佛祖統紀 49.9

49.9

夫止觀何為也。導萬法之理而復於實際者也。實際者何也。性之本也。物之所以不能復者。昏與動使之然也。照昏者謂之明。駐動者謂之靜。明與靜止觀之體也。在因謂之止觀。在果謂之智定。因謂之行。果謂之成。行者行此者也。成者證此者也。原夫聖人有以見感足以喪志動足以失方。於是乎。止而觀之。靜而明之。使其動而能靜靜而能明。因相待以成法。即絕待以照本。立大車以御正乘。大事多而總權。消息乎不二之場。鼓舞於說三之域。至微以盡性。至賾以體神。語其近則一豪之善可通也。語其遠則重玄之門可窺也。用至圓以圓之。物無偏也。用至實以實之。物無妄也。聖人舉其言所以示也。廣其目所以告也。優而柔之。使自求之。擬而議之。使自至之。此止觀所由作也。夫三諦者何也。一之謂也。空假中者何也。一之目也。空假者相對之義。中道者得一之名。此思議之說非至一之旨也。至一即三至三即一。非相含而然也。非相生而然也。非數義也。非強名也。自然之理也。言而傳之者迹也。理謂之本。迹謂之末。本也者聖人所至之地也末也者聖人所示之教也。由本以垂迹。則為小為大為通為別為頓為漸為顯為祕為權為實為定為不定。循迹以返本。則為一為大為圓為實為無住為中為妙為第一義。是三一之蘊也。所謂空者通萬法為言。假者立萬法為言。中者妙萬法為言也。破一切惑莫盛乎空。建一切法莫盛乎假。究竟一切性莫大乎中。舉中則無法非中。目假則無法非假。舉空則無法不空。成之謂之三德。修之謂之三觀。舉其要則聖人極深研幾窮理盡性之說乎。昧者使明。塞者使通。通則悟。悟則至。至則常。常則盡矣。明則照。照則化。化則成。成則一矣。聖人有以彌綸萬法而不差。旁礴萬劫而不遺。燾載恒沙而不有。復歸無物而不無。寓名之曰佛。強號之曰覺。究其旨其解脫自在莫大乎極妙之德乎。夫三觀成功者如此。所謂圓頓者。非漸次非不定。指論十章之義也。十章者。恢演始末通道之關也。五略者。舉其宏綱截流之津也。十境者。發動之機立觀之諦也。十乘者。妙用所修發行之門也。止於正觀而終於見境者。義備故也。闕其餘者非所修之要故也。乘者何也。載物而運者也。十者何也。成載之事者也。知其境之妙不行而至者。德之上也。乘一而已矣。豈藉夫九哉。九者非他相生之說。未至者之所踐也。故發心者發無所發。安心者安無所安。破遍者遍無所破。爰至餘乘皆不得已而說也。至於別其義例判為章目。推而廣之不為繁。統而蕳之不為少。如連環不可解也。如貫珠不可雜也。如懸鏡不可弇也（音奄蓋也）如通川不可遏也。義家多門非諍論也。案經證義非虛說也。辨四教淺深事有源也。成一事因緣理無遺也。噫止觀其救世明道之書乎。非夫聖智超絕卓爾獨立。其孰能為乎。非夫聰明深達得意忘象。其孰能知乎。今之人乃專用章句文字從而釋之。又何疎漏耶。或稱不思議境與不思議事。皆極聖之域。等覺至人猶所未盡。若凡夫生滅心行三惑浩然。於言說之中推上妙之理。是猶醯雞而說大鵬夏蟲之議曾氷（曾層同）。其不可見明矣。今止觀之說文字萬數。廣論果地無益初學。豈如暗然自修功至自至。何必以早計為事乎。是大不然。凡所謂上聖之域。豈隔闊遼敻與凡境天絕歟（敻虛正反遠絕之義）是唯一性而已。得之謂悟。失之謂迷。一理而已。迷而為凡。悟而為聖。迷者自隔。理不隔也。失者自失。性不失也。止觀之作。所以辨同異而究聖神。使群生正性而順理者也。正性順理。所以行覺路而至妙境也。不知此教者則學何所入。功何所施。智何所發。譬以無目昧乎日月之光。行於重險之處。顛踣（蒲目反僵）墮落。可勝紀哉。噫去聖久遠賢人不出。庸昏之徒含識而已。致使魔邪詭惑諸黨並熾空有云云。為坑為阱。膠於文句不敢動者。有流於漭（音莾水大貌）浪不能住者。有太遠而甘心不至者。有太近而我身即是者。有枯木而稱定者。有竅號而稱慧者。有奔走非道而言權者。有假於鬼神而言通者。有放心而為廣者。有罕言而為密者。有齒舌潛傳為口訣者。凡此之類自立為祖繼祖為家。反經非聖。昧者不覺。仲尼有言。道之不明也。我知之矣。由物累也。悲夫。隋開皇十七年大師去世。皇朝建中垂二百載。以斯文相傳。凡五家師。其始曰灌頂。其次曰縉雲威。又其次曰東陽威。又其次曰左溪朗公。其五曰荊溪然公。頂公於同門中慧解第一。能奉師訓集成此書蓋不以文辭為本故也。或失則繁。或得則野。當二威之際緘授而已。其道不行。天寶中左溪始弘解說。而知者蓋寡。荊溪廣以傳記數十萬言。網羅遺法（勤矣。備矣）。荊溪滅後。知其說者適三四人。古人云。生而知之者上也。學而知之者次也。困而學之又其次也。夫生而知之者。蓋性德者也。學而知之者。天機深者也。若嗜慾深。耳目塞。雖學而不能知。斯為下矣。今夫學者。內病於蔽外役於煩。沒世不能通其文。數年不能得其益。則業文為之屨校（音教械也）梏（姑沃反械手也）足也。棼（音汾治絲）句為之簸穅眯目（眯莫貝反目不明）也。以不能喻之師。教不領之弟子。止觀所以未光大於時也。予常戚戚。於是整其宏綱撮其機要。理之所存教之所急。或易置之。或引伸之。其義之迂其辭之鄙。或薙除之或潤色之。凡浮疎之患十愈其九。廣略之宜三存其一。是祛鄙滯導蒙童。貽諸他人則吾豈敢。若同見同行且不以止觀罪我。亦無隱乎爾。建中上元甲子。首事筆削。三歲歲在析木之津功畢云耳。

Now, what does calming and contemplation accomplish? It guides the principle of all phenomena so that they return to the ultimate reality. What is this ultimate reality? It is the origin of [one's] nature. What prevents beings from returning [to it] is the doing of delusion and agitation. That which illumines delusion is called clarity; that which arrests agitation is called stillness. Clarity and stillness are the essence of calming and contemplation. In the cause, they are called calming and contemplation; in the fruit, they are called wisdom and concentration. The cause is called practice; the fruit is called realization. The practitioner is the one who practices this; realization is the realization of this. Probing the origin: the sage perceived that emotions are enough to destroy one's resolve and agitation is enough to lose one's direction. Thereupon, he calmed and contemplated it, stilled and illumined it, enabling them to be still while active, and clear while still. Depending on mutual opposition, teachings are formed; directly transcending opposition, the source is illumined. He set up the great carriage to steer the true vehicle; major matters being many, he synthesized the expedient means. Restoring and transforming in the arena of non-duality, he inspired movement in the realm of explaining the three. Reaching the utmost subtlety to fully fathom nature; reaching the utmost profundity to embody the spirit. Speaking of what is near, even a single hair's breadth of goodness can penetrate it; speaking of what is distant, the gate of profound mystery can be peered into. Employing the utmost roundness to make them round, things have no bias; employing the utmost reality to make them real, things have no falsehood. The sage raised his words in order to reveal; he broadened his headings in order to inform. Gentle and yielding, he made them seek it themselves; deliberating and discussing, he made them attain it themselves. This is how calming and contemplation came to be composed. Now, what are the three truths? They are spoken of as the one. What are the empty, the provisional, and the middle? They are the designations of the one. The empty and the provisional are mutually relative meanings; the Middle Way is the name for attaining the one. These are teachings of conceptual thought, not the import of the ultimate one. The ultimate one is precisely the three; the ultimate three are precisely the one. It is not that they contain each other, nor that they produce each other; it is not a matter of number, nor an arbitrary designation. It is the principle of nature. That which is transmitted in words is the traces. Principle is called the root; traces are called the branches. The root is the realm attained by the sage; the branches are the teachings shown by the sage. Deriving traces from the root, there are the small, the great, the shared, the distinct, the sudden, the gradual, the exoteric, the esoteric, the provisional, the real, the definite, and the indefinite. Tracing the traces to return to the root, there are the one, the great, the round, the real, the non-abiding, the middle, the wondrous, and the ultimate truth. This is the storehouse of the three and the one. The so-called 'empty' is spoken of as comprehending all phenomena; the 'provisional' is spoken of as establishing all phenomena; the 'middle' is spoken of as making all phenomena wondrous. In destroying all delusions, nothing is greater than the empty; in establishing all phenomena, nothing is greater than the provisional; in thoroughly penetrating all natures, nothing is greater than the middle. If the middle is raised, then no phenomenon is not the middle; if the provisional is designated, then no phenomenon is not provisional; if the empty is raised, then no phenomenon is not empty. When perfected, they are called the three virtues; when cultivated, they are called the three contemplations. To state the essentials: is this not the sage's teaching that plumbs the depths, investigates the minute, exhausts principle, and completely realizes nature? It makes the ignorant clear and the obstructed unblocked. Unblocked, then there is awakening; awakened, then there is attainment; attained, then there is constancy; constant, then there is exhaustion [of delusion]. Clear, then there is illumination; illumined, then there is transformation; transformed, then there is perfection; perfected, then there is oneness. The sage encompassed all phenomena without error, spanned myriad kalpas without omission, sheltered and carried [beings like] the sands of the Ganges without possessing them, and returned to nothingness without being nothing. By provisional designation he is called Buddha; as a makeshift title he is called the Awakened One. Probing his essential intent: is not his liberation and self-mastery the greatest of exceedingly wondrous virtues? Such is the accomplishment of the three contemplations. What is called the round and sudden is neither gradual nor indefinite; it refers to the meaning of the ten chapters in the treatise. The ten chapters are the gateways for comprehensively expounding the beginning and the end to open up the path. The five summaries are the fords that present the great outlines to cut off the flow. The ten objects are the triggers that set things in motion and the truths that establish contemplation. The ten vehicles are the gates through which the wondrous functioning is cultivated and practice is brought forth. To stop at the correct contemplation and conclude with the object of [false] views is because the meaning is complete. Omitting the rest is because they are not essentials for cultivation. What is a vehicle? It carries things and moves them forward. What are the ten? They are the things that complete the task of carrying. Knowing the wondrousness of the object and arriving without traveling: this is the highest virtue. One merely rides the one; how could one rely upon the nine? The nine are nothing other than an exposition of mutual production, trodden by those who have not yet arrived. Therefore, when generating the mind, it is generated without anything generated; when pacifying the mind, it is pacified without anything pacified; when breaking through universally, it is broken through without anything broken through. Coming to the remaining vehicles, they are all spoken of only because it could not be helped. As for distinguishing its doctrinal points and dividing them into chapters and headings: extending and broadening them is not too elaborate; synthesizing and summarizing them is not too brief. Like interlocking rings, they cannot be unfastened; like a string of pearls, they cannot be mixed up; like a suspended mirror, it cannot be covered; like an open river, it cannot be dammed. The doctrinal masters have many approaches, but they are not contentious disputes. Adducing sūtras to verify meanings is not empty talk. Distinguishing the shallow and deep of the four teachings, phenomena have a source. Completing the causes and conditions of a single event, principle is without omission. Ah, calming and contemplation: is it not a book to save the world and illumine the Way? Were it not for sage-like wisdom, transcendent and outstandingly independent, who could have composed it? Were it not for deep intelligence that penetrates meanings and forgets symbols, who could understand it? People today exclusively rely on verses, phrases, and written words to interpret it; how negligent they are! Some claim that the inconceivable object and inconceivable phenomena are all the realm of the ultimate sage, which even the superior beings of equal enlightenment have not yet exhausted; if ordinary mortals, whose minds and mental activities are subject to arising and ceasing, and whose three delusions are turbulent, infer the supremely wondrous principle from within spoken words, it is like a mustard-seed bug speaking of the great Peng bird, or a summer insect discussing layers of ice. That they cannot see it is clear indeed! Now, the words of calming and contemplation number in the tens of thousands; broadly discussing the ground of fruition is of no benefit to beginners. How could it compare to quietly cultivating oneself, where once effort reaches its peak, one will naturally arrive? Why must one make early calculation one's business? This is greatly mistaken. Is the so-called realm of the supreme sage really distant and remote, separated from the realm of the ordinary like heaven from earth? It is only one single nature: attaining it is called awakening; losing it is called delusion. It is only one single principle: in delusion it is an ordinary person; in awakening it is a sage. The deluded separate themselves; principle does not separate them. The lost lose it themselves; the nature is not lost. The composition of Calming and Contemplation is precisely to distinguish identity and difference and probe into the sage and divine, enabling all living beings to rectify their nature and accord with principle. Rectifying nature and according with principle is how one walks the path of awakening and arrives at the wondrous realm. If one does not know this teaching, where can learning enter? Where can effort be applied? Where can wisdom arise? It is like being without eyes and blind to the light of the sun and moon, walking in places of double danger, stumbling and falling—how could it be fully recorded? Ah! Long has it been since the sage passed away, and worthy men do not appear. The mediocre and confused are merely conscious beings, causing demonic heresies and deceptive confusions of various factions to flare up together, chattering about emptiness and existence, becoming pits and snares. There are those glued to texts and phrases, not daring to move; there are those drifting in surging waves, unable to stay; there are those who think it is too distant and willingly accept never arriving; there are those who think it is too close and believe their own body is already it; there are those like dry wood who call it concentration; there are those who howl through cavities and call it wisdom; there are those who rush along improper paths and speak of expedient means; there are those who rely on ghosts and spirits and speak of supernormal penetrations; there are those of unbridled mind who consider it broadness; there are those of rare speech who consider it esotericism; there are those who transmit things privately between tooth and tongue as secret oral instructions. All such types set themselves up as patriarchs and carry on the patriarchs to establish schools, opposing the scriptures and going against the sages, while the ignorant remain unaware. Zhongni had a saying: 'That the Way is not understood—I know the reason: it is due to the burden of external things.' How sorrowful! In the seventeenth year of the Kaihuang reign of the Sui, the Great Master passed away. To the Jianzhong reign of our imperial dynasty, it has been nearly two hundred years. In transmitting these writings, there have been five lineage masters in all. The first was Guanding; the next was Jinyun Wei; the next was Dongyang Wei; the next was Venerable Lang of Zuoxi; the fifth was Venerable Ran of Jingxi. Master Ding was foremost in wisdom and understanding among his fellow disciples; he was able to uphold the master's instructions and compile this book, which was precisely because he did not take ornate literary phrasing as primary. Sometimes it errs on the side of being cumbersome; sometimes its merit is rustic. During the time of the two Weis, it was merely sealed and passed on; the Way was not practiced. In the Tianbao reign, Zuoxi first broadly explained it, but those who understood were few indeed. Jingxi expanded it with records amounting to hundreds of thousands of words, gathering up the remaining teachings—how diligent! How complete! After Jingxi's demise, there were barely three or four people who understood his explanations. The ancients said: 'Those who are born with knowledge are the highest; those who learn and so have knowledge are the next; those who learn after being vexed by difficulties are yet the next.' Those who are born with knowledge possess it through the virtue of their nature. Those who learn and so have knowledge have deep natural capability. If cravings are deep and ears and eyes are obstructed, even if they study they cannot know; these are the lowest. Today's students are afflicted within by obscurity and driven without by complexity; to the end of their lives they cannot penetrate its text, and for years cannot gain its benefit. Thus, the phrasing of the text becomes their stocks and shackles, and tangled sentences become chaff blown into their eyes to blind them. With teachers who cannot explain teaching disciples who do not comprehend, this is why calming and contemplation has not yet shone brightly in our time. I have always been distressed by this. Thereupon, I rearranged its great outlines and gathered its essential points. Where principle resides and where the teaching is urgent, I either transposed or expanded them. Where the meaning was rambling or the phrasing vulgar, I either pruned or polished them. Of the defects of superficiality and sloppiness, nine out of ten have been cured; of the appropriateness of expansion and brevity, one out of three has been preserved. This is to dispel vulgarity and stagnation, and to guide children. To present it to others—how would I dare? But if those of shared views and shared practice do not condemn me on account of calming and contemplation, then I have concealed nothing either. In the first year of the Jianzhong reign, the cyclical year jiazi, I began the work of editing; in the third year, when the year was at the Ford of Ximu, the task was completed, and that is all.