廣弘明集 15.98

15.98

序曰。含靈萬品。既非記諜所窮。物物稟生。豈伊積塵能計。莫不起乎無理而至乎無生者也。雖要終有地而原始莫聞。自非靈照特達宗極斯在。則理閉機初鑽叩事絕。非惟四果不議。固亦十地罔窺。邈乎悠敻。有之而莫知所從者也。如來覆簣爰始言登永路起滅回環馳驟不息。去來五道。大千比之毫端。往復三界。祇劫未足稱遠。積明累照念念不休。離此生滅證成妙果。固已空有兼謝。豈徒齊遷魯變而已哉。昊昊區區。猶秉何言之稱。至人無己。寧以詞義為珍。蓋由萬惑相扇昧明代起。業假緣開事須曉達。一音所吐無思不服。義在徇物動非為己。法吼振灑於無外。甘露炳煥於龍宮。開宗闡教致之有漸。摽四諦於鹿園。辨百非於雙樹。廓不二之法門。廣一乘之長陌。行迷復路弱喪知歸。而自應回舛厥塗不一。白毫所照。遍剎土於恒沙。七步降踐。壅龍堆而攸被。推極神道原本心靈。感之所召跨無邊而咫尺。緣之所乖面法城而不覩。及像教云末經記東流。熱坂艱長寒山峻阻。橫書左字累萬方通。翦葉成文重譯未曉。自此迄今千祀過半。靈迹稍啟名僧間出。律藏方等行來漸至。蘊乎西國未至者多。雖法身常住之奧遠。二諦三假之淵曠。悟道求宗於斯可足。而能仁體茲大聖寔為本師。悠悠群品精靈所係。迄于前因往業多所昧略。然神化應感參差互見。又世胄名氏本國俗緣散析。眾部卒難討究。神功妙力同出異名。降胎求道寧止一相。託生迦維本由權迹。出自北門非悟法之始。遍照東方豈通化之極。適道已來。四十九載妙應事多。宜加總緝共成區畛。至於經像舊錄境剎遺記。開勸之功於斯自遠。大權弘曠亡身以濟物。應真耿介摽心非為己。分蹤或異適未必同。神塗詭互難以臆辯。靈怪倜儻言語斯絕。圖澄之龍見趙魏。羅什之鳳集關輔。揵陀近遊京洛。單開遠適羅浮。雖迹與俗同而意無可察。塗出玉門法座不遠。七處八會峨然在目。靈應肹蠁偏富延澤以西。光景葳[卄/(麩-夫+壬)]多見天山之表。有志奇僧每經遊歷。神迹昭然咸有文注。繁蕪舛雜實須裁整。分五道於人天。設重牢於厚地。各隨業力的焉不差。此皆卷舒真俗終始名相。其聖塗玄遠大。則直至道場。其徵證切近小。則開勸晚學。斯寔兼濟之方舟。大悲之廣路。雖復智昏視內形窮尺捶。緣動必應。又況進於此者乎。是以至聖慇懃每存汲引。垂文見意貽厥將來。皇帝行成無始道承曠劫。十號在躬三達靡礙。屈茲妙有同此轉輪。傷昏愍惑久迷正路。悱發之徒空懷鑽仰。條流緬曠事難總一。志淺業勞迄用無就。非所以闢彼四衢出之火宅者也。乃詔中書侍郎虞闡太子洗馬到溉後軍記室周捨。博尋經藏搜採注說。條別派分各以類附。日少功多。可用辨此。名曰佛記。凡三十篇。其有感應之流事類相似。止取其一餘悉不書。或復死而更生陳說經見。事涉杳冥取驗無所。亦皆靡載同之闕疑。或憑人以言託想成夢。尤難信曉一無所錄。若夫欲遐適者。必遠記所從。欲悟道者。必妙識所宗。然後能允得其門親承音旨。未有不知厥路莫辨伊人膠目闇踐自與理合。所以引彼眾流歸之一源。可令莘莘含識望塗知往案。砥矢而言歸。不迴遑於岐路。俾厥清信之士亦有取於此云。

The preface says: The myriad kinds of sentient beings cannot be exhausted by records and genealogies; each thing receiving life cannot be reckoned by accumulations of dust. None fails to arise from the absence of principle and to arrive at the unarisen. Although their conclusion must have its stage, their origin cannot be heard. Were it not for the spiritual radiance of exceptional attainment wherein lies the ultimate source, the principle would be blocked at the outset of the impulse, and all inquiries would cease. Not only would the four fruits be beyond consideration, but certainly even the ten stages could not be glimpsed. Distant and vast, it exists yet none knows whence it came. When the Tathāgata began [like piling earth] by tipping a single basket, he embarked upon the eternal path, rising and ceasing in ceaseless circulation and rushing without rest. Traversing the five realms of rebirth, the chiliocosm is comparable to the tip of a hair; passing back and forth across the three realms, kalpas are not enough to be called distant. Accumulating brightness and gathering insight, thought after thought without pause, he departed from this arising and ceasing and verified the wondrous fruit. Emptiness and existence had already both passed away; how could it merely be like the changes of Qi or the transformations of Lu? In its boundless vastness, it still holds the title of 'having no words'; the consummate person lacks a self, so how could they value verbal phrasings? Because the myriad confusions fan one another and ignorance and clarity arise alternately, karmic actions are provisionally opened by conditions and matters must be understood. With the utterance of a single sound, there are none who ponder it who do not submit. The intention lies in complying with beings; his actions are never for himself. The roar of the Dharma shakes and spreads to what is without boundary; the amṛta shines brightly within the dragon palace. Setting forth the lineage and clarifying the teachings, he brought it about gradually: displaying the four truths in the Mṛgadāva, distinguishing the hundred negations beneath the twin śāla trees, broadening the dharma-door of non-duality, and extending the long avenue of the One Vehicle. Those wandering on lost paths found their way back; those who had lost themselves in childhood came to know their return. Yet according to responsiveness and varying conditions, the paths were not uniform: illuminated by the white ūrṇā hair, lands across the sands of the Ganges were pervaded; treading the seven steps, his footsteps covered even the dragon mounds. Pushing the spiritual path to its limit and tracing back to the spiritual source, what resonance summons crosses the boundless as if it were a cubit; what conditions depart from stands before the citadel of Dharma yet does not see it. When the era of the semblance teachings arrived, scriptures and records flowed eastward. The hot slopes were arduous and long; the cold mountains steep and obstructed. Horizontal script and left-running characters required tens of thousands of translations to comprehend; severed leaves formed texts that multiple interpreters could not fathom. From that time until now, more than half a millennium has passed; spiritual traces have gradually opened, and eminent monks have emerged one after another. The Vinaya Piṭaka and the Vaipulya texts have arrived by degrees, yet what remains in the Western Lands without arriving is still plentiful. Although the profundity and distance of the eternally abiding Dharma-body and the deep expanse of the two truths and the three designations suffice for awakening to the Way and seeking the fundamental source, the Capable and Benevolent One, embodying this Great Sage, is truly our fundamental teacher. Boundless multitudes of beings are connected to him in spirit, yet concerning prior causes and past karma, much has been obscured or omitted. Nevertheless, spiritual transformations and responsive resonances appear in diverse and alternating manners. Moreover, worldly lineages, names, clan origins, and secular relations of his homeland have been scattered and broken; among the many schools, it is difficult to exhaustively examine them. Miraculous achievements and wondrous powers share the same source under different names: descending into the womb to seek the Way is surely not limited to a single appearance. Entrusting his birth to Kapilavastu fundamentally stemmed from expedient traces; exiting the north gate was not the beginning of his awakening to the Dharma; shining throughout the eastern direction—how could that be the limit of his pervasive conversion? Since his attainment of the Way, during forty-nine years, wondrous responses have been numerous; they ought to be compiled together to form a coherent boundary. As for ancient records of scriptures and images, and remaining inscriptions of territories and monasteries, their merit in opening and encouraging has a far-reaching influence. Great expedients are vast and broad, sacrificing the body to deliver beings; the true arhats are resolute and pure, setting their minds on what is not for themselves. Divided traces may differ, and destinations may not be identical; the spiritual paths are diverse and mutual, difficult to discern by speculation; spiritual wonders are extraordinary, cutting off words. The dragon of Fotudeng was seen in Zhao and Wei; the phoenix of Kumārajīva gathered in the Guanzhong region. Gandhāra traveled locally to the capitals of Luoyang and Jiankang; Dan Kai journeyed afar to Mount Luofu. Though their traces were identical to the worldly, their intent could not be fathomed. The road leaves the Jade Gate, and the Dharma seat is not far off; the seven locations and eight assemblies stand majestically before the eyes. Spiritual responses and subtle echoes are especially abundant west of the Yanze; light and scenery, flourishing and dense, are often seen beyond the Tianshan mountains. Extraordinary monks with resolve have traversed these places repeatedly, and their spiritual traces are clearly documented in written notes. The luxuriant and disorderly materials truly require trimming and ordering: dividing the five paths among humans and devas, and establishing the heavy prisons within the thick earth, each follows their karmic strength without the slightest error. These all unfold and fold the ultimate and mundane, from beginning to end in names and characteristics. As for the sacred path's profound distance, on a grand scale it leads directly to the place of enlightenment; its near and tangible proofs, on a small scale, open and encourage later scholars. This is truly the ferry-boat of universal deliverance, the broad road of Great Compassion. Even if wisdom is darkened and looks only inward, or the physical form is exhausted like a foot-long stick, where conditions stir, response is assured; how much more so for those who advance beyond this! Therefore, the Utmost Sage was diligent, constantly preserving the intent to guide and draw forth, leaving behind texts to reveal his intention and bestowing it upon the future. The Emperor has perfected practice since the beginningless, and received the Way across vast kalpas; the ten epithets are embodied in his person, and the three vidyās are unimpeded. Bending this wondrous existence to be equal with this Wheel-Turning King, he pities the darkened and sympathizes with the deluded who have long lost the true path. Those eager to learn harbor unavailing hopes of drilling into and looking up to it; the branches and streams are so distant and broad that matters are difficult to unify. Their resolve is shallow and their labor exhausting, yet in the end they achieve nothing; this is not the way to open those four crossroads and lead them out of the burning house. Therefore he decreed the Vice Minister of the Secretariat Yu Chan, the Heir Apparent's Attendant Dao Gai, and the General of the Rear's Adjutant Zhou She to extensively search the scriptural canon and gather commentary explanations, distinguishing categories and branches, and appending each according to its type. With little time and much work, this was successfully completed. It is entitled the Records of the Buddha, in thirty chapters in total. Where there are classes of responsive miracles whose matters and types are similar, only one is taken and the rest are not recorded. Or where people died and revived, recounting what they had experienced, since the matter borders on the unseen and affords no verification, they too are not recorded, in the spirit of leaving doubts open. Or where they relied on people to speak, or based thoughts upon dreams, being especially difficult to believe and understand, none are recorded at all. For one who wishes to travel far must record from where they set out; one who wishes to awaken to the Way must subtly recognize what they revere. Only then can they truly find the gate and personally receive the voiced teachings. None who fails to know their road or distinguish the person, with blinded eyes treading in the dark, can naturally accord with principle. Therefore, guiding those many streams back to the single source enables the teeming masses of sentient beings to look toward the road and know where to go, following the arrow-straight path to return, never wandering aimlessly at the crossroads, so that men of pure faith may also derive benefit from this.