勅修百丈清規 8.65

8.65

To Chan Master Baizhang Dazhi Juezhao was additionally conferred the master title 'Hongzong Miaoxing' (Propagator of the Sect of Wondrous Practice), with one imperial edict, bestowed by the present Emperor in the bingzi year of the Zhiyuan era (1336). Prior to this, an imperial decree was issued ordering the reinstatement and practice of the Baizhang Pure Rules, and soon thereafter an additional master title was granted to the Chan master; hence this decree was made. The court discussions initially planned to issue an imperial proclamation. At that time, I was among the members of the Hanlin Academy serving as an Academician, truly in charge of drafting edicts. One day, Dehui, the abbot of this mountain, came to visit together with Imperial Academy Professor Huang Jin, requesting me to compose a preface to the Pure Rules, and inquired into the deeds of Baizhang. Dehui recounted them in detail, and then brought up the deliberation on the encomium edict, intending to entrust it to me. I replied to him: 'If by any chance it falls to my brush, what I have just heard from the master is already conceived in my mind.' Later, impeded by clerical formalities, it was not realized. Twelve years later, I retired due to old age to live at home. Dehui came from Baizhang to visit me in the mountains, bringing the bestowed imperial edict in a casket and showing me a Chinese transcribed copy, requesting me to record the matter and carve it on stone. Reverently I reflect that the Heavenly Court honors and elevates the Śākya clan; through successive reigns, teachers and masters have been granted diverse titles. Yet as for the four characters 'Hongzong Miaoxing', only this Chan master is worthy to bear them without shame. The essentials for entering the gate of Buddhist learning are the three: morality, concentration, and wisdom—these are its main guidelines. The Chan master investigated the mind-dharma of past sages, eminently instructing his students with the single word 'reverence', employing vast and great wisdom within refined and profound cultivation, so that knowledge and practice mutually advanced, and essence and function were both fully equipped, overflowing in abundance, making him a model for all under heaven. Once the pure rules were promulgated, his teachings both inner and outer circulated boundlessly; calling him 'Propagator of the Sect of Wondrous Practice' is truly beyond any reproach. Dehui originally belongs to the Linji lineage, taking up the responsibility as his aim and making propagation his task; he has been dedicated to this matter from beginning to end. Above, he illustrates the ruler's favor; below, he elucidates the ancestral style. In the Chan gate, can there be filial sons and loyal subjects such as this? How could this not be praised as right! Respectfully written with hands clasped and head bowed by Ouyang Xuan, former Grand Academician of the Hanlin Academy, Glorious and Happy Grand Master, Drafter of Edicts, and Concurrently Historiographer of the State History, on the first day of the sixth month, dinghai year of the Zhizheng era (1347).