國清百錄 1.6

1.6

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.