法華玄義釋籤 16.6

16.6

△前已釋別名竟。此之別名法喻合題，然古人釋諸經題，或但從人，如郁伽長者；或但從法，如大般若；或從人法，如仁王般若；但作此說何能顯於名下深致？秖如今家解「妙法」兩字，二百餘紙，豈但人法、法譬而已。如此消釋尚恐不能盡經幽旨。又復餘經當機被物無多關涉，若釋此經不可率爾，是故今師殷勤再三，豈節外生文，皆事不獲己。於中二：初略對別名重辨，次正釋。初中言「胡音」者，自古著述諍競未生，但從西來以胡為稱，應云「梵音」，元梵天種，還作梵語及以梵書。梵天初下，具如疏及《止觀》第七記。此土書法本無從始，但是大權隨其方土為其制立，是故倉頡初觀鳥跡，故《感通傳》云：「倉頡造書臺，亦名高四臺，有人姓高，兄弟四人造得此臺，名高四臺，倉頡於彼造書。有云是迦葉佛說法堂，故知迦葉佛密化此土。」次正釋中先列彼音輕重不同，有翻無翻此方不定。言「楚夏」者，京華為夏，淮南為楚，音詞不同，所詮不異；彼土亦爾，雖同梵音，諸國輕重不無少異。

The specific title has already been explained above. This specific title combines the Dharma and the metaphor in its heading. However, when ancients explained sūtra titles, they either based it solely on the person, like The Householder Ugra; or solely on the Dharma, like The Great Perfection of Wisdom; or on both person and Dharma, like The Benevolent King Prajñā. Merely giving such explanations, how could they reveal the profound purport under the title? Just take our school's explanation of the two words "Wondrous Dharma," which takes over two hundred pages—how could it be confined to merely person and Dharma, or Dharma and metaphor? Even with this degree of interpretation, there is still fear of failing to exhaust the sūtra's profound purport. Furthermore, other sūtras correspond to their particular audiences and cover sentient beings without manifold ramifications; if one explains this sūtra, one cannot proceed hastily. Therefore our Master was earnest and repetitive—how could he be creating extraneous writing? It was all out of unavoidable necessity. Within this there are two parts: first, briefly comparing it with the specific title to re-examine it; next, the correct explanation. In the first part, as for "Hu sound," before disputes arose in ancient writings, whatever came from the west was simply called "Hu"; it should be called "Brahma sound," for originally springing from the Brahma Heaven's stock, they still use the Brahma language and Brahma script. When the Brahma Heaven first descended, it is fully as explained in the Commentary and the seventh record of the Zhiguan. The origin of calligraphy in this land had no identifiable beginning; it was merely a great provisional manifestation establishing it according to the locality. Therefore Cangjie initially observed the tracks of birds; hence the Gantong zhuan says: "Cangjie built a script terrace, also called the High Four Terrace. There was someone surnamed Gao with four brothers who built this terrace, called the High Four Terrace, and Cangjie created script there. Some say it was the Dharma hall of Kāśyapa Buddha, hence we know that Kāśyapa Buddha secretly transformed this land." Next, in the correct explanation, it first lists the differences in light and heavy tones there, and whether it was translated or not translated was indeterminate in this region. As for "Chu and Xia," the capital region is Xia, and the region south of the Huai River is Chu; their sounds and vocabulary differ, but what they express is not different. That land is also like this: although they share the Brahma sound, the light and heavy tones of the various kingdoms are not without minor differences.