English
There- fore our perfectly wise Sakya was born in the middle land, and was manifested to men by the possession of superlative excellencies of person. He opposed error by the declara- tion of the true law of the just medium,^ and illuminated the world by his teaching. How different this method from the general practice of mere worldly philosophers (sophists). These reject the only true stand-point, and concern them- selves about mere empty results — having not yet arrived at Divine wisdom. They speak indeed of knowledge, and talk of mental illumination — but they do but deceive themselves and others. They would have all men resemble themselves, and so teach them to despise those who differ from them. They embrace a certain opinion, and in doing so, scorn the op- posite. Hence result all sorts of dogmatic assertions and con- tradictions ; hence come the opposing qualities of love and hatred, partialities for what is declared only right, in contra- diction to what is called wrong, and the whole sequence of punishment and reward (or, crime and merit). But our perfectly illuminated sage came in pity to instruct the world, to harmonise these opposing sentiments and pro- duce peace. To nourish and strengthen ! to rescue and save ! to provide a safe standing-ground for those who ^ In- the Chung Yung, cap. i, § 4, it is "tai pen" instead of "Taitau." - Chung Yung, cap. i, § 5. * Jin Ch'au evidently adopted the views of the Madhyamika school. The medium or middle is not what is called " moderation," but is used in a philosophical sense to denote the Truth, which always lies between the two conditions of "Yes" and " No"— " I" and " not I"; the comiDromise, in fact, of the two states of " becoming."' 26 A CATENA OF BUDDHIST profess to teach, and to enable them in their differences to return to the great fountain of rest. He came to dissipate these wild and confusing theories — to persuade men to lay aside their perverse modes of argument — to fall in with the great method of proof and to embrace fundamental verities. So, step by step he led them to the most exalted, the most comprehensive, the most spiritual, the most excellent (wisdom), and, in the end, to the just principle of the true medium and all its consequences. Men, indeed, differ naturally in their capacities for receiving truth, and therefore the different views of truth common in the world. Some insist on the reality of matter; some say that all is void. Those who maintain the first view, stop short of truth, those who uphold the second, flow onwards in the right direction; but neither of them is absolutely right, for true wisdom in healing words declares "■ Matter and void are one, and void is one with matter.^^ Here is the declaration of non-difference, this is the reconciling medium. Again, some advocate the opinion that all things are (of the) same (nature) ; others say they are different : the first is an incomplete theory, the second an indistinct one, but the healing words say " The identity of things is the identity of differences, and the difference of things is the difference of identities." Opposing identity and opposing differences, under this one view, is the true medium. Again, there are some who maintain the truth of phgenomenal appearances (tchu fah; ye damma), others who say they are nothing ; some who say they are constant, others who make them intermittent ; some speak of their vast extent, others of their limited existence ; some who say they are but individually perceived, others who maintain they are general or universal ; some say they are infinite, others say they are definite ; some say they are alike, others that they are conflicting, and various other distinctions; — but amid the many mountain passes the sheep are lost — wandering from the right path, they cannot return ! Our all-wise Master, in explanation, therefore, said — " By hampering SCRIPTUKES FROM THE CHINESE. 27 phaenomena with conditions, men have come to talk about ^' true" and " false'^; but the man with a cataract on his eye necessarily has imperfect vision : a man sees water, but a demon believes it to be fire ; but yet the nature of water is uniform (and he illustrates this subject by various com- parisons, such as) — the folly of the child who supposes he can touch the moon, the foolish dog and the shadow (?), the insanity of Yajnadatta in thinking he had lost a part of his head because he only saw a part of it in the Temple mirror, the man hastening to the East thinking it was the West, and in many other ways ; but let the delusion be once corrected, and right Reason comes of itself."^ Again he said — "just as the master of a ferry-boat re- mains stationary on neither shore, but is continually pass- ing across the stream with passengers (so there is truth on both sides)." Again he says, "the principle of Su- preme Eeason may be compared to a shepherd who takes his crook to watch over the cattle to prevent them from wandering this way or that"; and again — "like a man on horseback with the reins in his hand, if his steed lags in his pace then he twitches the reins to make him go on, if he is too fast he tightens the reins to make him go slower, but as he goes at a moderate pace he holds the reins easily in his hands"; or again — " like the potter tempering his clay, he makes it neither too stiff nor too thin, so that, centering it on the wheel, he may make of it a useful vessel.''^ Again, he compared his method of teaching to the art of the musician, who takes care that the strings of his lute are neither too tight nor too slack," etc. Thus the Master, according to the various characters of the disease, ad- ministered his remedies far and wide : he observed the medium in all things ; in practical duties and in mental exercises ; in common matters and weighty matters ; in advancing and in staying; in little things and great; in begin- ning a subject and finishing ; in ari-iviug at a climax and in rounding an argument; he adopted medium rules of con- ' These comparisons are taken from the Surafigama Sutra (which see). 28 A CATENA OF BUDDHIST duct, a medium method of fixed composure, a medium wisdom, a medium contemplation, a medium method of action, a medium system of " cause and effect," — just as the Mani gem reflects the beautiful colours of the sun, or the mountain dell re-echoes the true sound of the voice. And he exemplified his doctrine in the various rules he im- posed relating to food and clothing, and his directions about walking, halting, sitting, sleeping, etc. In all things, whether small or great, as he taught others so he himself practised not to exceed the due medium. Hence, he only took one meal a-day, and so required the Bikshus not to eat after mid-day, and in eating not to take too little or too much. He limited their garments to three, neither too gaudy nor too mean : when walking he directed them to use an unaffected gait; when sitting to cross the legs in a be- coming manner; and to adopt a natural demeanour, neither too precise nor too complaisant. In self-government he enforced a discipline neither too severe nor too careless ; to avoid abstraction on the one hand, and superficiality on the other. To speak not of entering on or emerging from a state of ecstacy ; but whilst passionless to be ever actively useful, and whilst actively useful to be ever passionless. Constantly to refer the existence of external pha3nomena to the one essence (heart), and thus ever aiming at a middle line of conduct to enter the sea of the Reasonable Medium. Blessed, indeed, to arrive at this condition and rest therein ! So, rejecting such terms as obedience and disobedience, re- garding enemies and friends as the same, discarding the usual way of speaking of things as identical and difierent, unitising life and death, reconciling the Not I (the external) with the I (the personal), combining in one view the past and present, hypostatising space, regarding the field of creation (mountains and seas) as unoriginated (hair origin, i.e., like the hair of the tortoise), exhibiting under one aspect motion and rest, silence and utterance, overflowing with sympathy to all creatures, — thus it was our Master taught ! How entirely different to worldly wisdom, and its SCRIPTURES FROM THE CHINESE. 29 yearnings after abstraction ! In coming our Master ap- peared in the middle (country?