釋門歸敬儀 1.13

1.13

The preface states: Ever since the beneficial manifestation of the Dharma King, quiet contemplation has necessarily come first. Thus a treatise says: “In what place, at what time, and by whom was this view aroused? Because the Buddha completely severed all views.” This text serves as fine evidence. However, when habitual perfuming has lasted long, there is no way to realize an accord. One must establish reverence and institute rites to open the method of the foremost principle of faith; accommodating sentiments and regulating outward marks, one reveals the efficacy of successful transformation. Only then, with uttermost devotion and broken bones, knowing the supreme veneration of the universe, one's reverence exceeds that toward blood relatives; (For parents give birth to the physical body, whose repayment of kindness lies in a single lifetime; the Buddha arouses the dharmakāya, whose distant compensation extends through repeated eons. Either his merit is so exalted that it is difficult to reward, his virtue so deep that it cannot be adequately thanked, or his wisdom is so profound and his benefit so generous that it is beyond any compensation.) and understanding the far-reaching greatness of the teachings and their meaning, the Way surpasses ordinary delusion. (For the Seven Summaries cover the contemporary age with policies for establishing one's person and state, yet one remains submerged within the three realms of existence; whereas the principle upheld by the eight treasuries, the Dharma that eradicates emptiness and severs existence, utterly transcends the nine abodes.)