釋氏稽古略 2.281

2.281

陳是年帝詔禪師智顗遷都居光宅寺。隋文帝開皇十一年任總江淮。晉王廣煬帝也。十一月二十三日於楊州總管金城請師設僧會授菩薩戒。師為王立法名總持。王奉師號智者。智者大師稱由此始。師居常以五時八教判釋東流一代聖教罄無不盡。言五時者。一華嚴時。二鹿苑時說四阿含。三方等時說維摩思益楞伽金光明勝鬘等經。四般若時說摩訶般若光讚般若。金剛般若諸般若經。五法華涅槃時。言八教者。頓漸祕密不定藏通別圓頓等四教是化儀。如世藥方。藏等四教名化法。如辯藥味。第一頓教者。華嚴經譬如日出先照高山。第一時。涅槃經云譬如從牛出乳。此從佛出十二部經。第二漸教。此下三時三味。總名為漸。初在鹿苑說四諦十二因緣事六度等教。約時則日照幽谷。第二時。約味從乳出酪。此從十二部出九部修多羅。次明方等部淨名等經。彈偏折小歎大褒圓。四教俱說。藏為半字教。通別圓為滿字教。約時則食時。第三時。約味從酪出生酥。此從九部出方等。次說般若。約時則禺中時。第四時。約味從生酥出熟酥。此從方等之後出摩訶般若。第三祕密教者。如來三輪不思議故。或為此人說頓或為彼人說漸。彼此互不相知。能令得益故言祕密。第四不定教者。由前四味中。佛以一音演說法。眾生隨類各得解。不思議力能令眾生於漸說中得頓益。於頓說中得漸益。得益不同故言不定教也。次說法華。開前頓漸會入非頓非漸故言開權顯實。又言廢權立實。又言會三歸一。經云十方佛土中唯有一乘法無二亦無三。正直捨方便。但說無上道。約時則日輪當午。罄無側影。第五時。約味從熟酥出醍醐。此從摩訶般若出法華。開示悟入佛之知見。授三乘人及一切眾生成佛記。次說大涅槃者有二義。一為未熟者更說四教。具談佛性。令具真常入大涅槃。故名捃拾教。二為末代鈍根於佛法中起斷滅見夭傷慧命亡失法身。說三種權扶一圓實。故名扶律談常教。論時論味與法華同。化法四教。第一三藏教者。一修多羅藏四阿含等經。二阿毘曇藏俱舍婆沙等論。三毘尼藏五部律。此之三藏名通大小。今取小乘三藏。言苦集滅道等。次明通教。通前藏教通後別圓故名通教。第三別教者。明界外獨菩薩法教理知斷行位因果。別前三教別後圓教故名別也。第四圓教者。圓名圓妙圓滿圓足圓頓故名圓教也。所謂圓伏圓信圓斷圓行圓位圓自在莊嚴圓建立眾生。諸大乘經論說佛境界。不共三乘位次。總屬此教也。謂法華妙典蕩化城之執教。釋草庵之滯情。開方便之權門。示真實之妙理。會眾善之小行。歸廣大之一乘。遂出玄義曰釋名辯體明宗論。用判教相之五重也。名則法喻齊舉。謂一乘妙法。即眾生本性在無明煩惱不為所染。如蓮華處于淤泥而體常淨。故以為名。此經開權顯實。廢權立實。會權歸實。如蓮之華有含容開落之義。華之蓮有隱現成實之義。亦謂從本垂跡因跡顯本。夫經題不越法譬人單複具足凡七種。單三複三具足者一攝一切。名妙法蓮華經即複之一也。法譬為複。名以召體體即實相。謂一切相離實相無體故。宗則一乘因果。開示悟入佛之知見可尊尚故。用則力用。以開廢會之義有其力故。然後判教相以如來一代之談。判為五時八教也。教理既明。非觀行無以復性。乃依三諦之理空假中。亦三止三觀。一一觀心。念念不可得。先空次假後中。離二邊而觀一心。如雲外之月者。此乃別教之行相也。又云破一切惑莫盛乎空。建一切法莫盛乎假。究竟一切性莫大乎中故。一中一切中無假無空而不中。空假亦爾。即圓教之行相也。如摩醯首羅天之三目。非縱橫並別故。三觀圓成。法身不素。尚慮學者昧於修性或墮偏執。復創六即之義以絕斯患。一理即佛者。十法界眾生下至蟭螟。同稟妙性。從本以來常住清淨覺體圓滿一理齊平故。二名字即佛者。雖理性坦平。而隨流者日用不知。必假言教外薰。得聞名字生信發解故。三觀行即佛者。既聞名開解。要假前之三觀而返源故。四相似即佛者。觀行功深發相似用。五分真即佛者。三心開發得真如用位位增勝故。六究竟即佛者。無明永盡。覺心圓極證無所證故。如上六位。既皆即佛不屈不濫。通具法報化三身為正隨居四土為依。四土者。一常寂光法性土也。法身居之。二實報無障土。攝二受用也。自受用土報佛自居。他受用土登地菩薩居。三方便有餘。四淨穢同居。並為應化土也。地前菩薩二乘凡夫所居。其實則非身非土。無優無劣。為對機緣故假說身土而分優劣。師得身土互融權實無礙。故三十餘年晝夜宣演。生四種益。具四悉檀。悉遍也。檀翻名施也。師之法遍施有情。隨根得益。如云世界悉檀生歡喜益（云云）。師生緣見乙未年　天台第九祖荊溪尊者始終心要曰。夫三諦者天然之性德也。中諦者統一切法。真諦者泯一切法。俗諦者立一切法。舉一即三。非前後也。含生本具非造作之所得也。悲夫祕藏不顯。蓋三惑之所覆也。故無明翳乎法性。塵沙障乎化導。見思阻乎空寂。然茲三惑乃體上之虛妄也。於是大覺慈尊。喟然歎曰。真如界內絕生物之假名。平等慧中無自他之形相。但以眾生妄想不自證得莫之能返也。由是立乎三觀破乎三惑。證乎三智成乎三德。空觀者破見思惑。證一切智成般若德。假觀者破塵沙惑。證道種智成解脫德。中觀者破無明惑。證一切種智成法身德。然茲三惑三觀三智三德非各別也。非異時也。天然之理具諸法故。然此三諦性之自爾。迷茲三諦轉成三惑。惑破藉乎三觀。觀成證乎三智。智成成乎三德。從因至果非漸修也。說知次第。理非次第。大綱知此。綱目可尋。

In this year of the Chen, the emperor decreed that Chan Master Zhiyi move to the capital to reside at Guangzhai Monastery. In the eleventh year of the Kaihuang reign of Emperor Wen of the Sui, when Yang Guang, King of Jin (who later became Emperor Yang), was in overall command of the Jiang and Huai regions, on the twenty-third day of the eleventh month, he invited the Master to Jincheng, the headquarters of the Yang prefecture governor-general, to hold a monastic assembly and administer the bodhisattva precepts. The Master gave the King the Dharma name Zongchi (Dhāraṇī). The King presented the Master with the title Zhizhe (Wise One). The title Great Master Zhizhe began from this. The Master customarily classified and explained the entire sacred teaching of the [Buddha's] lifetime that had flowed east through the five periods and eight teachings, leaving nothing unexhausted. As for the five periods: first, the Avataṃsaka period; second, the Deer Park period, in which the four Āgamas were preached; third, the Vaipulya period, in which such sūtras as the Vimalakīrti, Viśeṣacintā, Laṅkāvatāra, Suvarṇaprabhāsa, and Śrīmālādevī were preached; fourth, the Prajñā period, in which the Mahāprajñā, Guangzan banruo, Vajracchedikā-prajñā, and various Prajñā sūtras were preached; fifth, the Lotus and Nirvāṇa period. As for the eight teachings: sudden, gradual, secret, indeterminate, Tripiṭaka, common, distinct, and complete. The four teachings from 'sudden' onward are the methods of conversion, like medical prescriptions in the mundane world; the four teachings from 'Tripiṭaka' onward are the doctrines of conversion, like discerning the flavors of medicines. The first, the sudden teaching: the Avataṃsaka Sūtra says that, just as when the sun rises it first illuminates the high mountains, [this is] the first period. The Nirvāṇa Sūtra says that, just as milk is extracted from a cow, this [period represents] the twelve divisions of scriptures coming forth from the Buddha. The second, the gradual teaching: the three periods and three flavors below this are collectively called gradual. Initially, in the Deer Park, teachings such as the four truths, the twelve links of dependent origination, and the phenomenal six perfections were preached. In terms of time, it is the sun illuminating the deep valleys, the second period; in terms of flavor, it is turning milk into curds, which is producing the nine divisions of sūtras from the twelve divisions. Next, the Vaipulya division, sūtras such as the Vimalakīrti, was expounded, censuring the biased and breaking the Hinayāna, praising the great and extolling the complete. All four teachings were spoken: the Tripiṭaka is the half-letter teaching, while the common, distinct, and complete are the full-letter teachings. In terms of time, it is the mealtime, the third period; in terms of flavor, it is turning curds into butter, which is producing the Vaipulya from the nine divisions. Next, Prajñā was preached. In terms of time, it is late morning, the fourth period; in terms of flavor, it is turning butter into clarified butter, which is producing Mahāprajñā after the Vaipulya. The third, the secret teaching: because the Tathāgata's three wheels are inconceivable, he may preach the sudden for this person or the gradual for that person, and neither knows of the other, enabling them to gain benefit; thus it is called secret. The fourth, the indeterminate teaching: throughout the previous four flavors, the Buddha expounded the Dharma with a single voice, and sentient beings each gained understanding according to their capacity; by inconceivable power, he could enable sentient beings to gain sudden benefit from a gradual teaching, and gradual benefit from a sudden teaching; because their gains of benefit were not identical, it is called the indeterminate teaching. Next, the Lotus was preached. Opening the previous sudden and gradual, it converged them into what is neither sudden nor gradual; thus it is said to 'open the provisional to reveal the real'. It is also said to 'discard the provisional to establish the real', and 'converge the three to return to the one'. The sūtra says: 'In the Buddha lands of the ten directions, there is only the Dharma of the One Vehicle, neither two nor three'; 'Honestly discarding expedients, I only preach the unsurpassed Way.' In terms of time, it is when the sun's wheel is at high noon, utterly without side shadows, the fifth period; in terms of flavor, it is turning clarified butter into ghee, which is producing the Lotus from Mahāprajñā, opening, displaying, awakening to, and entering the knowledge and vision of the Buddha, and bestowing prophecies of attaining Buddhahood upon practitioners of the three vehicles and all sentient beings. Next, the preaching of the Great Nirvāṇa has two meanings: first, for those not yet mature, it re-expounds the four teachings and fully speaks of the Buddha-nature, enabling them to be endowed with the true and eternal and to enter great nirvāṇa, hence it is called the 'gleaning teaching'; second, for dull-rooted beings of the degenerate age who would give rise to views of annihilation within the Buddha's Dharma, cutting short the life of wisdom and forfeiting the Dharma body, it speaks of three provisional teachings to support the one complete and real [teaching], hence it is called the 'teaching of supporting the vinaya and speaking of the eternal'. In terms of both time and flavor, it is identical to the Lotus. The four doctrines of conversion: first, the Tripiṭaka teaching, consisting of 1. the Sūtra Piṭaka, such scriptures as the four Āgamas; 2. the Abhidharma Piṭaka, such treatises as the Kośa and Vibhāṣā; 3. the Vinaya Piṭaka, the vinayas of the five divisions. These three piṭakas apply in name to both the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna; here it takes the Hīnayāna Tripiṭaka, referring to suffering, origination, cessation, the path, and so forth. Next is explained the common teaching: it shares common ground with the preceding Tripiṭaka teaching and communicates with the subsequent distinct and complete teachings, hence it is called the common teaching. The third, the distinct teaching, explains the doctrines, principles, wisdom, severance, practices, stages, causes, and effects solely of the bodhisattvas beyond the realms [of samsara]; distinct from the previous three teachings and distinct from the subsequent complete teaching, it is therefore called distinct. The fourth, the complete teaching: 'complete' means subtly complete, fulfilled, sufficient, and complete and sudden; hence it is called the complete teaching. That is to say, complete subduing, complete faith, complete severance, complete practice, complete stages, complete unhindered adornment, and complete establishment of sentient beings. What all Mahāyāna sūtras and treatises describe as the Buddha's realm, not shared by the stages of the three vehicles, all belongs to this teaching. This refers to how the marvelous scripture of the Lotus sweeps away attachment to the teaching of the transformed city, releases lingering sentiments for the thatched hut, opens the provisional gate of expedients, reveals the marvelous principle of reality, and converges the minor practices of myriad virtues to return to the vast One Vehicle. Thereupon [the Master] produced the Profound Meaning, saying: 'Explaining the title, discerning the substance, clarifying the principle, discussing the function, and classifying the characteristics of the teaching make up the fivefold [profound meaning].' As for the title, it raises both doctrine and metaphor together: the marvelous Dharma of the One Vehicle refers to the original nature of sentient beings, which, even within ignorance and defilements, is not tainted by them, just as a lotus flower remains in the mud yet its substance is ever pure; hence it is taken as the title. This sūtra opens the provisional to reveal the real, discards the provisional to establish the real, and converges the provisional to return to the real; just as the blossom of the lotus contains, opens, and falls, and the fruit of the lotus is concealed, revealed, formed, and actualized, it also means descending traces from the fundamental and revealing the fundamental by means of the traces. Sūtra titles do not exceed doctrine, metaphor, and person—whether single, compound, or complete—making seven kinds in all: three single, three compound, and one complete that encompasses all. The title Myōhō-renge-kyō (The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma) is one of the compound types, combining doctrine and metaphor. The title is used to summon the substance, and the substance is the true mark, for all marks have no substance apart from the true mark. The principle is the cause and effect of the One Vehicle, opening, displaying, awakening to, and entering the Buddha's knowledge and vision, which is venerable and supreme. The function is dynamic capability, for the principles of opening, discarding, and converging possess such efficacy. Thereafter, classifying the characteristics of the teaching evaluates the Buddha's lifetime of discourse, classifying it into five periods and eight teachings. Once the teachings and principles were clarified, without contemplative practice there was no way to recover the nature. Thus, relying on the principle of the three truths—emptiness, conventionality, and the middle—as well as the three cessations and three contemplations, one contemplates the mind in each and every thought, seeing every thought as ungraspable; first emptiness, next conventionality, and then the middle, leaving both extremes behind to contemplate the single mind, like the moon beyond the clouds: this is the mode of practice of the distinct teaching. Furthermore, it is said: in breaking through all delusions, nothing surpasses emptiness; in establishing all dharmas, nothing surpasses conventionality; in realizing the ultimate of all natures, nothing is greater than the middle. Therefore, when one is middle, all are middle—there is no conventionality and no emptiness that is not middle; the same holds for emptiness and conventionality. This is the mode of practice of the complete teaching. Like the three eyes of Maheśvara, they are neither vertical nor horizontal, neither parallel nor separate; thus the three contemplations are completely fulfilled, and the Dharma body is not bare. Still concerned that learners might be dark regarding practice and nature, or fall into one-sided attachment, [the Master] further initiated the doctrine of the six identities to eradicate this danger. First, the identity in principle: sentient beings of the ten Dharma realms down to midges all equally partake of the marvelous nature; from the beginningless past, the body of pure awakening has been ever-abiding and fulfilled, completely uniform in the one principle. Second, the identity in name: although the nature and principle are level and broad, those who drift with the currents use it daily without knowing it; they must rely on the external perfume of verbal teachings to hear the name, produce faith, and generate understanding. Third, the identity in contemplative practice: having heard the name and developed understanding, one must rely on the previous three contemplations to return to the source. Fourth, the identity in resemblance: as the cultivation of contemplation deepens, an ability resembling [true realization] is manifested. Fifth, the identity in partial truth: as the three minds open and develop, the function of true suchness is attained, advancing with ever-greater excellence at each stage. Sixth, the ultimate identity: ignorance is forever exhausted, the awakened mind is utterly perfected, and one realizes that which is beyond realization. These six stages above are all 'identity with the Buddha', neither debased nor confused; universally endowed with the three bodies of Dharma, reward, and transformation as the direct reward, they dwell accordingly in the four lands as their dependent reward. As for the four lands: 1. the Land of Eternally Quiescent Light and Dharma-Nature, where the Dharma body dwells; 2. the Land of True Reward and Non-obstruction, which encompasses the two types of enjoyment: the reward Buddha himself dwells in the land of self-enjoyment, while bodhisattvas who have ascended the grounds dwell in the land of enjoyment for others; 3. the Land of Expedients with Remainder; and 4. the Land where the Pure and Impure Cohabit: both are transformation lands, where pre-ground bodhisattvas, two-vehicle practitioners, and ordinary beings reside. In reality, there is neither body nor land, neither superior nor inferior; yet in response to capacities and conditions, bodies and lands are provisionally described, and superior and inferior are distinguished. The Master attained the mutual fusion of bodies and lands and the non-obstruction of provisional and real; thus for more than thirty years, day and night, he expounded the Dharma, generating the four kinds of benefit and embodying the four siddhāntas. 'Xi' means universal; 'tan' translates as giving: the Master's Dharma was universally bestowed upon sentient beings, enabling them to gain benefit according to their capacities, as in the worldly siddhānta that produces the benefit of joy, and so forth. (The Master's life circumstances appear under the yiwei year.) The Essential Meaning of the Beginning and End by the Venerable Jingxi, the ninth patriarch of Tiantai, states: 'Now the three truths are natural virtues of the nature. The middle truth unifies all dharmas; the true truth obliterates all dharmas; the conventional truth establishes all dharmas. To bring up one is to bring up all three; they are not sequential. Endowed fundamentally in all living beings, they are not obtained through artificial effort. Alas! The secret store is not manifested because it is covered by the three delusions. Thus ignorance veils the Dharma nature; dust-and-sand impedes transformative guidance; views and thoughts obstruct empty quiescence. Yet these three delusions are merely empty falsities upon the substance. Thereupon the Great Awakened Compassionate Honored One sighed and lamented, saying: Within the realm of true suchness, provisional designations of living beings are cut off; within equal wisdom, there are no forms or characteristics of self and other. It is solely because sentient beings' false thoughts prevent them from realizing this themselves that none can return. From this he established the three contemplations to break through the three delusions, realize the three wisdoms, and accomplish the three virtues. The contemplation of emptiness breaks through the delusion of views and thoughts, realizes the wisdom of all things, and accomplishes the virtue of prajñā. The contemplation of conventionality breaks through the delusion of dust-and-sand, realizes the wisdom of the modes of the path, and accomplishes the virtue of liberation. The contemplation of the middle breaks through the delusion of ignorance, realizes the wisdom of all modes, and accomplishes the virtue of the Dharma body. Yet these three delusions, three contemplations, three wisdoms, and three virtues are not distinct, nor are they at different times, for the natural principle is endowed with all dharmas. These three truths are naturally so by nature; deluded about these three truths, one turns them into the three delusions. The breaking of delusions relies on the three contemplations; when the contemplations are fulfilled, one realizes the three wisdoms; when wisdom is fulfilled, one accomplishes the three virtues. From cause to effect, it is not a gradual cultivation. Although an order is spoken for understanding, the principle has no order. Once this major framework is known, the details can be pursued.'