法華傳記 2.5

2.5

夫本際冥湛。則神根凝一。涉動離淳。則精麁異陳。於是心轡競策。塵想諍馳。翳有淺深。則昏明殊鏡。是以從初得佛。暨于此經。始應物開津故。三乘別流非真。則終期有會。會必同源故。其乘唯一。唯一無上故。謂之妙法。頌曰。是乘微妙清淨第一。於諸世間。最無有上。夫妙不可明。必擬之有像。像之美者。蓮華為上。蓮華之秀。分陀利為最。妙方法而為言。故喻之分陀利。其為經也明。發朦不可以語極釋權應之所由。御終不可以祕深。則開實以顯宗致。權應既彰。則局心自發。宗致既顯。則真悟自生。故能令萬流合注。三乘同往。同往之三會而為一。乘之始也。覺慧成滿。乘之盛也。滅景澄神。乘之終也。雖以萬法為乘。然統之有主。舉其宗要。則慧收其名。故經以真慧為體。妙一為稱。是以釋迦玄音始發。讚佛智甚深。多寶稱善。歎平等大慧。頌曰。為說佛慧故。諸佛出世間。唯此一事實。餘二則非真。然則佛慧乃一之正實。乘之體成。妙之至足。華之開秀者也。雖寄華宣微。而道玄像表。稱之曰妙。而體絕精麁。頌曰。是法不可示。言辭相寂滅。二乘所以息慮。補處所以絕塵。唯佛與佛。乃能究焉。故恒沙如來。感希聲以雲萃。已逝之聖。振餘靈而現證。信佛法之奧區。窮神之妙境。其此經之謂乎。觀少習歸一之言。長味會通之要。然緬思愈勤。而幽旨彌潛。未甞不面靈鷲。以遐想臨。辭句而增懷。諒由枝說差其本謬文乖其正也。有外國法師鳩摩羅什。超爽俊邁。奇悟天拔。量與海深。辯流玉散。繼釋蹤以嗣軌。秉神火以霜燭。紐頹綱於將絕。極漂溺於已淪。燿此慧燈。來光斯境。秦弘始八年夏。於長安大寺。集四方義學沙門三千餘人。更出斯經。與眾詳究。什自手執胡經。口譯秦語曲從方言而趣不乖本。即文之益亦已過半。雖復霄雲披翳陽景俱暉。未足喻也。什猶謂。語現而理沈事近而旨遠。又釋言表之隱。以應探賾之求。雖冥扉未開。固已得其門矣。夫上善等潤。靈液尚均。是以仰感囑累。俯慨未聞。故採述旨要。流布未聞。庶法輪遐軫。往所未往。十方同悟。究暢一乘。故序之云爾（出三藏記第八）。

Now, when the primordial origin is profound and tranquil, the spiritual root is concentrated and unified; when it engages with movement and departs from simplicity, subtle and coarse are differently arrayed. Thereupon, the reins of the mind compete in urging onward, and defiled thoughts vie in racing ahead. As obscurations vary in depth, the dim and the bright mirror things differently. For this reason, from the first attainment of buddhahood down to this scripture, [the Buddha] initially adapted to beings by opening the ford; hence the three vehicles flowed forth separately. Because they are not the ultimate truth, in the end they must converge; because in converging they necessarily share the same source, the vehicle is only one. Because it is uniquely peerless, it is called the Wonderful Dharma. The verse says: "This vehicle is subtle, pure, supreme, / throughout all worlds having no superior." Now, the wonderful cannot be made clear on its own; it must be likened to an image. Among beautiful images, the lotus is supreme; among the finest of lotuses, the puṇḍarīka is the utmost. Expressing the wonder of the Dharma, it is therefore likened to the puṇḍarīka. This scripture illuminates this clearly. Dispelling delusion cannot be done by speaking of the ultimate directly; thus he explained the origins of provisional responses. Guiding beings to the end cannot be done by keeping the profound concealed; thus he revealed the real to manifest the ultimate principle. Once the provisional response was made manifest, narrow minds were spontaneously aroused; once the ultimate principle was revealed, true awakening spontaneously arose. Thus it can make the ten thousand streams flow together and cause the three vehicles to advance in unison. The three advancing in unison converging to become one is the beginning of the vehicle; the fulfillment of awakening wisdom is the flourishing of the vehicle; the extinguishing of traces and clarifying of the spirit is the culmination of the vehicle. Although the myriad dharmas constitute the vehicle, they are governed by a single master; if one holds up its essential principle, wisdom subsumes its name. Therefore the scripture takes true wisdom as its substance and the wonderful unity as its designation. Thus, when Śākyamuni's profound voice first sounded, he praised the Buddha's wisdom as extremely profound; Prabhūtaratna exclaimed "Excellent!" and lauded the great wisdom of equality. The verse says: "It is to preach the Buddha's wisdom / that the Buddhas appear in the world. / Only this one matter is real; / the other two are not true." If so, then the Buddha's wisdom is the exact reality of the One, the completion of the vehicle's substance, the ultimate fulfillment of the wonderful, and the blossoming splendor of the lotus. Although relying on the lotus to proclaim the subtle, the Dao is profound beyond forms; called wonderful, its essence transcends the fine and the coarse. The verse says: "This Dharma cannot be shown; / the marks of words are extinguished." This is where the two vehicles halt their thoughts, and the bodhisattvas of the stage of one more birth sever defilement. Only a Buddha together with a Buddha can fathom it completely. Therefore the Tathāgatas, numerous as the sands of the Ganges, gathered like clouds in response to the rare voice; the sages already passed away shook their remaining spirits to manifest proof. That this scripture is truly the profound sanctuary of the Buddha's Dharma, the wonderful realm of spiritual exhaustion, does it not refer to this? In my youth I studied the words on returning to the One, and as I grew I savored the essential principle of harmonization and comprehension. Yet the more diligently I contemplated, the more concealed the obscure import became. Never did I fail to look toward Gṛdhrakūṭa with longing, or approach its sentences and phrases with deepening emotion. Truly this was because offshoot expositions diverged from the root, and erroneous texts departed from the correct. There was the foreign Dharma Master Kumārajīva, extraordinarily eminent and heroic, of extraordinary insight endowed by Heaven. His capacity was deep as the ocean; his eloquence flowed like scattering jade. Following in Śākyamuni's footsteps to inherit his model, holding the divine torch to illuminate brightly, he restored the fallen net when it was about to break, and saved those drifting and drowning when already submerged. Blazing forth this lamp of wisdom, he came to illuminate this land. In the summer of the eighth year of Hongshi under the Qin, at the Great Monastery in Chang'an, he assembled more than three thousand doctrinal monks from the four directions to bring forth this scripture anew and investigate it thoroughly with the assembly. Kumārajīva personally held the foreign text and orally translated it into the language of Qin, accommodating the local idioms without diverging from the original intent; the benefit gained from the text itself was already more than half. Even if high clouds disperse their veils and the sunlight shines forth together, it would not suffice as an analogy. Kumārajīva still remarked: "The words are evident while the principle is deep; the events are immediate while the import is far-reaching." He further explained the hidden meaning beyond words to meet the search of those probing the depths. Though the obscure doors have not yet opened, one has indeed already found the gateway. Now, superior goodness moistens equally, and the spiritual liquid is ever impartial. Therefore, looking upward I am moved by the entrustment, and looking downward I lament those who have not yet heard it. Thus I have gathered and stated the essentials, circulating them among those who have not heard, hoping that the wheel of Dharma will roll afar, reaching where it has not reached before, so that beings throughout the ten directions may awaken together and fully express the One Vehicle. Therefore I have composed this preface (from Fascicle 8 of the Chu sanzang ji ji).