大方廣佛華嚴經隨疏演義鈔 1.3

1.3

The Supreme Sage bequeathed his instructions, mirroring the profound utmost of the one mind; the Great Being widely expounded them, illuminating the subtle and abstruse imports of the profound words. Although they forgot attachments in the realm of signifiers and signified, they were vast and boundless in the ocean of texts and meanings, wishing merely to lodge the traces of forms and words in order to exhaust inexhaustible purports. The text and principle of this sūtra cannot be adequately praised: in the Jin translation, which was abstruse and secret, Xianshou largely found its gateway; but in the sacred compilation of the Tang translation, later wise ones have not yet peered into its profundities. Not measuring my shallow attainments, I, Chengguan, rashly expounded the mysterious subtleties, which chanced to overflow the nine provinces and soar afar across the four seas. Lecturers numbered over a hundred, and all addressed me, saying: 'The purport of the great teaching is profound, and the phrasing of the commentary reaches far. Having personally received your direct instructions, we seem to catch a glimpse of the proximate tenet. To bequeath a model for a thousand ages, however, we fear that those of high awakening will still be perplexed. We pray that you will deign to dissect it again, so that they may behold its brilliant radiance.' Acceding to these elegant aspirations, I have organized it once more into this treatise, titled 'Subcommentary Elucidating the Meaning of the Commentary'. A man of antiquity said: 'While the person is present, it is easy; when the person is gone, it is difficult.' Now I make this explanation, hoping that those in distant realms and perpetual ages might meet as if face to face. Yet, if prolix, one tires of the chapters and verses; if concise, one remains ignorant of their source and stream. Considering this difficulty of talent, I am ashamed of my attempts at striking a middle ground, but I trust that for later students the phrasing will not be overly sprawling.