大方廣圓覺修多羅了義經略疏 1.4

1.4

Dhyāna Master Guifeng received the Dharma from the Venerable Daoyuan, the foremost disciple of Nanyin, who was the direct descendant of Heze. One day, accompanying the assembly of monks, he attended a meal at the house of Ren Guan, a commoner of the prefecture. Sitting in a lower rank, he received a sūtra in accordance with the order. Encountering the Perfect Enlightenment of Definitive Meaning, before reaching the end of the scroll, he was moved to enlightenment and shed tears. Returning, he reported his awakening to his master, who patted him and said: 'You shall greatly propagate the teaching of the perfect and sudden; this sūtra was bestowed upon you by all the buddhas.' Once the Dhyāna Master had borne the secret seal of the Southern School and received the predictive assurance of the Perfect Enlightenment, he then perused the sūtras and vinaya of the Great Canon, thoroughly mastered treatises such as the Vijñapti-mātra and the Awakening of Faith, and thereafter drew the reins at the Huayan dharmadhātu, sat in peaceful meditation in the wondrous arena of perfect enlightenment, thoroughly investigated that which is moistened by the single rain, and exhausted the diverse purports of the five teachings, whereupon he composed commentaries and explanations for it. There were, in all, the Great Commentary in three fascicles, the Great Subcommentary in thirteen fascicles, the Abridged Commentary in two fascicles, the Minor Subcommentary in six fascicles, and the Ritual for Practice and Realization in the Bodhimaṇḍa in eighteen fascicles, all circulating together in the world. His presentation of the teaching is perfect, his seeing of the dharma is thorough, his explanation of principles is neat as splitting firewood, and his entering contemplation is bright as holding a candle. His wording goes only to the limit of reason and does not gallop in vain; his prose supports only the doctrine and is not carelessly ornamented. Because he did not fault others with his strengths, he offered no exclusionary assertions; because he did not eclipse others with what was not yet achieved, he produced no idiosyncratic theories. Magnificently, it is truly the eyes of the twelve divisions of scriptures, the marrow of the thirty-five patriarchs, the great root of sentient beings, and the pervasive path of the three periods of time. Even if there are authors in later generations, they will not surpass it. Could he be one of the four reliances? Or did he hear it directly in the Pure Land? How could he have exhausted its meaningful flavor like this!