起信論疏筆削記 1.1

1.1

此文之作，本乎石壁。石壁慈甚，蔓於章句，凡伸一義，皆先問發、次舉疏答、後方委釋，雖不忘本母之體，而有太過、大不及焉。講者用之，未至穩暢。今就其文，取要當者筆而存之，其繁緩者削以去之，仍加添改，取其得中，俾後學者不虛勞神，智照無昧也。故曰：筆則筆，削則削，因以「筆削」命題云爾。

The production of this text was originally based on Shibi. Shibi was exceedingly compassionate, yet he was overly diffuse in his phrases and sentences: whenever he set forth an interpretation, he would first formulate a question, next adduce the commentary's reply, and only then elaborate with an explanation. Although he did not forget the substance of the fundamental matrices, there were instances of excessive redundancy and great insufficiency. When lecturers used it, it had not reached smooth fluency. Now, drawing upon his text, I have noted down and preserved what is essential and appropriate, and pruned away what is prolix and diffuse, while further adding and amending so as to achieve the middle ground, so that later students will not fruitlessly labor their minds and their cognitive illumination will be without obscurity. Thus it is said: 'What should be noted down, note down; what should be pruned away, prune away.' For this reason, it is entitled 'Annotations and Emendations' (Bixiao).