廣弘明集 22.65

22.65

Now, when it comes to making manifest the true teaching, without wisdom there is no means to broaden its texts; in exalting and elucidating subtle words, without worthiness none can determine their purport. Indeed, the holy teaching of thusness (tathatā) is the dark source of all phenomena, the track and guideline of the many sūtras. It embraces the vast and far-reaching, its profound purport remote and deep; it exhausts the subtleties of emptiness and existence, and embodies the critical pivots of arising and ceasing. Its phrasing is lush and its Way is boundless: those who seek it cannot fathom its source; its text is manifest and its meaning profound: those who tread it cannot measure its bounds. Thus we know that where the holy compassion extends, there is no good karma that is not reached; where the wondrous transformation is unfolded, there is no evil condition that is not cut off. It opens the guiding cords of the Dharma net, propagates the true teaching of the six perfections, rescues the misery of the multitude of beings, and unlocks the secret portals of the Tripiṭaka. Hence its fame flies far without wings, and its Way stands eternally firm without roots. Way and name diffuse blessings, persisting as constant throughout the remote past; his response body answering beings' promptings endures undecaying across dust-mote kalpas. Morning bells and evening Sanskrit chants mingle the two sounds at Vulture Peak; the sun of wisdom and the flow of Dharma turn the twin wheels in Mṛgadāva. Treasure parasols thrusting into the sky meet the soaring clouds and fly alongside them; spring groves adorning the fields join their hues with heavenly flowers. We humbly reflect that His Majesty the Emperor, endowed with blessings by the High Heaven, governs the eight frontiers while resting his robes in non-action; his virtue shelters the black-haired people, who straighten their robes and pay homage from myriad states. His kindness extends even to withered bones: the stone chamber receives the palm-leaf scriptures; his beneficence reaches even swarming insects: the golden casket diffuses the gāthās of Sanskrit exposition. Consequently, he causes the waters of Lake Anavatapta to connect with the eight rivers of the imperial capital, and Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa to join with the green peaks of Song and Hua. We humbly consider that the Dharma-nature is tranquil and serene: none whose minds turn to it fail to penetrate it; the ground of wisdom is dark and profound: it is made manifest when touched by earnest sincerity. How could one have imagined that in the night of layered darkness, the light of the torch of wisdom would blaze; that at the dawn of the burning house, the moisture of the Dharma rain would descend? Thereupon the hundred rivers of diverse flows converge together into the sea; the distinct meanings of the myriad regions all culminate in the real. How could this be compared with the merits and demerits of Tang and Wu, or equated with the sagely virtue of Yao and Shun? Dharma Master Xuanzang has long cherished intelligence and established his will upon calmness and simplicity. His spirit was pure in the years of his childhood; his person rose above the superficial world. He settled his thoughts in the meditation chamber, concealing his traces in secluded crags; he rested in the three dhyānas and roved through the ten grounds. Transcending the realm of the six sense objects, he walked alone in Kapilavastu; comprehending the purport of the One Vehicle, he transformed beings in accord with their capacities. Seeing that China lacked the complete teachings, he sought the authentic texts in India. Traveling far across the Gaṅgā, he at last looked forward to the complete words; repeatedly climbing the Snowy Mountains, he further obtained the half-verse pearl. Questioning the Way, going and returning, he spent seventeen years; fully versed in the Buddhist scriptures, he took benefiting beings as his guiding thought. On the sixth day of the second month in the nineteenth year of Zhenguan, he received an imperial decree to translate the essential texts of the holy teaching at Hongfu Temple, totaling six hundred and fifty-seven works. Drawing from the Dharma flow of the great ocean, he washes away the toil of defilements without exhaustion; transmitting the eternal flame of the lamp of wisdom, he illuminates the hidden darkness, shining ever brightly. Were it not for good conditions long planted, how could he make manifest this purport? What is known as the enduring constancy of the Dharma's marks equals the radiance of the three luminaries; our Emperor's accumulation of blessings is as firm as the two primal powers of Heaven and Earth. I have humbly seen the Preface to the Many Sūtras composed by His Majesty: it illumines antiquity and surges into the present; its principles contain the tone of metal and stone; its text embraces the moisture of wind and clouds. Zhi has presumed to add a speck of dust to a mountain, to cast a drop of dew into a river, briefly setting forth this grand outline to serve as this record.