天台菩薩戒疏 3.21

3.21

The postscript states: Mingkuang's birthplace is in the prefecture of Tiantai, in a county adjacent to Zhang'an, which was under the administrative oversight of the regional authority. Five generations of Tiantai [succession] have followed one another across the three continents; how could it be that without past hearing and seeing in previous lives, I would now joyfully encounter this? Since the fortunate year of my adulthood, I sought the Way in the southeast; at the age of twenty, my name was registered in Shan county. Scarcely had I completed full ordination when I traveled north to the capital, where, amidst a venerable gathering of eminent monks, I followed my teacher Changrun. After more than twelve years had passed, I set out on the road back to my old homeland. The places and people were desolate and overgrown, bringing sorrowful grief born of karmic conditions. Solely through this sūtra and these precepts do I repay the kindness of the land; therefore, I wrote this down to benefit the present times. Wherever there are omissions or deficiencies, one may seek them in detail in other commentaries. May those of common voice who see or hear this attribute the merit to its original source. I pray that the Great Master's eye of the Way may gaze from afar to inspect my sincere heart, and that meeting the Buddha and hearing the sūtra may serve as my support. Recorded on the first day of the second month in the twelfth year of the Dali era [777 CE], at Sanzhang Temple in Huangyan county, Taizhou. A brief explanation of the meaning of the ten suchnesses: "Appearance" is based on the external; "nature" is based on the internal; the primary substance is "essence"; functioning capability is "power"; active production is "activity"; habitual cause is "cause"; auxiliary cause is "condition"; habitual effect is "effect"; retribution effect is "retribution"; the initial appearance is the "beginning"; the final retribution is the "end"; and the mutual presence of the beginning and the end is "ultimate equality."