佛祖統紀 8.24

8.24

The appraisal says: At the close of the Tang dynasty, the empire fell into turmoil and disorder, and the texts of the Tiantai school were scattered to the Eastern Sea. At that time, its scholars went so far as to lecture concurrently on the Huayan to supplement and adorn their explanations. When our Song dynasty arose like a dragon, this path was still obscure. During the era of Luoxi and Baoyun, the surviving writings were restored. Although lectures were somewhat heard, the habitual inclinations of biased scholars had not yet shifted. Thus Enqing pursued concurrent study earlier, Zhaoyuan raised dissenting views later; Qirun, belonging to another faction, caused external insult; and Jingjue, though of our own family, rebelled from within. All these were enough to confound the Dharma gate and block the ancestral path. With the talents of a superior sage, Fazhi of Siming met the opportune time for revival. Conquering east and west, he purified the sea of the teaching once more; how grand and memorable were his achievements! Hence, he established the contemplation of delusion through the aggregates, the separate principle following conditions, the ultimate truth [present even in] a dung beetle, the principle-poison and essential evil, the import of color alone and mind alone, the discourse on contemplating the mind and contemplating the Buddha, the three pairs concerning the Buddha-body, the inherent integration concerning the scripture's essence, the essentials of the Ten Non-Dual Gates, and the mind contemplation of the ten kinds of threefold dharmas. Judging the real and judging the expedient, expounding practice and expounding nature—all the profound Dharma gates that Zhāng'ān and Jīngxī had not found the leisure to synthesize and reveal, he manifested and brought them forth completely, serving as strategies to harness the various masters and as plans to entrust to the disciples. From Jīngxī onward, it had been nine generations and two hundred years. In which generation has there been no propagation of the Dharma and transmission of the Path? Yet one who possessed all modes and brought them together in a great synthesis, refuted heterodoxies, and exalted the orthodox transmission was Master Fazhi alone. It is fitting that he be ranked alongside the successive patriarchs and hailed as the Restorer, thereby showing the intention of later students to take refuge in the lineage. Nowadays, east and west of the Zhe River, among those styled as halls of teaching, none fails to comply uniformly with the path of Siming. Looking back at the various masters of the Shanwai [school], indeed not a soul has been left alive. This being so, does not the inexhaustible continuation of the Dharma's fortune truly reside in this?