弘明集 11.18

11.18

Zhiwei states: I have long received the benevolent guidance and uplifting support of your Illustrious Grace, and have deeply benefited from the instructions of your great compassion and vast patronage. Impelled by your grace and encouragement, I would surely give my life [in service]; I dare to pour out my very heart and marrow, begging for your divine sympathy to shine upon me. For generations, my family's heritage has followed Laozi, taking tranquility as its mind and plainness and retreat as its conduct, treading in the abyss of myriad goods and hoping in spirit for the dwelling of supreme compliance. Looking up to and pursuing the tracks of my predecessors, I have kept myself apart from the autumn dust; yet as for that toward which my ancestral mind tends, I still dare not let it fall. As for the luminous teaching of the Great Awakening and the orthodox source of prajñā, throughout my life what I have venerated has never contravened them. I have always inferred them based upon ultimate principle: when principle reaches the ultimate, it returns to unity; when placed in the supreme doctrine, the supreme doctrine cannot brook duality. Since receiving your Illustrious Grace's instructions and coming in touch with your Illustrious Grace's manner, guided by the orthodox vehicle and led by the universal precepts, my six stagnations have suddenly been dispelled and my five emotions have just begun to brighten. Turning my mind, I bow my head, join my palms, and vow to uphold them. In my fasts, veneration, and refuge, I have long had pure faith; regarding the heavy vinaya and light regulations, I was already half in accord with them. The reason I had not changed my robe and bowl and still yearned for Huang-Lao was truly that my family heritage has its roots, and I could not bear to cast it aside abruptly in a single day; my mind and worldly ties had their source, and I did not wish to turn back and flee in a morning. Since the two Daos are fundamentally in great harmony, I dared not begrudge my mind turning toward the real; therefore I said that abandoning my family's tradition was something my intent could not bear. How could I not delight in the Vaipulya and diligently set my will upon the Single Vehicle? How much more so as I rely upon your Illustrious Grace, whose virtue and the Dao are matched in dignity, and must all the more recite and uphold them! The supreme work composed by your pure faith, your commentary and preface: myriad gates reveal the profound, and countless categories proclaim the mysterious. Though my words may have differed from my wishes, my mind unconsciously became intoxicated. Furthermore, I could not have measured the marvelous skill of your Illustrious Grace's gentle guidance in reaching such a state. Extensive yet concise, richly varied, its refined brilliance shines forth. If I wished to stop, I could not; if I wished to turn away, how could I avoid facing it? In the past and formerly, I was indeed not clever; from now on, I request permission to follow these words. My foolish mind merely clung to family models; regarding Śākya and Laozi, I did not dare to make distinctions. In initial harmony and pursuit, my family formerly elucidated the scripture on the meaning of identity, and based on this instructed Zhang Rong. Rong then composed the 'Treatise on Penetrating the Source', whose title was 'Shaonan'. What Shaonan elucidated was the confluence and harmony of Daoism and Buddhism. This realization of Rong's originated in my family. Since it was so in my family, what hindrance could there be for me? At first I hesitated, clinging to traces; now I promptly pay homage to both with my mind. On the one hand, I do not vainly discard Huang-Lao; on the other hand, I take refuge in and master the Right Awakening. I never expected that in a single morning I would be suddenly and greatly enlightened. The guidance for this realization has been received from your Illustrious Grace. Unable to bear my supreme joy, I respectfully state this.