天台四教儀 1.9

1.9

Last year, when my humble garden was completed, I named its hall Jingye (Pure Karma), during the remaining days of my illness. Thereupon, together with three or four companions in pure practice, I closed the gates to spend the summer retreat therein, offering services and recitations during the three periods of the day, seeking rebirth in the Western Pure Land. Sitting in tranquility and burning incense, we investigated the scriptures of the canon. The bells and stone chimes sounded at intervals; the white clouds briefly lingered. Birds flew low, drawing close to humans; grasses grew luxuriantly, obscuring the paths. Forgetting the towering palace gates, resting worldly stratagems like the man of Hanyin, my mind was exceedingly joyful and at ease. A monk named Zhenjue came from Wulin and introduced me to the teachings of Tiantai. I nodded in assent, detained him for ten days, and had him analyze the great essentials of teaching and contemplation. Experiencing what seemed like an awakening, I joined my palms before the Buddha and vowed to uphold and propagate the Tiantai tradition life after life, purifying the Buddha lands. My companions in pure practice aroused this aspiration at the same time, becoming perpetual hosts and companions. The origins and lineage of the Tiantai teaching are fully detailed in the Fozu tongji compiled by Venerable Pan of Siming, while the Outline of the Fourfold Teachings was excerpted by the Goryeo śramaṇa Chegwan based upon the Fahua xuanyi. The book consists of two fascicles in total: the upper fascicle clarifies the meaning of our tradition's doctrinal classification, and the lower fascicle clarifies the divergent views and lineages of the various masters of the north and south. What is transmitted today is only the upper fascicle; its words are concise and its meaning comprehensive, serving truly as the key to the Tiantai teaching. If students understand this, more than half of the grand outline of [the Buddha's] entire era of conversion is grasped. The śramaṇa Mengrun of South India [Monastery] compiled a commentary in three fascicles (Jizhu), which is also precise, reliable, and delightful; recently a printed edition appeared in Wu. Having been in retreat for two full months, once I emerged, I again fell into the snare of the world, unable to maintain the pure precepts, consuming wine and meat and consorting with wife and children as of old. Suppose a traveler went astray in a foreign land in his youth; one day, someone tells him: "Your home is in such-and-such a place; your father, brothers, clan, ancestral graves, fields, and houses are all to be remembered." Even if that man remains detained and cannot return immediately, could he simply become a man of that foreign land? This spring, with this single life of mine, I am to abandon the green hills, and the day of my departure is near. Recalling my former aspiration, I contributed funds to carve one fascicle of the Outline of the Fourfold Teachings together with its topical outline to circulate in the world. May those of like mind hold this key to unlock the barrier and plumb the ocean of the canon, so that the teachings and contemplations of our tradition will shine like the sun at midday and flow like streams rushing into the valleys; then my detention in a foreign land may also serve as an occasion for repentance. Strive on! Strive on!