佛祖歷代通載 12.9

12.9

（六　乙卯）　六年五月。法師玄奘譯因明論。沙門神泰等各造義疏釋之。法師栖玄者。以其論示尚藥奉御呂才。才深藝之士也。頗毀其文。作因明注解破義圖。輕薄者聽信之。秋七月譯經法師惠立致書左僕射于志寧斥其謬。辭曰。聞諸佛之立教。文言奧遠旨義幽深。等圓穹之寥廓。類滄波之浩澣。談真如之性相。居十地而尚迷。說小草之因緣。處無生而猶昧。況有縈纏八邪之網。沈淪四倒之流。而欲窺究宗因辨彰其理者。無乃惑哉。切見大慈恩寺翻經法師惠基。早樹智力夙成行潔。珪璋操逾松杞遂能。躬游聖域詢稟微言。擅三藏於胸懷。苞四含於掌握。嗣清徽於曩哲。扇遺範於當今。實季俗之舟航。信緇林之龜鑑者也。所翻聖教已三百餘軸。中有小論。題曰因明。詮論難之旨歸。序催邪之軌式。雖未為玄門之要妙。亦非造次之所知。近聞尚藥呂奉御。以常人之資。竊眾師之說。造因明圖釋宗因義。不能精悟好起異端。苟覓聲譽妄為穿鑿。排眾德之正說。任我慢之𭞒心。媒衒公卿之前。囂諠閭巷之側不慚顏厚靡勌神勞。數易炎涼心猶未已。然奉御於俗事少間。遂謂真宗可了。何異鼷鼠見釜竈之堪陟。乃言崑閬之不難。蛛螫覩棘林之易羅。遂謂扶桑之可網。不量涯分無以異斯。況大音希聲大辯若訥。所以淨名契理杜口毘耶。尼父德高恂恂鄉黨。未聞誇矜自媒而獲縉紳之推仰也。立致書其事稍息。

([Year] six, yimao) In May of the sixth year, Dharma Master Xuanzang translated the *Hetuvidyā-śāstra*. The śramaṇa Shentai and others each composed commentaries to explain it. A certain Dharma Master Xixuan showed the treatise to the Grand Physician (Shangyao Fengyu) Lü Cai. Cai was a man of deep erudition in the arts, but he greatly disparaged its text, composing *Annotations on Hetuvidyā* with diagrams refuting its tenets. Frivolous people believed him. In autumn, the seventh month, the scripture-translating Dharma Master Huili sent a letter to the Left Vice Director Yu Zhining denouncing his errors. The letter said: "I have heard that when the various Buddhas establish their teachings, the language is profound and distant, and the purports and meanings are deep and subtle; they equal the vastness of the vaulted sky and resemble the boundless expanses of the deep blue ocean. When speaking of the nature and characteristics of True Suchness, those dwelling on the tenth bhūmi are still bewildered; when explaining the causes and conditions of a tiny plant, those abiding in non-arising are still ignorant. How much more so for one entangled in the net of the eight perversions and submerged in the current of the four inverted views—yet wishing to fathom the thesis (pakṣa) and reason (hetu) and to elucidate their principles! Is that not delusion indeed? I have recently seen that Dharma Master Huiji of Da Ci'en Monastery, who translates the scriptures, early on established the power of wisdom and formerly perfected pure conduct. With integrity surpassing the pine and cypress, he was able to travel in person to the sacred realm and inquire into the subtle words. He holds the Tripiṭaka in his breast and encompasses the four Āgamas in his palm. Continuing the pure fame of ancient sages, he spreads the enduring model in the present day. Truly he is a vessel for the degraded world and a dependable exemplar for the monastic grove. The holy teachings he has translated already exceed three hundred scrolls. Among them is a short treatise entitled *Hetuvidyā*, which clarifies the ultimate purport of debates and objections, and sets forth the standard formulas for destroying heterodoxy. Although it is not the most essential mystery of the profound gate, it is nevertheless not something to be comprehended in an instant. Recently I heard that the Court Physician Lü, with the endowment of an ordinary man, plundered the explanations of various masters and made diagrams on hetuvidyā explaining the meanings of thesis and reason. Unable to thoroughly comprehend them, he is fond of raising unorthodox views; seeking fame for the sake of it, he fabricates forced interpretations. Discarding the correct explanations of all the virtuous ones, he indulges his conceited mind of arrogance. Showing himself off in front of dukes and ministers, making noisy clamour beside the village alleys, he is neither ashamed of his thick-skinned impudence nor tired of exhausting his spirit; though the seasons of heat and cold have changed several times, his mind has not yet rested. Now, because the Court Physician has a brief leisure from worldly affairs, he claims that the true tenets can be understood. How is this different from a tiny field-mouse who, seeing that a cooking-stove can be climbed, claims that Mount Kunlun is not difficult to scale? Or a spider that, seeing a thorn bush is easy to entangle, claims that the Fusang tree can be netted? Without measuring one's limits, it is no different from this. Moreover, great sound has little resonance, and great eloquence seems like stammering. This is why Vimalakīrti accorded with the principle by closing his mouth in Vaiśālī, and Confucius, of lofty virtue, was cautious in his home village. I have never heard of someone bragging and promoting himself who gained the esteem and reverence of gentlemen." When Huili sent the letter, the affair subsided somewhat.