說無垢稱經疏 1.2

1.2

Consider that the actual limit freezes in the void, opening the profound pivot in non-duality; expedient means conceive the Way, expounding the wondrous jewel beyond the three [vehicles]. At times it openly displays a grand scheme, loftily relinquishing the enterprise of the golden wheel [of universal kingship]; at times it secretly unfolds the utmost profundity, humbly extolling the lineage of the uncarved jade. All of it desires to extinguish burning distress with the rain of wisdom and to wash away drowning misery in the ford of compassion; it points to the nine realms of existence and resolves them into the ten emptinesses; it adduces the eight liberations and unfolds the seven factors of awakening. How supreme and radiant! It is difficult to find a name for it. Now, as for this sūtra, it is the vast void that contains myriad doctrines, the heavenly reservoir that unites all traps [of language]. Its principle exhausts the treasury of the ultimate and the conventional; its traces transcend the realm of thought and speech. Remote in spiritual function, it cannot be fathomed; profound in pure virtue, it is inconceivable. It transforms a hundred koṭis with the press of a foot and moves the three-thousandfold [world] in the palm of a hand. Canopies joined together encompass the myriad forms; it reveals the precarious evanescence of dust-heaped mountains. The ten-foot-square room unites the eight rarities, illuminating the true field to be eternally pure. It receives Meru into a hair's tip or mustard seed, their realms equal in magnitude; it pours the great ocean into a hoof-print puddle, woven equally in breadth. It opens the secret key of the profound gateway, transplants the harvest of the Way into the garden of awakening, leads forth the ox-drawn carriage from the decaying mansion, and conveys the elephant mount across the vast river. For this reason, in the West it adorned jade tablets, and in the East it shone with golden radiance; competing to appreciate the one truth, it has already undergone six translations. Yet, between China and India there is a vast gulf, and their sounds and rhythms diverge; some translators approximate following the text, yet leave the profound purport as mere dregs. The Great Master [Xuanzang] shone like the moving moon upon the Middle Doctrine, mirrored the complete teaching upon the platform of the mind, bound together the severed cords to enrich posterity, and repaired the fallen nets to establish an exemplar for the past. Shaping and judging the successes and shortcomings, debating and weighing words and meanings, he translated this sūtra afresh, faithfully following the true track. As for the 'Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra, Chapter 1: Introduction,' it tolls a golden sound from a golden mouth, and unfurls jade words beneath jade banners; it startles like surging waves the multitude of listeners, and proclaims and unfolds its discourse. The Way merges with the true ruler; deeds dominate the spiritual agency. Cloaking his purple sleeves to conceal his deportment, he matched Taoists and Confucians to display his brilliance; whether expedient or real, he manifested illness in bed to expound the great teaching; now hidden, now manifest, relying on dialogue and response to illuminate his fundamental mandate. The ten disciples who broadcast eminent renown all found their path of words subdued; the one man distinguished by coronation, upon receiving his awe-inspiring power, was almost eclipsed. Having purified his pure conduct and solemnized his spiritual mantle, his elegant fame spread afar, so he is named Vimalakīrti. 'Sūtra' means to string together and to gather: it strings together the two principles without deficiency, and gathers the four modes of birth so that they do not fall. 'Introduction' (xu) means cause and beginning: it sets forth the causes from which the teaching arose, and serves as the gradual beginning of the emergence of the Dharma. 'Chapter' (pin) means category and distinction: it distinguishes profound principles and organizes abstruse expressions into categories; being manifested through such classification, it is termed a 'chapter.' This sūtra comprises six fascicles in total, containing fourteen chapters. Now, as this is established at the beginning, it is therefore called the first.