肇論疏 1.13

1.13

第五、述元情也。述肇法師之元意，明不同莊老也。神道，謂神妙之道，即佛道也。敏，疾也。繪，《論語》云：繪畫也。既文約義遠眾端所說者，今謂作論，文有限局，理致弘遠，不假莊老眾端之言，無由宣暢玄理也。有本云「說」。有本云「詭」。詭，變也。肇之卜意豈圖然哉？肇法師卜措懷抱豈自無理，以莊老之理為佛理乎？信有所以也。如復殉狎其言願生生不面者，殉字合立人邊作旬，以身從物謂之恂。今作殉者，則是送死謂之殉也。狎，習也、合也。意若復有人殉狎此言者，我即願生生不與此人面對也。至獲忍心還度斯下者，得無生忍方還度此下品人耳。

Fifth, recounting the original intention. It recounts Master Sengzhao's original intention, clarifying that it is not the same as Zhuangzi and Laozi. 'Spiritual path' means the marvelous path of the spirits, namely the Buddha-path. 'Min' means swift. 'Hui' (depict): the Analects says: 'Hui means painting.' 'Since the text is concise and the meaning far-reaching, proclaimed in multifaceted terms': Here it means that in composing the treatise, the text is limited, while the principle and sense are vast and far-reaching; without relying on the multifaceted words of Zhuangzi and Laozi, there would be no way to express and propagate the profound principle. Some editions have 'shuo' (proclaim). Some editions have 'gui' (deceptive/transformative). 'Gui' means transformation. 'How could Sengzhao's devised intent have been planned so?': How could Master Sengzhao's devised intention and harborings have been without good reason, taking the principle of Zhuangzi and Laozi to be the Buddha's principle? There is surely a good reason. 'If there are again those who blindly follow and become familiar with their words, I vow not to meet them life after life': The character 'xun' (follow/die for) ought to have the person radical beside xun; following things with one's body is called xun. Here it is written as xun (die for), which means accompanying into death. 'Xia' means to practice, or to join with. The meaning is: if there are again people who blindly follow and join with these words, then I vow life after life never to come face to face with such persons. 'Until having attained the mind of patience, I will return to save these inferior ones': Only after attaining the patience of non-arising will I return to save these inferior people.