etc . But some o f his arguments do bear closer examínatíon: As for the existence of the Buddha ín the world， no one knows its beginning. Former b uddhas and later buddhas have not differed from each other Deeply immersed in the Dharmakãya， each buddha manifestation acts in response to a stimulus ( ying-kan 庭、 感) . If summoned by the proper stim­ ulus， the Buddha will leap across a grand chiliaωsm ( counLless aeons) to 1 5 Kuang hung-m呵 chi 5 ( Taishô 咒 1 2 1 b - 1 23a).

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CHAPTER 7

appear but a foot away. Conversely， if the conditions are not yet ripe， then even though the Buddha were to walk openly in the world， no one would see him. . . . When its karmic destiny (yüan-yün 緣道 ) had not yet opened， China was naturally cut off from the Truth . Why do 1 say this? Because before the Hsia and Yin ages (traditional旬， 2205 -ca. 1 050 B.C.)， written documents and chronicles were primitive and few in number. Then， after the house of Chou recei而d the mandate (ca. 1 0古o B . C . ) the classical canon was completed. . Now the states in the west are well supplied with roads and highways; the way thither is not distant. Even though they write their characters horizontally on palm leaves， and though Chinese and Sanskrit are dissimilar， nevertheless profound meanings and subtle truths emerge from them of themselves. The fact that the sage kings T'ang Yao and Yü Shun and the Three Ages (Hsia， Shang， and Chou) still did not possess these tr叫1S， and Buddhism was uniquely confined to the west and its doctrines had not yet f10wed eastward-was it not simply because in the Middle Kingdom the karmic response had not yet begun? . . . The fact that this Dharma was not handed down by the Duke of Chou was undoutedly because it was appro priate for it to be hidden at that time. 16 Shen then went on to explain that the Chinese in ancient times were hunters and fishers and had not yet learned even to Look the meat they depended on to live . It would have been disasterous at that stage to impose on them suddenly the Buddhist rule forbid ding the taking of life . But as they became more civilized and compassionate through the teaching of their own sages， their karma was gradually being prepared， so that at last when the first mi心 sionaries arrived their karmic conditions were ripe; they were ready to respond . KARMA AND E N L I G H T E N M E N T . The doctrine of karma on which

Shen Yüeh's whole argument rests， namely， that good or evil deeds of the past come to fruition in the present， as present deeds will in the future， was another point of issue with T 'ao Hung-ching， who found it offensive that persons who are poor and suffering in this life should be congratulated because they will have a good retribu tion in their next existenee; or that those， on the other hand， who l " Ibid . ， 1 2 1 c- 1 22a

1 40

T H E B U D D H I S T LA Y 恥1 A N

were comfortable and well off in a past existence should now be blamed for the sufferings of the present . l 7 To his complaint Shen responded : As for the karmic conditions and their fruition which sentient beings encounter， each fruition has its appointed time (ch 'i-hui 期 會) . In the past， before the Buddhist Dharma had reached us一that was the time of the fulfillment of our evil karma. Later when we heard the Dharma-that was the time of the sprouting of our good karma. Good or evil karma each has its time. What has it to do with "comfort and well-being" in relation to "poverty and suffering?" 1 8 The statement "good or evil karma each has its time" sounds like an extreme form of determinism， which not even the Buddha would have recognized. Shen Yüeh himself， in fact， had a far more subtle understanding of the functioning of karma than would appear from this somewhat impassioned rej oinder plucked u叩nfairl句y f企rom tl of a缸rgumen叫lÌ . In a more considered discussion of the subj ect， which appears as five separate "arguments" (i 義) in the Kuang hung-ming chi， 1 9 Shen Yüeh deals with karma as a complementary force operat­ ing in tandem with enlightenment. Karma， the law of cause and effect， being samsaric， is intrinsically endless and could never by itself break the cycle of rebirth; while enlightenment， being nirvanic， builds cumulatively on the results of karma to make the final breakthrough when the time is ripe. Buddhahood， which is atemporal， is thus achieved within time. Good and bad karma which， as Shen pointed out， "have their appointed time" and are therefore temporal， only inf1uence the speed of arrival of that inevitable thought instant (nien 念; Skt . 的呵。) when enlightenment is fully realized and time is swallowed up in eternity. The problem of karmic retribution thus becomes part of that 17 Ibid . ， 1 2 2 b - 1 23a. 18 Ibid . ， 1 23a. 19 Kuang hung-ming chi 22 (Taishõ 5 2 : 252c-253c): (1) ， 宜。-chih pu-i chung-sheng chih i" 佛 好 不 異 眾 生 和 義 ("The Buddha's Knowledge Does Not Differ from the Knowledge of All Sentient Beings行 (2) “Liu-tao hsiang-hsü tso-fo i" 六追尋目 繪 作 佛 義 ( "Those i n the S i x Careers Are Continuously Evolving into B叫dhas"; (3) "Yin-yüan i" 因 素家義 ("Causes and Conditions可 (4) "Hsing-shen i 形 神 義 ("Body and Spirit"); (5) “ Shen pu-mieh i" 神 不 減 義 ("The Non肘E】X划叫(Ì吋t世i凶n缸C吋t討i o n of t出he Spirit" Recωovering an Essay by Shen Y品eh， " Jou鬥rnal of Or門!e仰nt仰al Stωud!e臼s 耐 ( 1 98 1η )， 1 3 8- 1 5 7 .

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age-old pro blem that seems to have engaged the best minds of every maj or civilization on this planet: the s盯vival or extinction of the soul or spirit at death . Is the spirit (shen 才村 merely a function of the body (hsing 形)， as Fan Chen had claimed， and therefore mortal? If it is different， what is its relation to the body? For Buddhists the problem was further complicated by the absolutely fundamenta1 premise that what people ca11 a " soul" or "self " (ãtman) is the prima1 illusion from which a11 others stem， the source of a11 suffering in this world. Yet somehow， in speaking of karmic causation in a past existence producing a karmic response in a later existence， the assumption is a1so made that there is some continuity or identity linking cause and effect. Classica1 Indian Buddhists made the karmic energy itse1f the contin山m (抑的tãna) that 1i此ed past， present， and future existences， thus circumventing the charge of having fallen into any form of the ãtman heresy . But the Chinese devised other solutions . In their own tradition of ancestor worship the " celestial spirit" (shen 才村 of the dead， identified by some with "conscious­ ness" (shih 識; Skt. vijñãna)， one of the five skandha or personality components， seemed to them to provide the connecting link between rebirths without necessarily involving the bad connotations of a " self " (wo 我，) . 20 But with the translations of the MahãparinirvãηG sütra in the middlc of the fifth ccntury the whole question was turned on its head by the introduction of the notion of a " true self " (chen-wo 真 41(.)， which survives not only death but Samsara as well， and actually "enj oys" the bliss of Nirvana . It was only a short leap from this to the notion that the buddha nature ( fo-hsing 佛性) found in embryo in all sentient beings -一剖lOther of the Nirvana Sut ra ' s radical revelations-was none other than this " sp汀it" (shen) that survives the extinction of the body and travels from one existence to the next until it finally comes to rest in Nirvana . It appears that Emperor Wu of Liang (r. 502- 549) may have been the first to state this principle unequivocally in his extremely subtle rebuttal of Fan Chen' s attack mentioned earlier一-the " Extinction of the Spirit" ( " Shen-mieh 1凹") . Emperor Wu's essay is entitlcd "Rcc­ ord Establishing the Principle That the Spirit Inte11igence Achieves 20 See Walter Liebenthal， "The Immortality of the Soul in China， " Monumenta Nipponica 8 ( 1 9 5 2 ) ， 354- 3的

1 42

THE B UDDHIST LAYMAN

Buddhahood" ("Li shen-ming ch' cng-fo i chi" 立神 明 成 佛 義 記) . 21 His mcntor in a11 this was probably the monk Pao-liang 寶 亮 (444 可09) of the Monastery 01' Transccndental Savor (Ling…wei ssu 1J-: '朱 寺) in the capital， whom the emperor had commissioned in Pao-liang's last year to edit a combined commentary on the Nirvana Sut悶， thc Commentaη on the Mean何 of the Nir閃閃 Sutra (NieJ叩 加 1-:-;μ 涅 盤 義 L) . 22 The emperor himsel1' wrote the preface to this comme必 tary. 1n the body 01' this monumental compilation Pao-liang made numerous comments bearing on this point but the 1'ollowing， takcn from chüan 20 ， dealing with the sutra' s twelfth section on "Bud­ dha Nature" (" Ju-lai hsing" 去口 來I生)， more or less summarizes his posItlOn . The buddha nature is not a cωondit叫 dharma吋) . It is called the "direct cause" (cheng-yin 正 因; i.e.， directly causing

enlightenment) and is not affected by good or evil karma. How can it possibly be conditioned? Therefore we should know that the s的sta耽e (t'i 體 ) of the spirit ir巾lligence (shen-ming)， basically has this unconditioned dharma nature as its source. . . . If the spirit intelligence were continuousJy being conditioned by the causes and conditions 01' Karma， it would not have this buddha nature as its substance . 23 And in the commentary on the thirteenth section of the Nirvana Sutra on "Lcttcrs of the Sanskrit Alphabet" ("Wen-tzu p 'in" 文 字 prb) Pao-liang adds: Even though the buddha nature resides in the midst of the five skandha (yin 的 ， the eighteen dhëitu (chieh 界)， and the six ëiyata仰 (ju 入)， 24 1址t i臼5 not ir肘 lu叫ded among t出hem. Both on the real (仲p α r悶am丘ëirt仿h悶叫a) and c∞onvent叫 (令sar仿nv仰r列t訂ti叫i) leveJs of truth we s叩pe臼ak of a s剖ingle dharma of spirit in叫lt臼吋elli gence (i. e 丸， v叫q 丹 ana吋) 仿 . But on the conventional side， while it is always listed among the skandf悶， it is not really included among them. The substantial buddha 21 Hung-ming chi 9 ( Taishõ 5 2 : 54a .-c). The text， together with Shen Chi's 5尤符 commentary， has been translated and analyzed by 丸-Vhalen Lai in "Emperor 叭lu 01' Liang on the Immortal Soul， Shen pu-mieh ， " Journal of the Americarz Orierztal Society 1 0 1 . 2 ( 1 98 1 )， 1 67 - 1 7 5 2 2 Also known as Ta parz-nieh-p 'an ching chi-chieh 大般 涅 盤 經 無 解 (Taishõ 3 7 : 3 7 7 -6 1 1 ) . 23 Taishõ 37 : 462ab 24 I . e . ， the five personality components， the six senses with their corresponding objects and consciousnesses， plus the six sense organs or faculties

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nature (t'i-hs ing 體 性) does not move， but its function (yung 用) is never for a moment inactive. Because it is never for a moment inactive， we hold it to be the direct cause o[ enlightenment.25 Emperor Wu's essay builds on Pao-liang's assumptions， namely， that the substa肛e (的) of the buddha naturc is nirvanic and un­ affected by karma， while its function ( yung) is samsaric， producing good karma that ultimately brings enlightenment. The spirit intelligence takes permanence (pu-tuan 不 斷) for its essence. The essential spirit will inevital句 revert to its wondrous fruition (miao-kω 妙 泉 i . e . ， enlightenment). The wondrous fruition embodies the ultimate ( 1 'i-chi 體 極) . The eternalJy abiding essential spirit， however， does not totally escape impermanence. By "impermanence" 1 mean that what has gone before is being extinguished and what follows is coming into exi日tence in a process that does not cease even for an instant (nien) . If the mind (如的 心 ) exerts itself to perceive an object， the earlier cωonsc肌 wiU inevitably d出if叮fe位r f、rom t出he la瓜te叮r. In this case the mind will disappear along with its o bject. What is it then that attains buddhahood? The sutra says that the mind (如的) is the direct cause that eventually attains buddha hood; it also says that nescience (wu-mi句 無 明 ) is evolving into enlighten ment (ming 明) . 26 What Empcror Wu seems to be saying 1s that while the buddha nature in substance is pcrmanent and the direct cause of enlighten­ ment， in its function as consciousness (shih) it is temporal， changing from moment to moment. The temporal function， which gradually accuml山tes good karma， is called "consciousness" (sh的) . The per­ manent substance， which attains enlightenment， is called "mind " (hsin) Through the good offices of the monk Fa-yün 法 雪， mentioned earlier as the leading exponent of the Ch' eng-shih School in his day， the emperor urged his courtiers t切o j抖o i旭n h趾im i旭n r吋ef臼ut位i呵 Fan Che凹n attack， and over sixty of them obliged， their ofIerings being grouped in chüan 1 0 of Seng-yu' s Hung-ming chi . 27 Shen Yüeh' s brief response is included among them， 28 but the emperor's thcsis inspired him to 25 Taishõ 37 : 4 6 5 a. 26 Hung-mir穹 的i 9 ( Taishδ 5 2 : 54b ) . Cf. Mahãpãrinirvãf!a-siitra 8 ( Taishõ 1 2 : 4 1 0c) "The wise will u山吋E白r叫 呵S仗t3叩nc 】d t出ha瓜t e n叫Ii喀g hte凹nme叩n叫t (min，啥'g) 3吋 凹sc not by nature 3 duality. Their nondual naturc is thei扛r t位rue naturε " 27 See Hung-ming chi 1 0 ( Taishõ 曰 : 60b-68c). 28 Ibid . ， 60c.

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THE BU DDHIST LAYMAN

elaborate separatcly on somc of its points. As he wrotc to Fa-yün， "Your disciple also， in relation to the cmper肘's discour肘， has in an insignificant way from timc to time raised doubts and madc investi gations and has written a fl叫her elaboration (pi-chan 比展)， which T am submitting herewith . " 2 9 This elaboration of the emperor's thesis has somehow become detached from the othcr responses and appcars under five separate "argumcnts" ( i 義) in Tao-hsüan' s 迫宣 (seventh century) scquel to Se時 Yu's work， namely， the Kωng hung-ming chi that we have already encountered . 30 In the first of thcse five arguments， namely， that "The Buddha's Knowledge Does Not Differ from the Knowledge of All Sentient Beings" ("Fo-chih pu-i chung-sheng-chih i" 佛真口 不 異 眾 生 生口 義)， Shen restates the identity of the "knowledgc nature， " or buddha nature， 的 the dircct cause of enlightenment . Buddhahood (戶 佛) 的 enlightenment (cl山h 覺) . Enlightenment is knowl edge (chih 主口). As for ordinary persons in relation to the Buddha， there has never been any difference either in their will to do good or their knowledge of evil. Tt is only that what is understood in the Buddha stage is the right path toward achieving the good， whereas what is understood by ordinary persons is the wrong path that misses the good . The knowledge of an ordinary person does not differ from the knowledge of the Buddha. They differ only in the content (shih 事) of their knowledge; the knowledge itself is not different. This is not to say that what the ordinary person knows is not good， but only that in his pursuit of the good he arrives at what is not good. If he accumulates this mind which pursues the good， he may find the path leading to the good or， finding the path， he may even arrive at Buddhahood . This identity of sentient beings with the buddha nature truly consists in the constant transmission of their knowledge nature (忱的 hsing 知性) . 31 In the second argument， " Thosc in thc Six Careers 32 Are Con tinuOl 29 Ibid 30 [(uang hung-mωg chi 22 ( Taishδ 5 2 : 2 5 2 - 2 53c). Their connection with Emperor Wu 's essay was first noted by 九'Vhalen Lai in the articles mentioned above. 31 [(uang hung-m呵 chi 22 (Taishõ 5 2 : 2 5 2c); Lai， “Beyond the Debatc， " 1 50 32 The Six Careers are， in ascending order: ( 1 ) narak日， denizens of the hells; (2) preta， hungry ghosts; (3) tiryagyo月i， animals; (4) asura， titan肘1芯s (扣el凹1羽emle臼s of t仙he deε叮U叩d吋吋)恥; (5雪η) m叩正d仰l rea址1m o[ Samsara 0叫r rebir叫th1

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六進相 符 作 佛 義)， Shcn Y肘h procccds to expand on thc notion hinted at by Emperor Wu， t由ha抗t t出he fi戶uω仰yη叮lc t U附( nat仙ur閃e， i . e巳 . ， íts momen叫1叫1t一tωo-momen叫1t 且a品shεS of consciousness吋(shi沁h 識試 f;吋) 0f、 good karma as the pr閃e which br扎i 且g a gradual accumulation 吐 Cωondition necessary for enlightcnmc訓， must bc distinguished from 山 substat的al aspect as "receptaclc of knowledgc" (shou-chih chih chü 受 生口 之 共) . The Omniscient (san吻你， an epl址 thεet of thε Buddha吋) and sentier of t出he six careers all havc a capacity (f，戶E叩n 分)刊for r閃ec臼ei仰vi泊 ng k叫now叫le吋dge， with no difference among capacities . QUESTION: Is that which receives knowledge not the same， then， as knowledge itself? ANSWER: It is not QUESTlON: What， then， is the substance (t'i) of the capacity to receive knowledge? ANSWER﹒ It is to be continuous and never to be extinguished . It is bccause it is continuous and never extinguished that it is able to receive knowledge. If in the present life the merit of molding and smelting gradually accumulates， then in the future fruition the Truth (li 理) that is percei ved will become more and more refjned . Knowledge that has become more and more refined will eventually arrive at buddhahood， where it will never be ended or cut off. On the other hand， if in the present life one is without understanding (wu-ming 無 明 )， then in the future fruition what one has perceived will become more and more obscured. Knowledge that has become more and more obscured in its turn will arrive in one of the six samsaric careers. The receptacle of knowledge (shou一忱的 chih chü 受知 之 具) receives knowledge according to karmic preconditions. Whether the knowledge is good or bad has nothing to do with this receptacle of knowledge. 33 In other words， the "receptacle" -thc capacity to receive knowl edge-provides the continuity between past， present， and future re births. While the knowledge it contains is merely a transitory series of thought instants (nien)， the receptacle itself is pcrmanent It is thc "true sclf， " thc " buddha nature， " that at the moment of fruition bccomes enlightcned . In his very illuminating articlc on Shen Yüeh's elaboration of Empcror Wu's essay， Whalen Lai characterizes the next two argu33 Taishδ 5 2 : 2 5 2 c - 2 5 3a; Lai， "Beyond the Dcbate， " 1 50 - 1 5 1

1 46

T H E B U D D H I S T L AY M A N

ments， "On Causes and Conditions" ("Yinγ山n i" 因 緣義) and " On Body and Spirit" ("Hsing-shen i" 形 神 義)， as " Shen Yüeh at his best . " By his inspired combination within a single entity of the "th。可ht instant" (nien)， w}盯h in Chinese has t由hε double me臼ani旭ng of '川d記Cωon肛C臼en肘tr凹at紀ed thOl latter in the f扣ur討the盯r binary me臼aning of a momen肘1此t i詛n the t記emporal process of k吋a訂rmic causation and the timeless momen叫1t of er叫1叫1 i培ghten­ ment-he has moved the argument about the nonextinction of the spirit out of the old bodyjspirit dichotomy into the realm of Bud­ dhist psychology and the analysis of the " self. " 34 The Emperor had hinted at Shen's solution when he wrote: “By 'impermanence' 1 mean that what has gone before is being extin­ guished and what follows is coming into existence in a process that docs not cease even for an instant (nien) . If the mind (hsin) exerts itself to perceivc an obj ect， the earlier consciousncss (shih) will inevitably difIcr from the later . . . . But the mind i昀s t出;士:hc dircct cause that cvcn肌1a泣a11句y a瓜tt a i旭ns b吋d品t叫10∞od . Nes缸叩C口le肛e ( 肌叫削 η愕gβ) is evohμ ir呵 i凶n叫tωo enlightenment (mη11 η愕!g)γ，川， 3封5 Fo肘r t出he E宜mpe盯ro位r t由hεe μ 'mi plays thc substa叫al (t'i) role assigned by Shen to the "receptacle of knowlcdgc ， " and 'μd河Cωonsc 肌凹 ( ylμi η句呦gβ) role of the "thought instants" of the knowledge itself. Though the mind may begin with more nescience than true knowl edgc， cventually it will， through the increasing refinemcnt of thc thought instants， attain enlightenment . In the third argument， on "Causes and Conditions" ("Yin-y泣an i")， Shen attempts to explain the complex interaction of karmic causation with the thought instants : All living beings rejoice in life， but the paths taken in pursuit of life are numerous and varied . I n one thought instant all is in f1ux; each path and byway is different from the others. . . . 1n the space of that one thought instant a host of preconditions arise in mutual relation， and between every cause and its fruition there are corresponding variations. . . . 1n their delight in life a11 creatures are alike. But that Iife with which they have been endowed by nature (tz吋仰 自 然 is itself not determined by co吋i tions， so we know assuredly that delight in life is neither a cause nor a condition. . . . By the same token， causes and conditions do not affect the J4 Scc

note 19 above .

35

See above

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delight in life. Even so， all beings reside in physical bodics， yet each is unique. Since one thought instant evokes all past prcconditions， all prc conditions in turn rise in accordance with that thought instant . Two thought instants， one good and onc bad， indeed have their dissimilarities， yet both depcnd on the assistance of cxternal conditions， and both good and bad actions procecd from a single karmic principle. It is like sprouts of grain not growing unless watcr and soil are present. As for the perception o[ the nature of causes and preconditions， since they differ in their origins， the causes and their fruition are never confused. Even if by ncccssity good or eviJ were to arise to isolation， as soon as they did so thcy would themselves bccome causes. Jnternal causcs and external condition s truly proceed aJong thcsc lines. 36 The fourth argume剖， on "Body and Spirit" ( "Hsing吋len i")， continues without interruption: An ordinary person during a single instant of concentrated thought (i-nien 一 念 ) no 1∞ger feels any connection bctween his body and the ground of that instant of concentration . WhiJe an ordinary pcrson may do this for a 日ingJe thought instant， “the Sage (i. e . ， the Buddha) is without sclf " (wu-chi 無 己);37 hjs body is naturaJJy as jf empty. With his seemingly empty body he has totally terminated all thought instants. It is this that enables him to be different from ordinary per的ns. When an ordinary pcrson forgets his body， his eyes ceasc to see and his fect to walk. While he is forgctting his eycs and feet， how does hc ditIer from a blind or a lame person? Howcver， the ordinary person's temporary "nonbeing" is based on real " being:' for the "non being" will hardly have lasted a twinkling before "being" wiJJ alread y have succeeded it. As Jong as thought instant and body are mutually out of touch he temporarily forgets his body. But the momcnt thought instant and mind bcgin to fade， person and body are reunited . lf his instant of concentration is focused on onc part of his body， thcn the other parts are like someone else's body， no different from the "not-seJf" (fei-chi 非 己) . B u t a n ordinary person's temporary "nonbeing" -how far-reaching it is! Ordinary person and Sage-�their paths are basically the same. One thought instant of temporary forgetting-that is the ordinary variety . Ten-thousand thought instanls of total forgetting-that is the Great Sage! 11' we taJk in this manner the problem ()f body and spirit wiJJ be near to solution. Some persons doubt the principle that the mutual interaction between l" Taishi5 弓 2 : 2 5 3a; Lai. "Beyond the Debatc， " 1 5 1 17 C r. Chua惜一tzu chi-shih 1 . 1 1 (Watson， Chuanx-tzu， 32 )

1 48

T H E B U D D H I S T T， A Y 此1 A N

cause and fruition never varies by the tiniest degree or that the coming 01 good or evil both have a predetermined karma (ling-yeh 定 幸)， believing on the contrary that what is c叫tivated of the Six Perfections (paramita)3s all depends upon the exertion 01' e1'1'orL According to them if after cultivat­ ing this exertion of effoτt there is in addition a previous cause， and only after the ripening of this cause the fruition is completed in an automatically mutual stimulus-response mechanism， then the merit of exerting effort can no longer be esta blished， and the culti vatio日 of the Six Perfections has for all practical purposes been wasted. Take the case of 豆ãkyamuni's enlighten­ ment which was won so heroically over a span of nine kalpas. If the causality of that heroism was predetermined in some beginningles日 past and basicalJy did not depend on the nine kalpas， how can it be acclaimed as an accomplishment?39 Oncc more thc spccter of determinism raises its ugly head. But Shcn Yüeh's solution to this almost universal human dilemma is truly ingcnious. According to him， thc buddha nature held in embryo in a11 sentient bcings (herc called " sentient illumination" [ch 'ing-chao 情 川 )， being thc substance (t'i) of enligl白血肘nt， is timelcss and hc肛e not su bj ect to causation， yet it is the basis on which causation opcrates， since it is this embryonic buddha naturc that providcs the continuum betwecn causc and fruition. Whereas Emperor Wu uscd the term "consciousness" (府的) only in its samsaric scnsc as one of the five skandha and thercfore only a fu州附 (戶mg) of thc nirvanic buddha naturc， in the following passage Shen Yüeh sccms to be using it as a synonym for the buddha nature itself -functionally operating within cause-and-fruition but sub stantiaJly differcnt from and unaffected by it. Tn my view， cause-and-fruition on the one hand and the sentient illumina­ tion ( i . e . ， the embryonic b吉l t出hings. First there must be the sentient illumination before there can be cause-and-fruition. Only after the sentient illumination has been 日tirred does cause-and-fruition follow it. If there were as yet no sentient illumina tion， what would cause-and-fruition rest on? The two paths， causation and understand ing ( yin-sh的 因 識)， are com bined in fu耽tion but different in basis (pen 本) . Since their bases are different， their substances are also 開 The Si x Perfections are: ( 1 ) dã悶， almsgivi月; (2) slla， observing the Ten Proh山tlO叫 (3) k$如ti， patience; (4) vîrya， zeal; (5) dhyãn a ， med山tion; and (6) p 叫 “， tran scendental insight 39 1(叫 ishii 52 : 2 可 3a b; Lai， "Beyond thc De bate，" 1 可 1 1 '3 2

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delight in life. Even so， al1 beings reside in physical bodies， yet each is unique. Since one thought instant evokes a11 past precondition日， a1l pre conditions in turn rise in accordance with that thought instant. Two thought instants， one good and one bad， indeed have their dissimilariti凹， yet both depend on the assistance of external conditions， and both good and bad actions proceed from a single karmic principle. It is like sprouts of grain not growing unless water and soil are present. As for the perception of the nature of causes and preconditions， since they differ in their origins， the causes and their fruition are never confused . Even if by necessity good or evil were to arise to iso]ation， as soon as they did so they would themselves become causes. Internal causes and external conditions truly proceed along these lines. 36 The fourth argume吼 on "Body and Spirit" ("Hsing-shen i")， continues without interruption: An ordinary person during a single instant of concentrated thought (i-nien 一 念 ) no longer feels any connection between his body and the ground of that instant of concentration. While an ordinary person may do this for a single thought instant， 川the Sage (i. e . ， the Buddha) is without self " (wu-chi 無 己); 37 his body is natura11y as if empty . With his seemingly empty body he has tota1ly terminated a11 thought instants. It is this that enables him to be different from ordinary persons. When an ordinary person forgets his body， his eyes cease to see and his feet to walk 丸-Vhile he is forgetting his eyes and feet， how does he differ from a blind or a lame person? However， the ordinary person's temporary "nonbeing" is based on real " being，" for the 川nonbeing" will hardly have lasted a twinkling before "being" wiU already have succeeded it. As long as thought instant and body are mutually out of touch he temporarily forgets his body. But the moment thought instant and mind begin to fade， person and body are reunited . lf his instant of concentration is focused on one part of his body， then the other parts are like someone else' s body， no different from the "not-self " (fei-chi 非 己.) . But an ordinary person' s temporaτy "non being" .--how far-reaching it is! Ordinary person and Sage�their paths are basically the same. One thought instant of temporary forgetting�that is the ordinary variety. Ten-thousand thought instants of total [orgetting�that is the Great Sage! lf we talk in this manner the problem of body and spirit will be near to solution. Some persons doubt the principle that the mutual interaction between 捕 了"aishii 雪 2 : 2 5 3a; Lai， "Beyond the Debate， " 1 古 I 37 Cf. Chua愕 tzu chi-shih 1 . 1 1 (Watson， Chuang-tzu， 32).

148

THE B U DDHIST LAYMAN

cause and fruition never varies by the tiniest degree or that the coming of good or evil both have a predetermined karma (ti月'g-yeh 定 幸)， believing on the contrary that what is cultivated of the Six Pe叮rfì跆ect間 all depends upon the exert吐ion of ef叮fort. According to them if after cultivat­ ing this exertion of effort there is in addition a prcvious cause， and only after the ripening of this cause the fruition is completed in an automatically mutual stimulus-response mechanism， then the merit 01' exerting effort can no longer be estab!ished， and the cultivation of the Six Perfections has for all practical purposes been waste d . Take the case of 5詠yamuni's en!ighten ment which was won so heroically over a span of nine kalpa日 . If the causality of that heroism was predetermined in some beginningless past and basically did not depend on the nine kalpas， how can it be acclaimed as an accomplishment?39

Once morc the specter of dctcrminism raises 1ts ugly head. But Shcn Yüeh's solut10n to this almost universal human dilemma is truly ingenious . According to h1m， the buddha nature held in embryo in a11 sentient beings (here called ' 叫，冠sen肘ti跆ent i泣11u山叩I江mi [cγ扒h'的'iη愕!g-chaωO 情 貝克j )， bcing the s叫)stance (t'i) of enlightenment， is timcless and hence not su句ect to causation， yet it is the basis on which causation operates， since it is this embryonic buddha nature that provides the continuum between cause and fruition. Whereas Emperor Wu used the term " consciousness" (抑的) only in its sam\ saric sense as one of the five skandha and therefore only a fl仰的on ( yung) of the nirvanic b叫dha nature， in the fo11owing passagc Shen Yüch seems to be using it as a synonym for the buddha nature itself-functionally operating within cause-and-fruition but sub­ stantially diffcrent from and unaffccted by it. Tn my view， cause-and-fruition on the one hand and the sentient illumina­ tion (i . e . ， the embryonic buddha nature) on the other are two separate things. First there must be the sentient illumination before there can be cause-and-fruition. Only after the sentient iIlumination has been stirred does cause-and-fruition follow it. 11' there were as yet no sentient iIIumina­ tion， what would cause-and-fruition rest on? The two paths， causation and understanding ( y的一功的 因 言是)， are combined in function but different in basis (pen 本) . Since their bases are dif1'e rent， their substa即es are also J B叮The S釗ix Per汁fe缸ect間 Pro叫hi山 bitions; 山 (3) 的品的， patience; (4) virya， zeal; (5) dhyä間， mcd山tion; and (6) prajñä， transcendental insight . 1 9 TaishiJ 可 2 : 2 5 3ab; Lai， 川Beyond the De bate，" 1 5 1 1 5 2

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dissimilar. The sentient illumination arises separately out of Truth (li) itself. 1t is not an obstacle to c ultivating the Six Perfection日 or to the Buddha' s nine kalpas of perfecting himself. Such an error is not worth raising any doubt over. 40

This argument reminds me in a perverse way of some of thosc carried on by the ear1y Reformation theologians in Europe during the sixteenth century as they wrestled with the disincentive to good works created by the prospect of God' s predestination of a11 persons either to sa1vation or damnation . To those who were put ofI by this di1emma John Ca1vin replied : “The perdition of the damncd depends on the Divine predestination in such a manner that the cause and matter of it are found in themselves. . . . Man fa11s， therefore， accord­ ing to thc appointment of Divine Providence; but he fa11s by his own fault. " 41 O bviously thc assumptions of John Ca1vin were totally different from Shen Yüeh' s . Shcn did not have a prob1em of thcodicy to deal with， but on1y the relation of karmic determinism to free will . The solution， however， was at 1east similar. Free choices occur in the moment-to白moment thought instants that cumu1atively generate the karmic energy with its multip1e fruitions， good and bad， through a11 the Six Careers. But the u1timate tendency embodied in the timeless "receptacle" of those thought instants， name1y， the buddha nature， is predetermined and will u1timately lead to enlightenment . Free choice affects on1y the acceleration or dece1eration of the final fruition. In the 1ast of the arguments， "On the Nonextinction of thc Spirit" (" Shen pu-mieh" 神 不 減 義)， Wha1en Lai detects a disappointing rcversion to the old immortal spiritjmorta1 body dichotomy，42 but even in this section there is a further elaboration on the part p1ayed in the en1ightenment process by those karmica11y 10aded thought instants. By concentrating the mind morc and more upon a smaller and sma11er field one is enab1ed， in Chuang-tzu's words， gradua11y to achieve "tota1 forgetting" (chien-tωng 兼 忘)，43 w hich， trans1atcd 40 Ibid 41 John Calvin， Institutes of the Ch門stian Religion， translated， John Allen， Philadelphia， 1 936， 2 : 208 -209 42 Lai， "Beyond the Debate， " 1 5 7， note 80 43 Chua愕 tzu chi-shih 6. 1 28 (Watson， Chuang-tzu， 90): ' 可o cast off the physical body， banish the senses， be separate from the body and depart from knowledge， to

1 可。

T H E ß U D D H I S T LA Y 此1 A N

in Buddhist terms， means "total illumination" (chien-chao 兼 ，� 在) . In reading Shen's description of this process one gets thc uncanny fceling that the poet is revealing a vcry personal and intimate view of his own menta1 processes: Each of the five senses has its own allotted domain . The ears and eyes both have their masters . When the mind (hsin) is functioning the body is forgotten. When the eyes are in use the ears are in abeyance. Why? When the acuity of the senses is superf1cial or weak， the thoughts of the mind are confused and distracted . If a single thought instant rises simultaneously with others (chien �)， there is no route by which it can reach its object. Since it is unable to exist simultaneously with others， scattered and gathered thoughts alternately invade the mind， and before one thought instant has been fully formed， other tag ends rise up together. With all the tag ends rising up together， everything is once more as chaotic as ever. The reason why one thought instant cannot exist simultaneously with others springs from its superficiality and delusion， and the reason why de!usion and superficiality become a sickness springs from their being obstructed by Bei月 (ch 的 一y u 滯有) . To be neither superficial nor deluded proceeds from total forgetting (chien-wang)， and it is by means of this total forgetting that one achieves this total illuminat的n (chien-chao) . 44

This very Chuang-tzu-like passage hclps to clarify the function of the "thought instant" (nien) in Shen's argument. Ordinary persons can only handle one thought at a time， with the resu1tant chaos so graphically depicted when multip1e thoughts "a1ternately invade the mind . " If the thought instant (nien) becomes dhyãna-like co肛en tration 抖的1) --an emptying of the mind in total forgetting-this is indccd the goa1 of meditation . In that one concentrated thought instant all truth is grasped intuitivcly in total illumination. It is the same type of "Taoistic" paradox Emperor Wu had used before him， when he said that "Nescience (u研ming) is evolving into enlighten­ ment (ming) . " Wu-mi句 (literally， "absence of 1ight")， like nien in Shen' s argume肘， is a1so a pun embracing opposite meanings， for mi嗯， written with another character ( 冥 )， means both " darkness" and "intuitive or mystical insight. " be identified with the Grand 叭Thole-this is what ís meant by 'sittíng in for getfulness' " ( 墮 肢體 ， 給聰 明 ， 雛 形 去好 ， 同 於 大述 ， 此帶 坐 忘) . Cf. Ibid . ， 14.22 1 (Watson， 1 5 5): "Totally to forget the reaJm is easy; to make the realm totally forget me is difficult" (兼 忘 天 下 易 ， 使 天 下 兼 忘 我 難) 叫 Taishõ 古2 : 2 5 3 bc; Laí， "Beyond the Debate ， " 1 5 2 - 1 5 3

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M O N A S T I C D I S C I P L I N E . It is obvious that at lcast as carly as his

association with the Ch'i Crown Prince Wen-hui (Hsiao Ch'ang叮mao) and the Prince of Ching-ling (Hsiao Tzu-liang)， which bcgan in 479， Shen Yüeh was in fairly close and continuous contact with members of the Buddhist clergy， cspecia11y popular teachers like Seng-jou and Hui-tz'u， who freque叫y 1ectured on Buddhist subj ects and offici­ ated at religious ce1ebrations at court. The subtlety of Shen Yüeh's own argumentation in the Buddhisi essays we have j ust 100ked at indicates that he was something more than a mere dilettante in his own religious understanding and practice. It comes as no surprise， therefore， to find him invo1ved not on1y in debates on ultramundane theories， but a1so in some very mundane prob1ems of the religious lífe suèh as the sing1e premeridian meal， the maigre feast， and the precept against harming living beings. Shen's views on these sub j ects are elaborated in a series of threc tracts which， though undated， seem from their genera1 tone and contents to fit with datab1e works 1ike the "Memorandum of Self白dedication" ("She自shen su" 捨 身 疏) which he composed on beha1f of Crown Prince Wen-hui in 480 . They are simi1ar a1so to other memoranda written for both the Crown Prince and his younger brother， the Prince of Ching-1ing， between 48 1 and 483 on the occasion of pub1ic lectures on Buddhist scriptures ("Chieh-chiang su " 解講疏) . The maj or prob1em that seems to have troubled Shen Yüeh and to have 1ed him to write these tracts was the genera1 breakdown in the origina11y strict discipline of the order of monks-the Sangha . Too much government patronage and too generous bequests of estates and money by wea1thy 1ay donors had， to Shen's way of thinking， weakened the mora1 fiber of both monks and laity to the point where they were not on1y remiss in observing the proper time for eating， but were a1so vio1ating the ru1e against eating meat and other rich foods. His a1most obsessive intercst in these gastronomic matters was by no means tangentia1 to his main commitment， a1ready manifest in the documents discussed above， name1y， enlightenment. But for him even the thought of en1ightenment cou1d not be con­ ceived unti1 the craving for rich delicacies-the most universa1 and conspicuous of a11 human frai1ties and hencc a fitting symbo1 of world1y attachment-is first brought under control . In the "Dis45 See Taishõ 5 2 . 323c-324a; 232a-- 233a

1 52

T H E B U D D H I S T LA Y 此1 A N

course on Keeping the Tradition of the Monks' Midday Meal" (" Shu seng chung-shih lun" 述僧 中 食論) he wrote : The reason people do not attain enlightenment (literally， "the Tao" 道) is because their minds are confused and deluded， and the reason their minds are confused and deluded is because external things disturb them . The three greatest disturbing factors are: ( 1 ) power and profit， with a glorious reputation (shih-li jung-ming 勢利 有些名); (2) dissipation through sensual pleasures (yao-yen mi-l叩n 妖研 靡 吏); and (3) delicious and rich foods (kan-chih fei-nung 甘 旨 肥濃) . Although a glorious reputation may be operating in one's thoughts every day， it is essential to avoid moment by-moment attachment to it. Dissipation through sensual pleasures is by comparison already a more serious matter. But delicious and rich foods are of all attachments the most intense. All other disturbing factors are but the branches and leaves of these three. The Sage (i. e . ， 位kyamuni Buddha) understood that if these three are not eradicated， there is no point from which one may even begin to seek enlightenment. So he had to find a method for making the eradication simple and easy to follow . He could have just said， “These three things are the root of all delusion and should be strictly forbidden . " But inasmuch as these three are precisely the things over which human feelings are the most deluded， they would be extremely difficult to get rid of by mere thought and worry (nien-lü 念處). Even if the Buddha had had the intention of prohibiting them， in the end the prohibitions would have been difficult to enforce. It's like a raft of lashed boats crossing a river. Not that one would not want to cross directly to the opposite shore， but since the current is swift， it just happens there is no possibility of crossing directly. There is no help for it but to cross diagonally with the current and only after a long time finally to reach one's destina­ tion. Just so it's not that the Buddha did not want to accomplish it quickly， but only because the problem is difficult. In order to eradicate these three ultimately， it was appropriate to make a start. But how? As far as human beings are concerned， food is something which cannot be terminated all at once. And since food is the strongest of the three attachments in human nature， the Buddha moved up the evening meal to the forenoon. From noon onward the day is then left pure and empty and without distractions. Because of this freedom from di

46 The Eightfold Path is: ( 1 ) correct views， (2) correct thi叫dng， (3) correct speech， (4) correct conduct， (5) correct livelihood， (6) correct zeal， (7) correct mi吋fulness， (8) correct meditation.

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Commandments .47 Sensual desires will then have no source from which to come forward and all attachments to a glorious reputation will in their turn gradually recede along with all the other things . This is why it is said that the Buddha in the past did not eat after midday. For him it seems this was the "fish trap" and "rabbit snare" 48 for getting rid of all attachments.一the direct path to Enlightenment. Now there are some who suppose it has only to do with not eating. Such persons， however， are deluded about the direction and do not know the way.49

The immediate occasion for writing this first tract， beyond ex­ plaining how reducing the frequency and richness of food intake creates the conditions necessary for achieving enlightenment， must have been the conspicuous failure of many monks in the southern capital to observe the premeridian limitation on eating. Though this failure is not specified in the first tract， it is clearly exposed in the second， "On Keeping the Tradition of the Maigre Feasts" ("Shu seng she-hui lun" 述僧 設會論) . For the cultivatíon of any relígíous observance there ís always a reason. The modern practíce of ínvítíng all the monks at once and settíng out for them a síngle maígre feast probably origínated from the tíme when the Buddha was still ín the world and used to accept people's ínvitatíons to meals and ís by thís means a símulatíon of that precedent. Long ago when the Buddha was ín the world he and the monks ín the sanghãrãma origínally díd not personally prepare theír own food. At the proper times they would go on theír rounds carryíng theír alms bowls ( patta) ín order to bring merít to other sentíent beíngs. In the case of today' s monks， however， not only are those who observe the mídday límítatíon already few ín number， but there are even some who 47 The Ten Proh出tions for monks are : ( 1 ) not to kill; (2) not to steal; (3) not to fornicate; (4) not to lie; (5) not to drink intoxicants; (6) not to eat after noon; (7) not to use garlands or perfumes; (8) not to sleep on large beds; (9) not to sing， dance， or go to the theater; and ( 1 0) not to acquire money or jewelry (see above， Chapter Three， note 42). 48 I . e . ， temporary devices to be discarded after the attachments are gone and enlightenment attained . See Chuang-tzu chi-sh的 2 6 . 407 (Watson， Chuang-tzu， 302): “The raison d '在tre of a fish trap is to catch fish. After catching the fish， one forgets the trap. The raison d'être of a rabbit snare is to catch rabbits . After catching the rabbit， one forgets the snare" (�名 者 所 以 在 魚 ， 得 魚 而 忘 金色 ， 締 者 所 以 在 兔 ， 得 兔 而 忘蹄) . 的 Kuang hung-ming chi 2 4 ( Taishõ 5 2 . 273ab). See also Richard Mather， "The Bonze' s Begging Bowl: Eating Practices in the Buddhist Monasteries of Medieval India and China ， " Journal of the American Oriental Socie吵 1 0 1 . 4 ( 1 98 1 )， 4 1 7 .

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T H E B U D D H I S T LA Y M A N

indulge themselves with sweet a n d rich delicacies and whose larders are full to overf1owing. Today if anyone extends these monks an invitation to a maigre feast， it is only if there is absolutely no way out of it that they will come. And then with well-oiled mouths they only nibble at the simple vegetarian fare. Stretching their necks and furrowing their brows they are definitely unable to enj oy the food. Since it is not received with pleasure there is no room for establishing the host's merit. It is not the way it was in olden times when the monks were not permitted to prepare their own food. Were it not for the support of the fourfold congregation (ssu-pei 四 輩)， 50 their bodies and mouths would have had nothing to rely on. If they had sought to bring merit to others by this means (i.e .， by preparing their own food)， would it not have accomplished j ust the opposite? But speaking quit巴 seriously， if the significance of the maigre feast does not lie here， where does it lie? Those who left their families to become monks were originally supported by their begging rounds. The command­ ments and monastic rules are very clear on this point: no permission is given either for setting up their own kitchens and bedrooms (ch 'u-chang 廚 帳) or for keeping servants (literally， "pure persons， " ching-jen i乎 人) . 5 1 But today， since they have amassed an ample store of food within their monasteries， the practice of going on begging rounds has fallen into disuse. If by accident someone holding an alms bowl were to come to a layman's gate， he would immediately be reviled for doing something so vulgar and degrading for a member of the Sangha. Since it is something everyone considers vulgar and shameful， no one any longer goes on begging rounds Among those who have taken up the religious vocation in these latter days Truthseekers are few， so they think the practice of begging for food is no longer workable. But even one with the nobility of a cakravartin， the son of King Suddhodãna (i. e . ， 品kyamuni Buddha)， carried an alms bowl and went on his rounds to bring merit to the donors. Was he not the equal of ordinary， mediocre monks a thousand years later whose own persons and status are low-class and menial， who make provision for their own mouths and bellies? As far as today's invitations of monks to a single maigre feast are concerned， since they may be considered a simulation of the original begging rounds， to go on begging rounds or to accept invitations to maigre feasts are 5 0 I . e . ， monks， nuns， laymen， and laywomen . 51 Pãli， kappiy心kãraka， those who "make things suitable" by protecting the Sangha from "impure" tasks， such as farming， breeding cattle， commercial transac­ tions， cooking， and the like. See Jacques Gernet， Les aspects économiques du Boud­ dhisme dans la société chinoise du Ve au X e siècle， Saigon， 1 956， 66-67

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monks no longer go on begging rounds， if in addition laymen were no longer to invite them， then the Dharma of going on begging rounds would henceforth go into eternal oblivion. And if this Dharma were to go into oblivion， the Sangha would no longer belong to the Buddha lineage， and if the Buddha lineage is taken away， then a11 Three Jewels (Dharma， Shangha， and Buddha) will have fallen to earth. Those who conduct maigre feasts today should think back to the old days when， in his forty-ninth year， the Buddha， a1 the head of 1he other mendicants， went into the city of S孟vatthï to beg for food. With every movement and gesture， the action naturally corresponded to the thought If one seeks enlightenment (the Tao) in this mann缸， enlightenment will thereby be attained ! If one directs one's thoughts in this manner， then it is permissible to conduct a maigre feast 咒

The word hu i 會， here translated "maigre feast， " normally means any assembly or meeting， but the context makes it clear that what Shen Yüeh is referring to is the periodic convocation on special commemorative occasions of members of the Sangha by emperors， imperial princes， or other lay donors who could afford it， for a vegetarian meal. Shen Yüeh' s explanation of the origin of this pτac tice is certainly correct in part-namely， that it is a Chinese substi tute for， or "simulation" of， the original Indian ascetic tradition of begging for alms， a tradition taken over by the Buddhists and Jains and other mcndicant orders from thc "wanderi時 ascetics" (pari­ vr再jaka) whose origin went back to pre-Vedic times. 53 The point of begging for food， of course， was to declare the monk's detachment from the world. As Shen Yüeh himself clearly understood， the craving for delicious and rich foods was the strongest of a11 attach­ ments . Once the grip of gluttony was weakened， the door to the cultivation of enlightenmcnt was opened， even if only a crack. As a rcsult of the stigma attached to mendicancy in China， how也 ever， the Chinese Sangha never scriously attempted to institutc begging for food as a regular discipline， but from the beginning gathered the monks and nuns in self-contained and self-supporting monastic communities， some of which by Shen Yüeh's day had grown into enormous landholding estates that leased land to tenant 5 2 J(ωng hung-ming chi 24 ( 7ì日ishõ 5 2 : 273bc ) 53 See S ukumar Du tt ， Buddhisl Monks and Mυnasteries in lndia， London， 1 962， 37 - 44

1 56

THE B U DDHIST

L A Y 即1 A N

farmcrs or worked it with tcmple slavcs and neophytes. 54 In the monasteries it was assumcd that the monks and nuns would observe the midday rule and vegetarian diet， but glaring exccptions began to appcar， especially in the larger centers . Thc conspicuous world liness of some monks in the capital was apparently the occasion for Shen Yüeh's appeal to "keep the tradition" (shu 述) . But how were the abuses to be removed? A return to begging was out of the question， and even the native substitute of the maigre feast was apparently already in j eopardy One measure that was open to Shen Yüeh， at least after the founding of the Liang Dynasty in 502 when he was relatively well-ofI， was to set a personal example by hosting a maigre feast of his own . He had previously written a "Mcmorandum of Sclf­ dedication for the Prince of Nan Commandery" (Hsiao Ch'ang-mao 蕭 長 好 " Wei Nan-chün wang she-shen su" 為 南 郡王拾身 疏)-a combination announccment of the princc' s becoming a monk for a day and invitation to a maigre feast， written on the occasion of the princc's parents becoming crown prince and princess in 480. 55 To cclebrate this event the prince presented to the Sangha， "in addition to his own body， one hundred eightcen items， " probably monks ' robes， a normal accompaniment to such feasts . Later， in 509 when Shen Yüeh was sixty-eight， he wrote such a "memorandum" for himself ("She-shen yüan su" 拾 身 願 疏.) to commemorate his semi­ retirement to the suburbs. The text is of interest in its own right because of its eloquent denunciation of wealth gaincd at others' cxpensc By enriching myself I have i月ured others; day and night 1 have not ceased to accumulate wealth beyond my own needs in order to satisfy my ap­ petit凹， robbing the portion which was not my own to fulfill my extrav­ agance. Was it only to warm my body and fill my belly--j ust thi日 and nothing more? It has gotten to the point of things being piled up in boxes and crammed into my storehouse， none of them ever touching my own 54 See Denis Tw肛hett， "Monastic Estates in T'ang China， " Asω M句or (N. S . ) 弓 ( 1 95 6)， 1 23 - 1 鉤， and "The Monasteries and China' s Economy in Medieval Times，" Bulletin of the Schoof of 0門ental and African Studies 1 9 . 3 ( 1 9 5 7)， 526- 549; also Gernet， Aspects économiques， 25 and 1 90 55 Kuang hung-ming chi 28 ( Taishõ 5 2 : 323c-324a). Normally， "self-dedication" (she-shen ;j舍身"l also implied physical mutilation of some sort， e抽er by burning or cuttll1g

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body. And the food that overf1ows my dishes and fills my kitchen-since I'm already surfeited， 1 just throw it away! 1 never understood before that those who work at producing grain and silk are not doing it for themselves . But， poor and destitute， the black-haired peasants are equally entitled to their share. To take from those who have much and give to those who have little is stil!， perhaps， not quite equitable. But if 1 have a surplus， from where will others get enough? The bosom thoughts of kind persons ought not to be like this . 5eizing the property of others is called robbery by the world . But which of the world's most heinous robberies surpasses this? . . 50 now 1 wear an official cap in a glorious state; 1 have a share of land to pass on in the family. Kind favors have overf1owed my person; good fortune has f100ded me with servants and concubines. My rooms are not "bare as hanging lithophones"; my salary and possessions are both of gold To save me from cold 1 need only double furs， yet my cases are filled with extra linings. On winter nights not only am 1 covered with padded silk， but in my chests there are extra coverlets. Above and beyond these， superf1uous things proliferate . Though my situation is j ust like those powerful families， the disgrace of it is far worse. Compared to impoverished households the excesses are truly many. In order to awake to the impermanence of all this one must depend upon the Buddhas. To have the thought of giving it up and dispersing it one should find light at the place of enlightenment. Hunger and cold， penury and suffering， are the bitterest of all calamities . Even if my alms should fill all provinces and prefectures， it would still hardly suffice to cover all conditions. . . To deplete oneself in giving to others is not easy to do all at once， but 1 vow and wish to broaden my thoughts and deepen my generosity; by accumulating trif1es they may become significant. The path of alms， the gate of giving， 1 hope 1 may be able to tread . 50 on this eighteenth day of the second month (March 24) of the eighth year of the T'ien一chien era of Great Liang (509) in the newly rebuilt imperial residence at Chia可 Mausoleum (Chiang-li月 蔣 陵) ， 56 1 hereby inv也 the Buddha and the 5angh且， just as AnãthapiJ.l9ada did in the Jeta Grove57superior gentlemen of tranquil mind-one hundred persons in all. Al­ though the fruit is inferior to that of Ambap孟lï's58 grove and the rice not 捕叫 I . e 丸 ， n即ea缸r t出he tomb of Sun C仙h叭'i 山 1跎eh ' s盯r叫 吋宅E叩 仗t1叮re凹 m跎cn 叭 1t v盯ill laa Mt. Chung， no叫rthe臼as仗t of Chi閃en-叫-1去k'a缸an嚕g， t出he s叫it臼e o吐f She凹n Yü 57 The pleasure garden of Prince Jeta in Sâvatthi， bought at enormous expense for the Buddha and his disciples by the wealthy householder Anâthapinçlada. See E . J. Thomas， The Life of Buddha ω Legend a吋 H叫0阱 London， 1 927， 1 04- 1 0 5 . 弓" The courtesan of Vesali， who offered her mango grove to the Buddha near the end of his life

可

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THE B UDDHIST LAYMAN

from (the fragrant) Kingdom of Gandhasugandha，59 的11 the wild grains and mountain greens may equal them in satisfying hunger. At the same time 1 de刮目前 myself and make offering of clothing- 1 1 7 items in all. . . . For one day and one night 1 wil1 join the Buddha in "going forth from home" (間 ， becoming a monk). Originally r propagated heterodox teachings and served what was neither Dharma nor Sangha; but worldly passions Jed me astray， and together with them r lost this path. 1 summoned and suborned famous monks， setting them apart in an empty room， while 1 as host would lie on a high couch taking my ease in an inner hall. To call this "observing the Eight Prohibitions " 60 would be truly wide of the mar1至 Even if there might have been some good karma for supporting the monks， it was not the kind that stops the outflows of pollution. Today 1 earnestly pledge， from this very morning until tomorrow at dawn， to drive away all worldly attachments and be united with the Well-come;61 to remain sequestered in the highest virtue， that 1 may be assisted in completing my feeble resolve. Depending on this trifling cause， 1 hope one day to realize the future fruit!6 2 As for meritorious words， that is something 1 would not presume to approach.63

Part of the vow reads like a confession very much in the spirit of Shen's earlier " Text of Confession and Repentance" ("Ch'an-hui wen" 機悔 文)，64 which we shall have occasion to look at later . It is one of the earliest and most explicit expressions 1 am aware of by a mcmber of the literati of what appears to be genuine concern over thc disparity in wealth and living standards between the leisured and working classes in medieval China， antedating the deeply mov ing social commentary of poets like Tu Fu 杜甫 ( 7 1 2 �770) and PO Chü-i 白 居 易 (772�846) by over two centuries. Of course， the thought of revolutionary changes in the hierar­ chical structure of Chinese society， or anything remotely resembling "cgalitarianism， " was not the point at issue . After all， no one ever champio 肘 d the sanctity of the distinction between "gentry" (s泊圳h扣ih ， 士 ) and 'υd河C∞ommon即r"川 (令shu 庶) more vehemently than Shen Yüeh himself in his notorious " Proposal to lndict Wang Yüan" ("Tsou t'an Wang Yüan " 奏彈玉 源)， written in 490 and preserved in the 5 9 See Vimalaklrti-nirde!;a 10 ( Taishõ 1 4 : 5 5 2a). 60 I . e . ， the first eight o f the Ten Prol曲itions for monks (sec Chapter Three， note 42 abovc) 61 Sugata， an cpithet of the Buddha. 62 I . c . ， enlightenment. 6 3 Kua句 hung-mir啟 ιhi 28 ( Taishõ 5 2 : 323bc). 64 Ibid . ， 3 3 J bc.

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Wen-hsüan as a model for its genre. 65 "\戶v'ang Yüan' s ancestors were 丘migrés from Tung-hai 泉海 (in modern Shantung)， and his great­ grandfather， Wang Ya 雅 (334-400)， had held a high court position under the Eastern Chin Emperor Hsiao-wu (r . 373 -396). Y註an apparently in desperate financial st甘ra缸it臼s， had arranged a marriage of convenience between his daughter and the son of a wealthy minor official of mixed gentry-commoner background， one Man Chang­ chih 滿 璋 之 of Fu-yang 宮 陽 (in modern Chekiang)， who had falsified his genealogy to claim descent from the northern aristocrat Man Fen 滿 李 ( d . ca. 300) . As Shen Yüeh later discovered， Man Fen had left no male heirs . In blazing indignation he wrote : When someone of noble birth demeans his status， even though he is acting only for himself， he is insulting his ancestors and humiliating his parents to a degree no one could surpass. Unless this tendency is checked now， the floodgates will be opened wide and the blackening of the world and soiling of families will reach even to our own houses. 叭Tang Yüan should be cen5ured in no uncertain terms and dismissed from office 50 that his already sullied clan may be eternally ashamed in the presence of its past glories， and so that those who now have any dealings with him may change their minds about doing so in the future.66

As is clcar from this documcnt， thc matter of social distinctions was farthest from Shen Yüeh's mind whcn he made his vow of self-dedication and invited one hundred monks to share a vegetarian meal at his mountain retreat in a northeast suburb of Chien-k'ang . He was far more concerned with his own karma and the maintenance of wholesome traditions within the Chinese Sangha. On at least one more occasion， shortly before his death in 5 1 3， hc j ointly hosted another maigre feast. The circumstances are related in the text of the vow hc made on this occasion， "A Vow for a Thousand-Monk Asscmbly" ("Ch'ien-seng hui yüan-su" 千 僧 會 願 疏)， also included in the Kuang hung-ming chi : Once life starts to decline there is no hope of regaining it. The thought with which T console my mind and comfort myself is that as 1 approach my end it will not be like the evanescence of lightning or froth. The Perfect Sage 6 5 Wen-hsüan 40.9a- 1 3a 66 rbid . ， 1 3a. For a brilliant analysis of this important social documcnt， see Johnson， The Medieval Chinese Oligarchy， 9- 1 5

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T H E B U D D H I S T L A Y 恥1 A N

(the Buddha) is frozen in Nirvana; there is no trace by which he may be sought. Moved by karmic fulfillment， his work on earth was soleJy to save other beings. Holding an alms bowl， walking in silence， he went out from the Jeta Grove， never transgressing the rule of stopping at noon in order to bring merit to other sentient beings . The lingering dharma of his scented dust， Jofty above us， remains unchanged . Last summer 1， Shen Yüeh， met with a painfuJ illness . Hi日 imperiaJ Highness， moved by compassion， condescended to show his profound concern . When the succession of months had reached high heat (July August) and the sun was at the day ping-yin， he commanded the assembling of a thousand monks in his private quarters . Of his bounteous mercy and generous donations no one knows the Jimit. Not only had he already offered vast kindness， but he was even thinking of exhausting his own family's resources. Strength enough to gather one thousand monks a11 at once would be difficult to muster privately. But to do it little by little until the number was complete wouJd be re!ative!y easy. So Dharma master Hu門üeh 慧 約 。f the Grass Hut Monastery (Ts'ao-t'ang ssu 平 堂 寺)67 in the mountain temple where he lives took care of eight assemblies. One of the remaining two was put in charge of Dharma master (Seng-) yu 僧 祐 of the Upper Ting-lin Monastery (Shang Ting-lin ssu 上 定林寺) . 68 And on the twenty ninth day of this month 1 have gathered this tenth assembly in the hut in the fields69 which 1 have built 70

Nothing is said in the text specifically about food or the donation of clothing for the monks but， as we have seen， the term "assembly" 抖的 會J did have the meaning of "maigre feast" in Shen's other writings， and the reference to 豆 豆kyamuni leaving the Jeta Grove on his begging rounds confirms that this was indeed the purpose of the assemblies. T H E M E A N I N G O F C O M P A S S I O N . Closely related to the problems of

begging for food， the time of eating， and the holding of maigre feasts， 67 Located on the northern slope of Mt. Chung. This was the same Hui-yüeh who had accompanied Shen Yüeh to Tung-yang in 494. 68 Also located on Mt. Chung， w巴st of the Lower Ting-lin Monastery. See Chih-ta Chin-ling hsin 忱的 豆 大金 陵新誌 1 1 B . 1 7b (manuscript copy， dated 1 786， Na叮lllg University Library). Seng-yu 僧 祐 (44 5 - 5 1 8) was the compiler of the earlier Hurzg-mirzg chi ( Ta叫10 5 2 : 1 -96). The Upper Ting-lin Monastery was built in 435 Sec Seng-yu's biography in Kao-seng chuan 高 僧 f專 (Lives of Emúlerz t Morzks) 1 1 ( Taishδ 5 0 : 402c) 的 I . e . ， his ()wn villa . 叩ua句 hurzg-ming chi 28 ( Ta的hõ 52 : 324ab)

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was the problem of what may be eaten and what may not . Since the principle of not harming life (ahimsa) has always been part of the Buddhist tradition and figured prominently in the Buddhist revul sion against the bloody sacrifices of the Vedic religion， it is curious to find that vegetarianism as such did not really become the rule until quite late， somewhere around the third century A . D . In their begging rounds the monks were taught to keep silent， with lowered eyes， and to accept whatever was offered by the lay donors， asking no questions . Among the five "permissible foods" (pañca bh句仰伊a) were ( 1 ) cooked rice (odana)， (2) gruel (kummãsa)， (3) barley meal or 。our (sattu)， (4) fish (maccha)， and (5) meat (mamsa) . 7 1 For sick monks special "medicinal" foods were a1so allowed; in Chinese sources they are listed as (6) soup (keng 羹)， (7) sweet cakes (hsiu-pu 修飾)， (8) milk ( j u 划 ， (9) curds (lo 酪)， ( 1 0 ) cream (lo-chiang 酪 朵)， ( 1 1 ) kïlãla 古 羅 羅 (a sweet beverage) ， ( 1 月 honey (madhu 蜜)， ( l 月 green vegetables (ts 'ai 茉)， and ( 1 4 ) various hard foods or " chew­ ables" (khãdaniya 佮 闌 尾.) such as roots， stems， seeds， and flowers. 72 No ef1'ort was madc to exclude fish or meat， since the recipients 01' such donations clearly had not taken the lives 01' the animals they were consuming . If the question were ever raised， the rule was to consider the meat "pure" under the 1'o llowing thrce conditions (san-ching 三 科 : ( 1 ) if the eater had not seen the animal alive， (2) had not heard its cries when sla可htered， or (3) had no reason to suspect it was killed especially 1'or him . 73 It was only when the Mahãyãna version 01' the Mahãparinirvã仰 sütra 1'i rst appeared in India sometime in thc third century that the 1'i rst unequivocal prohibition that 1 am aware of was made against mcat consumption . 1 quote from the Chinese translation by Dhar­ makscma o1' A . D . 42 1 : The Buddha sa泣， "From this day onward 1 do not permit the bhik.�us to eat meat. If they receive faithful donations of meat from almsgivers they should look on this food as if it were the f1esh of their own children. . The one who eats meat has cut off the seeds of compassion . . . . The so-called 71 See 1. B. Horne r， lhe Book of Discipfine， 雪 vols . ， London， 1 938- 1 9 5 1 ， "Pãcittiya" 2 5 (3 : 330). 7 2 SSU于en fü 四 分律 ( The Four-Part Vinaya) 1 1 ( Taishõ 22 : 866c) 73 See E. J. Thor

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T H E B U D D H I S T LA Y 此直 A N

'three pure' conditions under which one may eat meat were only a grad uated expedient developed to meet a particular circumstance. " 74

In China， especia11y among gentry Buddhists of the Southern Dynasties， before the appearance of the Nirvana Sutra in Chien k'ang in 430， devout Buddhists had in fact avoided meat during specified fast periods (chai 齋)一three fortnights in the year and six days each month75-but with the new and revolutionary teachings of the Nirvana Sutra people began not only to raise questions about nonfast days and the "three pure" conditions， but also to advocate total vegetarianism . By Shen Yüeh's day it was universally accepted， and only three years after his death， partly as a result of his own obsessive pleading， the principle of "compassion" (tz 'u-pei 慈 是; Skt. karu1Ja) was carried even into the annual sacrifices to the dynastic ancestors， where dough effigies were substituted for the traditional animal victims . 76 For Shen Yüeh compassion meant kindness to all living beings， including humans， but it was the nonhuman world which for him provided the real test of a person' s compassion : those defenseless silkworm pupae whose lives were sacrificed when the cocoons were plunged into boiling water to loosen the threads for spinning silk; those innocent mosquitoes trying to find food， whom he had angrily slapped against his thigh on hot summer nights. Compassion to human beings was too obvious a concern to require comment. That is why his "Discourse on Ultimate Compassion" ("Chiu白ching tz' u­ pei lun" 究 竟 慈 悲 論)-compassion， that is， to the least of a11 crea­ tures-is basically a manifesto for vegetarianism. The fundamental principle of the Buddhist religion is compassion， and among the essential elements of compassion preserving life whole is the most important: to base one' s feelings on reciprocity (shu-chi 恕 己.) and to 74 Ta pan-nieh-p'an ching 7 ( Taishö 1 2 : 626a). 7 5 See Ch' ih Ch'ao 希�超 (336-3 7 7)， “Feng-fa yao" 奉法要 (可ssentials of 0 b且 serving the Dharma") in Hung-ming chi 1 3 ( Taishö 曰 : 86b); translated in Erik Zürcher， The Buddhist Conquest of China， Leiden， 1 959， 1 : 1 64 76 T'ung-chien 148.4632 . The text of Emperor Wu's "Tuan-sha chüeh tsung-miao hsi-sheng chao" 斷殺絕 索 廟 犧 牲 詔 ("Edict to End Killing and Eliminate Animal Sacrifices in the Ancestral Temple") may be found in Kuang hung-ming chi 28 ( Taishö 曰 : 293b-294a) . Emperor Wu' s lengthy treatise on "Tuan chiu-jou wen" 斷 酒 肉 文 ("Ending the Use of Wine and Meat") is found in ibid . ， 294b-303c.

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view other beings as one vicws onself; to want to lct a1l catcgorics of conscious and intelligent beings who love life and hate death cach follow what is suitable for each without mishap or premature death. But as worldly corruption grows deeper every day the sinking of all beings into delusion becomes harder to change. If one were to try to reverse the process in a single morning， then doubts and mi日understandings would never be lifted . In establishing any teaching or setting up a formula for action one has to proceed by slow degrees. Furthermore， among those things con­ taminated by passions and addictions the love of delicious and rich food is the most virulent. And when the addiction is coniaminated by the passions it becomes even harder to reform it all at once. This is why the Buddha instituted the so-called "three pure" conditions under which meat may be consumed as a way of expedie虹e (ch 'üan 榷 ; Skt 叩ãya) . But in his final sermon at the time of his parinirvãηa， when his teaching was coming to an end， he greatly clarified the meaning of pity ( yin - ts'e 11洛 伊'1 ) and bequeathed it as his legacy for the future Now wbether one eats meat or wears silk， it makes no difference， and whether one takes life or shortens it， the principle is the same . Plunging the cocoons into boiling water and scalding the pupae--do these not cause intolerable pain? Hanging carcasses in the kitchen and setting meat dish的 on the table--- a re these alone acts of weighty consequence? . . . Tbe fisher man who presents his catch and the one who eats the fish-both share the same karmic preconditions . The mulberry woman who spins her thread and the one who wears silk clothes-both share the same lot. . . . Our own exoteric classics say， “1n a household of five mou (about one acre)， if the land is planted with mulberries， then the sixty-year-olds may wear silk. If chickens， suckling pigs， dogs， and swine do not miss their proper season for breeding or slaughter， then the seventy-year-olds may eat meat . " 7 7 If this is the case， all w ho are fifty-nine years old and younger should be wearing plain cloth， and all who are sixty-nine years old and younger should be eating vegetables. But not only is it hard for the body to do without light and warm clothes， it is also not easy for the mouth to be deprived of delicious and succulent foods. Strictly speaking， it is not a case of which is " better" or "worse. " People should wear linen and hemp and eat fruit and vegetables. As far as the actions are concerned， they ar

叫\ 1en叫

1 64

T H E B U D D H IS T L A Y M A N

The Way of the Sage (Buddhism) is eminent and profound， but unless people think aboul it， it does not penetrate below the surface. lts goodness reaches all living beings and its truth is without partiality or polJution. But when it comes to repairing evils which have gone to extremes， the signifi­ cance of this leaching becomes urgent. If the wearing of silk and eating of meat is not curbed it will become the universal practice. Therefore， when in his late years the Buddha preached the great sutra (the Mahaparinirvaηa)， he proclaimed abroad this wonderful leaching. There the rule prohibiting the eating of meat is plainly manif出t in what he said， while the principJe of doing away with the wearing of silk is unmistakably inferred . . Earlier， t伐它凹n o叮r mor臼e years befor閃e the N\Virvana Sulr臼a had been tr呵、1ιa叩1 (i . e . ， ca. 4 1 0)， among the famous mo叫，-s on Mt. Lu 廬 78 there were alread y some vegetarians . Was it not a case of following the intuitive dictales of their own hearts which were naturally in agreement with the Truth? . . . Ever since the Nirvana Sutra has come eastward to China the μthree pure" conditions of meat consumption have ceased their karmic condition­ ing. People have submitted wholeheartedly to its ultimate teaching and have applied its standards on an ever-widening scale. The violent taking of liCe is coming to an end， and of the raising of vegetables people will nev巳r grow weary. The game birds of autumn and the birds' eggs of summer henceforth will be as remote as drifting clouds; furry creatures of the hills and the harvest of the sea will become as unpalatable as the decayed rat to the yü an -ch 'u 鵑 鵑 bird . 79 But the reason why raw silk garments and dressed silk robes have never been suspected of being unsuitable is doubt­ less because people's thinking has been exhausted by the profundity of the words of the text and their minds confused by its vast meaning. Those who understand its prescriptions and have deep faith in them will， it is hoped， gain insight into this truth. Once they have awakened to the truth， the delusion of their behavior can be overcome and reversed . Then， if they have put an end to the karmic conditioning of silk wearing and meat eating and strengthened the karmic conditioning of vegetarianism and the wear­ ing of linen， all those living creatures may perhaps escape alive.80

Allowing for some exaggeration in Shen Yüeh's exuberant predic­ tion of universal acceptance by the Chinese Buddhist community of total vegetarianism， it is still true that whcn thc pilgrim Hsüan-tsang 78 1 . e . ， Hui-yüan 慧 i主 (d. 4 1 6) a n d the Lu-shan community under his guida肛e There is no specific record of this in H ui-yüan' s biography in Kao-seng chuan 6 ( Taishõ 50 : 3 雪 7 c -361 b ) ; translated in 2i肌her， Buddh叫 Conquest， 1 : 240-253 79 See Chua幣一tzu chi-sf叫 1 7 . 296 (Watson， Chuang-tzu， 1 88). 80 Kuang hung-ming chi 26 ( Taishõ 日 : 292c-293a)

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玄 失 (ca. 596-664) was entertained in the Buddhist monasteries of the Sarvästiv孟da tradition in Central Asia on his way to lndia in the seventh century， he noted with some condescension that "in eat ing the monks are contaminated by the 'three pure' conditions of meat consumption and are still impeded by the 'gradual teaching' (i . e . ， the Hïnayäna)， " 81 features that Hsü即1一tsa峙， at least， a little more than a century after Shen Yüeh's death， considered to be " backward . " GU1L T A N D C O N F E S S I O N . A feature of Chinese civilization that has

often been noted by anthropologists and sociologists is that， in con月 trast to civilizations of western Asia and Europe that have been deeply influenced by the Judeo-Christian tradition of sin and repen如 tance， Chinese moral sensitivity is better characterized by a sense of shame than by guilt. 82 As some of these o bservers have also noted， however， the sense of guilt is by no means lacking in Chir尬， and one of the most conspicuous examples of a guilt-ridden conscience cited from the early medieval period is that of Shen Yüeh himself.83 To say this about him is not to impugn his moral probity， but on the contrary to stress the extraordinary sensitivity of his self【 awareness. Self-accusation and self-doubt are never far beneath the surface in practically everything that Shen wrote， as we have had ample opportunity to observe . But there is one document， unique for its day， that is the embodiment par excellence of these traits， namely， his " Text of Confession and Repentance" ("Ch'an-hui wen" 俄 悔 文 ) . It is included in the section on "Repentance from Sin" ("Hui-tsui p'ien" 悔 罪 篇) of the Kuang hung-ming chi along with other statements made by aristocratic laymen at the confessional services， or uposatha， which had been instituted by the Prince of Ching-ling in the capital around the year 487. 84 The uposatha cere自 mony had a long history in India even before its preemption by the 81 Ta- T 'ang hsi-yü chi 大 唐 西 城記 ( The Great T 'ang Record of the Western Regions) 1 ( Taishõ 5 1 : 870a) . 82 See， e . g . ， 、兩lolfram Eberhard， Guilt and Sin in Traditional China， Berkeley and Los Angeles， 1 967， especiaJly 1 -23; Francis L. K. Hsü， Under the Ancestor's ShadoUJ， New York， 1 948 8 3 See Pei-yi 叭仙， "Self-examination and Confession of Sins in Traditional China， " Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 39. 1 ( 1 979)， 5一38. 84 T h悅e y戶ea訂r h阮e be巴C臼ame Directo叮r of Ir肘tructl間on (令5叫s叫、 1 3 6 .42 7九4; aJso Kuang hung-m呵 chi 28 ( Taishõ 5 2 : 330b)

1 66

T H E B U D D H I S T LA Y 島生 A N

Buddhists . As the day of fasting and preparation on the eve of the soma sacrifice (Skt ψ a vasa tl叫 in Vedic times， it later became regularized by the lunar calendar to the first and fifteenth of every month . The Buddhists celebrated these days not only by fasting， but by the recitation of the two-hundred-odd rules (pãtimokkha) for monks， the renewal of the Eight Vows or Prohibitions (slla) for laymen， and the confession of transgressions. 85 The other confessions among which Shen Yüeh's is found are generalized and rhetorical in nature . That of Emperor Chien-wen of Lia時 (Hsiao Ka可 蕭桐， r . 549-5 5 1 ) begins: "Today in this assembly with a sincere heart 1 confess and repent of the hindering actions of my six faculties (indriya) . My visual consciousness (cωak何辛u昕r仟門且-tν吋y darkened by nescience， is easily overturned by vermilion and pur­ ple . Once having followed its frivolous pollution， there ha5 been no return for a thousand years . . . ， " and 50 on through the other five faculties (auditory， olfactory， gustatory， tactile， and mental).86 Shen Yüeh' s， on the other hand， startles the reader by its candor and specificity . It is interesting to speculate on the reason for this difference. pei-yi Wu， in a very illuminating article on "Self­ examination and Confession of Sin in Traditional China ， " 8 7 suggests the influence of Shen' s Taoist background . It is true that even after his "conversion" to Buddhism under the tutelage of the Ch' i princes， Hsiao Ch'ang-mao and his brother Tzu-liang， Shen remained faithful to the Celestial Masters Sect even to the end， when on hi5 deathbed he called in a Taoist confessor. B8 The confessional was an integral part of the Taoist religion and was the basis for the original healing practice of its founders . In article 3 1 of the Code of Lord Lao to Be Chanted to Music (Lao-chün yin-sung chieh-ching 老 君 奇 誦 識經)， attrib­ uted to K'ou Ch'ien-chih 寇 謙之 (且 425 -448)， we read: If among the people of the Way there is illness， it should be reported . When the priest (shih 師) arrives at the home he should first have the family of the sick person light the incense fire in the Calm Chamber (ching 垮I i.e.， 8 5 See T. W. Rhys-Davids and William Stede， The Pali Text Socie紗'5 Pal←English Dictiònary， London， 1 92 1 - 1 92 5 (reprinted， 1 948)， 2 : 1 5 1 ; also Thomas， Life of Buddha， 1 68 . 86 U Liu 用 ken ch'an-wen" 六 中良機 文 ( "Confession of Acts Committed through the Six Sense Faculties") by Hsiao Kang 簫網 (Emperor Chien-wen of Liang， r. 549 5 5 1 )， Kuang hung-ming chi 28 (Ta的hõ 曰 : 3 30c-3 3 1 b). 87 See note 83 above. 88 See Chapter Eight

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CHAPTER 7

the place of worship). Outside the Chamber the sick person， facing west with hair unbound， should kneel and strike hisjher head on the ground and confess and write down hisjher sins and transgressions . The person should be made to tell all�nothing is to be hidden or concealed--and beg for forgiveness. If the sick person passes over even one incident， or if hisjher intention is untruthful， or if the heart is unbelievi呵， what sins will be re叫做出hrough the petition (chang-tsou 章 奏)? The priest also should himself write a separate report indicating the name of the sick， an account of hisjher petition， and the nature of the illness. At the same time he should restate the confession of sins.89

The Taoists' insistence upon candor and specificity in the con­ fession is based on their belief that unconfessed wrongdoing is the actual cause of illness . Until the causc is totally removed the illness will remain uncured . In Buddhism， on the other hand， the problem is slightly different . Bad karma from past wrongdoing will pcrpet­ uate suffering and delay enlightenme帥， but the reason for confess ing past sins is not so much to cure a specific illness as to release thc penitent from the attachments and delusions that past sins have wrought . The Buddhist penitent， therefore， tries to be as broad in his coverage as possible-all past existences as well as all categories of wrongdoing are included， and that is why he may lean toward generalities rather than particulars In Shcn Yüeh's case， we would have to add still another factor， besides his Taoist upbringing and a naturally tender conscience， to explain the unusually frank disclosures of his confession. He was constantly living in the shadow of the dark cloud surrounding his father's and great-grandfather's deaths . Was he， too， tainted by their " disloyalty" ? The eagerness to prove to himself and to his patrons that he was indeed beyond reproach made him cruelly exacting and unforgiving regarding his own behavior. A certain amount of self­ abnegation was normal for persons in his situation， but he seemed somehow to carry it to cxtremes . In his memorial of submission when he presented his History of the Sung to the throne in 487， for 89 Tao-tsang 30 : 2423a. See also Yang Lien-sheng 楊聯 陸 ， "Lao-chün yin-sung chieh-chi月's chiao 的ih " 老 君 音 吉為 古拉經枝釋 (川Notes on the Code of Lord Lao to Be Chanted to Music")， Chung-yang yen-chiu-yüan， Li-shih yü-yen yen-chiu-so chi-k 'an 28 ( 1 9 56)， 5叩叫Oα a叫ls叩o Pe凹1卜叮-yi Wu札1， 叫'Selfι呵-examma泣叫t廿iOl1， " Ch叮扒1γ扎'ie叩n chi出h and the背e Taois“t Theocracy a前t the No叮rt由he仗rn口1 叭Wei C臼our此t， 425-45 1 ， " Welc吋h1 and Sεidel， edi址tors扎， Facets of Taoism， 1 1 7

一

1 68

T H E B U D D H I S T L AY M A N

cxample， h e concludcd with the words : Your servant i s truly o f mediocre and mendacious character， with many gaps in his knowledge of literature and history. . . . 叭Tith the trif1ing talent of a peasant 1 hereby transmit the opulent records of an entire dynasty. In trying to suit the words to the events 1 have gazed up admiringly to the ancients， abashed before their吋 superiority. Bowing deeply， with mincing steps， blushing and sweating， 1 perish with embarrassment. . . . Verily trembling， verily in awe， your servant Yüeh now bows his head， bows his head， his crimes worthy of death， his crimes worthy of death!90

Formulaic deprecations aside， this somewhat hangdog mood which colors so much of his autobiographical writing seems to ref1ect thc perennial undercurrcnt of his life， which he also summarized in thc final couplets of his maj or poetic work， the "Poetic Essay on Living in the Suburbs， " written a bout six years bef叮e his death: It's only that the kindnesses of heaven and earth go unreguited， That the officer who ，人rrites my life has nothing to transmit. Unduly honored with high family status， 1 will not be cited by the Good Historian's brush. Long have 1 sighed _ . what more is there to say? Just that I am ashamed my heart has not been single.91

惟 以 天 地之 忠 不 報 害 事之官 靡 述 徒重 以 高 門 之地 不 載 於 良 史之 華 長太 息其 何 言 兌愧 心 之 非 一

It is striking how the same tone of self-reproach is spelled out in the " Text of Confession and Repentance" written more than twenty years earlier. Because of its intrinsic interest and because of thc light it sheds on his life， 1 will quote it in its entirety. The disciple Shen Yüeh， striking his head on the ground， makes this report to all the Buddhas and assembled saints . Moving backwards from my present existence to beginningless time， my sinful acts have proliferated in every direction and certainly cannot be reckoned in words and symbols. None of my past karmic preconditions， either those leading to realization (cheng 詮 ) or to obscuration (mei 味) have risen out of the [ormer. But beginni月 from my early youth (t 'ung 童 ) 1 possessed a mind addicted to 90 SU η'x-shu 1 00. 2467-2468.

91 Lianx…shu 1 3 . 242

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CHAPTER 7

desire. 1 did not understand the meaning of compassion and never dis­ cerned the retribution of my sins. 1 consigned the furry， feathered， and finny tribes to my kitchen， and because 1 had never faced them alive， it was not a situation where pity applied. 1 cut them Up every morning and cooked them every evening， while months ran on to years， stuffing my belly， filling my voraciousness. Beside this there was nothing else. Even earlier than that， when 1 was an untutored child and was spiritually undeveloped， while at play 1 indulged in acts of cruelty and violence . Of all the creatures that wriggled， flew， or swam， none failed to end Up on my table. Whenever 1 encountered any by chance， 1 would immediately try to kill or strike it. 1 often try to recall such incidents， truly numerous in variety， but since such a long time has intervened between recollection and event， it is hard to be detailed or exhaustive. Again， while 1 lay in bed in the hot summer months and mosquitoes or horseflies stung my skin， anger at them would rise in my heart which was answered instantly by my hand. In one year 1 must have exterminated around ten thousand of them! My hand moved because of my anger; their lives were destroyed because of my hand . There is no method of killing in which 1 am not competent; even down to the present moment 1 have still not fully rid myself of this evil Again， 1 used to drain ponds in order to fish， personally manning the nets and dragnets . When the pulling and driving was over， with gleeful delight 1 and my companions would reward ourselves with feasting. Esca­ pades of this sort were very numerous; it did not happen just once. At parties and on outings with like-minded companions crimes and misde­ meanors were committed in wild profusion: sometimes we pilfered fruit from someone' s orchard or made off with his source of nourishment. My weak nature and benighted mind succumbed to every delight and ap­ proved every pleasure. 1 accepted my share of the loot and bolted it down openly without bothering to conceal it. By nature 1 am fond of books and manuscripts， but in my improper acquisition of them 1 forgot all decency and got possession of at least two hundred scrolls that did not belong to me. Again， beautiful expressions are plentiful and their sources abundant and wide-ranging， but in my sins of plagiarism， even though 1 may have escaped the charge of "great transgression， " my " slight infringements" and "minor violations" would indeed

1 70

THE B UDDHIST LAYMAN

Upper Room" 9 2 were truly beyond number. As for "sharing the peach" 前 "cutting the sleeve， " 91 the間， too， were not infrequent. Such are truly the cages and pitfalls of Samsara and are not easily washed away My disposition (chih 志 ) has its times of constriction and times of expansiveness; my nature has an equal endowment of both. But when it comes to "transferring my anger" 94 or being excessively abusive， there have been times when this was probably the case. The fierce look， the harsh voice-no day has passed that 1 have been able to avoid them. Again， when it comes to my habit of speaking scornfully， J've never really tried to find out why 1 do it. All 1 know is that whenever 1 encounter somcone who crosses me， then out it comes! My emotions engulf me and 1 am undone. Following such an outburst the whole morning 1 will be confused and upsct， and even by nightfall it will not have subsided. If in my future retribution 1 turn out to be stupid and pigheaded， it will have begun from this. Just as the past thought instant (nien) passes away， the later thought instant rises to take its place; thc foot-high wave ncver rcsts， the inch-long shadow hastens on. Shame and remorse are crowded together in my heart. 1 stand here ignorant and confused . Today， in the presence of the Buddhas of the ten directions and the triple world，95 1 appear before the Sangha and Great Congregation . 1 vow in my heart to conquer myself and to follow after repentance and self-reproach; to disavow and forsake my former transgressions and to wash dean my thoughts and imaginations; to correct all my personal misdeeds and restore my life to the Lord of Heaven (T'ien-tsun 天 尊 ). 96 Again， when 1 search the basis of my physical body， made up as it is of the "eight subtleties" (pa-wei 八{紋)，97 analyzing and separating them， 1 do not know who is their lord . Even though the one who has created the karma is myself ( s hen 身)， my "self " is at the same time extinguished every moment. Yet moment by moment it is also being reborn， discretely but 92 I . e . ， sexual encounters w仙 women (see Chapter Five， note 1 22). 明 1. e . ， homosexual e配ounters (see Chapter Five， notes 1 2 3 and 1 24) 94 1 . e . ， taking out my anger on B because of resentment against A. See Analects 6 . 2 (Legge， Chi附se Clas月ics， 1 : 1 85 ) 的 1. e . ， the World 01' Desire (kãma-df成u)， the World of Form (門診。 dhãtu)， and the World Without Form (arûpa-dhãtu); the three together comprise the samsaric rea 1m of existèn ce % An epithet of the Buddha; also one of the three highest divinities in the Taoist pantheon 97 Pa-wei sometimes refers to the "eight directions . " Their也 identity here is not c.Iear to me. Normally the physi日1 body is analyzed into the five skandha (per­ sonality components) or twelve ãyatana (the six senses and their objects)， etc

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continuously， without end . The evi] that 1 committed in the past had previously been created in my mind. At the time 1 committed it my mind had already been defiled. Though my already defiled mind had been extinguished along with the moment， nevertheless， since it had been defiled in the past. it became the later precondition for further wrongdoing. If on the basis of the Four Truths98 T do not extinguish Being (bhava) through Emptiness (sünyata)， the attachments that defHe the mind will never in the end be worn away. Today， aroused by this shame and by the Prohibitions (chi的 戒 ; Skt. .�ïla)， 1 am wiping away that by which T have been defi!ed. 九I\Then that by which 1 have been defiled has been removed， Emptiness itself will become my nature. A[ter my nature has become empty， then it is my hope that my sins will have nothing left to rest on. Spreading my hair in the rite of prostration (ti月g-li 丁頂 禮)，99 1 pray that both the hidden and manifest wishes of my heart may find realization and fulfillment. Once this thought instant is fulfilled， may it continue forever unbroken， daily wiped clean， yearly more lustrous， life after life unresting， until at least 1 reach the place of enlightenment， never again to turn back! Again， those evils that are now being inf1icted on me were all iní1 icted by me on others in former existences. If 1 do not extinguish these heavy karmic preconditions now， 1 will encounter even heavier evils in the future. By the same token if 1 cut them off and end them now， 1 will put to rest forever all future preconditions. The Tao (i. e . ， enlightenment) is eternal and omnipresent; sometime in the future it will respond (i. e . ， 1 will attain it) . 1t is my hope， in reliance on today's sincerity， that everything 1 want will be achieved . IOO

It is interesting to compare the view of karma and causation presented at the end of this confession， made around 487， with Shen Yüeh' s later and more mature treatment of it after seventecn years in his argument " On Causes and Conditions" and "On Body and Spirit， " which we encountered previously in connection with his elaboration on Emperor Wu' s answer to Fan Chen's attack on the Buddhist principle of the "nor 98 The Fouγ Truths are: ( 1 ) existence is su缸éring (dulJkha); (2) the ca山e of su旺ering is the aggregation of constit目前 elements (samudaya); (3) there is a way to the cessation of suffering (nirodha); a吋 (4) the way (mãrga) to cessation is by the Eightfold Path (see note 46 above)， which in the end consists of analyzing the constituent elements of existence (the dharmas) 99 I .e . ， touching the feet 0 1' the Buddha image with the crown of the head. l 個 Kuang hung-ming chi 28 ( Taishδ 5 2 : 3 3 1 bc). 101 Sung-shu 9 3 . 2 2 7 5 -2276

1 72

T H E B U D D H I S T LA Y 此咀 A N

mieh) . In the confession Shen is simply restati啥 the standard doc­ trine of karma， showing how past acts create future retribution in a continuous sequence， even if each act， along with the "self " that created it and the "self " that suffers its consequences are themselves all "extinguished and reborn every moment. " In the later argu­ ments， as you will remember， the continuum binding the cause and fruition is identified with the buddha nature latent in every being， which is itself untouched by karma and will ultimately lead to a cessation of the whole karmic process . The more optimistic tenor of this later perception of karma and enlightenment ref1ected a gradual mellowing of his whole outlook on life during his later years . While he never abandoned the earlier ideals which continued intermittently to f1agellate his conscience， somehow he became more a ble to accept his limitations and settle for "attaining his true nature" ( te-hsing 得性)， even if that meant admitting he "lacked a grand formula for saving the world . " For him at that stage in life， '川'a前tt旭a i 旭nιin wings" and "hiding his scales" in semirustic reclusion， not neces­ sarily even on the high moral plane of the "worthy recluses" (hsien yin) whose lives he had included in his History of the Sung. lOl This last period of retirement， from about 507 until his death in 5 1 3， will be the subj ect of the final chapter

1 73

C HAPTER 7

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1 74

Chicn【 k 'ang

Now that the sun is selling and thc road n叫內 的 end， even rr吵 f01 斤的 desire 戶r rec/usion has gone away. . . 1 have built a house in the eastem suburb; not Ihat you coul山 :all il a j1l11 retirem叫t. 11'0$ just Ihal somchow it c盯ommodate月 付吵 。'gt用戶cling凡 4叫 t"rom time tωo tμime 1叮 j f.etter to Li1μI ì趴九t已σ1ο

.

8 . DEATH IN THE SUBURBS

The last six years of Shcn Yüch's life， from 507 to 5 1 3， during which hc spcnt most of his time in semiscclusion on his suburban estate on the southern slope of Mt . Chung northeast of thc capital， were， likc thc rcst of his life， a bittersweet paradox. At sixty-cight he had rcached thc pinnacle of his career as Presidcnt of the Impcrial Sccretariat (shang-shu ling 尚 書 令 ) and Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince ( t 'ai-tzu shao-fu 太子 少 侍 ) . Hc was venerated by the court and literary circles alike. But， 的 wc saw in his letter to Hsü Mien quoted earlicr， l in the spring of 5 1 0， and increasingly through the next thrcc ycars， hc suffered from a painful and emaciating illness that severely limitcd his cnj oyment of such honors . We have also seen that his uscfulncss at court after the initial consolidation of Liang power was minimal， sincc thc empcror was not inclined to place weighty matters within his discrction and he himsclf rarely contributed any significant opinions even when consulte d . 2 The final rcbuff came with thc cmperor's denial of his request for a sinecure as one of the Threc Ducal Officers (sω吋仰g 乏 主� ) . 3 What seems t o have consoled him most i n his retircment was puttering about the natural and man-made beauties of his estate， writing poems and enj oying thc visits of aspiring young writers Thc estate， built near thc ruined foundations of the former villa of Shen Yüeh' s old patron from the early years of the preceding dynasty， Crown Prince We叫mi (Hsiao Chang-mao)， is lovi月ly described in Shen's last maj or work， the "Poetic Essay on Living in the Suburbs， " composed shortly after he moved there in 507 and included in its entirety in his biography in the History of the Lωng (Liang-shu .t是 書 ) .4 1t was not merely a description， but in a very rcal 1 5ee Chapter 5ix.

2 5ee Chapter 5ix.

1 Liang-o$hu 1 3 .236 - 242

3 5ee Chapter 5ix

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CHAPTER 8

sense his apologia pro vita sua-a summation of his own ideals and lifelong aspirations-full of autobiographical revelations whose exact reference to events is not always apparcnt . There arc， how­ ever， enough clues to make the general tenor of his thought and the context in which it arose roughly visible through the densc vcr­ biage . The inspiration and model for the work seems to have been Hsieh Ling-yün's "Poetic Essay on Living in the Mountains" ("Shan­ chü fu" 山 居 賦)， which Shen Yüeh himself had included wh01e in Hsieh's biography in his History of the Sung. 5 Onc can only regret that he did not a1so see fit to attach a "self-commentary " of the sort Hsieh had written to accompany his work， which has made thc 1atter far easier to interpret than Shen's. The poetic essay， totalling 450 lines with forty-one separately rhymed stanzas， can be divided for convcniencc into eleven parts : ( 1 ) a prologue stating the poet's reasons for retiri月 to the suburbs; (2) a brief history of the Shen family through fifteen gcnerations; (3) Shen's own lifelong hope of bccoming a recluse; (4) the troublcs' of the 1ast years of Ch'i; (5) the founding of Liang; (6) a description of the estate， with its f10ra and fauna; (7) a brief excursus on ga叫enmg; (8) the view cωomn凹 (伊9 ) a mystica1 j ourney through spacc， sym bolizi呵 his desire to be free of the world; ( 1 0) ref1ections on the recent past and the poet's quest for self-f叫fillment; and finally ( 1 1 ) a sigh of regret over his own fai1ure to achieve consistency in his life. To gain some idca of what was occupying Shen Yüeh' s mind in this fina1 period of his life we cannot do better than to look at this remarkable documcnt in detail. 1 . Prologue (lines 1 - 20) None but the Perfect Man and his denial of self Can truly say both '' 1 '' and "Others" are forgotten. All the rest， from middling wise on down to fools， 扎t1ust make attaining their true natures be their field of action

惟 至 人之 亦 已 因 物我而 兼 忘 白 中 智 以 下 f豆、 成 得性 以 為 場

With thesc sententious opening lines Shen Yüeh sets the tonc of the whole poetic essay . They revca1 a fundamcntal shift from his 5 Sung-shu 67. 1 754 1 7 7 1 .

1 76

DEATH

IN

THE

S U B UR B S

earlier， rather strait白laced view of "reclusion on the basis of prin­ ciple" (tao-yin 追隨)， in which abandoning one's civic responsibil­ ities is only permissible when one's principles cannot be put in practice . 6 Now he is admitting that those principles must be left to the "Perfect Man" or sage . He himself could not lay claim to the requisite obj ectivity or selflessness to play such a heroic role . All he wants now is to settle for being true to himself : "to attain his true nature" (te-hsing 得性)， to live in his suburban retreat in the same way that the birds and animals there attain their natures by living in nests or dens . 7 Even beasts have dens from which they get t o run， And birds first nest before they soar.s Ch'en [Chung-tzu可 lane was stark; his legacy was great;9 [Yen] Ying's abode was bare; his virtue flourished . 10

教 因 窟 而 獲騁 烏 克 巢 而 後翔 陳巷窮 而 常 泰 嬰 居 i秋 而 德 昌

6 See Chapter Six. 7 See Huai-n帥-tzu 1 1 . 1 69 (Chu-tzu chi-ch'eng edition): "To follow one's nature is called the Way (Tao); to realize 0間's nature (te-hsing 得出 is called Virtue (te 德 ) . " See Benjamin Wallacher， The Huai-nan-tzu， Book Eleven， New Haven， 1 962， 29. 8 Ibid . (Wallacher， Huai-na仔tzu， 48): “Now birds lodge in nests and foxes in dens. After the nests are completed the birds get to roost in them， and after the dens are completed the foxes get to live in them. To pursue a course of action or give it up-action and morality-this in turn is where human beings roost and live . Each creature delights in the place where it is comfortable . " 9 Ch'en Chung-tzu 陳仲 子 (fourth century B . C . )， whose story i s told in Mencius 2B. 1 O (Legge， Chinese Classics 2 : 284-287)， was so scrupulous he would not live in the house of his older brother Tai 戴， m副in叫is叫te叮r of Cαh叮1γ丸， b伽ro叫the缸r's salary to have been ga剖ined by immoral means. He and his wife migrated to Ch'u where they lived frugally by spinning and weaving hemp sandals. Sun Ch'。 孫 綽 (fourth century A . D . ) singled him out for admiration in the preface to his lost poetic essay， "Sui-ch'u fu" 遂初賦 ("Fulfilling My Original Resolve")， which must have served as a model for Shen Yüeh's "Chiao-chü fu. " In his preface Sun Ch'o had written， “Moved by the words of the worthy wife of Tzu-chung of Yü-ling 步令 仗 ， 1 have become disillusioned with the world and have come to my senses. 1 have built a house on five mou of land on the slope of Long Mountain (Ch'ang-fu 長牟， in Tung-shan， modern Chekiang)， surrounded by dense woods. . . . " (晶的-shuo hsin-yü chiao-chien 2 . 84， commentary; Mather， Shih-shuo， 69). See also Ibid . ， 1 3 . 9 (Mather， Shih-shuo， 304-305) I O Yen Ying 妥嬰 (sixth century B.C.) was minister to Dukes Ling (r. 5 8 1 - 5 54 B . C.)， Chua唔， (r. 5 5 3 - 548 B.C.) and Ching (r. 547-490 B . C . ) of the Ch'i state (Shantung). He was famous for his frugality. See Record of R i tes， 1 O . 1 5a (Legge， Li Ki 1 : 402): "When Yen Ying sacrificed to his ancestors， the shoulders of the suckling pig did not even cover the sacrificial dish . "

1 77

CHAPTER

10

l可

20

8

[Kung-sun] Ch'iao sequestercd his be附volence in Eastern 九-Vard; 1 1 [Kao] Feng obscured his tracks on West Embankment Hill 12 As for the cramped resolve of someone like myself， 1 have no grand design to save the world. 1 long to rest among the trees with pinions furled， And swim beneath the water， scales concealed Indeed， 1 have no feeling for the grand and ostentatíous， No desire for broad and spacious avenues. 1 opened up the empty spaces of the Eastern Suburb Penetrating deep within the wild profusion of its tangled weeds. After the pillars were set up and crossbeams la址， The winds， too， were def1ected and the rain kept out回

f喬棲仁;在于 車 里

風 月每 跡 於 西 堂 伊吾 人之 論 志 且已 經世之 大方 思 f衣i�立 而 羽 敢 願託水而鱗 拭

[、0 � 'r青於 輪JF幸

非 有 欲於康 拉 才走 東 郊 之 家廊 入 是 草 之 荒 ;在 既從監而橫構 亦 成 除而 兩 攘

ln somc ultimate scnse， pcrha阱， "attaining one' s naturc" might mean discoveri呵 。凹's b叫dha nature (fo- hsing 佛性 ) ， latent in evcry sentient being; that is， attaining enlightenment . But that quest， too， as we have already observed， 1 3 is something far， far down thc road， not the instant， total event anticipated earlier by persons like the monk Tao-sheng and the poet Hsieh Ling-yün. 14 The exam­ ples Shen cites of those who "attained their natures" -Ch' en ! J Kung-sun Ch'iao 父 孫 f喬 (Tzu-ch'an 子 產， d. 522 B.C.) was a ministe叮r of t吭he 5仗ta瓜te of C山he凹ng (但Honan叫) wh岫:10 liv、V呵Te吋d in t白he Eaω蚓蚓s叫剖t必;疋e r n且1 Ward (Tung-li 束 里) 抖of打 the C由he凹n cap沈lta叫1. See Analects 5 . 1 5 (Legge， Chine兒 Class悶， 1 : 1 78): "The Master said of Tzu-ch'an， 'He had four of the qualities of a gentleman: in conducting himself he was humble， in serving his superiors he was respectful， in nourishing the people he was kind， and in employing the people he was just . ' " 口 Kao Feng 高 鳳 (如st century A . D . ) was brought up in a rural shaman's 臼mily， but through self-education became a literatus and offered instruction on 丸而lest Embankment Hill (T'ang-shan 唐 山， an alternate writing for thc 堂 。f the text) . See also Hou-Han shu 8 3 . 2768-2769， especially the histor山l'日 (Fan Yeh 花 暉 ， 398-445) comment: "ln the case of a person like Kao Fen且， his ambition soared beyond the blue clouds while his person was obscured (hui 晦) beneath the muddy marshlands . " 13 See beginning of Chapter Seven 14 See， for example， Hs曰ieh'注 川 'Pien-tω:su呵 lun" 辨 才 尋 宗吉命 ('川 ' D I叫 S仗cu肘1臼ss缸ion on D叫lJl g肝ui臼s必剃h划in呵 g Wha刮t Is Ess臼en叫ti凶alγ")， J(仇fα印uωG仰n愕!g h加ur丹愕1穆E一m閒lr叮愕1怒g c仇hi 什1 8叫 ( Tai的shõ 5 2丸μ.之2泣24釷c-.2泣28a)， par也 tially translated in Fung Y廿lan， History of Chinese Philosophy， Derk Bodde， transla tor， Princeton， 1 9 雪 3 ， 2 : 274-283 .

1 78

DEATH TN THE

S U B U RB S

Chu月一tzu (fourth century B . C.)， Yen Yi月 (sixth ce叫ury B . C .)， and Ku月一sun Ch'iao (first century A . D . )， were a址11 仕fn呵a址1， seJf仁…�ef叮fa缸叫Cαm pe盯rs叩ons who were ncver吋thclcss true to themseJves and t由hus achi記eved greatncss . This is all he covets for himself now . 2 . Thc History of thc Shcn Family (lines 2 1 -60)

The first member of the family to be mentioned (though not by name) is Shcn Y品eh's a虹ester fifteen gcnerations rcmoved， 位朋1 Jung 扎 ， who at thc vcry beginning of the Later Han Dynasty (ca . A . D . 2 雪 ) migrated with his family down the Yangtzc from the oJder family seat in Hai-hun )每 昏 (in Kiangsi)， 1 5 where the Shens had found " profit a吋 stability， " to Wu-hsing (in Chekiang)， where they became cultivators of mulberrics in the local silk industry. After Shcn Jung， some members of the family had entered government servicc while others went back to farming .

Z弓

I.ong， long ago， in the last years of \有lestern Han， Our family' s change of residence began. Ab j uring pτofit and stability in Hai-hun town， They staried raising mulberries along the Chiang. 16 There， like successive generations of the Ho and Chi，I 7 They outlived ten decades of Pans. 18 Some， taking leave of salary， went back to plowing， 19 Others， dusting off their caps， came to take office 20

昔 函 漠之標 丰 甘于才吞 進之云始

進利 建於 ;每 辱 創 惟 系於 江;已 同 ?可濟之會 {I:IE討 班 生 之十 紀

丸 辭 祿而 反 持 或 彈 冠 而 求仕

1 5 Hai-hun ì每 昏 was a prefecture of Hsün-yang 尋 陽 Commandery in modern Kiangsi. Shen Yüch's anccstor twenty-five generations removed， 的en Tsun 進 (second century B.C. ) was the first member of the family to settle there (Sung-shu 1 00. 2443) . 16 1 interpret Chiang-ssu 工;巳 (literally， uthe banks of the Chiang") broadly to include the Shen homestead of Yü-pu 餘 不 Village in Wu-ch'eng 為 程 Prefecture of what was then Kuai-chi 會稽 Commandery， later reassigned to Wu-hsing 兵與 Comma吋ery . Yü-pu was located south of Lake T'ai 太 (western Chekiang) 17 This appears to refer only to the perennial f10w of the Ho (Yellow) and Chi i每 Rivers， which join in Shantung 18 Apparently a reference to the two generations of historians， Pan Piao 班彪 ( A . D . 3 54) and his son Pan Ku 閱 (32-92)， wr配h did not qu巾 span a cen t ury. 19 This may be a reference to Shen 1 儀 (second century) and Shen Ching 警 (d . 399)， eleve的h and fifth generation respectively before Shen Yi叫1， both of whom refused to take office (Sung-shu 1 00. 2444-2445) 20 This would probably mean most of the other Shens.

1 79

CHAPTER 8

The narrative skips to the Lung-an 隆安 reign period (399-40 1 ) of Eastern Chin and the trauma of Sun En's Rebellion， in which Shen Yüeh's great-grandfather Mu-fu and his four brothers had a11 been killed . 30

35

Then came Chin's era of Abundant Peace， 2 1 Which concentrated trouble and distress in Heaven's Course . 22 The world in mutual conflict dashed like waves; The people， reft of seasons， looked about like hungry wolves. Their corpses spread like tangled hemp by wells and towns， Exposed to dry like hay along the s忱的 and lanes . Great Earth is boundless， yet she offered them no roo宜1; Bright Heaven remote-to whom could they complain?

途有 晉 之 隆安 無 艱虞 於天步 世 交爭而 放流 氏 夫 時 而 狼顧 延 亂麻於升 已 曝 去口 ?奔於 街路 大地廣 而 靡 容 旻 天 遠 而 古拉訴

Shen Mu-fu's son， Shen Yüeh's grandfather Lin-tzu， who was only thirteen when his father was killed， managed to flee from Wu-hsing to Ching-k' ou 京 口， northeast of the capital-the "Crim son Quarter" (chu-fang 永 方 ) of the text. 伊 皇 祖之 弱 辰 In tender youth my august ancestor. 23 逢 時 艱之孔 車長 Encountering the "great asperity" of that time' s

40

troubles，24 Fled an "endangered state， " afflicted and alarmed，2S And looked for safer soil to which to move. 'Twas thus began his search for lodging in the Crimson Quarter， Where he closed his quiet courtyard and lived on ln peace，

這危 邦 而 窘 驚 訪 安 土 而 移 f