緇門警訓 9.4

9.4

The disciple Yang Guang, Envoy with Credentials, Upper Pillar of the State, Grand Defender, Area Commander-in-chief of Yangzhou, and Regional Inspector of Yangzhou, the Prince of Jin, bows his head and respectfully invites the Buddhas of the ten directions and the three periods; our fundamental teacher Śākyamuni Tathāgata; Maitreya, who is to descend to this realm and succeed to the station [of buddhahood]; all the precious and light, immeasurable treasures of Dharma; the honored ones from the initial aspiration up to the vajra stage and downward; the great manifestation mahāsattvas; the pratyekabuddhas and solitary-enlightened ones who are independently liberated and clearly enlightened; the twenty-seven sages with knowledge of others' minds and the eye of the Way; extending to the summit of the three realms of existence, the eighteen Brahmā kings; the devaputras of the six desire realms and Śakra, the sovereign of devas; the four great heavenly kings; the devas, ṛṣis, nāgas, and spirits who soar through the air, conceal and reveal themselves, who uphold the world and bring about great benefit; who guard stupas, protect the Dharma, and defend the body and safeguard life; and the immeasurable good spirits that protect the pure precepts. I pray that in a single instant, relying on the Buddha's spiritual power, they may all assemble at the bodhimaṇḍa, testify to the disciple's vows, and receive the disciple's merits.

Privately I consider that when the sprout of consciousness arises in darkness, it is itself the Tathāgata nature; falling into ignorance, the originally existing nature has not yet been manifested. The principle and destiny come to this: when things reach their extreme, they must reverse. To manifest the future fruit, one must accumulate causes. For this reason, the Tamer and World Hero fully traversed births and deaths; counting them with grass and trees as tally-sticks, they could not be reckoned, and accumulating them like sands of the Ganges is indeed hard to conceive. Only by becoming deeply mired in worldly defilements can one give rise to revulsion and renunciation. When the Dharmarāja initiated his conversion, he originally transformed bodhisattvas; just as when the sun rises, it first shines upon the high mountains. Accommodating the capacities of their faculties, he provisionally set forth skillful means; just as those myriad streams all flow back to the great ocean.

The disciple has inherited an accumulation of goodness and was born into the imperial family. I early hurried across the courtyard to receive family instructions, and was imbued with ancestral teachings from of old. The blessings and principles being concentrated here, the wondrous dynamic must be awakened to. I am ashamed of the ruggedness of the small path and aspire to wander freely in the Mahāyāna; I laugh at resting in the conjured city and vow to board the ferryboat to the other shore. However, among the myriad practices of the great being, the goodness of the precepts comes first; the ten receptions of the bodhisattva are strictly upheld as supreme. Illustrating it by building a palace, one must rely on its foundation; merely building it in empty space will ultimately never stand. Not considering myself ignorant and dull, I have furthermore heard that Confucius, Laozi, and the Buddhist school all provide smelting and molding; without rules and models, upon whom could one rely? Truly, although Śākyamuni, the Capable and Benevolent, is fundamentally the upādhyāya, and Mañjuśrī secretly acts as the ācārya, one must rely on human teachers to visibly transmit the sacred ordination. Reaching far from what is near, when stimulated, one will penetrate. Sadāprarudita exhausted his marrow for Dharmodgata, and the youth Sudhana forgot his body for the dharmadhātu. There are clear passages in the sūtras—how could I dare speak from personal whim? Having deep faith in the Buddha's words, I respectfully follow the luminous guide.

Chan Master Zhiyi of Tiantai is a dragon and elephant of the Buddha Dharma. Having left home as a youth, his precept jewel is complete and pure. Approaching the age of sixty, his samādhi water is deep and clear. Developing wisdom from tranquility, he is at ease with unobstructed eloquence. Putting others first and himself last, he is modest and yielding, with a noble style. His fame is heard everywhere, known to all. For this reason, the disciple reverently focused my thoughts from afar and dispatched boats to invite him from a distance. Ever fearing that affinities might misalign and encounter hindrances, as soon as he arrived, the paths of my mind opened wide, and like parting the clouds and mists, defilements simply melted away.

Respectfully on this twenty-third day of the eleventh month of the eleventh year of Kaihuang, the Area Commander-in-chief of Jincheng has provided a vegetarian meal for a thousand monks, reverently entreating the Chan Master to transmit the bodhisattva precepts. The precept is called 'filial piety' and is also called 'restraint.' With skillful means and the perfection of wisdom, returning to reverence and serving the ultimate, I dedicate this superior blessing to assist the Emperor and Empress, making a great adornment, to be identical with the Tathāgata's compassion and universalize the love of all Buddhas, regarding the four forms of birth equally as an only child. On this very day, the disciple plants the karmic seed of Rāhula, wishing to be reborn in the Buddha's house life after life, like the eight princes of Candrasūryapradīpa and the sixteen śrāmaṇeras of Mahābhijñājñānābhibhū. May our relatives and karmic connections become equal companions in the Dharma, jointly emerging from the stream of existence to reach the unconditioned stage, balancing the six perfections and pacifying the four immeasurables. Sentient beings being endless, my deliverances shall be inexhaustible. Binding the saṃnāha armor at the initial aspiration, let me culminate in great compassion to rescue from distress, broad and distant like the dharmadhātu, ultimate as empty space. Fully attaining and accomplishing all, may the ocean of vows be fulfilled. Yang Guang bows with folded hands. (The Prince offered the precept master fifty-eight articles of clothing and goods, and wrote in his own hand more than forty characters in various seal scripts including dragon-fish and feibai scripts.)