首楞嚴義疏注經 1

English (machine translation) 1

Language: English

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Preface to the Commentary on the Śūraṅgama Sūtra

Composed by Wang Sui, Grand Master of Palace Leisure, Censor-in-Chief Acting as Inspector, Concurrent Administrator of the Ministry of Personnel's Evaluation Department, Senior Commandant of Light Chariots, Founding Marquis of Langya Commandery, with a fief of one thousand nine hundred households and actual revenue from two hundred households, awarded the Purple and Gold Fish Bag.

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The Great Buddha-Crest Śūraṅgama Sūtra of the Definitive Meaning of the Secret Cause is the great model of India and the precious scripture of the garden of Dharma. Formerly, the Benevolent Sage, having manifested his advent across the five Indias and being uniquely honored throughout the three realms, relied on the golden wheel to instruct living beings and manifested the jade curl to respond to the world. Observing that the four kinds of born beings suffer, he graciously relieved all creatures; pitying that the host of capacities had not awakened, he vigorously offered skillful guidance. Thereupon, in harmony with ultimate principle, he proclaimed the subtle words, opened the gate of great compassion, and expanded the ocean of tathatā. Considering that all dharmas arise solely reliant on delusional thoughts, and all sentient beings exist nowhere outside causes and conditions, one thus knows that greed and desire are the root of the cycle of birth and death, while dhyāna and wisdom are the essential principle for cultivating and realizing eternal bliss. Thus, through this sūtra, one can identify various demons and destroy the seven destinies; that is, through śamatha and vipaśyanā, cultivate the wondrously bright mind of the perfect teaching, and by bringing forth reality and returning to the origin, realize the supreme and consummate exposition. How admirable that Pāramiti translated its meaning and Chancellor Fang transcribed its prose! Now Master Xuan of Wu along the river, possessing both exalted learning and unhindered eloquence, took this scripture to be the teaching of an entire generation, dividing its wondrous principle into ten portals. His merit assists the trichiliocosm; his path transmits the non-dual. Staring straight and clapping hands, he clarified delusion; destroying marks and extinguishing the mind, he converged with the ultimate principle. If one faithfully accepts it, it becomes a bridge for the world; if one awakens to it, one enters the knowledge and vision of the Buddha. He thus elucidated the sūtra to make a commentary, and by means of the commentary clarified the principle; therefore, it can resolve previous doubts, clear away subsequent blockages, part the clouds of confusion, and reveal the sun of wisdom. Only thereafter does one know that form and emptiness are not different, both returning together to the reality limit; sentient beings and the Buddha do not differ, being not apart from the square inch [of the heart-mind]. Sui's intentions are bent on external protection; ashamed of having no inner learning, having been granted the opportunity to peruse it, I have hastily composed this preface. Taking refuge in the Dharma-treasure, I am fortunate to investigate the true teachings minutely; praising the Buddha-vehicle, I vow that all will universally partake in the sublime fruit.

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Preface written at the Eastern Porch of Daozhai on the twenty-first day, Xinchou, of the first month of winter, in the gengwu year [of the Qinglong cycle], the eighth year of the Tiansheng reign of the Great Song [1030 CE].

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Weijing, Tripiṭaka Translator of Sūtras, Grand Master of Palace Leisure, Probationary Chamberlain for Ceremonials, Master Guangfan, bestowed with the Purple Robe, respectfully presents this letter to His Excellency the Censor-in-Chief: Recently, I have been honored to be specially favored with your newly composed 'Preface to the Commentary on the Śūraṅgama Sūtra.' A great scholar and virtuous gentleman favorably praises the precious vehicle, while an unlearned member of the monastics unworthily catches a glimpse of the Dharma phrases; body and mind are filled with joy, and the all-inclusive wisdom brightens further. Receiving it reverently with utmost reliance, my gladness is beyond measure. I humbly consider that the Great Buddha-Crest Śūraṅgama Sūtra of the Definitive Meaning of the Tathāgata's Secret Cause, Cultivation, and Realization, and the Bodhisattvas' Ten Thousand Practices is the portal of bodhisattva practice and the seal of the mind of all buddhas. When unfolding the conditioned, it is the wondrous functioning countless as dust and sands; when returning to the signless, it is the true source of the dharmadhātu. Neither existent nor empty, it transcends names and characteristics beyond words and symbols; manifesting the cause and revealing the fruit, it marks stages within spiritual transformation. The object does not obstruct the mind, and delusion does not obstruct wisdom; the nature of the seven great elements is great without relying on anything, and the dharma of the eight returns returns without having any origin. Therefore, one comprehends the mind of tathatā, puts an end to the root of falsehood, arouses expedient wisdom, and proclaims the secret words. Through this, the ten thousand dharmas are fully integrated, and all buddhas attain sovereignty; one enters the two truths of non-duality and awakens to the three emptinesses that are not empty. How grand is the true tradition, inconceivable indeed! Here was an eminent scholar who composed a commentary, brilliantly resolving the secret teachings and concisely discoursing on the Buddha's intent. Respectfully, Your Excellency has entered the knowledge and vision of the Buddha and understood the causes and conditions of phenomena; studying Buddhism and practicing cultivation, you have dispelled the sickness of existence and emptiness; proclaiming the nature and characteristics of dharmas, you have harmoniously clarified the beginnings of arising and ceasing, serving as a fortress for protecting the Dharma and acting as an unasked friend. You have composed this lofty preface, broadly propagating the teaching vehicle, establishing a lasting guide for eternal generations and manifesting a torch in the long darkness. Having long received your courteous regard in the Way, I have unworthily enjoyed this extraordinary composition; harboring deep personal gratitude, my elation is beyond measure. Words cannot fully express it. Weijing bows his head.

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Compiled by the Śramaṇa Zixuan of Changshui

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I bow my head to our Great Master, the Tamer and Guide honored in the ten directions, / To the Buddha-Crest Śūraṅgama, the Great Awakening, the tathāgatagarbha, / To all the holy assemblies of perfect brightness, and to their leader, the Dragon-Honored King, / Who constantly open the gate of great compassion, saving and gathering sentient beings. / May you grant your protection to me as I elucidate and preach what is wondrous and inconceivable, / So that together with all sentient beings, we may swiftly realize the ocean of tathatā.

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Approaching the explanation of this sūtra, it is divided into ten gates: first, the causes and conditions for the arising of the teaching; second, its subsumption within the pitakas and vehicles; third, the scope of the doctrinal meaning; fourth, the capacities being addressed; fifth, the essence of that which expresses; sixth, the central purpose of that which is expressed; seventh, the sequence of the teaching's traces; eighth, the era of transmission and translation; ninth, a general explanation of the title; tenth, a distinct explanation of the text and its meaning.

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In the first [gate], there are two parts: first, general; second, specific. Regarding the general: it refers to responding to causes and answering requests, revealing principle and delivering sentient beings. The arising of the teachings of the [Buddha's] entire generation all stems from this. If we trace the original intent of the Buddha, it was solely for the one great causal condition, desiring to cause sentient beings to open, reveal, awaken to, and enter the Buddha's knowledge and vision. Although the three carts were all promised, he only bestowed the white bullock cart; it was solely for the one vehicle, with neither three nor two. Regarding the specific, there are ten reasons for speaking this sūtra: First, in order to clearly reveal the true samādhi. This means that Ānanda encountered disaster precisely because he lacked true meditative stability; therefore, he requested the initial expedient means of the wondrous śamatha, samādhi, and dhyāna through which all buddhas achieve bodhi. And the Buddha agreed, saying there is a samādhi called the King of the Great Buddha-Crest Śūraṅgama, fully endowed with the ten thousand practices, the wondrously adorned path by which the tathāgatas of the ten directions transcend through a single gate. As for his repeated request and self-reproach, expecting [the Buddha] to bestow it upon him, his verse praising it as rare, and so forth, down to the Tathāgata reciting and praising it by the name vajra-king illusion-like samādhi; commanding the exposition of perfect penetration, Mañjuśrī's selecting and displaying it, pointing out that the buddhas of the three periods share this same gate; the preparatory practices in the sanctuary, accomplishing the holy stages, establishing the title of this sūtra, destroying the seven destinies, and identifying various demons—all were for this purpose. Second, in order to broadly refute various false attachments. This means Ānanda attached to falsehood and was deluded about the real, and King Prasenajit attached to permanence as annihilation. There was the sevenfold interrogation on the mind and the three doubts raised in contention. The Buddha spoke again: 'If you cling to the discriminating consciousness as your mind,' and so forth. Therefore, based on the two approaches of mind and seeing, he broadly refuted according to their attachments; the characteristics of these attachments are not apart from person and dharmas. Third, in order to disclose the wondrously bright mind. This means when Ānanda initially requested samādhi, the Buddha first examined his initial aspiration; since he displayed the source of love and views, he was completely deluded about the real essence. He then said: 'Sentient beings' continuous cycle of birth and death from beginningless time is entirely due to not knowing the permanently abiding true mind.' This true wondrous brightness is itself the fundamentally pure essence of bodhi and nirvāṇa. Therefore, Ānanda reproached himself for not knowing the quiescent and eternal, and the Tathāgata granted permission to reveal the wondrously bright nature. First, with respect to the two approaches of mind and seeing, he alternately interrogated and revealed; later, through the three categories and seven great elements, he distinctly and clearly converged them, causing them to see in each and every dharma that the nature is eternal, completely pervasive and harmonious, containing and subsuming without obstruction. The assembly all understood, knowing of themselves that the mind pervades the ten directions, all existing things are themselves the wondrous essence of bodhi, and the fundamentally bright mind completely contains the ten directions of space; body, realm, and space are entirely ungraspable, and there is only the single, fundamentally wondrous, permanently abiding and unperishing [nature]. When Pūrṇa doubted phenomenal characteristics and Ānanda questioned causes and conditions again, the Buddha gave instructions accordingly, causing them to attain knowledge and vision. Fourth, in order to cut through the net of doubts of the assembly. This means when the Buddha revealed true seeing, Ānanda gave rise to doubts with each seeing: shrinking or cutting off, separation from the body, causes and conditions, spontaneity, combination, non-combination, clinging to characteristics and doubting the nature, the great elements being pervasive and perfect, the extinction of falsehood giving rise to falsehood, becoming real or unreal, cultivating an impermanent cause to obtain a permanently abiding fruit. Since the net of doubts was manifold, the Buddha severed them accordingly. Fifth, in order to analyze the gate of practice. This means when the Buddha broadly demonstrated the essence of the tathāgatagarbha, Ānanda understood it deeply; he presented an analogy of a heavenly king bestowing an ornate mansion: although knowing of what was bestowed, he had no doorway to enter, having realized that extensive learning does not match actual cultivation. Thus he asked: 'From where does one subdue past conditioned clinging to enter the Buddha's knowledge and vision?' The Buddha presented two decisive meanings as the initial mind of generating awakening; that is, śamatha and vipaśyanā are the essentials. First, he commanded him to reverse falsehood with clarity to achieve non-arising and non-ceasing; next, he commanded him to examine afflictions closely to know the faculties and subdue them. Once one faculty is reversed, the remaining faculties naturally revert; all delusions dissolve away, so what need to wait for the real? Sixth, in order to distinguish between correct and deviant practice. This means Ānanda had already awakened to cultivation, but future generations would not know the correct and the deviant; although aspiring to the correct path, many fall into deviant traditions, like pouring water into a leaky vessel—how could it ever be filled? Ānanda requested: 'Sentient beings are gradually further removed from the Buddha, and deviant teachers preaching the Dharma are extremely numerous; we wish to cause their minds to enter the Buddha-vehicle and stay far from demons without retrogressing.' The Buddha presented the four clear instructions on purity, the common path of all the sages; if the root of the precepts is uncompromised, meditative stability and wisdom can be relied upon. If one is not strict regarding pure prohibitions, even if dhyāna and wisdom are vast and deep, one can hardly escape becoming kin of ghosts and demons; seeking to advance but stepping backward, how truly lamentable! Seventh, in order to reveal the supreme efficacy of the mantra. This means Ānanda's peril lay with Mātaṅgī, and the Tathāgata sent the mantra to rescue him. Although the power arrived, the secret words had not been heard. How much more can it covertly protect the gates of the faculties and guard against past habits; the purification precepts are naturally fulfilled without being formally received, and the realization of fruits is obtainable without being far off. Dispelling difficulties and gaining benefits, practicing for oneself and transforming others, both causal persons and fruition persons accomplish their tasks by this. Eighth, in order that realization of entry has stages. This means principle transcends cultivation and realization, while phenomena retain stages and gradual progress; leaning to one side leads to the sickness of emptiness or existence, while perfect penetration harmonizes the real and the conventional; therefore, without damaging quiescence, the various stages are established. Ānanda, knowing the capacities, made the request, and the Tathāgata gave instruction according to practice: beginning with gradual steps and ending in the ultimate fruit, establishing fifty-seven stages within the forbearance of non-arising dharmas; severing without severing, the obstacles of delusion are necessarily destroyed; realizing without realizing, the spiritual functions are fully prepared. How could it be like demons and outsiders having no stages whatsoever? The text says: 'These various grounds all employ the ten profound analogies of vajra contemplation of the illusion-like; within śamatha, one employs the pure cultivation and realization of all the tathāgatas' vipaśyanā, gradually entering deeply.' Ninth, in order to broadly demonstrate the various demonic realms. This means among those who cultivate dhyāna contemplation, none fail to have a beginning, but few are able to carry it to the end; this is because they do not understand the demonic realms, falsely give rise to graspings, fail to comprehend that it is mind-only, and consequently branch off into various paths. The Buddha's compassion is unconditional; he preached without being asked. In contemplation breaking the aggregates, with ten kinds for each aggregate, the fifty realms analyze the sources of deviance, so that in the final age those cultivating dhyāna may avoid being deluded by them. Tenth, in order to exhaustively investigate the source of false thinking. This means all sūtras speak of the five aggregates, but none have heard of them being formed of five false thinkings. Now it is clarified that when breaking one aggregate, one false thinking emerges; breaking them proceeds from coarse to subtle, while their arising manifests from subtle to coarse; their root source is solely the single aggregate of consciousness; the aggregate of consciousness has no substance, being merely the perfect and eternal. The text says: 'Subtly entering and uniting with clarity, returning to the boundary of consciousness.' Having known that the five aggregates are all false thinking, what is there that the dharmas subsumed by the five aggregates do not encompass? The treatise says: 'All dharmas have distinctions solely reliant on delusional thoughts; if one is free from thoughts of the mind, there are no characteristics of any realms.' For these ten purposes, this sūtra was spoken.

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Second, regarding subsumption within the piṭakas and vehicles: among the three piṭakas, it is subsumed under the sūtras (sūtra-piṭaka); between the two piṭakas, it is subsumed under the bodhisattva piṭaka. If this [sūtra] subsumes the others, it concurrently encompasses both the two and the three [piṭakas], because upholding precepts and realizing fruits include the Hīnayāna, and interrogating, refuting, and analyzing are most clearly evident. Among the various vehicles, it is subsumed under the one vehicle; if this [sūtra] subsumes the others, it also encompasses the various vehicles. Among the twelve divisions [of the canon], it is subsumed under the two divisions of sūtra and vaipulya; its subsumption of the others is as before.

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Third, regarding the scope and limits of the teaching and its principles: according to Master Xianshou, they are distinguished by two meanings. First, demonstrating the scope and limits in terms of the teaching explaining phenomena comprehensively or partially. Classifying the teachings according to their meaning, there are five categories of teachings: 1. The teaching of the small vehicle. It speaks only of the emptiness of self, and even if it speaks a little of the emptiness of dharmas, it is not clear. It establishes the roots of defilement and purity based merely on the six consciousnesses and the three poisons, failing to fathom the source of dharmas; hence there are many disputes. 2. The initial teaching of the Great Vehicle, also called the differentiated teaching. It only speaks of all dharmas being empty, yet does not exhaust the principles and dharmas of the Great Vehicle; thus it is named 'initial'. It only explains the characteristics of all dharmas, and posits that there are [beings who] do not attain Buddhahood; thus it is named 'differentiated'. 3. The final teaching of the Great Vehicle, also called the real teaching. It teaches that the tathāgatagarbha accords with conditions to become the ālaya-consciousness; dependent origination lacks intrinsic nature, and everything is suchness. The two vehicles of determined nature and icchantikas lacking nature will all become Buddhas. Only this exhausts the ultimate teaching of the Great Vehicle; hence it is named 'final'. Because it accords with real principle, it is named 'real'. 4. The sudden teaching of the Great Vehicle. It does not speak of the characteristics of dharmas at all, but exclusively distinguishes the true nature, and there are no differentiated characteristics of the eight consciousnesses. It rebukes teachings and urges leaving them behind, abolishing marks and annihilating the mind; when not a single thought arises, that is precisely named 'Buddha'. It does not rely on stages or sequences; therefore it is called 'sudden'. 5. The perfect teaching of the one vehicle. What it teaches is exclusively the dharmadhātu: the ocean of nature is harmoniously fused, dependent origination is unobstructed, mutually identical and mutually interpenetrating, like the multi-layered net of Indra, host and companion being infinite. If among these five one shows the scope of this sūtra: principally it is purely the final teaching, yet concurrently it encompasses the sudden and the perfect. If this sūtra and the five teachings are mutually subsumed: among the five, only the latter three subsume this sūtra, while this sūtra totally subsumes those various teachings.

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Second, demonstrating the scope and limits in terms of the arising of dharmas, from root to branch. Based on the Awakening of Faith, it clarifies the five tiers of the root and branches of all defiled dharmas. In the treatise, first, the one mind alone is the fundamental source. Second, based on the one mind, two gates are opened: 1. The gate of the mind as tathatā, namely, that the nature of mind is without arising and without cessation; 2. The gate of the mind as arising and ceasing, meaning that based on the tathāgatagarbha coalescing with arising and ceasing, it is named the ālaya-consciousness. Third, based on this consciousness, two meanings are clarified: 1. The meaning of enlightenment, which refers to the mind-essence being free from thought, and so forth; 2. The meaning of non-enlightenment, which refers to not knowing in accordance with reality that the dharma of tathatā is one, the non-enlightened mind moving, and so forth. Fourth, based on this latter meaning, the three subtle [aspects] arise: 1. Through non-enlightenment the mind moves, named the aspect of karma; 2. Dependent on movement there is the ability to see, named the aspect of the evolving [mind]; 3. Dependent on seeing, objects falsely manifest, named the aspect of manifestation. Fifth, based on this last, the six coarse [aspects] arise: 1. The aspect of intellection (distinguishing based on objects, which is innate grasping of dharmas); 2. The aspect of continuity (arising unbroken thoughts based on intellection, which is discriminative grasping of dharmas); 3. The aspect of grasping (the mind arising attachment, which is innate grasping of self); 4. The aspect of reckoning names (discriminative grasping of self; the above four are all afflictions); 5. The aspect of arising karma (karma); 6. The aspect of suffering bound by karma (retribution). If the various schools are aligned with these five tiers to demonstrate their scope: humans and devas only match karma and retribution; the small vehicle matches the latter four coarse ones; the Dharma-character [school] culminates at the three subtle ones; while the final, sudden, and perfect comprehensively explain root and branch, only then exhausting the first source of the one mind. The first source of the one mind is precisely the permanently abiding true mind, the naturally pure and luminous essence of this sūtra. Because the sūtra designates this mind as the fundamental lineage, all causes and effects, worlds and fine dust motes, are formed because of the mind. Because in the two fundamentals, it is taught as the original luminous essence of beginningless bodhi and nirvāṇa (the first tier). Regarding seeing and regarding mind, whether refuting or harmonising, even when thoroughly examining the three categories and seven great elements, all are stated to be the wondrous nature of tathatā, and so on—this is the gate of the mind as tathatā. The sūtra uses the metaphors of staring with fixed eyes and clapping hands, cataract seeing the halo around a lamp, the nature being luminous and complete, the nature being stimulated because of luminosity, and the original luminosity of the essence of consciousness; the nature, all minds, and so forth—these are the gate of arising and ceasing (the second tier). When Pūrṇa raised a doubt, the Buddha brought up the wonderful clarity of original enlightenment, that natural enlightenment must be clear, falsely making it an enlightened clarity, that enlightenment is not what is illuminated, and establishing an object due to clarity, and so on—these are original enlightenment and non-enlightenment. Knowing clearly by oneself, bringing forth reality and returning to the origin, being enlightened to delusion and delusion being extinguished, and so on—these are initial enlightenment (the third tier). The three marks, the four wheels, darkness becoming emptiness, and within the dark void, darkness congealing into form, and so on—these are the three subtle [aspects] (the fourth tier). Arousing dust-toil afflictions, gathered conditions churning within, rushing forth outside, the two kinds of continuity of karmic retribution and sentient beings, and so on—these are the latter five coarse [aspects] (the fifth tier). Because of this, this sūtra fully explains root and branch; when students examine it thoroughly, its abstruse depth is fully apparent.

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Fourth, regarding the faculties and capacities addressed: according to the Commentary on the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment, there are briefly two kinds: first, discerning and selecting; second, universal gathering. First, it refers to those who take pleasure in clinging to names and marks, taking texts as understanding; those who are bound and hindered by practice and stages, exalting the holy realm as unattainable; those whose sentiment favours emptiness, reducing whatever is stated to non-existence; those who rely on inherent innocence, deprecating and disliking progressive cultivation; and those who obstinately cling to what was previously heard, carrying hemp while discarding gold. All of the above are non-receptive vessels; their opposites are all receptive vessels. Second, universal gathering: all sentient beings possess Buddha-nature; all may hear it, and none fail to obtain benefit. Those whose past seeds are deep awaken and enter; those with shallow [seeds] have faith and understanding; and even those who completely lack seeds are perfumed into the seed-nature of the perfect and sudden. It is like the metaphor of eating diamond in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra. If classified by the five natures: it directly addresses the bodhisattva nature and the indeterminate nature, and concurrently serves as a distant cause and condition for the other natures. Among the three categories of beings: it causes the definitely determined category to increase in wonderful practice, causes the indeterminate category to cultivate faith, and serves as a distant cause and condition for persons of wrongly determined nature.

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Fifth, regarding the essence of that which explains: four approaches are briefly made. 1. The approach according to marks. This further has two: first, the essence of sounds, names, sentences, and words, because substance and function, provisional and real, assist each other; second, comprehensively subsuming the essence of that which is explained, for if it did not explain the meaning, the text would not be a teaching. 2. The approach of consciousness-only. Because the former two do not depart from that which is transformed by consciousness; however, there is the distinction between fundamental substance (maula-dravya) and reflected image (pratibimba). 3. The approach of returning to nature. Because this consciousness has no substantial essence, being only tathatā. 4. The approach of non-obstruction. Mind and object, principle and phenomena, mutually penetrate and subsume each other, because the dharma of the one mind has two gates.

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Sixth, regarding the tenets and purport of that which is explained: there are general and specific ones. First, generally speaking, cause and condition is the tenet of the Buddhist teaching. Because the holy teachings of the Buddha, from the shallow to the deep, in explaining all dharmas do not go beyond the two words 'cause and condition'. If [considered] after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, as the noble and holy disciples transmitted and practiced down through generations, encompassing both the great and small vehicles, there are five tracks of tenets, as in the Commentary on the Awakening of Faith. As for specifically explaining this sūtra, there are also general and specific [views]: In general, it takes the mind and objects being empty (the imagined [nature] like a snake or ghost; the sūtra says: 'Like flowers in space, originally having no existence'; again the sūtra says: 'Falsely becoming form and emptiness, hearing and seeing') and quiescent, (the dependent [nature] like a reflected image and so forth; the sūtra says: 'Arising right where they are, completely extinguished according to where they are', and so forth) the nature of the [tathāgata]garbha being consummated, (because of being empty and quiescent, it is consummated and real; the sūtra says: 'This seeing and its conditions are fundamentally the wonderful, pure, and luminous essence of bodhi', and so forth) and ordinary beings and sages being equal as its tenet (below it says: 'Delusion and awakening, death and birth, are completely unobtainable'; also: 'There are no two paths for sages and ordinary beings'; also: 'Samsara and nirvāṇa are both mad toil', and so forth); it takes causing practitioners to forget emotional attachments (due to awakening to the tenet; below it says: 'Right within your mind the mad nature naturally ceases; turning the flow back, there is no falsehood') and equal the Buddhas, (due to forgetting emotional attachments; the sūtra says: 'Ceasing is bodhi; one is identical to the Tathāgata', and so forth) and swiftly accomplishing meditative practice (the text says: 'An expedient method easily accomplished') as its purport. Furthermore, taking the former purport as the tenet, it takes causing afflictions and karma to be eliminated, (because the three conditions are severed, the three causes do not arise) eternally cutting off transmigration, (if one obtains the wonderfully manifesting samādhi, then it is wonderfully, permanently quiescent; existence and non-existence are both negated, and the negation of the two is also extinguished) giving rise to great spiritual functions, (naturally seeing without need for the divine eye, and so forth) peace, and (the body and mind feel delightful, attaining great tranquillity) sovereignty (making one into immeasurable, manifesting the great within the small, and so forth) as its purport. Specifically, there are five pairs: 1. teaching and meaning; 2. phenomena and principle; 3. object and practice; 4. practice and quiescence; 5. quiescence and function. In all cases, the former is the tenet and the latter is the purport. These five also arise sequentially from the preceding to the succeeding, depending on one another gradually. In summary, it does not go beyond understanding and practice, cultivation and realization. First, understanding the tathāgatagarbha is the tenet, and practicing the Śūraṅgama is the purport. This is because the Buddha promised to show true cultivation, yet interrogated understanding with regard to mind and seeing. Next, cultivating this true concentration is the tenet, and realizing that essence of the [tathāgata]garbha is the purport. Therefore below [Ānanda] requests, saying: 'Although I have obtained the great mansion, I must enter through the door,' and so forth.

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Seventh, regarding the sequence of the traces of the teaching: when the Buddha spoke this sūtra, it was not spoken suddenly at one single time; the speaking must have had an earlier and later, and the compilers gathered them by category into a single work. When the Buddha first spoke, King Prasenajit was present in the assembly, relating outside [views] and raising doubts, refuting those annihilationist views. Later, when Ānanda questioned the seven destinies, he cited King Virūḍhaka exterminating the clan of the Śākyas and the monk Sunakṣatra falsely preaching the emptiness of dharmas, both falling alive into hell. Was Virūḍhaka not the son of King Prasenajit? Only after the king died and he succeeded to the throne did he exterminate the Gautama clan. How could there be an advance questioning about an event that had not yet occurred? Therefore, we know this sūtra was not spoken at a single time. If we determine it by the text and meaning, it is after the Lotus Sūtra and before the Nirvāṇa Sūtra. The sūtra text clearly points to Yaśodharā receiving prophecy and Dharaniṃdhara verifying the sūtra. Deduced by its meaning, the preface praises the śrāvakas not in terms of small practices, but as immeasurable response-bodies liberating sentient beings; prior to the Lotus Sūtra there was no such praise. The śrāvakas entering the real was also not revealed prior to the Lotus Sūtra, yet the present sūtra has it. Each expounding perfect penetration, the practitioners of the small vehicle all narrate their original time or recount their present encounter, all realising the perfect and wonderful; this did not exist before the Lotus Sūtra, so one should know it is after it. Yet it does not proclaim the date of entering extinction, so it is definitely before the Nirvāṇa Sūtra. The two sūtras belong to the same category, and this sūtra resides between them; both are of the ghee flavour, beyond any doubt.

1.17

Eighth, the period and year of transmission and translation. Below it states: In the Great Tang dynasty, the first year of the Shenlong era, the yisi year, on the twenty-third day of the fifth month, the Central Indian śramaṇa Pāramiti translated [it] at the Zhizhi Daocheng in Guangzhou. Prior to this, the Tripiṭaka master took the Sanskrit text and sailed across the sea, arriving at Zhizhi Monastery in Guangzhou. He met Chancellor Fang Rong, who was administering the southern selection of officials. Hearing of this sūtra, [Fang] thereupon requested him to translate it collaboratively; Fang Rong took it down with the brush, and the śramaṇa Meghaśikha of Uḍḍiyāna translated the spoken words. Just as the translation of the sūtra was completed, the Tripiṭaka master was pursued by his native country: obeying the strict royal decree that previously forbade [the text] from leaving, the Tripiṭaka master had secretly crossed the border and was reprimanded. To resolve this calamity, he immediately departed and returned. Fang Rong submitted it to the throne in a memorial; however, it coincided with Emperor Zhongzong's recent accession to the throne, so there was no leisure to disseminate it, and the catalogues lacked a record of it. At that time, chan practitioners obtained the manuscript through the imperial court chapel, transcribed it, prized it, and kept it secret, whereupon it circulated in this region. Datong, being at court, personally encountered the memorialised sūtra, made another copy to carry with him, and returned to Dumen Monastery in Jingzhou. There was the śramaṇa Huizhen of Guantao in Weibei, who searched and visited numinous traces and had always admired this sūtra; at Dumen Monastery he eventually came upon this manuscript and first produced an outline and commentary. Furthermore, according to the twenty-fascicle Record of Śākya's Teachings compiled by the śramaṇa Zhisheng during the Kaiyuan era, the ninth fascicle states: 'The Great Buddha-Crest Śūraṅgama Sūtra in ten fascicles was translated in Guangzhou by the Great Tang śramaṇa Huaidi.' Di was a man of Xunzhou who lived at Nanlou Monastery on Mount Luofu; having long studied the sūtras and treatises, he was thoroughly versed in the five dialects of Sanskrit. Travelling to Guangfu, he encountered an Indian monk whose name is not known, and translating it together against the original text, compiled it into ten fascicles. The title of the sūtra, the number of sheets, and the phrasing do not differ at all from Rong's current version. Di took down the purports of the sūtra with the brush, weaving together the text and principle. Now, examining the two sūtras in detail, although the translators are different, the translated original was identical. Or perhaps, because Di verified the meaning, each relied on what was circulated, which is why the current catalogues record them differently. If not so, how could there not be a single point of difference, and why would the chief translator's name remain unknown? Since the two texts are identical, we now explain Rong's version.

1.18

Ninth, comprehensive explanation of the title:

1.19

The Great Buddha-Crest Sūtra of the Tathāgata's Secret Cause of Cultivation and Realisation of the Complete Meaning and the Bodhisattvas' Ten Thousand Practices of the Śūraṅgama.

1.20

The sūtra has five designations, and the title contains three appellations, because it comprehensively encompasses teaching and practice, person and principle, cause and fruition, and exoteric and esoteric fully and completely. First, to briefly correlate them: The first three characters are general, being the Dharma-essence of the entire sūtra, generally containing teaching, principle, practice, and fruition; the teaching and practice are explicitly indicated, while the principle and fruition are implicitly contained. As for explicit indication, the text states, 'There is a samādhi called the Great Buddha-Crest,' which indicates practice. It also states, 'Although having received the Tathāgata's Buddha-Crest divine mantra,' and 'This mantra is also called the Tathāgata's Crest,' which indicates teaching. Teaching has the exoteric and the esoteric: explicitly expounding and demonstrating to enable one to awaken and cultivate without falsity refers to all the preceding and following texts; secretly upholding it to exhaust hindrances and render virtue prominent refers to the mantra phrases. As for implicit containment: quiescently illuminating and containing empty space is called 'great'; the nature of awakening being wondrously bright is called 'Buddha'—this reveals the principle. 'I united with the tathāgatagarbha through non-cessation and non-arising, pervading the dharmadhātu,' and so forth, is called 'great'; 'the culmination of brightness is the Tathāgata' is called 'Buddha'—this reveals fruition. 'Crest' (uṣṇīṣa) has the meaning of the utmost and unsurpassable. If these three characters are explained entirely in terms of principle: the essence of the womb pervading everywhere without failing to contain anything is called 'great', which is greatness of essence; the spiritual illumination being unclouded and free of all conceptual thoughts is called 'Buddha'. 'Buddha' has two meanings: first, the meaning of self-nature's manifest illumination, which is greatness of attributes; second, the meaning of manifesting benefits according to conditions, which is greatness of function. This greatness and Buddha are most revered, most supreme, unsurpassable, and peerless, the Dharma that is the teacher of all buddhas; hence it is called 'Crest'. The meaning of the three greatnesses is not separate from the one mind; hence the one mind is called the 'Great Buddha-Crest'. From 'Tathāgata' onwards, it distinctively reveals superior capability. The first eight characters are distinctively revealed in terms of the fruition-person's self-practice, cultivation, and realisation, and expounding the teaching to benefit others: namely, the tathāgatas of the ten directions rely on this Dharma-door to cultivate causes and realise fruition, explicitly expounding it to benefit others definitively. The eight characters from 'the Bodhisattvas' onwards are distinctively revealed in terms of causal persons practising and being endowed with all self-and-other practices: the bodhisattva's doors of practice for benefiting oneself and benefiting others are vastly numerous and measureless, and this true samādhi is fully endowed with them; hence Mañjuśrī praised it: 'This is the single road to the gate of nirvāṇa for dust-mote buddhas,' and so forth. Next, the extensive explanation: 'Great' acquires its name from the substance itself, with permanence and omnipresence as its meaning. 'From the substance itself' means that unlike the Faxiang school, which distinguishes the small to name the great—where having the small outside the great to be distinguished is still a limitation, so how could it be the utmost great?—here, because the nature of the womb-essence has no boundaries and transcends all measures, it is forcibly designated 'great'. As for 'permanence and omnipresence': permanence vertically exhausts the three times, and omnipresence horizontally encompasses the ten directions. Vertically, it has no beginning in the past and no end in the future; no single dharma precedes it, and it alone precedes all dharmas; hence it is called 'great'. The Nirvāṇa [Sūtra] says: 'What is called

1.21

Also named: Sūtra of the Great Bodhimaṇḍa of Nālandā in Central India, Extracted Separately from the Abhiṣeka Section.

1.22

This is a distinctive title. India (Yindu) is a name for the moon, fully called Indu, rendered here as 'Moon Country', because this large country compares to the smaller countries like the moon among the stars. There are five Indias, and this is the central one, which is the general name for the whole region. Within this region there are many distinct countries, the most venerable and largest of which is named Magadha, rendered here as 'Great Substance' because it encompasses all, or 'Non-harming', both being semantic translations. Nālandā is translated here as 'giving without satiety', which is the name of a nāga. The Record of the Western Regions states: 'In the country of Āmra there is a pool, and in the pool is a nāga named Giving Without Satiety; the monastery is near that pool, hence it takes its name.' 'Great Bodhimaṇḍa' is the place where śramaṇas realise the mind and cultivate the Way. After the Buddha passed into extinction, six emperors successively revived it, constructing extensive azure temples, uniting the parks into one, and erecting a single main gate. Ten thousand resident and visiting monks lived there, and its monastic governance was lofty and sublime; no famous monastery in India surpassed it, hence it is called 'Great'. As for the 'Abhiṣeka Section', there are five sections there, and this corresponds to one of them, with Vairocana as the lord. Since the section and place are indicated, they can be relied upon for investigation, so that one will not suspect it of being a recent translation and doubt that it is an authentic teaching.

1.23

The Great Tang, the first year of Shenlong, the Dragon-Gathering yisi year, in the fifth month whose first day is yimao, on the twenty-third day, xinhai.

1.24

In the third year of Chang'an, Zetian stepped down from governance, Zhongzong succeeded to the throne, and that year was changed to the first year of Shenlong. 'Dragon-gathering' (longji) refers to the Dragon Star, also called the Year Star (Jupiter), which moves one station each year. 'Gathering' (ji) means dwelling. Yisi is the station where it lodges. 'New moon' (shuo) means reviving (su): the moon dies and revives again. 'Reviving' means coming to life.

1.25

Translated at Zhizhi Bodhimanda in Guangzhou by the Central Indian śramaṇa Pāramiti.

1.26

"Tianzhu" (India) is also called Qianzhu, Qiandou, Shendu, Yindu, and so forth. "Śramaṇa" translates as "diligent cessation", taking its title from producing good and extinguishing evil. "Pāramiti" translates here as "reached the other shore". As for "translator": one who possesses talent and wisdom, conversant in the languages of the four directions, is called the learning of the Xiangxu interpreter; the four directions each have their titles, and here it takes the official who oversees speech of the northern quarter.

1.27

Transcribed by the Bodhisattva Precepts Disciple, former Grand Master of Remonstrance, Joint Manager of Affairs with the Secretariat-Chancellery, Fang Rong of Qinghe.

1.28

Regarding one who, though a government official, receives the Mahāyāna precepts: the sūtra says, "When one wishes to receive the station of king of a state, up to when the hundred officials receive their stations, they should first receive the bodhisattva precepts; all ghosts and spirits will protect the king's body and the bodies of the hundred officials." Relying upon the master and serving him in the way of a father and elder brother, he is therefore called "disciple". "Grand Master of Remonstrance" is the present Remonstrator. Promoting the worthy and advancing the capable, greatly upholding and putting forward men, he is therefore called "Grand Master". The Secretariat and Chancellery are the names of two ministries. Harmonising and making luminous the affairs of state administration is called "Joint Manager of Affairs". "Transcribed" (bishou 筆授), also written with [the variant] shou 筆受, refers to brushing onto paper in the literary style of this land what was delivered from the Sanskrit text, compiling, stitching together, and polishing it so that it accords with human sensibilities without departing from correct principle.

1.29

Interpreted by the śramaṇa Meghasikha of the country of Uḍḍiyāna.

1.30

The name of the country is not yet clearly detailed. Meghasikha translates here as "Able to Subdue". Translating Sanskrit into Chinese, it is therefore called "interpreted". Proof-readers of the meaning therein should be found in separate records; the rest is as spoken in the account of the year and month of translation.

1.31

Below this is the tenth [section], separately explaining the text and its meaning. In accordance with the usual threefold division, they are the introduction, the main body, and the dissemination. Within the introduction are two: certifying faith and initiating the teaching. The establishment of certifying faith was due to Ānanda's question, which the Buddha commanded to be placed [at the head], the intention being to sever doubt, quell dispute, and put an end to heterodoxy. However, although this possesses the six fulfillments, balancing brevity and elaboration, they are now generally divided into two: first, the time and place of preaching the sūtra; second, citing the assembly that heard it together. Now, the first.

1.32

Thus [have]

1.33

If explained together with "I heard", these are words pointing to the Dharma: "Such a Dharma as this I heard from the Buddha." The Treatise on the Buddha-Bhūmi says: "At the time of the compilation, the assembly jointly requested, saying: 'As you have heard, you should speak thus.' The Dharma-transmitting bodhisattva then assented, saying: 'Thus shall I speak, as I have heard.'" When explaining "thus" separately, it is the fulfillment of faith. The Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa says: "The great ocean of the Buddha's Dharma: faith is that which can enter it, wisdom is that which can ferry across. One with faith says: 'This matter is thus.' One without faith says: 'This matter is not thus.'" Master Zhao also says: "These are words of faith and compliance. When there is faith, the principle spoken is complied with; when complied with, the way of master and disciple is accomplished. Therefore, among the myriad practices, faith is primary; hence it says 'thus'." Furthermore, tallying with principle and tallying with capacity is called "thu-" (ru); eternally departing from errors and faults is called "-s" (shi). Spoken in accordance with principle and believed in accordance with principle, it therefore says "thus". If interpreted according to the present sūtra, the essential nature of the tathāgatagarbha mind being unmoving is called "ru"; being the true and real meaning, it is called "shi". Furthermore, all dharmas are originally free of arising and ceasing and are all the tathāgatagarbha, hence it is named "ru". Being free from all marks is immediately all dharmas, hence it is named "shi". There are yet other meanings, but they are too manifold to discuss.

1.34

I heard:

1.35

This is the fulfillment of hearing. "I" is Ānanda designating himself as the provisional person of the five aggregates. Yet the Buddha taught that all dharmas are devoid of self; as for now calling it "I", there are four kinds of "I": first, the imagined [self] of ordinary worldlings; second, the asserted [self] of non-Buddhist traditions; third, the provisional guest-and-host established by the noble ones in accordance with the world; fourth, the true self of the dharmakāya. The sūtra indicates the latter two, not spoken with a mind of heterodoxy or pride; hence there is no fault. "Heard" means the ear faculty generating consciousness to listen and receive; although due to the ear base, discarding the specific in favour of the general, it is therefore called "I heard". The Signless Tradition says: "Since there is no self in me, hearing also has nothing heard; arising from conditions, the provisional name is not destroyed, which is non-hearing hearing." If explained according to the Dharma-nature and the essential purport of this sūtra, the Dharma-transmitting bodhisattva, with the true self of the non-duality of self and non-self, and the wondrous ear of the non-identity and non-difference of faculty and object, hears the Dharma-gate of the unhindered integration of the ultimate and the conventional.

1.36

At one time,

1.37

This is the fulfillment of time. Master and disciples assembling together, preaching and listening brought to completion, it is comprehensively called "at one time". "One" distinguishes it from other times; "time" is provisionally established in accordance with worldly conventions. The Tathāgata's preachings of sūtras had immeasurable times, which cannot be individually cited; with one word briefly encompassing all, it merely says "at one time". The Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: "At one time on the bank of the Ganges," and so forth. Furthermore, time divisions in the various quarters are long or short without uniformity; hence it merely says "at one time". If explained according to the Dharma-meaning, it is the time of preaching and listening when mind and object vanish, principle and wisdom fuse, ordinary and noble are identical (tathatā), and origin and inception unite—the time when all such pairs of dharmas are one.

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首楞嚴義疏注經 — Classical Chinese