修習止觀坐禪法要 1.179

1.179

本自不動，何止之有？本自不蔽，何觀之有？眾生迷蕩去本日遠，動靜俱失不昏即散。此二病本出生眾苦，令彼離苦而獲安隱，當用止觀以為其藥。病瘳藥廢醫亦不立，則止觀者乃假名字。即假即空言語道斷，以大悲故無說而說，此《摩訶止觀》之所為作也。然其文義深廣汪洋無涯，譬如大海孰得其際？以大悲故復作方便，使嘗一滴知百川味，使由一漚見全潮體。故於大經之外，又為此書。詞簡旨要讀之易曉，應病之藥盡在是矣。善用藥者不治已病，止乎其未散，觀乎其未昏，方止方觀而未嘗昏未嘗散也。如鳥雙翼、如車兩輪，窮遠極高無往不可及，其至也不出於此。嗚呼！不知則已，知止觀之可以入道者，可不勉哉。

Originally and inherently unmoving, what calming could there be? Originally and inherently unobscured, what contemplation could there be? Sentient beings, lost and straying, depart ever farther from the origin; losing both movement and stillness, if not torpid they are distracted. These two roots of illness give rise to myriad sufferings. To enable them to leave suffering and attain security and peace, one should use calming and contemplation as their medicine. When the illness is healed, the medicine is discarded, and the doctor also does not stand; thus calming and contemplation are merely provisional names. Being both provisional and empty, the path of words is cut off. Out of great compassion, there is teaching without teaching; this is why the Mohe zhiguan was composed. Yet its text and meaning are deep and vast, boundless like a vast ocean—who can reach its limits? Out of great compassion, he again devised expedient means, enabling one to taste a single drop and know the flavor of a hundred rivers, and to see the body of the entire tide from a single bubble. Therefore, besides the great scripture, he further composed this book. Its words are simple and its gist is essential, easy to understand upon reading; the medicines suited to the illnesses are entirely present herein. One who uses medicine well does not treat what is already sick: they calm it before it is distracted, and contemplate it before it is torpid; just calming and just contemplating, it has never been torpid and never been distracted. Like the two wings of a bird or the two wheels of a cart, extending to the farthest and ascending to the highest, there is nowhere it cannot reach; its culmination does not go beyond this. Alas! If one does not know, so be it; but knowing that calming and contemplation can enter the Way, can one not exert oneself?