宋高僧傳 7.51

7.51

夫以能化之教已翻，所詮之理難悟。苟非宿慧，安喻經心？宿慧當多世之熏，方能生起。經心乃大雄之意，豈易尋求？諺所謂「老見事長」，佛已三祇之揚歷；多言或中，法從諸聖之同宣。豈得以夏蟲共論其凌澌，井魚互談其渤澥？此誠不可也。必須近佛菩薩，善慧法師，四無礙居遊戲之中，八辯音演自他之利。秖如天親大士將世尊之一言，中道圓宗成諸法之五位，如龍帶涓滴而起為雨，望苗稼而施。又同《命包》作緯於《春秋》，《鑿度》為資於《大易》，此皆善其通變，能其揣摩，以利根而教鈍根，以正見而誘邪見，都稱為摩訶般特伽也。西域蒲塞冶家子以為裘，此方俊才鬻乳人而加水。成裘則易，以日見而留心；免水則難，以傳來而隔手。昔以講人論法，造疏尋宗，用《成實》法數之名，補《大乘》闕員之義。其有解法名目，隨人見知，未融六釋之端，何暇三隅之反？至若黎邪是報非報，化人有心無心，和合怖數之徒，聞熏滅不滅等百有餘科，並《三藏》、《四含》之盤根，大小兩宗之鈐鍵，先賢之所不決，令哲之所共疑，但謂闕如，所知成障。

Now, although the converting teachings have already been translated, the principles expressed therein are difficult to awaken to. If one lacks innate wisdom from previous lives, how could one comprehend the mind of the sūtras? Innate wisdom requires perfuming across many lifetimes before it can arise. The mind of the sūtras is the intent of the Great Hero; how could it be easily sought? As the proverb says, "Age brings foresight"; the Buddha had already undergone the testing of three asaṃkhyeya kalpas. "Many words may hit the mark"; the Dharma has been proclaimed in common by all sages. How could one discuss freezing ice with a summer insect, or talk of the vast ocean with a frog in a well? This is truly impossible. One must draw near to the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and Dharma masters of excellent wisdom, who dwell playfully within the four unimpeded knowledges and articulate benefits for self and others with the eight vocal qualities. Take the Great Being Vasubandhu: taking a single word of the World-Honoured One, he established the five categories of phenomena in the consummate school of the Middle Way, just as a dragon raises fine droplets to create rain, bestowing it upon the awaiting shoots and grain. Furthermore, it is like the *Mingbao* serving as a prophetic commentary to the *Spring and Autumn Annals*, or the *Zuodu* aiding the *Great Changes*: all of these excelled at adapting to change and were capable of deep exploration, teaching the dull-rooted with the sharp-rooted, and guiding false views with right views, so that all were called Cūḍapanthaka. In the Western Regions, an upāsaka of a tinsmith's family used it to make a fur robe; in this land, the talented milk-seller diluted it with water. Crafting the fur robe was easy because he observed it daily and paid close attention; avoiding the water was difficult because it was handed down through intermediary hands. Formerly, when exegetes discussed the Dharma and composed commentaries to investigate the doctrine, they used numerical dharma-lists from the *Satyasiddhi-śāstra* to make up for the missing terms in the Mahāyāna. Some explained the names and terms of the Dharma merely according to personal views, not having integrated the methods of the six compound analyses; how would they have had leisure to deduce three corners from one? As for whether the ālaya-vijñāna is retributive or non-retributive, whether a magically conjured person has a mind or is mindless, the schools of combination and fearful counting, whether hearing and perfuming are eradicated or uneradicated—over a hundred such topics were the tangled roots of the Tripiṭaka and the four Āgamas, the key latches between the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna schools. Former sages could not resolve them, and modern wise men share doubts regarding them; yet they merely called them deficient, and their knowledge became an obstacle.