大乘起信論裂網疏 6.155

6.155

大乘起信論者，佛祖傳心之正印、法性法相之總持也。如來昔以大乘阿毘曇付與彌勒，摩訶般若付與文殊，《般若》破執有而顯妙有，《毘曇》破惡空而顯真空，一音所宣曾無異旨。佛滅五百年後，異見滋生，馬鳴大士應佛懸記，重興正法，始則示為計我外道，後乃廣顯二空妙宗，作無我大師子吼，破凡外二乘偏執，宗百洛又大乘經典，造此略論，申暢一心二門，即生滅而顯真如，收《般若》真空不空之妙旨；即真如而辨生滅，闡《毘曇》幻有不有之玄詮。厥後龍樹依《般若》而造《中論》，還以空義成一切法；護法依《毘曇》而解《唯識》，還以幻有顯二種空，故知馬鳴、龍樹、護法三大菩薩，同契佛心曾無稍異。奈何以文解義，泥名相而昧旨歸；伐異黨同，豎門庭而堅鬪諍。謬談聖旨錯解真乘，千百年來竟同長夜。哀哉末葉，誠可痛心。旭以業障深纏，未登正位，夙因微善，遊刃圓宗。客歲盡散學人，志圖修證。今春偶遇戒子邀入新安，頃從湯泉白嶽還寓歙浦迴龍，竊為二三子商究《楞伽》，復以餘力再解茲論。最喜此地枯寂不異桃源，兼愛主人率真絕無世態，食粟米飯噉豆腐滓，僅十一日草疏遂成。是役也，上藉諸佛菩薩、馬鳴大師加被之力，所以略無疑滯；又賴允持循公法主外護，故無他緣所侵；至於性相關頭種種問辯，則戒子堅密時公之啟予者多矣。是月二十有八日閣筆故跋。

The Mahāyānaśraddhotpādaśāstra is the correct seal of the transmission of mind by the Buddhas and patriarchs, and the comprehensive dhāraṇī of dharmatā and dharmalakṣaṇa. Formerly, the Tathāgata entrusted the Mahāyāna Abhidharma to Maitreya and the Mahāprajñā to Mañjuśrī. The Prajñā refutes attachment to existence to reveal wondrous existence; the Abhidharma refutes vicious emptiness to reveal true emptiness; proclaimed in a single voice, they never had divergent intentions. Five hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, divergent views flourished. The Great Being Aśvaghoṣa, responding to the Buddha's foretelling prophecy, revived the true Dharma. At first he manifested as a non-Buddhist who asserted a self, but later he broadly revealed the wondrous tenet of the two emptinesses, making the great lion's roar of non-self and refuting the biased attachments of ordinary beings, non-Buddhists, and the two vehicles. Taking as primary hundreds of thousands of Mahāyāna sūtras, he composed this brief treatise, elucidating and unfolding the one mind and two aspects: relying on arising and ceasing to reveal tathatā, embracing the wondrous intent of the Prajñā that true emptiness is not empty; relying on tathatā to discern arising and ceasing, expounding the profound exposition of the Abhidharma that illusory existence is not existent. Later, Nāgārjuna composed the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā based on the Prajñā, using the meaning of emptiness to establish all dharmas; Dharmapāla interpreted Vijñaptimātratā based on the Abhidharma, using illusory existence to reveal the two kinds of emptiness. Thus we know that the three great bodhisattvas—Aśvaghoṣa, Nāgārjuna, and Dharmapāla—concurred equally with the Buddha's mind without the slightest difference. How regrettable that people interpret meanings mechanically through the letter, getting bogged down in names and marks while remaining ignorant of the underlying intent; they attack differences, form factions, set up sectarian gates, and firmly cling to disputation! Erroneously discoursing on the sacred purport and mistakenly interpreting the true vehicle, for a thousand years it has been as though in a long night. Alas! in this final era, it is truly heartbreaking. Zhixu, deeply entangled in karmic hindrances, has not attained the correct stage; yet owing to slight wholesome causes from past lives, my blade moves with ease through the perfect school. Last year, I dismissed all students with the aspiration to strive for cultivation and realization. This spring, I happened to be invited by my precept-disciple to Xin'an; recently, returning from the hot springs of Mount Baiyue, I stayed at Huilong in Shepu, where I quietly examined and discussed the Laṅkāvatārasūtra with a few disciples, and furthermore used my spare energy to explain this treatise once again. What delights me most is that the withered quietude of this place is no different from the Peach Blossom Spring, and I also cherish the host's guileless straightforwardness, entirely free of worldly ways. Eating coarse millet rice and consuming tofu dregs, in only eleven days the draft commentary was completed. In this endeavor, I have relied above on the power of empowerment from the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and the Great Master Aśvaghoṣa, and therefore encountered almost no doubt or obstruction; I also relied on the external protection of the Dharma Master Yunchi Xun, and thus was not encroached upon by other conditions. As for the various inquiries and debates regarding the cruces of nature and characteristics, it was my precept-disciple Jianmi Shi who inspired me greatly. On the twenty-eighth day of this month, I lay down my brush, hence this afterword.