大方廣圓覺修多羅了義經略疏 2.1440

2.1440

（宗密）本巴江一賤士，志好道而不好藝，縱游藝而必欲根乎道。自齠年洎弱冠，雖則詩書是業，每覺無歸，而復傍求釋宗，薄似有寄。決知業緣之報，如影響應乎形聲。遂止葷茹、考經論，親禪德、狎名僧，莊居屢置法筵，素服濫嘗覆講。但以學虧極教，悟匪圓宗。不造心源，惑情宛在。後遇遂州大雲寺圓和尚法門，即荷澤之裔也。言下相契，師資道合，一心皎如、萬德斯備。既知世業事藝本不相關，方始落𩭄披緇，服勤敬事。習氣損之又損，覺智百鍊百精，然於身心因果猶懷漠漠，色空之理未即於心。遂屢咨參方，蒙授與終南大師《華嚴法界觀門》，佛法寶藏從此頓彰。同志四人琢磨數載，一句中理論則通宵未休，一事中義旨則塵沙莫算。達水常濕，寧疑波湛之殊；悟鏡恒明，不驚影像之變。淨剎、穢土非壞非成，諸佛、眾生何起何滅。由是念包三世同時，互促互延；塵與十方全體，相即相入。多生謬計反覆，枉受於沈淪；今日正觀始覺，元同于大用。然後所顯境界離情則隨照分明，能詮大經配文則難為通會。章句浩博、因果重疊，理雖一味，勢變多端。差別義門，㘝盡血脈，不知科段，意莫連環。縱使歷諸講場，不添已悟，名相繁雜，難契自心。

[Zongmi] was originally a humble scholar of Bajiang, with an aspiration fond of the Way but not fond of arts; even when indulging in the arts, I necessarily desired to root them in the Way. From childhood to young adulthood, although poetry and books were my vocation, I constantly felt lack of a refuge; turning to seek aside in the Buddhist tradition, I seemed slightly to have a reliance. Decisively knowing that retribution for karmic conditions corresponds like shadow and echo to form and sound, I thereupon ceased consuming pungent roots and meat, investigated sūtras and treatises, grew close to Chan virtues, and associated with famous monks. At my country residence I repeatedly hosted Dharma assemblies, and in plain white robes I presumptuously attempted repeated lectures. However, because my learning lacked the ultimate teaching, my awakening was not the complete doctrine. Not reaching the source of the mind, deluded feelings remained intact. Later I encountered the Dharma gate of Upādhyāya Yuan of Dayun Monastery in Suizhou, who is a descendant of Heze. With words matched and teacher-disciple way joined, the One Mind was bright and clear, and myriad virtues were fully present. Knowing that worldly vocations and arts were originally irrelevant, only then did I shave my hair and don the black robes, diligently serving in reverence. Habitual karmic propensities were reduced and reduced again, and awakening wisdom was refined a hundredfold. Yet toward bodily and mental cause and effect I still harbored vagueness, and the principle of form and emptiness was not yet immediate to the mind. Thereupon I repeatedly sought counsel across regions, receiving from Master Zhongnan the Contemplation Gates of the Huayan Dharmadhātu, from which the treasury of the Buddha-Dharma's treasures was suddenly revealed. Four companions polished our understanding for several years; on a single sentence's principle, discussions would continue through the night without stopping; in a single phenomenon's meaning, points were as countless as dust and sand. Reaching the fact that water is constantly wet, how could one doubt the difference between waves and stillness? Awakening to the mirror being eternally bright, one is not alarmed by the variations of reflections. Pure lands and defiled lands are neither destroyed nor created; buddhas and sentient beings—what arises and what ceases? Due to this, a single thought encompasses the three times simultaneously, mutually contracting and extending; a single dust mote and the ten directions in their entirety are mutually identical and mutually penetrating. For many births, erroneous views flipped back and forth, vainly suffering in sinking; today, the right contemplation of initial enlightenment is originally identical with the great function. Afterwards, while the revealed realm is distinct in accord with illumination once freed from sentiment, matching the grand sūtra that expresses it to the text was difficult to synthesize. Chapters and verses are vast and extensive, causes and effects overlapping; though the principle is of a single flavor, the structural shifts are multifaceted. The differentiated doctrinal approaches absorb all the veins; without knowing the outlines, the meaning cannot form a chain. Even if passing through various lecture halls, nothing was added to my prior awakening; names and marks being manifold and intricate, it was hard to tally with one's own mind.