四明尊者教行錄 1.3

1.3

Luoxi (namely Dharma Master Xiji of the Luoxi Cloister on Mount Tiantai), where he completely mastered the Way of the Tiantai tradition. He was preparing to cross the sea once more when the Commander-in-Chief Lord Qian firmly detained him (Qian's taboo name was Weizhi, son of the Prince of Wuyue, and at that time administrator of Mingzhou). Thereupon he broadly propagated the teaching at Baoyun in Mingzhou (Baoyun was originally a residence that Gu Chenghui, Transport Commissioner of Fuzhou, donated to establish a monastery to accommodate the Master). His seat of teaching opened wide, and having obtained two divine-footed disciples, the school was revived: one was Master Fazhi (whose taboo name was Zhili), and the other was Master Ciyun (whose taboo name was Zunshi). Fazhi presided over the Yanqing bodhimaṇḍa, bringing about the mid-course revival of this teaching, and was called at that time the Venerable Siming. Ciyun established the teaching seat at Gṛdhrakūṭa, standing firm in both understanding and practice, known to the world as the Repentance Master of Tianzhu. Ciyun was born in the second year of Qiande and died at the beginning of Mingdao, spanning a period of one hundred and twenty years. His fifth-generation disciple, Master (Huiguan), collected his posthumous writings and compiled the Jinyuan sanji, which circulates in the world. Fazhi was born in the first year of Jianlong and died in the sixth year of Tiansheng, one hundred and seventy-five years ago from the present. The commentaries and subcommentaries he composed exceed three hundred thousand words, venerated by scholars in common. There are also treatises on doctrinal portals, question-and-answer clarifications of objections, and exchanges of letters with eminent scholars and revered monks, though scattered leaves and broken manuscripts remain lost in circulation. Alas! For forty years the Master devoted his whole mind to expounding the repentances and upholding the lineage, his sides never touching the mat; how could the brushwork he produced in response to occasions be calculated in number? Even if inscribed on stone and wood or written on bamboo and silk, it would amount to scarcely one in ten million. I, Zongxiao, an inept late-born student, have presumptuously entered this doctrinal academy. Having privately perused the Master's bequeathed words, although only fragments of text and isolated characters, all are the Dharma of the Śākya clan; how could I allow them to be lost in oblivion? Thereupon I searched eagerly, obtaining barely more than a hundred pieces, and classified them into seven fascicles, entitling them Record of the Teaching and Practice of the Venerable Siming. Siming is the place of his birth, attainment of the Way, and turning of the wheel of the Dharma; the world cherished his character and thus universally called him by this name. Within the gates of the Tiantai school, none fails to establish practice based on the teaching and reveal the teaching through practice, hoping that the two paths of teaching and practice will merge into a single rut of cultivation. The Master once exhorted the assembly, saying: 'Whether I go out or stay put, speak or remain silent, I never fail to take the principles of doctrinal teaching and contemplation as my nourishment, my staff, and my armrest.' Now in compiling this record, using 'Teaching and Practice' in its title likewise expresses the Venerable One's aspiration. Great indeed! Now that this text is complete, my wish is that it may stand side by side with the Guoqing bailu and the Tianzhu Jinyuan [sanji] like the three legs of a tripod, handed down to future generations so that together we may look to the ancestral Way. Where it is incomplete, let later worthy persons supplement it as they see and hear; that would truly be the utmost in excellence. Reverently prefaced by the monk Zongxiao on the day after the full moon of the twelfth month in the renxu year, the second year of the Jiatai era [1202 CE].