續高僧傳 3.7

3.7

Śramaṇa Huize, whose lay surname was Li, was a native of Jiangling in Jingzhou. Early on, he awakened to what was beyond the ordinary; his mental acumen was sharp and transcendent. At nine years of age, he went to Dharma Master Yin of his home prefecture to leave the household. Yin recognized that his pure spirit was exceptional and immediately ordained him as a novice (śrāmaṇera). In the intervals between lectures, he instructed him in abstruse secrets. Huize comprehended the profound principles without ever having to think twice; holding a scroll to recite the text, he could master more than forty sheets. The distinguished figures of Chu revered and praised him. At first, he listened to Yin lecture on the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra and the Lotus Sūtra, and later separately studied the Three Treatises. In all of them, he offered novel analyses and matched or surpassed the essential points. In the middle of the Kaihuang reign, Jiangling Monastery broadly established a Dharma gathering, and many masters gathered like clouds. Since Huize had established admirable achievements from an early age, monastics and laypeople alike wished to see his caliber and together invited him to be the Dharma master of the seat. Reflecting that expounding the teachings had its purpose, he stepped onto the platform. When he had just reached the age of twelve, he first opened lectures on the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra. Fitting instances and producing phrases, his meanings surpassed those of seasoned ministers. Questions and refutations followed one after another, yet his eloquent replies were lucid and cool. Young and old alike were struck to the heart, and praise filled the roads. Yuan Shou, the Duke of Yilong and Prefect of Jingzhou, heard of his youthful renown and, deeply astonished, drove in person to visit him. Finding him far surpassing prior reports, he greatly lauded him and memorialized the court, saying that he was an extraordinary talent rare in the world. An edict was immediately issued ordering his home prefecture to prepare ceremonial courtesies and respectfully escort him everywhere. After arriving in the capital, he was granted exceptional solace and audience, and was bestowed a saṅghāṭī and a full set of robes, with orders to reside at Qingchan Monastery. Leisurely dwelling among Dharma companions, he took deep pleasure in both the abstruse [Buddhist] and Confucian teachings. His literary talents were frequently displayed, and he guided others inexhaustibly. All the robe-and-cap gentry came to call at his gate, and none failed to praise his extensive learning, broad penetration, and swift responsiveness. Later, growing weary of worldly encumbrances and wishing to purify his spirit, he followed Dhyāna Master Ying to receive instruction in the mind teaching. Closing his gate for two years, his sentiments were cleansed of all worldly doors. He thus spoke or remained silent amidst the worthy and the holy, and expounded the interwoven principles of the scriptures. Encountering the collapse of the Sui house, Buddhist activities went into decline. Since the path was disrupted in that era, his heart delighted in secluded repose. In the final years of Daye, he moved and settled on Gaoguan Peak in the Zhongnan Mountains, building a hermitage against the cliff, his inner spirit and outer form becoming sparse and plain. When the Tang destiny arose vigorously and the living beings were delivered, Huize, unattached to self or other, came to the imperial city. As he briefly raised the voice of lecturing and instruction, the entire capital sought the Way from him. During the Wude era, the assembly of monks grew dense like clouds. He repeatedly set up Dharma platforms, in each displaying his magnificent bearing. At that time, Yanxing Monastery held a lecture on the Humane Kings Sūtra with a hundred seats, and princes, dukes, and high officials assembled in great numbers. Śramaṇa Jizang established the thesis of the treatise; his eloquent speech descended like heaven, drawing the gaze of noble and base alike. When Huize merely delivered a sharp critique, his words were pure, his principles thoroughly reached, his thought stirred subtle depths, and his bearing was so startling that the fourfold assembly was struck with awe and the hundred officials held their breath. Jizang turned back and sighed, saying, 'Not only is his debate difficult to follow, but also his silver-hook calligraphy is rare to encounter.' When the present Emperor was still a prince, he observed the arena of debate in person; he formed a deep bond with Huize, intending to take him as teacher and friend. Messengers were dispatched six times to summon him to the private residence, but Huize, believing that the entanglement of fame bringing death to the body had afflicted men from ancient times, modestly declined with various words and completely disregarded the summons. When the translation bureau opened in the Zhenguan era, an imperial decree selected renowned monks. Because he was noted for his literary brush and also thoroughly grasped the import of treatises, he was appointed as the text polisher for the translation of treatises. When the translation was complete and memorialized, an imperial edict bestowed a hundred bolts of silk and a suit of robes. Huize also composed a preface to the treatise, which states: 'As for the Prajñāpradīpamūlamadhyamakavṛtti, another name is the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. The original has five hundred verses. It borrows the name "lamp" because non-conceptual wisdom possesses the efficacy of tranquil illumination. It raises "middle" to mark its title because the contemplation that extinguishes conditions equally departs from the two extremes. Yet the lamp is originally mind-free wisdom: by extinguishing illumination, the dharmatā is equal—the meaning of "middle" lies herein. Therefore, it is lodged in the treatise to elucidate it. As for those who seek the treatise but get stuck in its import, cling to the conventional and are deluded by the ultimate, fall upside-down between annihilation and permanence, and precipitously remain within existence and non-existence, clutching names and losing reality, clinging to leaves and forgetting roots—how could they intend to do so? There are indeed reasons for it. Let me try to state them. If one constructs causes of conceptual differentiation, one invites false fruits. Afflictive taints perfuse the inner consciousness, and evil friends knit outer conditions. This causes pride to soar like a towering mountain, views to deepen like the vast ocean, the fire of anger to be untouchable, and the blade of words to be seldom rivaled. Hearing existence spoken of, the heart is delighted; listening to emptiness discussed, slander arises. Six kinds of partial attachments each claim not to be partial; five hundred treatise masters contentious display divergent treatises. Some take the heterodox to confuse the orthodox; some take the counterfeit to equal the genuine. Consciousness seems to awaken yet turns around into confusion; although the teachings are accessible, they become all the more obstructed. This may be called discarding pearls to play with stones, abandoning treasures to carry firewood, being terrified of dragons upon seeing a painting, or fearing an elephant upon tracking its footprints. To be fond of such things is truly lamentable! Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna was exceptionally born to save the world. Rebuking lustful desires, he generated the aspiration; reading deep sūtras, he humbled himself. Receiving the remote prophecy of the Uniquely Honored One, he lit the Dharma torch in Jambudvīpa. Moreover, his stage surpassed the first reliance, and his merits transcended the subdued states. Having exhausted the one truth, he also completely grasped the two abilities. Bearing two seals, he settled the hundred schools; blending the three emptinesses, he leveled all things. Over dust-mote kalpas, he passed through and tested all hardships. Grieving for those deluded multitudes, he therefore composed this treatise. Its words are profound and its import is subtle; its refutations are clever and its expositions skillful. When applied to those of dull faculties, it causes many to retreat in fear. There is Bodhisattva Bhāviveka, a great general of the Mahāyāna Dharma, who embodies the Way within his heart. Gazing afar upon the true words, he made an explanatory commentary for it, opening the secret store and granting the wish-fulfilling jewel. The concise and the extensive complete one another, master and disciple mutually revealing. As for the divergent attachments of their own vehicle, they arose in a thousand forms; the diverse schemes of non-Buddhists were scattered in ten thousand threads. Donkeys competed to gallop against teams of four horses; fireflies vied in brightness against dragon torches. In all cases, their varieties were marked and their school founders exposed. Once jade and stone were separated, the dark and yellow were also distinguished. In the Western Regions, several houses applied their brushes; examining reality and analyzing subtleties, this one attained the ultimate refinement. If it comprehensively includes the root and branches, there are six thousand verses. The Indic text is like this; in translation, it was reduced. Our Emperor’s divine Way surpasses Fu Xi, and his molding of things equals nature itself. He esteems the root and stills the branches, achieving non-action and supreme peace; guarding the mother and preserving the child, he governs without speech. Considering that the holy teaching has flowed east for hundreds of years, yet among those carried by myriad elephants, many were still lacking; having rarely seen or heard them, he labored over them waking and sleeping. The Tripiṭaka Master of Central India, Prabhākaramitra, had learning encompassing both the partial and the complete, and broadly integrated all expositions. Losing the self, he gladdened his spirit; probing the abstruse, he nourished his nature. Wandering through lands was in his thoughts; benefiting creatures was in his heart. Thus, he was able to attach to the stakes to preserve his body and raise smoke to summon companions. Braving ice and frost, he crossed the Pamir Mountains; defying wind and heat, he crossed the River of Sand. Over five years, the road spanned forty thousand [li]. In the first year of Zhenguan of the Great Tang, carrying the Indic manuscripts on his head, he arrived at the capital. Formerly, Qin summoned Kumārajīva with bitter use of military troops; Han invited Dharmaratna, laboring barbarian envoys from afar. How could they compare to this resonance, where the Way tallies with the unseen? Auspicious omens of family and state brought the descent of a virtuous man. When the authorities memorialized his arrival, it exceptionally delighted the imperial mind. He was decreed to reside at Xingshan and Shengguang, which marked the beginning of translating new scriptures. The Emperor also summoned monks of doctrinal learning as well as princes, dukes, and chief ministers to translate this treatise together, investigating its profound import, discarding superficialities to preserve the real. Seeing it with their own eyes, they rejoiced in its accord with principle; holding their walking sticks, they investigated its truth and falsehood. Although the text was established, it was re-examined; after the meaning was clarified, it was scrutinized again. When the year was in the Star of Longevity, the collating was finished. As for this treatise: contemplation clarifies the Middle Way, but if one preserves the middle, one loses the contemplation; emptiness reveals the foremost, but if one grasps the one, one violates emptiness. Now, the south-pointing chariot was originally to show those who are lost; the gall-illuminating mirror was to inspect the wicked. Without wickedness, the mirror has no use; without being lost, the chariot is of no service. The refutation and exposition of this treatise are just like this! Although it rejects the internal and blocks the external, exhausts the false and explores the true, it preserves the wondrous existence and refutes what can be refuted. How vast! How immense! Facing it, one cannot measure its source; following it, one cannot know its end. Truly, it is a whetstone that polishes the mind and spirit, a boat and chariot that crosses the ocean of darkness, thunder that startles the dim consciousness, and the sun and moon that illuminate the dark path! In this land, there were previously four fascicles of the Madhyamakaśāstra; the basic verses are largely the same. Piṅgala made a commentary on it, which obscured its sectarian views, leaving scholars benighted. Now that this treatise has arisen, it may serve as a guide. May clear and penetrating gentlemen examine and savor it.' When the preface was completed, it was not immediately reported to the Emperor. The Emperor decreed that the Director of the Palace Library, Yu Shinan, write a preface. Seeing Huize's work, he praised it with gasps, finding nothing that could surpass it. He therefore memorialized it to the Emperor, and it was placed at the head of the roll, everywhere transcribed and enclosed within the scriptural canon. On the sixth day of the fourth month in the tenth year of Zhenguan, he passed away at his dwelling at the age of fifty-seven. He was buried to the east of the capital outskirts. A path was arranged and a stele erected to praise his fragrant virtue; the Erudite of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, Chu Liang, composed the text. Ever since Huize came to know the Way, his peers revered his sharpness in debate. Contemporaries compared him to Huicheng, which was indeed a sound judgment. His flow of words was difficult to exhaust; in whatever he applied himself, he never failed. He lectured on the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā, Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa, Mahāyānasaṃgraha, and the Madhyamaka and Śata treatises; in all, his unraveling of chapters and resolving of obscurities were renowned. He also recited the Mahāparinirvāṇa and Lotus Sūtras; his pronunciation and prose were pure and beautiful, and whenever he recited for the assembly, his clear trill moved the spirit. Furthermore, he reduced his personal utensils to transcribe the scriptural canon; no sooner had he finished examining them than he practiced reverent worship. He was also skilled at guiding the assembly and putting people's feelings at ease, and was praised and recounted by literary masters. He especially understood ancient traces and was exceptionally versed in calligraphy and paintings. When scholars of the capital repeatedly presented genuine and forged works, they all relied on his spoken verdict to determine their period. In literary composition and stylistic form, he quite belonged to the ranks of the talented. In cursive and clerical script, his brush skill was renowned in the ministries and bureaus. Whenever there was an official gathering of distinguished assemblies, he was certainly summoned to sit among them. High officials would hold paper, asking for his calligraphy and rushing to present it; Huize applied his brush according to the paper, soaring swiftly like the wind. His rich and grand style was the finest of his age. Therefore, his works were circulating, recited, and cherished in vast numbers, hung upon screens or inscribed beside seats. He composed a collection in eight fascicles, which circulates in the world.