國清百錄 1.6

1.6

夫事無鴻纖，但有補於見聞，使人警寤而趨善道者，則不可以不錄而貽諸後也。昔我祖智者禪師，本靈山聖眾之一人也。陳隋朝出現世間，代佛宣祕為人天眼目，六十餘州直指人心，具佛知見加修圓行，則妙果不遠。復其所談教法外餘事委積，章安尊者撮其可錄者凡一百條，以國清為目。天聖年中，伏蒙聖朝編入大藏。既緘以函帙，故世人罕得而見之。禪師自開皇十七年丁巳入滅，至紹聖四年足五百歲，明年春四明陳宗逸，始謀鏤版印行果，冠冕法俗因得以讀之，有以知禪師釋部中豪傑之士也。雖不得而見其面，讀其文亦得以見其心，見心愈於見面也。奉命序述，以冠首云。

Now, whether matters are great or minute, as long as they benefit what is seen and heard, awaken people, and guide them toward the good path, they must not fail to be recorded and bequeathed to posterity. Formerly, our patriarch, Dhyāna Master Zhizhe, was originally one of the noble assembly on Gṛdhrakūṭa. Appearing in the world during the Chen and Sui dynasties, he proclaimed the esoteric teachings on behalf of the Buddha, serving as the eyes of humans and devas. In over sixty prefectures, he pointed directly to the human mind. Endowed with the Buddha’s knowledge and vision, and adding the practice of the perfect cultivation, the wondrous fruit was not far off. Furthermore, outside of the teachings he expounded, other affairs accumulated. The Venerable Zhang'an gathered those worthy of record, numbering one hundred items in all, titling them Guoqing. During the Tiansheng reign era, it was humbly favored by the imperial court with inclusion in the Great Canon. Yet having been stored away in satchels and wrappers, people of the world rarely had the opportunity to see it. From the Dhyāna Master’s entering into extinction in the seventeenth year of Kaihuang, a dingji year, up to the fourth year of Shaosheng, fully five hundred years have passed. In the spring of the following year, Chen Zongyi of Siming first planned to carve the printing blocks and publish it, so that the eminent among both clergy and laity could finally read it, and thereby know that the Dhyāna Master was an outstanding hero among the lineage of Śākya. Although we cannot see his face, by reading his writings we are able to see his mind, and seeing his mind surpasses seeing his face. Having received the order to compose a preface, I set this at the head of the work.