佛祖歷代通載 14.35

14.35

（二十二　丙寅）　二年翰林梁肅。修天台止觀論成。著止觀統例曰。夫止觀何為也。導萬化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。原夫聖人有以見惑足以喪志。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。御大車以禦正。乘大事而總權。消息乎不二之場。鼓舞於說三之域。至微以盡性。至頤而體神。語其近則一毫之善可通也。語其遠則重玄之門可𨶳也。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。空假也者相對之義。中道也者得一之名。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。是一三之蘊也。所謂空也者通萬法而為言者也。假也者立萬法而為言者也。中也者妙萬法而為言者也。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。舉中則無法非中自假則何法非假。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。旁礴萬劫而不違。燾載恒沙而不有。復歸無物而不無。寓名之曰佛。強號之曰覺。究其旨解脫自在。莫大極妙之德乎。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。五略者舉其弘綱截流之津也。十境者發動之機立觀之諦也。十乘者妙用所修發行之門也。始於正觀而終於見境者。義備故也。闕其餘者。非修之要也。乘者何也。載物運者也。十者何也。成載之事也。知其境之妙。不行而至者德之上也。乘一而已。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。遍破者遍無所破。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。統而簡之不為少。如連環不可解也。如貫珠不可雜也。如懸鏡不可揜也。如通川不可遏也。議家多門非諍論也。按經正義非虛說也。辯四教淺深事有源也。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思象。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。夏虫之議層氷。其不可見明矣。今止觀之說文字萬數。廣尋果地無益初學。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。豈隔闊遼敻與凡境杳絕與。是惟一性而已。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。止觀之作所以離異同而究聖神。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。譬如無目昧于日月之光行於重險之處顛踣墮落可勝己乎。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。有膠於文句不敢動者。有流於漭浪不能住者有。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。有放心而言廣者。有罕言而為密者。有齒舌潛傳而為口訣者。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。隋開皇十八年智者去世。至皇朝建中垂二百載。以斯文相傳凡五家師。其始曰灌頂。其次曰縉雲威。又其次曰東陽小威。又其次曰左溪朗公。其五曰荊溪然公。須於同門中慧解第一。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。困而不學又其次也。夫生而知之者。蓋性德者也學而知之者。天機深者也。若其嗜欲深耳目塞。雖學而不知。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。是則業文為之屨校梏足也。棼句為之簸糠眯目也。以不能之師。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。其理之所存教之所急。或易置之或引伸之。其義之迂其辭之鄙。或薙除之或潤色之。大凡浮疎之患。十愈其九。廣略之宜三存其一。於是祛鄙滯導蒙童。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。三年歲在析木之津功畢云爾。

(Twenty-second year [of the sexagenary cycle], binyin) In the second year, Liang Su of the Hanlin Academy completed his compilation of the Tiantai Zhiguan lun and wrote the "General Rules of Calming and Contemplation" (Zhiguan tongli), which states:

"Now, what is calming and contemplation for? It guides the principles of myriad transformations back to the limit of reality. What is the limit of reality? It is the source of nature. Why beings are unable to return to it is because dark ignorance and movement cause it to be so. That which illuminates darkness is called clarity; that which arrests movement is called stillness. Clarity and stillness are the essence of calming and contemplation. In the causal stage they are called calming and contemplation; in the fruition stage they are called wisdom and samādhi. The cause is called practice; the fruition is called accomplishment. The practitioner practices this; the accomplished realizes this.

Now, the sages had the insight that delusion is sufficient to forfeit purpose and agitation is sufficient to lose direction. Thereupon they stilled and contemplated it, quieted and illuminated it, causing movement to become still and stillness to become illuminated. Depending on mutual relativity they established the teaching, and by transcending relativity they illuminated the origin. Driving the great vehicle they steered correctly; mounting the great endeavor they comprehended the provisional. They rested in the realm of non-duality and danced through the domain of expounding the three. They reached the utmost subtlety to exhaust the nature; they penetrated the utmost profundity to embody the spiritual. Speaking of what is near, even a hair's breadth of goodness can penetrate it; speaking of what is far, the gate of profound mysteries can be opened. Using ultimate roundness to round it, phenomena suffer no partiality; using ultimate reality to actualize it, phenomena harbor no falsehood. The sage lifted up his words in order to reveal it, and broadened its headings in order to inform about it, indulging and softening it so that people might seek it themselves, weighing and discussing it so that they might arrive at it on their own. This is where calming and contemplation originated.

Now, what are the three truths? They are names for the One. What are emptiness, the provisional, and the middle? They are designations for the One. Emptiness and the provisional are terms of mutual relativity; the middle way is the designation for obtaining the One. These are formulations of conceptual thought, not the ultimate intent of the Supreme One. The Supreme One is precisely the three, and the supreme three are precisely the One. It is not because they contain one another, nor because they produce one another. It is not a matter of number, nor an arbitrary label; it is the natural principle. To convey it through words is the trace. The principle is called the root; the trace is called the branch. The root is the ground reached by the sage; the branch is the teaching demonstrated by the sage. Extending traces from the root, there are the small and the great, the shared and the distinct, the sudden and the gradual, the exoteric and the esoteric, the provisional and the real, the definite and the indefinite. Following the traces to return to the root, there are the one and the great, the round and the real, the non-abiding and the middle, the wondrous and the supreme truth. Such is the import of the One and the Three.

What is called emptiness is spoken of with respect to penetrating all phenomena. The provisional is spoken of with respect to establishing all phenomena. The middle is spoken of with respect to the wonder of all phenomena. For shattering all delusions, nothing surpasses emptiness; for constructing all phenomena, nothing surpasses the provisional; for thoroughly exhausting all natures, nothing is greater than the middle. If one adduces the middle, no phenomenon is not the middle; if one follows the provisional, what phenomenon is not provisional? If one adduces emptiness, no phenomenon is not empty. Accomplishing them is called the three virtues; cultivating them is called the three contemplations. To summarize their essentials: is this not the sage's discourse on probing the profound and subtle, and exhausting principle and nature?

It makes the dim bright and the blocked open. When open, there is awakening; when awakened, there is arrival; when arrived, there is constancy; when constant, there is completeness. When bright, there is illumination; when illuminated, there is transformation; when transformed, there is completion; when completed, there is unity. The sage encompasses all phenomena without error, traverses myriad kalpas without transgression, covers and carries sands of the Ganges without possessing them, and returns to nothingness without being non-existent. Metaphorically he is called Buddha; provisionally he is titled the Awakened One. If one investigates his intent, it is liberation and self-mastery—are these not the greatest and most wondrous of virtues?

Such is the efficacy of the three contemplations. What is called 'round and sudden' is neither gradual nor indefinite; it refers to the meaning of the ten chapters in the treatise. The ten chapters broadly unfold the beginning and end, serving as the gateway to the Dao. The five summaries put forth its great guidelines, serving as the ford that cuts across the stream. The ten objects are the triggers that set it in motion, the truths upon which contemplation is established. The ten vehicles are the practices cultivated through wondrous function, the gates through which practice arises. Beginning with correct contemplation and concluding with the vision of objects is because the meaning is fully complete. Omitting the rest is because they are not essentials of cultivation.

What is a vehicle? It is that which carries things and transports them. What are the ten? They are the matters that accomplish the transport. Knowing the wonder of the object and arriving without walking is the highest virtue; it is mounting the one alone—how could it rely on the nine? The nine are not discourses of producing one another through distinction; they are what those who have not yet arrived tread upon. Therefore, arousing the mind is arousing without anything aroused; pacifying the mind is pacifying without anything pacified; completely shattering is completely shattering without anything shattered. Down to the remaining vehicles, they are all spoken of only because there was no alternative. As for distinguishing their meanings and rules and dividing them into chapters and headings: extending them broadly does not make them cumbersome; condensing them into essentials does not make them deficient. They are like interlocking rings that cannot be sundered, like strung pearls that cannot be mingled, like a hanging mirror that cannot be obscured, like an open river that cannot be dammed. The commentators' varied gates are not disputations; rectifying meanings according to the sūtras is not empty talk; distinguishing the depths of the four teachings has its source in events; fulfilling the causes and conditions of a single event leaves out no principle. Ah, is not Calming and Contemplation a book that rescues the world and illuminates the Dao?

Were it not for a sage whose wisdom is transcendent, preeminent and standing alone, who could have composed it? Were it not for the discerning and profoundly penetrating, who grasp the intent and comprehend the concepts, who could understand it? People today merely rely on chapters, sentences, and words to interpret it; how superficial and flawed they are! Some claim that the inconceivable object and the inconceivable events are both realms of the ultimate sage, which even the highest beings of equal enlightenment have not yet exhausted; if ordinary beings, with minds of arising and ceasing and a deluge of the three delusions, infer the supreme and wondrous principle from within mere verbal discourse, this is like a vinegar fly speaking of the great roc, or a summer insect discussing layers of ice—that it cannot be seen is obvious. They say: 'The words of Calming and Contemplation number in the tens of thousands; broadly searching the fruition stage offers no benefit to beginners. How could it compare to quietly cultivating oneself in the dark, where when the effort reaches its mark, attainment comes naturally? Why must one make early calculations one's business?' This is greatly mistaken. Is what is called the realm of the supreme sage separated by vast distances and utterly cut off from the ordinary realm? It is only a single nature: attaining it is called awakening, losing it is called delusion. It is only a single principle: deluded, one is an ordinary person; awakened, one is a sage. The deluded person alienates himself; the principle is not alienated. The loser loses it himself; the nature is not lost. The composition of Calming and Contemplation is precisely that which dispels differences and investigates the sacred and spiritual, causing all living beings to rectify their nature and harmonize with the principle. Rectifying the nature and harmonizing with the principle is how one walks the path of awakening and reaches the wondrous realm. For those ignorant of this teaching, where could study enter? Where could effort be applied? Where could wisdom be aroused? It is like a blind person, ignorant of the light of the sun and moon, walking through perilous terrains; could his stumbling and falling ever come to an end?

Alas, the sage is long gone, and worthy men do not appear. The mediocre and dim-witted are merely conscious beings. This has allowed demonic heresies and deceptive factions to blaze forth together. Talk of emptiness and existence serves as pits and snares. There are those who cling to words and sentences, not daring to move; those who drift upon wild waves, unable to stay; those who think it too far and willingly resign themselves to never arriving; those who think it too near and say their own body is already it; those like withered wood who claim samādhi; those who howl through holes and claim wisdom; those who rush down improper paths and speak of expedients; those who rely on ghosts and spirits and speak of supernormal powers; those who let their minds run wild and speak of breadth; those who speak seldom and claim to be esoteric; those who whisper between teeth and tongue and call them oral instructions. All such types set themselves up as patriarchs and carry on lineages to form their own schools, running contrary to the scriptures and sūtras and disparaging the sages, while the dim-witted remain unaware. Confucius had a saying: 'That the Dao is not made clear—I know the reason: it is because of entanglement with material things.' How sorrowful!

From the eighteenth year of Kaihuang of the Sui (598 CE) when Zhiyi passed away, down to the Jianzhong era of our imperial dynasty, nearly two hundred years have passed. Those who transmitted these texts number five ancestral masters in all. The first was Guanding; the next was Wei of Jinyun; the next was Minor Wei of Dongyang; the next was Venerable Lang of Zuoxi; the fifth was Venerable Ran of Jingxi. [Guanding] was foremost in wisdom and understanding among his peers, and was able to receive his master's instructions to compile this book. This was simply because he did not take fine literary composition as primary; thus, where it faltered it was prolix, and where it captured [the meaning] it was rustic. During the era of the two Weis, it was merely sealed and passed along, and the Dao did not flourish. In the Tianbao era, Zuoxi first broadly explained and expounded it, yet those who understood were few. Jingxi expanded it with records and treatises numbering hundreds of thousands of words, gathering up the surviving teachings—diligent and thorough indeed! After Jingxi's decease, those who understood his teachings were merely three or four people.

An ancient said: 'Those who are born with knowledge are of the highest class; those who learn and so get knowledge are the next; those who are dull and yet will learn are another class.' Those born with knowledge possess the virtue of nature; those who learn and so get it have deep natural endowment. If their desires are deep and their ears and eyes blocked, even though they study they will not know; these are of the lowest class. Now, students are inwardly afflicted by delusion and outwardly burdened by vexations; to the end of their days they cannot master its text, and in several years they cannot obtain its benefit. Thus, the labor of the text has become shackling their feet in stocks, and tangled sentences have become chaff flying into their eyes. With incapable masters instructing unreceptive disciples, this is why Calming and Contemplation has not yet shone brightly in our times.

I have constantly grieved over this. Thereupon, I organized its grand outline and extracted its crucial essentials. Where principle resides and teaching urges, I rearranged or expanded it; where meaning was convoluted and diction vulgar, I weeded it out or polished it. In general, of the defects of superficial prolixity, nine out of ten were remedied; of the balance between extensive and concise, one out of three was preserved. Thereby I dispel vulgarity and stagnation, and guide children and beginners. To bequeath it to others—how would I dare? Yet if those of the same view and same practice do not blame me for Calming and Contemplation, then I too have concealed nothing. In the first year of Jianzhong, a jiazi year, I began the work of editing; in the third year, when the year was in the ford of the Split Wood (Ximu), the work was finished, so it is said."