禪源諸詮集都序 1.12.1

1.12.1

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.