萬善同歸集 3.37

3.37

答：「前賢往聖，志大心淳；究理而晷刻不忘，潛行而神靈罔測。曉夕如臨深履薄，剋證似然足救頭。重實而不重虛，貴行而不貴說；涉有而不住有，行空而不證空。從小善而積殊功，仗微因而成大果。今時則劫濁時訛，志微根鈍；我慢垢重，懈怠障深。一行無成，百非恒習；乘戒俱喪，理事雙亡。墮無知坑坐黑暗獄；不達即事即理之旨，空念破執破病之言。智者深嗟，愚人倣傚；既成途轍，頓奪尤難。是以廣引祖佛之深心，備彰經論之大意，希悛舊執，庶改前非。同躡先聖之遺蹤，共稟覺王之慈勅；無虧本志，免負四恩。齊登解脫之門，咸闡離生之道；成諸佛業，滿大菩提。塞邪徑而闢正途，堅信根而拔疑刺；備波羅蜜之智楫，駕大般若之慈航。越三有之苦津，入普賢之願海；渡法界之飄溺，置涅槃之大城。往返塵勞，周旋五趣；不休不息，無始無終；未來窮而不窮，虛空盡而無盡。仰惟佛眼證此微誠，普為群靈敬述茲集。」

Answer: "The former worthies and past sages had great aspirations and pure minds. They investigated principle without forgetting it for a moment; they walked in secret practice such that gods and spirits could not fathom them. Morning and evening they acted as if overlooking a deep abyss or treading on thin ice; realizing enlightenment was to them like extinguishing a fire on one's head. They valued reality and did not value emptiness; they prized practice and did not prize talk. They engaged with existence without abiding in existence; they practiced emptiness without realizing emptiness. From small goods they accumulated extraordinary merit; relying on subtle causes they brought about great fruits. In the present age, the kalpa is turbid and the times are corrupted; aspirations are weak and faculties are dull. The defilement of arrogance is heavy, and the obstacle of negligence is deep. Not a single practice is accomplished, yet a hundred errors are constantly practiced; vehicle and precepts are both lost, principle and phenomena are both extinguished. Falling into the pit of ignorance, they sit in the prison of darkness. Failing to understand the purport of phenomena being identical to principle, they merely mouth words of breaking attachment and breaking sickness. The wise sigh deeply, while fools imitate them; once it has become an established rut, sudden deprivation is especially difficult. Therefore, I have extensively cited the profound intentions of the patriarchs and Buddhas and fully displayed the great import of sūtras and treatises, hoping to reform old attachments and perhaps change past errors. Together let us tread the bequeathed tracks of former sages, and together receive the compassionate injunctions of the King of Awakening; let us not fall short of our original aspiration, and avoid being ungrateful to the four debts of gratitude. Let all ascend the gate of liberation together, and all propagate the path of transcending birth; let us accomplish the karma of all Buddhas and fulfill great bodhi. Blocking heterodox paths and opening the true road, strengthening the root of faith and pulling out the thorn of doubt; equipping the oar of wisdom of the pāramitās, steering the compassionate boat of great prajñā. Crossing the bitter ford of the three realms of existence, entering the ocean of vows of Samantabhadra; ferrying across the drifting and drowning in the dharmadhātu, establishing them in the great city of nirvāṇa. Going and returning amidst worldly afflictions, turning through the five destinies; without rest and without pause, without beginning and without end; though the future may be exhausted, it is unexhausted; though empty space may end, it is unending. Looking up, we pray that the Buddha eye will witness this slight sincerity, as I respectfully compose this collection universally for all sentient beings."