廣弘明集 22.48

22.48

[On such-and-such] year, month, and day, So-and-so respectfully bows and states: We have heard that when the Nine Rivers were dredged of their courses, bamboo slips were bundled on spiritual mounds; when the four thoroughfares conformed to the carpenter's line, texts were stored in jade troves. There were also the stone-carved texts of the Three Sovereigns on Azure Mound and in the Purple Palace, and the spiritual flying characters of the six jia on green labels and yellow cords. Yet how could they compare to the Tathāgata's secret store, which is like that bright pearl, or that which all Buddhas take as their teacher, akin to a clean mirror! The Dharma of the Four Noble Truths of Mṛgadāva and the texts of the eight skandhas of the Grove of the Sage: could even the colossal strength of Gandhamādana be said to carry them? In the year Zhaoyang, when the dragon constellation was in Tianjing, reverently for the sake of [such-and-such], we have respectfully produced an entire canon of scriptures, beginning with the teachings of arising and cessation and ending with the exposition of Nirvāṇa: rare and marvelous treatises, short verses, and prose passages. [Written with] blue titles in silver cases, dark texts in jade boxes. Lingyang ingested medicine, but merely beheld immortal characters; Guan Yin observed the vapors, but barely received dark words. None were like Nāgārjuna of sharp faculties, who left no title unread; yet of Śrota, with his shallow practice, those seated together had not heard. Exhausting the sounds of India, reaching the limits of palm leaves: when the relics were divided among the eight kingdoms, the texts moved to Jibin; when the rock was worn away by the six-zhu robe, the scriptures returned to the great ocean. We reverently pray that past spiritual souls, availing themselves of this power of the Way, attain the patience of the non-arising of dharmas and become complete in dignified deportment; we also pray that the state's fortunes be everlasting and the ministers and people enjoy felicitous blessings, that the four quarters submit internally and myriad good fortunes appear before us, and that foes and kin across the six realms of rebirth together ascend to true awakening.