釋鑑稽古略續集 1.2

1.2

Can antiquity be examined? One may ask: how could it be? Can antiquity not be examined? One may ask: how could it not be? From the time after Bhiṣmagarjitasvararāja until today, formation, persistence, destruction, and voidness continue; what exists is also non-existent. The sun and moon shine forth, morning following morning. Days and kalpas have no lasting evidence—how much less so the present and antiquity? Within this span, sages and worthies hide and appear, manifesting responses in accordance with conditions, like the moon in water, completely impossible to grasp. Yet someone arose who pursued their past achievements, verified their remaining traces, gathered the dust already dispersed, and compiled and continued this account. This is painting a dream; this is sketching a shadow. Nonetheless, it records the past to open up the future, clarifying the subtle and illuminating trust, so that the traces of ancient worthies shine clearly like the turnings of the Heavenly River, and that by which they left their traces may thereby be realized. It is not something easily dismissed. In the past, when I visited my late master Zhenji, he bestowed upon me Baozhou's Jigu lüe, saying: 'The origins and currents of the Dharma gate are all completely here.' I received it and studied it to completion. It was concise without omissions, rigorous and orderly; it is the Ziyang or Piaoshui of Buddhism. However, its circulation was not wide, and it gradually became obscure. I constantly feared that this surviving text would sink into oblivion, causing the painstaking efforts of earlier figures in compiling and narrating it to linger between survival and demise, concealed rather than displayed. How could one not lament this regarding what should be preserved in famous mountains? In the spring of the wuyin year, I built a small hut at Ancient Xingxi and invited Master Huan[lun] to preside over it. On rainy mornings and moonlit evenings, we chanted and reflected together, entrusting our hearts to the Indic volumes, filled with joy and delight. One day, we chanced to discuss this earlier work. Master Huan said: 'It ought to be newly embellished and polished to await future generations.' At first, it transmitted past accounts; later, it also supplied what had been lacking, appending the events of the conquered dynasty and the Dharma groves of our August Ming to complete a single work. Baozhou's achievement was once again illuminated and clarified, as if dispelling ignorance. For those who peruse this later, the extraordinary omens and marvelous signs of responsive manifestations, the wondrous Dao and extraordinary deeds of past philosophers, down to our August Ancestor and successive dynastic sovereigns' dark tally and profound accord, exalting and proclaiming perfect awakening, using inconceivable principle to establish the fortunes of great purposeful action—all are clearly arranged upon opening the volume, shining like clouds and the sun. It causes doubters to give rise to faith, those who evaluate epochs to find verification, those who investigate events to seek out subtleties, and those who observe traces to realize the source. Thus, its great benefit to future students is by no means a minor supplement. How could it merely be plucking the blossoms of narrative, increasing the obstacles of broad learning, sketching the gentle drifting of clouds that have already passed, or portraying the churning of waves that have already vanished?