佛祖統紀 6.12

6.12

The Way of the Buddhas and patriarchs transmits the mind with the mind; what need is there to wait for speech? Yet when it comes to confirming the capacity of the recipient, one must rely on conferring and receiving as the ceremony of transmitting the Way. Therefore, the twenty-four sages of the patriarchal transmission from the golden mouth all received the oral instruction in person to manifest the wonder of mind transmission. However, when it comes to penetrating past and present, distinguishing the heterodox from the orthodox, clarifying the object and wisdom, and discerning the principal tenet and function, how could anything be omitted from speech? Ever since the scriptures and treatises crossed to the east and the teachings filled Cīnasthāna, the masters of this land, grieving that the world could not comprehend them, specialized in lecturing and exposition to penetrate this lineage. Yet those who grasped the minor lost the major, and those who clung to the partial neglected the complete; hence the wonder of mind transmission was ultimately never unfolded. When the Way was about to prevail, holy and wise persons were abundantly born. The Venerable of Beiqi, endowed with natural capacity from past lives, did not wait for personal transmission; he silently awakened to Nāgārjuna's purport that [all things are] identical to emptiness, identical to provisionality, and identical to the middle, establishing it as mind-contemplation to confer upon Nanyue. Nanyue cultivated it to purify the six sense faculties, and in turn conferred it upon Zhiyi. Zhiyi used it to awaken to the Lotus, and further expanded the magnificent enterprise to establish the school of one family. He once said: 'Transmitting the Way lies in practice and also in exposition.' Thereupon he summarized the five periods and unfolded the eight teachings, encompassing all texts to anchor their tenet in the Lotus. He ran through the five chapters to explain the opening title, and divided the four interpretations to resolve the sentences. Once the doctrine of the teaching and principle was illuminated, the purport of contemplative practice had to be clarified; he then composed the single treatise Calming and Contemplation, speaking of the practice within his own mind. He preceded it with six chapters to open understanding, and followed it with establishing practice based on understanding, taking the twenty-five dharmas as expedient means and the ten vehicles of contemplation as the correct cultivation. His discourse on the inherent integration of phenomena and principle in the three thousand [realms] contested and broke down the hundred schools, surpassing past and present, and thereby became the foundation for clarifying the teachings in all under heaven. At that time there was the Great Chan Master of Zhāng'ān, who was long renowned for great learning and also possessed marvelous awakening. Following his lectures, he took up the brush and recorded his words, collecting them into treatises and commentaries to bestow blessings on later students. As for those in the world fond of heterodox opinions, such as the five teachings and three periods, they specialized in partial inclinations; though at the moment of stirring capacities each hit upon something, they were ultimately insufficient to know the beginning and end of a single teaching period, or reach the ultimate tenet of the Lotus. One must know that the teaching rolls of permanent abiding fill Jambudvīpa, and the followers in square robes are more numerous than bamboo shoots; had Tiantai not been born, the timely teachings not prevailed, and the way of contemplation not been clarified, I would surely say that the Buddha's Dharma was already extinguished. Zhāng'ān succeeded to the great lineage, and then transmitted it to Fahua. In Fahua's time, there were seven hundred students of lecture, and Tiangong truly succeeded to his enterprise. At Tiangong's door, countless sought the Way, and Zuoxi alone carried on after him. At Zuoxi's thriving seat, students were even more numerous; from distant regions and neighboring borders they filled his gates and packed his halls. Across the three generations from Fahua, all succeeded to the lineage and adhered to the texts, solely devoting themselves to lecturing. By the time of Jīngxī, many difficulties were encountered; when renegades arose in secret, he could not but launch attacks with the Golden Shovel and the Exemplary Meanings. When scholars raised differing statements, he could not but provide guidelines through his commentaries on the various works. Clarifying the orthodox lineage to bequeath it to later generations, his merit in propagating and praising was nearly equal to that of Zhāng'ān. Honoring the patriarchs, esteeming the Way, recounting virtue, and recording achievement, I compile the 'Annals of the Nine Patriarchs of the Eastern Land.'