廣弘明集 22.51

22.51

Yang Guang, disciple bound by the bodhisattva precepts, pays reverent homage. Looking up, I contemplate how the Tathāgata responded to the world, extending his spoken teachings to cover all beings, painstakingly and minutely compiling the treasury of the Dharma. Indra and the wheel-turning kings having received his entrustment, bodhisattvas and śrāvakas were able to spread the great conversion, delivering countless beings down to the present day. When the Supreme Sovereign rescued the drowning and unified the myriad kings, and on the day the four seas were pacified with the conquest of Chen, both the religious and the secular suffered no loss. Yet the foolish folk of the southeast fanned the embers of rebellion; thereupon, receiving the ancestral temple's stratagem, I once again purified the coastal realm, restoring peace in due season without wearying the troops. Furthermore, I was deeply anxious that the sacred images and revered scriptures might mostly turn to ashes, or that the bound chaplets and ink-lines of the canon would be lost in the gutters. Therefore, I ordered the various armies far and wide to collect and gather them from every direction. Before a full year had passed, light boats arrived together bearing them all. I then commanded the academic officials to catalog them in order according to their titles, and invited master scholars of the doctrinal centers to ponder deeply and verify their origins. By exerting their minds in comparison and collation, they mostly recovered the original works; they adorned and repaired them, making the old entirely new. In the four treasuries of the Precious Terrace there are nearly one hundred thousand scrolls. I thereupon made a great vow to circulate them forever, writing a vow text to be attached to the end of every scroll. Because of frequent imperial audiences, the merit was only just completed. Today, only the primary canon of the Precious Terrace is personally received and retained by my own person. The secondary canons and below are granted to the Huiri and Fayun doctrinal centers, the Riyan and Hongshan sacred monasteries, and besides these, to the temples, pagodas, and monasteries of the capital and various regions. The Brahma palaces differ in size, and their monastic assemblies likewise vary in number; all are distributed and granted with careful consideration according to the number of scriptural sections. The giver has been most sincere; the receivers should also be deeply reverent. Preserve the dharma-texts for long, and spread the Dharma far and wide. Whoever wishes to transmit the texts must enter the temples to copy them, not letting them fall into disrepair or causing the loss of both, which would result in inaction. The Buddhas of the past and the Buddhas of the future surely share the same golden mouth; teachings of earlier and later times, how do they differ as jade tablets? On Mount Sumeru the assembly of sages joins in upholding them; at the bottom of the vajra-ocean devas and nāgas protect them completely. Scattered across Jambudvīpa, they are also like this. Recalling those who produced them in the past, their sincerity was exceedingly lofty; with such diligent application of mind and hand, how could their merit be measured? How could the pure wealth they relinquished be reckoned? The sweet rain provided serves to moisten the withered sprouts; that which can give birth to all Buddhas is fundamentally prajñā. It is man who can broaden the Way, not the Way that broadens man; to examine oneself with deep reflection is indeed to act for oneself. To state this purpose now might seem like attachment; yet without admonishing and alerting, it would not be deeply grounded. Personal practice and transforming others are fully contained in the sūtras and vinaya; looking back on my meager understanding, I am truly ashamed before those who understand broadly. When causes and effects correspond, how does it differ from seeing them with one's own eyes? How could I not know the pursuit of solitary goodness, and that the supreme asaṃskṛta is the foremost joy? The profound subtleties of the inner scriptures naturally concern the monastic assembly; why should I trouble myself to bear this burden unwarrantedly? Yet I rejoice that relying on past roots of goodness, I was born and raised in the royal palace; attending the imperial court and hastening through its halls, I was exhorted to hold to high and far-reaching aspirations. Dispatched to take charge of a princely realm, I have always been fearful and reverent. Not only have I conformed to established decrees in rites, music, government, and penal laws, but regarding this vehicle of deliverance, I have respected it all the more and never let it lapse. I cannot cast aside the duties of Ji and Xie to join the recluses of Mount Shang, nor turn from a bodhisattva into a śrāvaka, exceeding my place and contradicting propriety. Since it is unacceptable not to have deep faith, in receiving the entrustment I dare to undertake this benevolence. The five kinds of dharma-masters all attain purity of the six sense faculties, yet practicing as taught brings one closest to nirvāṇa. To merely uphold the sūtras and vinaya without following the Buddha's precepts, smoothly preaching emptiness while the mind remains mired in existence—this is futile. The Supreme King of Medicine dispenses medicine according to the disease: prescribing milk or administering clarified butter are distinct methods, and treating with sweet, cold, bitter, or hot medicines also differs in achieving cures. Just as the successive gates of teaching correspond separately to beings' capacities, the roots, stalks, branches, and leaves all receive moisture alike. All converges in the ford and bridge; there are none that do not enter the Way. Just as when asked about filial piety and benevolence Confucius gave different answers, and Laozi had no conflict in his intentions regarding cultivating the self and governing the state, so different paths lead to the same destination and a hundred deliberations end in a single purpose: the inner and outer traditions blend together, their meanings merging into one. Where is there a case where studying Abhidharma fails to produce a sage, or clinging to the ālayavijñāna immediately awakens one to reality? Harivarman was instead reviled by those of spiral-shell vision, and the elephant reaching the riverbed's depth was perversely mocked by those like bees in a comb. Minds become like swords and halberds, and contentions surpass water and fire! The intention of sūtras and treatises is not like this at all; having mastered the sūtras and treatises, why should this be so? I fear that dispensing amṛta will instead turn into poison, whereas if the ocean of single flavor is made equal, it yields the finest ghee. May the holy sovereign's azure-jeweled chariot soar through the heavens, his golden wheel stirring the clouds; may he gather the myriad goods into the Renshou era, and unify the One Vehicle in the universal assembly, awakening sentient beings and ferrying the multitude of living beings across. May the scriptures now transmitted spread throughout the realm; may the hidden power of all the holy ones surely move other regions, so that all together ascend to bodhi and swiftly realize constant bliss. This is the declaration of your disciple, following this great vow into the boundless, in equal and serene tranquility, proclaiming it openly to all, so that all who discern the essence of mind may rejoice in it.