序四
序四
张岱
张陶庵作《西湖梦寻》，向余问讯曰：“弟闻《华严经》，佛言华严世界，南赡部洲特华严海中一弹丸之地，则西湖不直一蠡壳水，其景界甚小。汤若士传《南柯》，蚁穴中有国都郡邑、社稷山川，则西湖不止一蚁穴，其景界又甚大。两说不一，乞和尚为我平章之。”余曰：“佛言世间凡事大小，皆由心造。若见为大，则芥子须弥矣；若见为小，则黄龙蝘蜓矣。佛于此只不动念，则景界俱空，大小尽化，蕉鹿庄蝶，一听其自为变幻，于我空相，则亦何有？以余所见，大小高下，只在目前。即以西湖言之，尔见六桥三竺，缥缈湖山，其大若此；若置身于南北高峰，由高视下，西湖止一杯之水，歌舫渔舟正如飞凫浮芥，为物甚微。盖眼界所及，愈低愈小，则愈高愈大。庄生所言鲲背鹏翼，千里而遥，鹏之视人亦何异人之视蚁？《齐谐》志怪，勿得尽以寓言忽之。昔有人渡海，飞来一物，大如风帆，以篙击之，是一蝶翅，称之重八十馀斤，则天壤间实有是境，实有是物，或大或小，一任人之见地为之。余眼光不及数武，何能为尔定其大小也。尔若只以旧梦是寻，尚在杯水浮芥中往来盘礴，何足与于寥廓之观。”
武林道隐偶题
Preface IV
张岱
When Zhang Tao'an had composed Dream Recollections of West Lake, he came to me with a question: "I have heard that in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra the Buddha says that within the Flower-Garland world Jambudvīpa is no more than a pellet of earth in the Flower-Garland sea. By that reckoning West Lake is not worth even a conch-shell of water, and its realm is exceedingly small. Yet Tang Ruoshi, in his tale of the Southern Bough, puts capitals and commanderies, altars of state, mountains and rivers, all inside an ant's burrow. By that reckoning West Lake is more than a single ant-hole, and its realm is exceedingly large. The two accounts do not agree; I beg you, monk, to settle the matter for me." I answered: "The Buddha says that in all worldly affairs great and small are made by mind alone. See a thing as large, and a mustard seed becomes Mount Sumeru; see it as small, and a golden dragon becomes a gecko. The Buddha simply does not let a thought stir here; then all realms are empty, great and small dissolve together, and the deer beneath the plantain leaves and Zhuang Zhou's butterfly may shift and change as they please — to my emptiness of form, what are they? As I see it, large and small, high and low, lie only in what stands before your eyes. Take West Lake itself. You look on the Six Bridges and the Three Tianzhu temples, on lake and hills fading into haze, and it is vast as that. But stand on the North and South Peaks and look down from the height: West Lake is a single cupful of water, and the singing barges and fishing boats are ducks in flight, mustard seeds afloat — things of the smallest account. For what the eye takes in narrows as one stands lower and widens as one stands higher. When Zhuangzi speaks of the back of the kun and the wings of the peng, a thousand li across, how does the peng's view of a man differ from a man's view of an ant? The marvels recorded in the Qixie are not to be brushed aside as mere fable. Once a man crossing the sea saw something fly toward him, broad as a sail; he struck it with his pole, and it was the wing of a butterfly, weighing more than eighty catties. So between heaven and earth such realms do exist and such creatures do exist, and whether they are large or small is left entirely to the standpoint of the one who looks. My own sight does not carry a few paces; how should I fix their measure for you? If all you do is go seeking your old dreams, you are still turning circles in a cupful of water among floating seeds — hardly fit to share in the view of the boundless."
Inscribed offhand by Daoyin of Wulin