法華玄義釋籤 1.8

1.8

初十德中初云「大法」者，通指佛教以為大法。「東漸」者，自漢明夜夢迦竺初臨，洎乎隋文御㝢台衡誕應，諸有習禪、義解、翻譯之徒，漸被此方弘宣教法，僧史所錄未有不曾聽講自解佛乘。「佛乘」者即是今典，永異餘教，不同三五七九等乘，仍開會之使歸乎一極，故云佛乘。言「僧史」者，如宋文宣王記室王簡栖所集百卷，如俗史書，左史記事、右史記言。《禮》云：「動則左史書之，言則右史書之。」凡所集者不出言之與事，今亦例之，故云僧史。又嘉祥皎法師所集《高僧傳》十三卷，開為十科，終無不聽自解如天台大師，此不聽自解即是今文十德中之一也。及從「縱令」已下九德並在大師《別傳》，章安撮之用序師德。初德之中「詎」者正云無也。下之九德，德德之中皆云「縱」者，謂與而言之。縱有第一終無第二乃至第十，故下結云「唯我智者具諸功德」。

In the initial ten virtues, the first phrase 'the Great Dharma' refers generally to the Buddhist teachings as the Great Dharma. 'Gradually approached the east' means that from Emperor Ming of the Han's night dream and the initial arrival from India, down to Emperor Wen of the Sui governing the realm and the marvelous appearance on Mount Tiantai, those who practiced meditation, doctrinal interpretation, or translation gradually suffused this land to propagate the teachings; yet among those recorded in the monastic histories, there was never one who, without having heard lectures, personally understood the Buddha vehicle. 'Buddha vehicle' refers to the present scripture, eternally distinct from the other teachings and unlike the three, five, seven, or nine vehicles; it opens and merges them all to make them return to the single pinnacle, hence called the Buddha vehicle. As for 'monastic histories', this refers to works like the hundred rolls compiled by Wang Jianqi, secretary to Prince Wenxuan of the Song, which, like secular histories, had the scribe of the left recording deeds and the scribe of the right recording words. The Rites state: 'When there is action, the scribe of the left writes it down; when there is speech, the scribe of the right writes it down.' Everything compiled does not exceed speech and action, and here the same applies, hence called monastic histories. Furthermore, the Thirteen Rolls of Biographies of Eminent Monks compiled by Dharma Master Jiao of Jiaxiang, divided into ten categories, completely lacks anyone who understood on his own without listening [to lectures] like the Great Master of Tiantai. This 'understanding on his own without listening' is precisely one among the ten virtues in the present text. From 'Even if' downward, the remaining nine virtues are all found in the Great Master's Separate Biography, which Zhang'an extracted to preface the master's virtues. In the first virtue, 'how' directly means 'not'. In the nine virtues below, each virtue states 'even if', meaning granting it for the sake of argument: even if one possessed the first, one would never possess the second, down to the tenth; therefore, the conclusion below states, 'Only our Zhizhe was complete with all merits.'