續高僧傳 3.8.6

3.8.6

The nets of heresy were suddenly eradicated. In the imperial capital, the prosperous and noble looked up [to him] as if parting the clouds to view the sun; each brought forth gold and silks to establish future merit. Śramaṇa Falin, whose learning encompassed the scriptures and histories and who expressed past traditions, received word of his shattering of heretical doubts and thereupon sent a letter, saying: "Recently I read the 'Treatise Resolving Doubts' written in reply to Crown Prince's Usher Xin. Its phrasing and meaning are all-encompassing, and its metaphors are transcendent. Its brilliance dazzles the eyes of Li Zhu; its resonant chime startles the ears of Music Master Kuang. It has indeed reached the utmost subtlety at the center of the ring and exhausted all cases in the garden of eloquence. It is like the jade balance that regulates the seven governors, or the vast ocean that unifies the hundred rivers. How radiant! How sublime! Its words transcend the reach of sight and hearing; its principles surpass the scope of thought and deliberation. It is truly capable of shutting the gates of all views and opening the path to grasping the real meaning. As for 'abiding nowhere,' the meaning of concurrent practice resides therein; as for 'acting without leaving anything undone,' the merit of equal response is magnified. Forcing one to maintain the receptive with a shameless face, or smugly cultivating solitary goodness—these manifest distinct principles; how could they be mystically identical? Now, forms are established to express ideas; when the idea is grasped, the form is forgotten. If one forgets what should be forgotten, then mutual subjective attachments will vanish; but this does not mean forgetting what should not be forgotten, for the distinction between small and large remains. Thus we know that once the sun and moon appear, there is no need for the light of a torch; once the timely rain falls, what trouble is needed for the moisture of irrigation? Therefore it is said that mutual differences can be forgotten, not that these things do not exist. 'The old self departs': through the departure of the old, impermanence is distinguished. 'The new self arrives': relying on the arrival of the new, dependent origination is discussed. Without the new and without the old, the meaning of perfuming and cultivation could not be accomplished; without carving and without polishing, how could the merit of beauty and ugliness be manifested? It is by means of arising and ceasing that the delusion of annihilationism and eternalism is broken, and through cause and effect that the path of the Middle View is shown. When the views of annihilationism and eternalism cease, then those lost from childhood return together; when the principles of the Middle View blend, true suchness reveals itself. At times karmic principle is discussed to clarify perfuming; at times the retribution share is opened up to explain the spontaneous. The ideas emerge from the tip of emotion, and the purports transcend the outer limits of the text. Where the retribution share resides, the duck and the crane naturally forget their shortness and length; where karmic principles are mutually conditioned, the grass and the bee each follow their own flight and transformation. This can indeed be called using provisional names and characteristics to speak within what has no names or characteristics; embodying the real and harmonizing with the conventional—how could it not be so? Crown Prince's Usher Xin possesses natural talent, yet he has not matched this man's discourse that exhausts principle. Bo Ya might feel ashamed before one who has lost his counterpart; Yan Hui would feel embarrassed before one who 'sits and forgets.' This can quell the two extremes of rejecting and choosing, and extinguish the uniform course of frantic pursuits. Since Chu gained it, Qi has not truly lost it. The dharmabhāṇaka is broadly learned and extraordinary, with boundless wisdom and thought; he walks alone in the present age and is the pillar of the day. As he is widely recognized by all, indeed his renown is universally heard. Moreover, he has repeatedly had audience at the Golden Gate and frequently ascended the foremost seats, fanning the mysterious wind at the Crane's Key and beating the Dharma drum at the Dragon Tower. The seven nobles ladle from his billows; the five masters defer to his divine brilliance. He has already raised wings that hang from the sky, and unleashed fins that traverse the sea. As a match for Zhi Dun, how could Wang Bi and He Yan be fit to ride beside him? As a parallel to Bo Zu, Ji Kang and Ruan Ji are not worthy to join his yoke. Comparing antiquity with the present, you alone possess this! I, Falin, have excused myself due to illness at the Southern Mountains, resting my mind in a secluded valley. Neither going out nor staying settled, I disperse my thoughts among wind and clouds; neither seeing nor hearing, I lodge my emotions among springs and rocks. Happening to observe this celebrated work, it truly dispelled my tangled worries; briefly perusing this gem-like composition, it cured my chronic ailment. Pacing back and forth, chanting and reciting, repeatedly rolling and unrolling it, I hold it nestled in my sleeves, unmindful that the paper wears thin and the characters grow old. Briefly expressing my slight thoughts, I respectfully offer this letter." His writings, prose, and verses were praised by the worthy of the Way to this extent. When in the nineteenth year of Zhenguan the translation work was further promoted, the responsible authorities selected carefully, and finding no peers, issued a summons recalling him; but he excused himself on grounds of illness and stopped. Now his age is sixty-eight; his reputation rises ever higher. His heart ailment acts up occasionally; sometimes he halts the Dharma rain and temporarily climbs up to visit the scholarly lodges clustered like clouds. Companions in doctrine pluck the foremost gems from his words; in literary composition, he determines their length and brevity; in rhetoric, he brings out their finest brilliance; in phonology, he sounds their harmonious tones. His spiritual demeanor is lofty and refreshing, sufficient to inspire the timid; his structural walls are lofty and deep, further opening the minds of the incorruptible. All these were set down by my brush as my eyes witnessed them, so their subtle details have not been fully exhausted.