釋摩訶衍論 1.3

1.3

We have heard that the moon-mirror and the sun-jewel abide in the dhyāna-palace of the king of mountains, tread the twin paths, roam through a hundred lands, mount equal contemplation, and reach realms as numerous as the sands of the Ganges; they raise the jewel-canopy of supreme joy and gaze upon the spiritual palace of quiescence and cessation. Although words were heard in the past, awakening had not yet come; the regions as numerous as a hundred Ganges were vast and bewildered in thought, and only now at this time are they finally clarified. Formerly, hearing reports in the streets and awaiting the appointed season of edification, having seen the empty forms of painted traces and gazed behind the realm scattered by the wind, We indeed came face-to-face with the realm of the cintāmaṇi treasury arriving in the eastern border; when the jewels of Indra's net were obtained in this sandy realm, did joy overflow within the heart that acquired them, just as one awaits the turtle and mirror having cast aside and approached the lotus seat of the Jetavana? Did jubilation fill the eyes that gazed outward, as when one reveres the starry shore without turning back from the rising terrace of Wangshu? We are just now unfolding the luxuriant causal flowers in the jeweled grove of the seven limbs of awakening, and planting lotus seeds in the pearl pond of the eight virtues. Dispelling past longings, We immediately hasten to what comes after. Moreover, the golden wheel came of itself from the east, responding to the realm of majesty's gate; the verse of the King of the Way was recorded first, and the spirits of the mountain of jewels and mirrors have already descended. As for the face of the sandy realm and the texts of Māyā, it was once recorded that after eighty thousand [years] in the future the carriage of the wheel would travel east, and five hundred [years] in the past the jewel of awakening would reach the south. As a teaching, it begs the leisure of Avalokiteśvara's eyes and hands to gaze upon and search out gates of teaching surpassing the sands of the Ganges. As meaning, it borrows the efficacy of Indra's net of jewels to illumine and array principles as numerous as dust motes. Through the luminous virtue of the past sage Aśvaghoṣa, it is now fully made manifest. Through the auspicious omen of the wondrous cloud of the great being Nāgārjuna, it opens in all directions; vast and solemn, were it not for tying the saṃnāha in the mountain forests and planting twin causes in the fragrant pond, who could suspend the jewel canopy of expounding the waters before Maitreya, and spread the secret model to be embraced after Śākyamuni? As for the Shi Moheyan lun, it is indeed the secret treasury that fathoms the source of the ocean of nature, the profound discourse that exhausts the root of practice and cause; with its turning stars surpassing the moon-jewel, noble persons cannot discern its ultimate import; with its brocade blossoms reaching the realm of the sun, those who inquire into it cannot fathom its shores. It may be called two suns and moons within a single mountain realm, two emperors within a single world. We heard that its Sanskrit original was formerly in Central India, and sent swift couriers to welcome it with reverence, so that it recently reached the eastern border. In the ninth month, first decade, in the year Xingji, the third year of Hongshi, at Dazhuangyan Monastery, We personally received the brush to edit, reverently translating this treatise. The primary translator was Tripiṭaka Master Vatimatā, the vernacular interpreters were Liu Liantuo and others, and the scribes were Xie Xianjin and others; only after two years from beginning to end was the copying completed. The faces of the two luminaries shine fully down, the eyes of the host of stars are all unrolled, the waters of the rivers are pure and clear, and the waves of the great sea are tranquil; We have not yet had time to detail it all. Bringing forth the golden wheel above the earth, taking Mount Sumeru into the palm—how subtle! The gate of joy pervades the dharmadhātu; how vast! The quiet room enters the tip of a hair. Principles such as this transcend praise by brush and tablet; they are separate from images rendered in colored paintings. In speech, Vimalakīrti would scold Us; in discussion, Subhūti would cast Us out. Yet the words of the Way rest on ending principles in chanting, and halting incorrect expressions in silence; to destroy its terraces and towers does not magnify the great void, and to extinguish its mirrors and jade does not explain the traces of images; We would have no means [to proceed]. Begging brushwork from the moon and the tortoise and rabbit, We venture to offer this humble composition to set forth this preface.