廣弘明集 1.2

1.2

Ever since the teachings spread from Da Xia and flowed eastward, there have been varying periods of corruption and purity in embracing faith and initiating the Way. This is because passions confound the three stabilities, and wisdom is obscured toward the four illuminations. Consequently, corrupt factions have recklessly stirred up heterodox winds, while pure and upright followers have at times suffered flattery and sophistry. Therefore, although the teachings have moved to Cīnasthāna for over six hundred years, three autocrats raised fierce oppression and ruthlessly eradicated [the Dharma]; yet before their footsteps could even turn, disastrous recompense was already manifested upon themselves, making them the laughingstock of all under heaven. Moreover, faith is the mother of virtue, and wisdom is truly the cause of sagehood; from the foundational origin of the Way, one ultimately aspires to the true fruition. Arguing on this principle, one internally overthrows the delusion of the eightfold pride; investigating this seeking of sentiments, one externally cleanses the obscuration of the six sense objects. Free and aloof beyond worldly entanglements, this is no climbing of petty ways; expansive and soaring high, it is the flight and flocking of supreme benevolence. However, as times passed through the Three Dynasties, people suffered from sinking into the five defilements; their consciousnesses were clouded regarding the heterodox and the orthodox, confounding the heavenly net of persons and dharmas. Therefore, the inner teachings provided warp and weft, establishing doctrines to receive faculties; outside secular worthies and the wise bequeathed treatises to propagate standards. In the past, the Vinaya Master Sengyou of Dinglin Temple on Mount Zhong in the Liang dynasty commanded the scholarship of the Nine Schools and encompassed the doctrines of the ten truths; with heartfelt compassion to save others, his resolve lay in maintaining the Dharma. Thoroughly collecting the writings of the lords and luminaries of the Liang and Jin dynasties who paid heed to Buddhist principles, he composed and arranged texts, compiling the Hongming ji in one work of fourteen fascicles. He investigated the styles of Yan [Yanzhi] and Xie [Lingyun], and integrated the rules of Zhou [Yong] and Zhang [Rong]. With polemical debates and comprehensive discourses, he plumbed the profound depths of fact and reason; exhausting the examination of spiritual nature, it was truly the lofty attainment of the wise. Fully preserved in the secret pavilion, it broadly laid bare worldly minds. Yet the wise are not deluded, and the deluded are not wise. Thus when the wise speak, they raise the essentials to guide through main principles; when the deluded seek awakening, many words are needed to open their spiritual minds. Now, as for the arising of faith and understanding, it truly relies on spiritual capacity; matching it requires clear acuity, and the affair accords with mysterious models. Therefore, faith has three kinds: first, knowing; second, seeing; third, what is called foolish. 'Knowing' refers to innate knowing, bearing the three stabilities and entering the correct assembly. 'Foolish' refers to the foolish elder, clinging to the four delusions and drowning in desire-dust. The lower fools and upper wise cannot be shifted by transformation; if the mediocre see faith, they follow the good like flowing water! Therefore, the obliteration of the Dharma under three dynasties was entirely entangled in scant learning. Hence, relying solely on their own minds, calamities gathered upon their schemes. If they had examined the maps of the eight treasuries, synthesized the established clarity of texts and meanings, investigated the nine consciousnesses, and understood the delusion and awakening of sentiment and wisdom, their orthodox faith would have been like the bright sun, shining ever brighter even if obscured by the five cataracts. Having widely consulted former prefaces and broadly synthesized the Hongming ji, I consider that across the five dynasties south of the Yangtze, the triratna rose repeatedly; rulers, ministers, scholars, and commoners were of one mind, and honored it as a cultured state; their wisdom unfolded by means of culture. In the Central Plains under the Zhou and Wei, governance inherited darkness and brightness; they valued Laozi and slighted the Buddha, faith and defamation alternating, so that while skillful words were uttered, flattering favorites soon followed. Yet the era lacked not for worthies: those who laid bare their hearts in exceptional discernment, standing out above the crowd, were also not without representatives. Thus, darkness and brightness alternately appeared, and the heterodox and orthodox took each other as masters. In terms of appearances, they were separated as clouds and mud; in terms of sentiments, mutual reliance and concealed dangers nurtured each other. Therefore, the six arts flourished in the Buddha's era, and the three Zhangs presumed over the current of the Dharma: all were the expedient schemes of great beings, the adaptive transformations of supreme persons. Thus Pūrṇa practiced the false views of the three poisons, and Vimalakīrti subdued the Māra kings of the six desires. All opened distinct paths of pressing and guiding; each established grand tracks of turning toward or turning away. Now, relying on these deeds, I resolve the stagnations of the multitude, using allegories to illuminate the spring of ignorance and dredging the ocean of nature. As for Kou Qianzhi plotting with Cui Hao, misfortune and fortune were plain as day; Zheng Ai opposing the Zhou ruler, success and failure transpired in a moment. Yao An composed treatises, holding that the Tao resided within Confucianism; Chen Lin penned texts, extolling Śākya above court canons. Such satiric deliberations, 'though steeped in black, were not stained'; yet scattered among various records, they are difficult to gather and weave together. Furthermore, the two Martial Emperors of Liang and Zhou both distinguished rites of manifestation and concealment; the two Ming Emperors of Song and Wei rode together on strategies of broad enticement. The compassionate aid of Shen Xiuwen [Shen Yue], the turning of heart of Yan Zhitui: their literary style was preeminent, extending far beyond worldly matters. I once attempted to cite these in my remaining years, yet plagued by mediocrity and decay, my compilation was sparse. There was the Śramaṇa of Han'yin of broad sight who continuously praised and completed the record; mindful of straight brushwork, I followed and narrated it, naming chapters and entitling sections, opening figures for critique and evaluation. As for pursuing topics and assessing meanings to awaken the worthy and wise, isolated texts and brief records have been selected and appended, entitled the Guang hongming ji, in one work of thirty fascicles. What was compiled under the Liang might not have been fully investigated here; I have briefly followed the sections to list each title in turn, hoping to display them to those who have not yet seen, broadly inspiring faith and dispelling confusion. Comparing persons by categories is truly not done in vain. If there be any corrections, may the reader examine them carefully.