Recorded Sayings of the White Cloud Hermit白雲居士語錄
李叟欲晦名。思有以代其名者曰。古之人以號代名者多矣。有就其所居而號之者。有因其所蓄。或以其所得之實而號之者。若王績之東皐子。杜子美之草堂先生。賀知章之四明狂客。白樂天之香山居士。是則就其所居而號之也。其或陶潛之五柳先生。鄭熏之七松處士。歐陽子之六一居士。皆因其所蓄也。張志和之玄眞子。元結之漫浪叟。則所得之實也。李叟異於是。萍蓬四方。居無所定。寥乎無一物可蓄。缺然無所得之實。三者皆不及古人。其於自號也。何如而可乎。或目以爲草堂先生。予以子美之故。讓而不受。況予之草堂。暫寓也。非居也。隨所寓而號之。其號不亦多乎。平生唯酷好琴酒詩三物。故始自號三酷好先生。然鼓琴未精。作詩未工。飮酒未多而享此號。則世之聞者。其不爲噱然大笑耶。翻然改曰白雲居士。或曰。子將入靑山臥白雲耶。何自號如是。曰非也。白雲。吾所慕也。慕而學之。則雖不得其實。亦庶幾矣。夫雲之爲物也。溶溶焉洩洩焉。不滯於山。不繫於天。飄飄乎東西。形迹無所拘也。變化於頃刻。端倪莫可涯也。油然而舒。君子之出也。斂然而卷。高人之隱也。作雨而蘇旱。仁也。來無所著。去無所戀。通也。色之靑黃赤黑。非雲之正也。惟白無華。雲之常也。德旣如彼。色又如此。若慕而學之。出則澤物。入則虛心。守其白處其常。希希夷夷。入於無何有之鄕。不知雲爲我耶。我爲雲耶。若是則其不幾於古人所得之實耶。或曰。居士之稱何哉。曰。或居山或居家。惟能樂道者而後號之也。予則居家而樂道者也。或曰。審如是。子之言達也。宜可錄。故書之。
The old man of the Yi family, wishing to hide his name, thought of something to stand in its place, and said: Among the men of old, many used a style in place of their name. Some took their style from where they lived; some took it from what they possessed, or else from the substance they had attained. Wang Ji's (王績) Master of the Eastern Bank (東皐子), Du Zimei's (杜子美) Master of the Thatched Hall, He Zhizhang's (賀知章) Mad Guest of Siming (四明狂客), Bai Letian's (白樂天) Hermit of Xiangshan — these took their styles from where they lived. Tao Qian's Master of the Five Willows, Zheng Xun's (鄭熏) Recluse Scholar of the Seven Pines, and Ouyangzi's (歐陽子) Hermit of the Six Ones all took theirs from what they possessed. Zhang Zhihe's (張志和) Master of Dark Truth (玄眞子) and Yuan Jie's (元結) Old Man of Aimless Drifting (漫浪叟) took theirs from the substance they had attained.
The old man of the Yi family is not like these. Drifting about the four quarters like duckweed and mugwort, he has no fixed place to live; forlorn, he has not one object worth possessing; and empty, he has no substance he has attained. In all three he falls short of the men of old, and so what is he to do in making a style for himself? Some would have called him Master of the Thatched Hall, but because of Du Zimei I declined it and would not take it. Still more, my thatched hall is a place I lodge in for a while, not a place I live. If one made a style out of each place one lodges in, would not the styles be many indeed?
All his life he was exceedingly fond of just three things, the geomungo and wine and poetry, and so at first he called himself Master of the Three Passions (三酷好先生). But if he were to enjoy that style while his playing of the geomungo is not refined, his making of poems not skillful, and his drinking of wine not even much, would not those in the world who heard it break into loud laughter? And so he changed it abruptly and called himself the White Cloud Hermit.
Someone said: "Do you mean to enter the blue mountains and lie among the white clouds? Why do you style yourself so?" He said: "No. The white clouds are what I long after. If I long after them and learn from them, then though I do not attain their substance, I shall at least come near it. The cloud is a thing ample and unhurried; it is not blocked by the mountains and not bound to the sky. It flutters east and west with nothing that binds its form and its traces, and it changes in a moment so that no one can measure its end. To spread out billowing is the gentleman coming forward; to be gathered and rolled up is the lofty man going into hiding. To make rain and revive what is parched is kindness; to come with nowhere to cling to and to go with nowhere to long for is free passage. Blue and yellow and red and black are not the cloud's proper color; only to be white and unadorned is the cloud's constancy. Its virtue is already of that sort, and its color is of this sort. If I long after it and learn from it, so that going out I soak all things and coming in I empty my heart, and if I keep to that whiteness and abide in that constancy and enter, far and far away, the country where there is nothing at all, then I shall not know whether the cloud is I or I am the cloud. And if it is so, shall I not come near the substance that the men of old attained?"
Someone said: "And what is it to call yourself a Hermit?" He said: "Whether one lives in the mountains or lives in a house, only one who is able to delight in the Way styles himself so. I am one who lives in a house and delights in the Way."
Someone said: "If it is truly so, your words are those of one who has got through, and they ought to be written down." And so I write this down.