禪源諸詮集都序 1.12.1

1.12.1

禪源諸詮集者。 寫錄諸家所述。 詮表禪門根源道理。 文字句偈。 集為一藏。 以貽後代。 故都題此名也。 禪是天竺之語。 具云禪那。 中華翻為思惟修。 亦名靜慮。 皆定慧之通稱也。 源者是一切眾生本覺真性。 亦名佛性。 亦名心地。 悟之名慧。 修之名定。 定慧通稱為禪那。 此性是禪之本源。 故云禪源。 亦名禪那理行者。 此之本源是禪理。 忘情契之是禪行。 故云理行。 然今所集諸家述作。 多談禪理少談禪行。 故且以禪源題之。 今時有但目真性為禪者。 是不達理行之旨。 又不辨華竺之音也。 然亦非離真性別有禪體。 但眾生迷真合塵。 即名散亂。 背塵合真。 方名禪定。 若直論本性。 即非真非妄。 無背無合。 無定無亂。 誰言禪乎。 況此真性非唯是禪門之源。 亦是萬法之源。 故名法性。 亦是眾生迷悟之源。 故名如來藏藏識（出楞伽經）亦是諸佛萬德之源。 故名佛性（涅槃等經）亦是菩薩萬行之源。 故名心地（梵網經心地法門品云。 是諸佛之本源。 是菩薩道之根本。 是大眾諸佛子之根本）萬行不出六波羅蜜。 禪門但是六中之一。 當其第五。 豈可都目真性為一禪行哉。 然禪定一行最為神妙。 能發起性上無漏智慧。 一切妙用萬德萬行。 乃至神通光明。 皆從定發。 故三乘學人欲求聖道必須修禪。 離此無門。 離此無路。 至於念佛求生淨土。 亦須修十六觀禪。 及念佛三昧。 般舟三昧。 又真性則不垢不淨。 凡聖無差。 禪則有淺有深。 階級殊等。 謂帶異計欣上壓下而修者。 是外道禪。 正信因果亦以欣厭而修者。 是凡夫禪。 悟我空偏真之理而修者。 是小乘禪。 悟我法二空所顯真理而修者。 是大乘禪（上四類。 皆有四色四空之異也）若頓悟自心本來清淨。 元無煩惱。 無漏智性本自具足。 此心即佛。 畢竟無異。 依此而修者。 是最上乘禪。 亦名如來清淨禪。 亦名一行三昧。 亦名真如三昧。 此是一切三昧根本。 若能念念修習。 自然漸得百千三昧。 達摩門下展轉相傳者。 是此禪也。 達摩未到。 古來諸家所解。 皆是前四禪八定。 諸高僧修之皆得功用。 南岳天台。 令依三諦之理修三止三觀。 教義雖最圓妙。 然其趣入門戶次第。 亦只是前之諸禪行相。 唯達摩所傳者。 頓同佛體。 逈異諸門。 故宗習者難得其旨。 得即成聖。 疾證菩提。 失即成邪。 速入塗炭。 先祖革昧防失。 故且人傳一人。 後代已有所憑。 故任千燈千照。 暨乎法久成弊錯謬者多。 故經論學人疑謗亦眾。 原夫佛說頓教漸教禪開頓門漸門。 二教二門各相符契。 今講者偏彰漸義。 禪者偏播頓宗。 禪講相逢胡越之隔。 宗密不知宿生何作熏得此心。 自未解脫欲解他縛。 為法忘於軀命。 愍人切於神情（亦如淨名云。 若自有縛能解他縛。 無有是處。 然欲罷不能驗。 是宿世難改）每歎人與法差。 法為人病。 故別撰經律論疏。 大開戒定慧門。 顯頓悟資於漸修。 證師說符於佛意。 意既本末而委示。 文乃浩博而難尋。 泛學雖多秉志者少。 況迹涉名相。 誰辨金鍮。 徒自疲勞。 未見機感。 雖佛說悲增是行。 而自慮愛見難防。 遂捨眾入山習定均慧。 前後息慮相計十年（云前後者。 中間被勅追入內住城三年。 方却表請歸山也）微細習情。 起滅彰於靜慧。 差別法義。 羅列見於空心。 虛隙日光纖埃擾擾。 清潭水底影像昭昭。 豈比夫空守默之癡禪。 但尋文之狂慧者。 然本因了自心而辨諸教。 故懇情於心宗。 又因辨諸教而解修心。 故虔誠於教義。 教也者。 諸佛菩薩所留經論也。 禪也者。 諸善知識所述句偈也。 但佛經開張。 羅大千八部之眾。 禪偈撮略。 就此方一類之機。 羅眾則渀蕩難依。 就機即指的易用。

The Collection of Writings on the Source of Chan compiles what has been stated by the various masters to explain and express the fundamental source and principle of the Chan gate in words, phrases, and verses, collecting them into a single canon to bequeath to future generations. Therefore, this general title has been given to it. 'Chan' is an Indic word; in full it is called dhyāna. In China it is translated as 'cultivation of thought,' and is also called 'quiet contemplation.' Both are common designations for concentration and wisdom. 'Source' refers to the originally awakened true nature of all sentient beings; it is also called the buddhadhātu, and also called the mind-ground. To awaken to it is called wisdom; to cultivate it is called concentration. Concentration and wisdom are jointly designated as dhyāna. Because this nature is the fundamental source of Chan, it is called the 'source of Chan.' It is also called the 'principle and practice of dhyāna': this fundamental source is the principle of Chan; forgetting emotional attachments and tallying with it is the practice of Chan. Therefore it is called principle and practice. However, the writings of the various masters collected here for the most part discuss the principle of Chan and rarely discuss the practice of Chan, so for the present it is entitled 'The Source of Chan.' Nowadays there are those who simply designate the true nature as Chan; this is failing to grasp the import of principle and practice, and moreover failing to distinguish the sounds of China and India. However, it is not that there is a substance of Chan separate from the true nature. It is merely that when sentient beings are confused about the true and unite with dust, it is called distraction; when they turn away from dust and unite with the true, only then is it called dhyāna concentration. If one discusses the original nature directly, it is neither true nor false, with neither turning away nor uniting, neither concentration nor distraction—who can speak of Chan? Furthermore, this true nature is not only the source of the Chan gate, it is also the source of the myriad phenomena, hence it is named the dharmatā. It is also the source of the delusion and awakening of sentient beings, hence it is named the tathāgatagarbha and the ālayavijñāna (found in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra). It is also the source of the myriad virtues of the Buddhas, hence it is named the buddhadhātu (in sūtras such as the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra). It is also the source of the myriad practices of the bodhisattvas, hence it is named the mind-ground (the chapter on the mind-ground Dharma-gate in the Brahma Net Sūtra says: 'It is the fundamental source of all Buddhas, the root of the bodhisattva path, and the root of the assembly of all Buddha-sons'). The myriad practices do not go beyond the six pāramitās, and the Chan gate is merely one among the six, standing as the fifth. How could one simply designate the true nature as a single practice of Chan? Yet the single practice of dhyāna concentration is the most divine and wondrous, able to arouse the anāsrava wisdom upon the nature. All wondrous functions, myriad virtues, and myriad practices, even down to supernatural powers and radiance, all arise from concentration. Therefore, students of the three vehicles who wish to seek the noble path must cultivate Chan; apart from this there is no gate, apart from this there is no path. Even as far as reciting the Buddha's name and seeking birth in the Pure Land, one must also cultivate the Chan of the sixteen contemplations, as well as the Buddha-remembrance samādhi and the pratyutpanna-samādhi. Furthermore, the true nature is neither defiled nor pure, with no difference between ordinary beings and sages; Chan, on the other hand, has the shallow and the deep, with distinct gradations and ranks. Cultivating with divergent views, admiring what is above and repressing what is below, is the Chan of non-Buddhists. Cultivating with correct faith in cause and effect, yet still with desire and aversion, is the Chan of ordinary beings. Cultivating with awakening to the principle of the emptiness of self and partial truth is the Chan of the Hīnayāna. Cultivating with awakening to the true principle revealed by the two emptinesses of self and phenomena is the Chan of the Mahāyāna (the above four categories all have the differences of the four forms and the four formless [absorptions]). If one suddenly awakens to one's own mind as originally pure, fundamentally without defilements, with the nature of anāsrava wisdom fundamentally complete in itself, this mind being the Buddha, ultimately without difference, and cultivates relying on this, it is the Chan of the Supreme Vehicle. It is also called the pure Chan of the Tathāgatas, also called the one-practice samādhi, and also called the tathatā-samādhi. This is the root of all samādhis. If one can cultivate it thought after thought, one will naturally and gradually attain hundreds of thousands of samādhis. What has been transmitted successively down the line of Bodhidharma is this Chan. Before Bodhidharma arrived, what the various masters of old understood were all the former four dhyānas and eight attainments; all eminent monks who cultivated them obtained efficacy. Nanyue and Tiantai caused people to rely on the principle of the three truths to cultivate the three cessations and three contemplations; although their doctrinal teaching is the most perfect and wondrous, nevertheless their entry gates and stages are still only the active forms of those former Chans. Only that which Bodhidharma transmitted is suddenly identical to the Buddha's substance, completely different from the various gates. Therefore, those who follow and practice it find it difficult to grasp its import: if they grasp it, they become sages and swiftly realize bodhi; if they lose it, they turn into heretics and swiftly fall into misery. The ancestral master transformed ignorance and guarded against error, so for a time it was transmitted person to person. Later generations already having something to rely upon, it was allowed to shine like a thousand lamps with a thousand illuminations. When the teaching had lasted long, flaws arose and errors were many, so among students of the sūtras and treatises, suspicions and slanders also became numerous. Originally, when the Buddha spoke the sudden teaching and the gradual teaching, Chan opened up the sudden gate and the gradual gate; the two teachings and the two gates tally with each other. Nowadays, lecturers exclusively display the gradual meaning, while Chan practitioners exclusively spread the sudden school. When Chan and the lecture tradition meet, they are as estranged as Hu and Yue. I, Zongmi, do not know what I did in past lives to perfume and obtain this mind: before being liberated myself, wishing to untie the bonds of others; forgetting body and life for the sake of the Dharma; pitying others more keenly than my own vital spirit (as it is said in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa: 'If one is bound oneself, to be able to untie the bonds of others is without basis.' Yet desiring to desist, I cannot, which proves that it is difficult to alter from past lifetimes). I constantly lament that people differ from the Dharma, and the Dharma has become a sickness for people. Therefore I have separately composed commentaries on the sūtras, vinaya, and treatises, greatly opening the gates of morality, concentration, and wisdom, revealing that sudden awakening assists gradual cultivation, and verifying that the masters' sayings accord with the Buddha's intent. The intent having been thoroughly shown from root to branch, the texts became so vast and extensive as to be difficult to search through. Although there are many who study casually, few hold firm to the purpose. Furthermore, when traces involve names and marks, who can distinguish gold from brass? In vain I exhausted myself without seeing any resonant response in capacities. Although the Buddha said that the increase of compassion is [bodhisattva] practice, I personally worried that attachments and views would be difficult to guard against. Thereupon, I left the assembly and entered the mountains to practice concentration and balance wisdom, resting contemplation in all for a calculated total of ten years (saying 'in all' because in the interim I was summoned by imperial decree into the palace and stayed in the capital for three years, after which I submitted a memorial requesting to return to the mountains). Subtle habitual sentiments: their arising and ceasing were revealed in quiet wisdom. Differentiated principles of the Dharma: their array was seen in the empty mind. Just as in a hollow gap the sunlight reveals fine dust tossing about, or at the bottom of a clear pool reflections appear lucid and clear—how could this be compared to the foolish Chan of emptily guarding silence, or the wild wisdom of merely searching the text? However, it was originally because of understanding one's own mind that I distinguished the various teachings, and thus had earnest feeling for the mind school; and it was also because of distinguishing the various teachings that I understood the cultivation of the mind, and thus was reverent toward the doctrinal teachings. Doctrinal teaching is the sūtras and treatises left behind by the Buddhas and bodhisattvas; Chan is the phrases and verses stated by the various kalyāṇamitras. But the Buddha's sūtras unfold broadly, gathering the assembly of the great thousand [worlds] and the eight classes of beings; Chan verses are summarized and concise, approaching the capacity of this single region. Gathering the vast assembly makes it drifting and hard to rely upon; approaching the capacity points directly and is easy to apply.