彰所知論 2.46

2.46

The Great Sūtra says: 'The myriad phenomena in their profusion are stamped by a single Dharma; overlapping in radiance, they all appear clearly at once.' Is this not the direct perception of the Dharma-realm? The Treatise Elucidating the Knowable was requested by the late Emperor Yuzong, whose holy clarity observed and whose spiritual wisdom illuminated, pitying the delusions of heterodox views and lamenting the obstruction of the true path; he entreats the Imperial Preceptor, the Dharma King, to benefit and bring joy to sentient beings, thereby elucidating the true reality of supreme awakening and the great purport of the progressive cultivation from beginning to end. Broad yet precise, profound yet classical, it is like ancient brocade and pure gold, utilized according to each person's vessel; its meanings are condensed into five, perfectly unified in their convergence. Regarding the world of sentient beings and the vessel: it is unlike the disparate attachments of the blind men feeling the elephant, some calling it a single breath, others calling it nature; it points directly to creation by mind, details the beginning of the kalpa, encompasses beyond the eight extremities, and analyzes within the boundary of a minute atom, like an image reflected in a mirror, or [a mark] pointed upon the palm. As for the dharmas of the path: they take few desires and contentment, the wisdoms of hearing, thinking, and cultivating, and the thirty-seven factors of enlightenment as their causes. As for the dharmas of the fruit: they take accumulation, preparation, seeing the path, cultivation, and no-more-learning as their fruits. As for the unconditioned: it is the principle of the truth of cessation among the four noble truths. Because these five dharmas completely encompass all knowable dharmas, it is called the Treatise Elucidating the Knowable. Can true wisdom and spiritual consciousness be termed merely hearing, seeing, perceiving, and knowing? Penetrating deeply into dependent origination and exhausting the true mark of dharmas, it relies on the corresponding meanings of the *Smṛtyupasthāna*, the *Sūryagarbha*, the *Lokasthiti*, and the *Abhidharma*, interweaving their grand framework. Even so, the Paranirmitavaśavartin Deva-king's supernatural power views the raindrops numbered like the atoms of worlds as if directly beholding everyday items. When a śrāvaka exerts spiritual powers, he views the trichiliocosm like an āmalaka fruit in the palm of his hand. How much more so the wondrous function of the Right and Perfect Enlightenment—who could fully express its magnificence? An uḍumbara blooms in an auspicious age, heaven opens the era of the jade calendar; the semblance teaching revives, in an era under the rule of the golden wheel. Respectfully contemplating the Imperial decree, it says: 'Beneath the August Heaven, above the single person. The Buddhist disciple of the Western Heavens, the Imperial Preceptor of the Great Yuan, bestowed with jade seals, receiving ever-increasing favor; honoring the teacher and revering the Way is an enduring canon for emperors of ten thousand generations.' Lian Gong, Tongzhi of the Bureau of Tibetan and Buddhist Affairs, having long received predictions and finding deep delight in the Buddha Vehicle, one day took the Treatise Elucidating the Knowable translated by Master Shes-rab-dpal, General Director of Jiangzhe, and transmitted it to Master Guanzhubā, the former Buddhist Registry Officer of Songjiang Prefecture. The Master was continuing the carving of the blocks for the sacred Tripitaka teachings; having just then joyfully obtained this supreme treasure, he cut the printing blocks to include in the collection, and asked me to compose a preface at the end. Unable to decline, I have briefly related the origins of how the teaching arose; as for the elaboration of the essential beauty of the sacred teachings, it is fully provided in his own preface. Written after the sixteenth day of the tenth month in the bing-wu year of the Dade reign [1306 CE], preface by the lecturing monk Keyi of Bao'en Monastery, Official Lecturer of the former Jizhou Route in Jiangxi.