四明尊者教行錄 7.79

7.79

右伏以大道欲行，方假待時之器；斯文未喪，果生命世之師。取佛日而躍虞淵，障狂瀾而之東海，網羅台嶺之三軌，鼓吹鷲峯之一乘。豈止百世之唯新，要當千載而無古，不有大士，孰能中興。恭惟四明教主法智大師，全德難名、大璞不硺，受佛付託，扶教顛危。濟巨川，實萬斛之舟；支大廈，真十圍之木。四十年脇不至席，豈徒為苦行之勞；三妙觀身獨枝梧，正欲窮玄理之奧。楊墨之徒既闢，佛祖之道大通。鉢裏針投，絳紗之負笈輻湊；戶外屨滿，青襟之克家子來。風獨高於四明，草爭靡於二浙，可謂白日一出，浮雲四空。人間第一之僧，諒無慚德；天上無雙之月，孰不包羞。某等謬意慈風、澡身學海，雖不忘於附驥，絕有愧於續貂。般若明珠，邀所輕而用所重；菩提妙種，拔之易而樹之難。既虧染指之功，徒切疚心之歎。今則式屆陽春之節，俯臨圓寂之辰，輒彈罄竭之誠，用伸菲薄之供。衡鑒已往，雖無生滅之痕；霜露既零，自罹𪫟惕之感。伏乞深慈無礙，不離當處而現來儀；利生有方，初無動相而施妙應。沃乾地雨，膏腴解脫之床；垂義天雲，𭦘幪涅槃之海。然後一家教觀、百代兒孫，流通無壅塞之悲、講唱獲傳持之志，三諦三觀華屋得所入之門，十境十乘故鄉了還歸之路。平意地如同平掌、摧魔壁似等摧枯，回佛日而光末時、激頹波而旋往古，功霑九有、利洽四生，破煩惱網而同登解脫之舟、越生死河而俱達菩提之岸。謹疏。

To the right, I humbly submit that when the Great Way is about to be practiced, it relies upon vessels that await their time; when this culture is not yet lost, it indeed gives birth to masters who command an age. Rescuing the Buddha sun and leaping from the Abyss of Yu, holding back the raging waves to reach the Eastern Sea, he encompassed the three tracks of the Tai range and sounded the one vehicle of Vulture Peak. How could it merely be fresh for a hundred generations? It was destined to be unprecedented for a thousand years. Without a great being, who could have accomplished the revival? Respectfully we contemplate the Head of Doctrine of Siming, Great Master Fazhi: his complete virtue is hard to name; his great uncarved jade was uncut. Receiving the Buddha's entrustment, he supported the teaching in its collapse and peril. Crossing the great river, he was truly a boat of ten thousand bushels; supporting the great mansion, he was truly a timber of ten arm-spans. For forty years his ribs never touched the mat—how could this merely be the toil of ascetic practice? With three wondrous contemplations on the body, he stood alone, truly wishing to fathom the depths of the profound principle. Once the followers of Yang and Mo were refuted, the Way of the Buddhas and patriarchs achieved great passage. As needles cast into bowls [harmonize], students carrying their book-boxes swarmed like spokes to his red gauze; shoes filled the threshold, and young scholars capable of continuing the house gathered like children. His style towered alone in Siming; the grasses bent competitively across the two Zhe regions. It may well be said: once the bright sun rises, the floating clouds are cleared on all four sides. The foremost monk among humans—surely he had nothing of which to be ashamed; before the peerless moon in the heavens, who would not feel humbled? We have mistakenly received his compassionate influence and washed our bodies in the ocean of learning; although not forgetting to attach ourselves like flies to a thoroughbred’s tail, we are utterly ashamed of continuing sable with dog's fur. With the bright pearl of prajñā, we solicited what is light and expended what is heavy; with the wondrous seed of bodhi, pulling it up is easy, but planting it is hard. Having failed to achieve the feat of tasting the dish, we only feel the sorrow of deep remorse. Now that the season of bright spring has arrived and the day of his perfect stillness approaches, we exhaust our utmost sincerity to offer these meager provisions. Although the mirror of discernment has passed and leaves no trace of arising or ceasing, since the frost and dew have fallen, we naturally feel trepidation and sorrow. We prostratingly beg that his deep, unimpeded compassion manifest its coming without departing from this very place; that his skillful means for benefiting beings bestow a wondrous response without any mark of motion. May he water the dry ground with rain, enriching the bed of liberation; may he lower the clouds of the sky of doctrine, sheltering the ocean of nirvāṇa. Thereafter, may the doctrinal teachings and contemplations of our one school and our descendants for a hundred generations be free from the sorrow of obstruction and hindrance, and may their lecturing and chanting fulfill the aspiration of transmission and maintenance. May the three truths and three contemplations provide the entrance door into the splendid mansion; may the ten objects and ten vehicles clarify the return path to the homeland. Leveling the mental ground like the palm of a hand, crushing the walls of Māra like breaking dried wood; turning back the Buddha sun to illuminate the final age, and stirring the declining waves to reverse toward antiquity. May the merit reach the nine realms of existence and the benefit spread to the four modes of birth; breaking through the net of defilements to board together the boat of liberation, and crossing the river of birth and death to reach together the shore of bodhi. Respectfully submitted.