佛祖統紀 49.28

49.28

Originally unmoving, what cessation can there be? Originally unclouded, what contemplation can there be? Sentient beings, deluded and wandering, depart ever farther from the origin; losing both motion and stillness, if they are not drowsy, they are distracted. These two roots of affliction give rise to all kinds of suffering. To make them leave suffering and attain tranquility, one must use cessation and contemplation as medicine. When the disease is cured, the medicine is discarded, and the physician is no longer established; thus cessation and contemplation are merely provisional names. Being provisional is being empty; the path of words is cut off. Because of great compassion, there is speaking without speaking; this is why the *Great Cessation and Contemplation* was composed. Yet its text and meaning are deep and vast, an ocean without bounds—like the great sea, who can fathom its limits? Because of great compassion, he further created expedient means, so that tasting a single drop one knows the flavor of a hundred rivers, and by means of a single bubble one sees the entire body of the tide. Therefore, outside of the great scripture, he further composed this book. Its words are concise and its essentials profound; reading it, one easily understands. The medicines responding to illnesses are all present here. One who is skilled in using medicine does not treat an illness that has already developed: he stops it before it is distracted; he contemplates it before it is drowsy. Just as one stops, just as one contemplates, one has never been drowsy, never been distracted. Like the two wings of a bird or the two wheels of a cart, traversing the distant and reaching the supreme height, there is nowhere it cannot go. When one arrives at the ultimate, it does not go beyond this. Alas! If one does not know, one stops; knowing that cessation and contemplation are that by which one may enter, how can one not exert oneself? This book was personally composed by Zhiyi, yet had not circulated in the world. Master Mingzhi Zhongli had it carved onto printing blocks to transmit it; the Master's lofty conduct is revered by all, so the circulation of this book will surely be wide.