肇論疏 1.7

1.7

The second [section] praises the excellence of both person and Dharma. The person is Dharma Master Zhao, and the Dharma is the treatises he composed. Yun ('truly') means 'faithfully' or 'truly'. Zhu ('belonging to') means 'entrusted' or 'pertaining to'. This character has two pronunciations and two meanings. As for the two pronunciations, the first is fan reading of zhi and yu [zhu], and the second is fan reading of shi and yu [shu]; here the former pronunciation is adopted. As for the two meanings, the first is the sense of 'entrusted to' or 'pertaining to', and the second is the sense of 'kin' or 'entourage'; here it is the former sense. The Erya says: 'Zhu means to attach.' It can also be understood in the latter sense. The 'Chapter on the Four Reliances' in the Nirvāṇa Sūtra explains that the catur-pratiśaraṇa bodhisattvas appear in the world to protect and uphold the true Dharma: one who possesses afflictive nature yet is able to maintain the moral prohibitions is called the first person; srotāpanna and sakṛdāgāmin individuals are called the second; anāgāmin individuals are called the third; and arhat individuals are called the fourth. The statement that in the Western countries the propagation of the scriptures belonged to the Four Reliances refers to the likes of Aśvaghoṣa and Nāgārjuna. As for 'When transmitted to this land, it likewise followed this precedent': yuan means 'in' or 'at'. The Erya says: 'Yuan means change.' Yi means 'according to'. It means that those who propagated the scriptures in this land likewise followed the precedent of the Four Reliances, namely [Dao]an, [Hui]yuan, [Dao]sheng, and [Seng]zhao. As for 'As for the Venerable of Vast Heavens and the Kumārajīva Śramaṇa': the Gaoseng zhuan states that when Shi Dao'an arrived, Xi Zuochi came to pay a visit. Once seated, Xi declared: 'Xi Zuochi of the Four Seas.' Dao'an immediately replied: 'Shi Dao'an of Vast Heavens.' Contemporaries considered this a renowned repartee. Here, 'Venerable of Vast Heavens' refers precisely to Dharma Master [Dao]an. The Gaoseng zhuan states that Dharma Master Kumārajīva was originally named Jiumoluoqipo, which is translated here as Tongshou ('Youthful Longevity'). Because he was adept at understanding literary compositions, he was called Luoshi. Here, 'Tongshou' refers precisely to Dharma Master [Kumārajīva]. As for 'śramaṇa' (sangmen): ancient translators of the scriptures rendered it sangmen, while recent ones call it shamen; these are merely differences in lightness and heaviness of Sanskrit phonetic rendering, translated here as 'calming the mind'. As for 'Together they initiated the founding of doctrines and projected distinctions to investigate principles': chuang means 'beginning'. Ming means 'proclaiming'. Zong means 'venerating' or 'fundamental doctrine'. Tu means 'estimating' or 'planning'. Ge means 'measuring'. Zhi means 'underlying principle'. For example, Dharma Master [Dao]an established the teaching taking prakṛti-śūnyatā as the fundamental doctrine and composed the Xingkong lun. Dharma Master Kumārajīva established the teaching taking dharmatā as the fundamental doctrine and composed the Shixiang lun; this is called 'founding of doctrines'. 'Projected distinctions to investigate principles' means estimating with eloquence and measuring the underlying principles. As for 'Disseminating and expounding, their endeavor was the profound and empty': bo means 'spreading'. They widely proclaimed the Buddhist teachings, taking only the empty and profound as their endeavor. As for 'Only these served as the ancestors of emulation of noble silence': the Viśeṣacintibrahma-paripṛcchā Sūtra states: 'When you bhikṣus assemble, you should engage in two things: either the noble discourse on the Dharma or noble silence.' Here it means that only the models and standards established by the two Dharma Masters [Dao]an and Kumārajīva are the ancestral source of noble silence. From 'From their descent down to the present' downward: it ought to say 'From them down to the present'; to say 'descending upon' is not proper literary style. 'All those recorded in the Biographies of Monks' means being prominently recorded in the Gaoseng zhuan. As for 'To the extent of correctly discerning regional dialects and regulating the grades of the scriptural texts': it means being able to distinguish regional vernacular speech and modulate the hierarchical sequence of scriptural texts. As for 'Skilled at examining the conventional teachings and thoroughly investigating principles': he is glossed as 'verifying'. Sou is glossed as 'searching'. It means being able to research and verify the similarities and differences in the conventional teachings, and search out the errors and rectitude of the doctrinal principles. As for 'Saluting this assembly of worthies as that which unifies speech': yi is glossed as 'respecting'; it means paying homage to the predecessors as that which unifies the noble discourse on the Dharma. As for 'There is such a fine person who surpasses speech and combines silence': the Mao Commentary to the Shijing states: 'There is a fine person, clear-eyed and graceful; meeting by chance, she fulfills my desire.' The Analects states: 'A noble man indeed is such a person!' Here these words are combined to form a single phrase. And as for saying 'surpasses speech and combines silence': he surpasses speech and also surpasses silence. Here, 'surpasses' means that the earlier two masters, [Dao]an and Kumārajīva, attained only principle while their literary expression was somewhat deficient, whereas Master [Seng]rui and Lord Xie [Lingyun] attained only literary expression while their principle was somewhat deficient. Now Dharma Master Sengzhao possesses both literary expression and principle, and therefore is called 'surpassing'; it does not mean that Dharma Master Sengzhao's literary expression excels Master [Seng]rui and Lord Xie, nor that his principle excels Master Kumārajīva and Master [Dao]an. Why is this? The text of the treatise itself says: 'Prakṛti-śūnyatā is the dharmatā of all phenomena. Seeing the dharmatā of phenomena is therefore right contemplation; if it diverges from this, it is wrong contemplation.' Dharma Master [Dao]an composed the Xingkong lun, and Dharma Master Kumārajīva composed the Shixiang lun; both thoroughly plumbed the profound principle—on what basis could one excel them? Master [Seng]rui composed the 'Preface to the Dazhidu lun', which states: 'All existing things originate from generating what generates, yet that which generates is ungenerated. Transformations begin at the origin of phenomena, yet the origin of origins has no origin. Thus, being ungenerated and without origin is the nature of phenomena. Origin and beginning do not deviate from this nature; yet all existing things are displayed without and regret and remorse arise within—is this not solely due to deviant thoughts? The Correctly Enlightened One, having seen that deviant thoughts arise of themselves, therefore produced the Āgamas for their sake; knowing that attachment to existence stems from delusion, he therefore provided Prajñā as a mirror for it. Yet this mirror is fundamentally subtle and tranquil, its shores vast and limitless; its principle transcends the surface of words, its import eludes the realm of thought. If one seeks it through words, one violates its depth; if one measures it through intellect, one loses its meaning. Is this not why the Two Vehicles stumbled over the Tripiṭaka, and new scholars exposed their gills at the Dragon Gate?' Xie Lingyun's literary style was brilliant and outstanding, transcending past and present. For example, the Nirvāṇa [Sūtra] was originally unadorned, initially stating: 'grasping with hands and treading with feet, one reaches the other shore'; Lord Xie changed it to: 'moving the hands and stirring the feet, one cuts across the current and crosses over.' Again, as in his poetry: 'White clouds embrace the secluded rocks; green bamboo charms the clear ripples.' And: 'Clouds and sun reflect each other; the sky and water share a lucid freshness.' How could one possibly match this? It is simply because Master Sengzhao combined both literary expression and principle that he is called superior. Some say: Dharma Master Sengzhao's speech surpasses Lord [Seng]rui and Lord Xie, hence it is said 'surpasses speech'; while his silence is equal to Master [Dao]an and Master Kumārajīva—this may also be so. As for 'Indicating the root, every phrase deeply reaches the Buddha's mind; clarifying the branch, every word fully penetrates the manifold teachings': 'root' refers to the 'Zongben yi', and 'branch' refers to the 'Niepan [wuming] lun'. As for 'Truly it is a fine canon of the Mahāyāna and a comprehensive book of the Vaipulya': liang means 'truly'. In the 'Daya', yi means 'deep' or 'fine'; it means that this treatise is a profound canon and an extensive book. As for 'From antiquity and from the present, composing texts and composing writings': here it should have said 'from antiquity down to the present'; it should not say 'from the present'. The reason it is stated thus now is to correspond to 'composing texts and composing writings' below. Literary critics take rhymed works as 'wen' (texts) and unrhymed works as 'bi' (writings). Liu's Wenxin diaolong critiques this saying: 'Confucius said: "King Wen having passed away, is wen not lodged here?" Could it have had rhyme? It certainly was not so.' As for 'Carefully sifting through the various treatises composed by famous worthies': this refers to Zhi Faxiang. There are two versions of the Shixiang lun: one composed by Dharma Master Kumārajīva, which is no longer extant today; and the second being Zhi Faxiang's questions and Shi Huiyi's answers, which was composed by Dharma Master Huiyi, not by Zhi Faxiang. As for 'Or the six houses and seven lineages, extending even to twelve': editions from south of the Yangtze all read 'six lineages and seven lineages'. Now, examining the records and biographies, it is 'six houses and seven lineages'. Shi Baochang of the Liang dynasty composed the Xu fa lun in one hundred and sixty fascicles, which states: 'Shi T济 [Tanji] of Zhuangyan Monastery under the Song composed the Liujia qizong lun (Treatise on the Six Houses and Seven Lineages). The treatise has six houses, divided into seven lineages: 1. the Original Non-being lineage; 2. the Variant Original Non-being lineage; 3. the Matter as Such lineage; 4. the Consciousness-containing lineage; 5. the Illusory Transformation lineage; 6. the No-mind lineage; and 7. the Causal Combination lineage. Originally there were six houses; the first house was divided into two lineages, hence making seven lineages.' As for 'twelve': the text of the Xu fa lun states: 'Shi Sengjing of Lower Dinglin Monastery composed the Shixiang liujia lun (Treatise on the Six Houses on the Dharmatā). First he posited an interlocutor's question on the single substance of the two truths, and then cited the doctrines of the six houses to answer it: The first house takes the principle being truly non-existent as emptiness, and ordinary people regarding it as existent as existence; emptiness is the paramārtha-satya, and existence is the saṃvṛti-satya. The second house takes the nature of matter being empty as emptiness, and the substance of matter being existent as existence. The third house takes the mind being absent apart from conditions as emptiness, and the mind being present when combined with conditions as existence. The fourth house takes the mind being produced from conditions as emptiness, and there being a distinct substance of mind apart from conditions as existence. The fifth house takes the mind posited by wrong views being empty as emptiness, and the mind produced from causes and conditions being not empty as existence. The sixth house takes the actual emptiness of the matter upon which form relies as emptiness, and the conventional designation in worldly circulation as existence.' There were six houses before and six houses after, combining to make twelve houses; hence it is said 'extending even to twelve'. As for 'Both judging their merits and defects, and discerning their errors and rectitude': 'merits and defects' and 'errors and rectitude' simply mean right and wrong. In the treatise on the earlier six houses, the fourth house was judged as having merit, and the remaining five houses as defective. In the treatise on the latter six houses, the first five houses were discerned as erroneous, and the last house as correct. As for 'Only these models are free from such defects': xian means 'model' or 'standard'. All twelve houses suffered from the defects of right and wrong; what Dharma Master Sengzhao composed is free from these defects, being entirely correct without error. As for 'Truly because his inner sentiments were unconstrained, not knowing any attachment': liang means 'truly'. Jin refers to the chest [bosom], and qing refers to the nature; 'unconstrained' means free of attachment or hindrance. Ruo has the sense of 'not minding'. The Zhouyi states: 'Tears streaming down profusely.' A ditch does not reckon what is deposited in it; because it has no separate intent, it does not calculate it. As for 'Rivaling that abyss and ocean, exceeding the number of the nine streams': the abyss and ocean are vast, exceeding the number of the nine streams. Dharma Master Sengzhao's broad mind exceeded persons such as [Zhi Fa]xiang and [Zhu Fa]tai. 'Abyss and ocean' means deep in the 'Xiaoya'. As for 'nine streams': of rivers there are the Nine Jiang, and of the Yellow River there are the Nine He; both are nine streams. As for the Nine Jiang, the Xunyang ji states: 1. Wujiang; 2. Fengjiang; 3. Wutujiang; 4. Jamijiang; 5. Quanjian; 6. Wujiang; 7. Bingjiang; 8. Tijiang; 9. Junjiang. As for the Nine He, the Erya states: 1. Tuhai River; 2. Dashi River; 3. Majia River; 4. Fufu River; 5. Husu River; 6. Jian River; 7. Jie River; 8. Goupan River; 9. Gejin River. As for 'Eminent, clear and vacuous, aloof beyond external things': ting means 'outstanding'. Xiaoran means 'aloof and untrammeled'. Dharma Master Sengzhao's intellectual talent was outstanding, pure, elegant, empty and open, aloof beyond worldly things. As for 'Few are those who understand the master; those who turn to the master gather his compositions': those who understand Master [Seng]zhao are few; those who turn toward Master Sengzhao collect and gather his writings. As for 'As it is said, if one is not understood, then the master is treasured': yue is an introductory particle. Laozi states: 'Those who understand me are few; therefore, I am treasured.' Here this phrase is applied. Some say it means: 'Like the sun and moon, daily used yet not understood'—this is entirely illogical.