A Record of Jiji Hall (止止軒)止止軒記
城之東奉香之里之西肘。有草堂數十楹。白雲居士所寄也。身寄而已。心不寄也。居士謂誰。春卿自號也。榜其軒曰止止。居士自名之也。蓋以玄筮之。得止之首而名之也。止之首𝍒曰。初一。止于止。內明無咎。此言君子時止則止。其智之明如水之內朗也。初二。馬酋止。車軔俟。此言二爲平人。不隱不仕。故車軔俟而馬就止也。居士喜曰。是皆予之志也。予能識其所止而止。則可謂應初一之體。進不急於仕。退不苟於隱。以是而爲平人。則可謂叶初二之辭。予得是而名軒曰止止。果不類予之行藏耶。夫所謂止止者。能知其所止而止之者也。非其所止而止。其止也非止止也。且虎豹麋鹿蛟龍之於藪澤窟穴。識其所止而止之者也。設客行旅寄。以止于城市之中。則人以爲祅。而從而害之必矣。居士之於世。偃蹇寡合。非馴擾之物也。若與人同趨竝騖。以止于名利之域。則是何以異於虎豹麋鹿蛟龍之城市哉。此予所以求其所止而止之者也。不然。祅而害之者至矣。或曰。若子之所言。則必山林窮谷之是處。不與人雜然同域。然後可謂止止矣。今子之所止。乃城市之中。而猶謂之止止。譬之虎豹麋鹿蛟龍之藪澤窟穴。何也。曰。蟲獸之藪澤窟穴。人之城市。亦各其所止之常也。假使人庬然伏藪澤。仄然入窟穴。則亦猶虎豹麋鹿蛟龍之入城市也。毒蟲猛獸。亦必以爲祅。而群而害之矣。人而避人。被蟲獸所害。吾不忍爲也。且人所以忌人規有以害之者。非城市之隘而與處之吝也。徒以競其所求。爭其所利而已。苟與人不爭不競。雖白日有胠吾篋者。避而不見。則人之城市。亦虎豹麋鹿蛟龍之藪澤窟穴也。庸有害之者乎。居士之名軒。蓋以此也。丁卯三月十日。記。
At the western corner of Bonghyang ward (奉香里) east of the city wall there is a thatched hall of some tens of bays, and it is where the White Cloud Hermit (白雲居士) is lodged. His body alone is lodged there; it is not his mind that is lodged there. Who is the Hermit? It is a style that Chungyeong (春卿) gave himself. Upon that hall he wrote up 「Jiji (止止)」, and it was the Hermit who named it so. He named it, in the main, from having divined by the Classic of the Great Mystery (太玄經) and got the head Ji (止).
In the head Ji it is said: 「The First (初一): he stops where he is to stop, and within he is bright, and there is no fault.」 This says that when the gentleman stops in his time of stopping, the brightness of his wisdom is like water clear within. And: 「The Second (初二): the horse halts, and the chock of the cart waits.」 This says that the second becomes an ordinary man, neither hiding away nor taking office, and so the chock of the cart waits and the horse goes forward and halts.
The Hermit rejoiced and said: 「All this is my own purpose. If I can know where I am to stop and stop there, it may be said that I have followed the person of the First; and if I come forward yet am not in haste for office, and withdraw yet am not driven to hide, and so become an ordinary man, it may be said that I have fitted the words of the Second. Having got this, I named the hall 「Jiji」; is it not indeed like my coming forward and my withdrawing?」
Now what is called 「Jiji」 is to know where one is to stop and to stop there. If one stops where one is not to stop, that stopping is not 「Jiji」. And that the tiger and the leopard, the river deer and the deer, the serpent and the dragon are in the marshes and the pools and the caves is their knowing where they are to stop and stopping there. If a wanderer going about should stop in the midst of the city and the market, men would surely take him for a portent and set upon him accordingly.
The Hermit is stiff toward the world and has few he consorts with; he is no tamed creature. If he were to run together with others and race abreast of them and stop in the place of name and of gain, in what would this differ from the tiger and the leopard, the river deer and the deer, the serpent and the dragon being in the city and the market? This is why I seek out where I am to stop and stop there. Were it not so, there would come those who take me for a portent and set upon me.
Someone said: 「If it is as you say, then one could call it 「Jiji」 only after dwelling in forest and deep valley and not being mingled with men in one place. Now the place where you stop is in the very midst of the city and the market, and yet you call it 「Jiji」 and liken it to the marshes and the pools and the caves of the tiger and the leopard, the river deer and the deer, the serpent and the dragon. How is this?」
I said: 「The marshes and the pools and the caves of the creeping things and the beasts, and the cities and the markets of men, are each the constant place where they are to stop. Suppose a man were to lie sprawling in marsh and pool and to go slanting into a cave: this too would be like the tiger and the leopard, the river deer and the deer, the serpent and the dragon entering the city and the market. The venomous creeping things and the fierce beasts would surely take him for a portent as well and set upon him in a pack. That a man, fleeing men, should be set upon by creeping things and beasts — this I cannot bear to do.
Moreover, that men shun men and plot to harm them is not because the city and the market are narrow and grudging to dwell in together. It is only because they match themselves against what another seeks and strive over what profits him. If one truly does not strive with others nor match oneself against them, so that though there be one who opens one's box in broad daylight one turns away and does not look, then the cities and the markets of men are likewise the marshes and the pools and the caves of the tiger and the leopard, the river deer and the deer, the serpent and the dragon. How should there be any who set upon one?」
It was for this, in the main, that the Hermit named his hall. Written on the tenth day of the third month of the year jeongmyo.
Interlinear notes 2
人玄陽家八木。
In the Classic of the Great Mystery (太玄經) 「Ji」 (止) belongs to the yang house (陽家) and is eight, wood (八木).
陰陽隔絶。各止其所。故能如水之內自淸明。
Yin and yang are blocked and cut off, and each stops in its own place. Therefore it can be as water of itself clear and bright within.