註四十二章經 1.8

1.8

I have humbly heard that the unsurpassed Dharma King appeared in the world for the sake of the one great causal condition, receiving beings in accordance with their capacities, expounding marvelous meanings as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, and establishing measureless gateways of practice. Wielding supernormal powers for forty-nine years, he delivered hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of sentient beings. When about to enter parinirvāṇa, he entrusted the kings and ministers to propagate the correct Dharma and continue the Buddha's life of wisdom. This was to produce endless benefit for the sentient beings of future ages; his great compassion extending afar—how consummate it was! Revering our Sage Sovereign, whose Way spans the hundred kings and whose wisdom encompasses the multitude of creatures: whenever at leisure from the myriad affairs of state, he promotes and venerates the Three Jewels and looks up in reverence to the One Vehicle. Thinking of how to repay the spirits of the successive sage ancestors in heaven and the nurturing kindness of the Empress Dowager, he has already founded great monasteries and widely distributed various palm-leaf scriptures. Furthermore, deeming that the Sūtra in Forty-two Sections was recorded by the assembly of great disciples as the sage words when the Tathāgata Śākyamuni first attained samyaksaṃbodhi, and that śramaṇas, disciples of the Śākya, officials, scholars, and commoners can all follow and practice it; and as someone happened to present an annotated edition from a previous dynasty, he specially commanded the relevant authorities to completely renew the printing blocks and promulgate it throughout the court and countryside, intending that both clergy and laity, whether seeing or hearing it, should reverently accept and practice it, and all ascend to the stage of awakening. Such a profound mind, resolute vow, and vast mind—who could match this except one endowed with brilliant discernment and sagacious wisdom? An edict commanded the dhūta monk, your servant Puguang, to write a preface for it. Your servant Puguang, fortunately dwelling in the Gate of Emptiness and unworthy of being a child of the Buddha, has long received immense imperial favor, and dare not decline on grounds of ignorance and clumsiness. I reflect that all the sūtras of the tripiṭaka and twelve divisions expounded by the Capable and Benevolent One are equal in number to dust and sand—such as the Avataṃsaka, Prajñā, Ratnakūṭa, Mahāsaṃnipāta, and Nirvāṇa sections—their text is copious and their meanings broad, their affairs complete and their principles exhaustive. Residing in the dragon palace and ocean treasury, they shine brightly like the sun and stars. Yet when Mātanga and Dharmaratna journeyed eastward, they carried this sūtra alone, precisely coinciding with the fortune of Emperor Ming of Han welcoming the voiced teaching from the west, thereby greatly raising the profound wind for the realm and later generations. How could this be estimated or deliberated by ordinary sentiments? I surmise that there must be an unseen destiny secretly connecting them and the secret verification of the Buddhas, making it the great foundation of the five vehicles and the thorough realization of the five spiritual dispositions for myriad generations in China, wherein the marvelous Way and ultimate principle reside! Examining its flavor of meaning, is it not the essential principle that those who practice Buddhism, in the midst of daily cultivation and progress, cannot part with for even an instant during moments of haste and adversity? The brilliantly enlightened Son of Heaven circulates and propagates it, just like holding up the Buddha sun to illuminate dark thoroughfares from every angle, or pouring down the Dharma rain to universally nourish all withered things, neither betraying the Tathāgata's entrustment above, nor failing to broadly open a ford and bridge for the degenerate age below; this is the greatest wholesome cause in the Sahā world. Formerly, Emperor Taizong of the Tang ordered ten scribes to copy the Sūtra of the Buddha's Bequeathed Teaching and distribute it throughout all the commanderies to extend encouragement; compared with today, there is a clear difference between them. Your servant cannot praise it enough; overwhelmed with leaping joy, burning incense and bowing twice, I have written this at the head of the sūtra.