廣弘明集 27.29

27.29

The origin of 'Pure Abiding' (Jingzhu) has an ancient lineage. It transmits the methods of opening, transforming, leading, and guiding of the Dharma King, and undertakes the task of bringing the multitude of living beings to cross over through faith. Thus the preservation or decline of the true Dharma depends entirely on the efficacy of faith or slander, and the dimness or brilliance of spiritual functioning ultimately relies on the effort of indolence or diligence. I have quietly heard that the turn of a wheel-turning king's fortune begins at the outset of a cosmic aeon, while the Dharma Lord's response to the era opens at the inception of the defiled realm. Why is this? There is truly good reason. Assuredly, because purity and shallowness are bound up in ancient hearts, resonant capacity flourishes through sight and hearing. Since the teaching flowed into the land of Cīnasthāna for more than six hundred years, monastics and laypeople have revered it, and its traces may all be known. As for discerning the capacity, having clear strategies, broadly propagating and covering the times, bequeathing pure standards to the remaining people, and guiding established models for those who gain faith—such writings reside here, and can be taken as an ancestral mirror. In the past, the Minister over the Masses, Prince of Jingling, Duke Wenxuan Xiao Ziliang of the Southern Qi, revered the Buddhist tradition and deeply penetrated the ultimate teaching. He annotated sutras and treatises, summarised their phrasing and principles, blocked deviant paths and opened the correct crossing, propagated the One Vehicle, and elevated the seven assemblies. In his time, he was called an ocean of writings, and termed a mountain of wisdom. He was either understood in dreams by the Solitary Honoured One, being given the fine posthumous title of Heavenly King, or was unseen imparted sutra chanting, transmitting the heroic regulations of spiritual deliverance. His virtues are difficult to recount in detail, so I pass over them briefly here. In the eighth year of the Yongming era of the Qi, moved by a dream of the Heavenly King Tathāgata of the Pure Radiance World in the east establishing the dharma gate of pure abiding and pure practice, he opened and expounded it on that basis. As for 'pure abiding' (jingzhu), it is the translation of the term poṣadha. Poṣadha is heavenly speech, while pure abiding is human speech. It is also called 'increasing and advancing', and likewise called 'nourishing'. It is open to both monastics and laypeople, who together receive and practice it. That is to say: purifying body, speech, and mind, and abiding according to the precepts; hence it is called 'pure abiding'. 'Zi' (child/master) carries the meaning of succession. Because through the three refuges the seven assemblies control emotional defilements, their roots of goodness increase, and they succeed to the lineage of the Buddha seeds; therefore it is called 'Jingzhuzi' (Master of Pure Abiding). As for the 'dharma gate of pure practice', because all actions are purified, transformation spreads through the world; and understanding all dharma gates, there are distinctions in nature and characteristics. Beginning with holding the lead and ending with laying down the brush, through altogether seventy days the two wrappers were completed. Thereupon he opened a lecture at his grand mansion, gathering eminent talents in great numbers. He personally occupied the primal seat to discourse on its essential tenets. The ten assemblies gathered like clouds, as if flocking to the hills of Huayin; the four assemblies were inspired, as though attending the gathering at Vulture Peak. All said: 'We hear what we have never heard before,' purifying their minds and inclining their ears. Therefore the virtuous men south of the Yangtze who embodied the Way and rode upon expedients synthesised and practiced it to open their spiritual palaces. From Chen and Ping onwards, the unified influence reached the passes and rivers; transmitted without impairment, it was fully preserved in the canon. Later students, deficient in learning and dim in understanding, never opened and investigated what former practitioners had done; following their own inclinations, they suppressed and condemned it, declaring it an apocryphal scripture, and following one another, discarded it. Such people are numerous! How lamentable! In my leisure time, I tried examining and inspecting it: its text is truly refined, and its principles preserve the root of faith. Thus we know that current study and teaching entirely rely on one's own mind. How could the mind be taken as master to such an extent? Therefore, the Da zhidu lun states: 'After the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, all compositions that propagate and praise the Buddhist sutras are termed Abhidharma, which is subsumed under the twelve divisions of scriptures.' The sage's teaching is clear and decisive; its principles transcend ordinary contrivance. Yet because beginners may be confused and unable to view it fully, I have once again summarised and condensed it into one roll, gathering the essential brilliance and plucking the lush beauty. This suffices to initiate the first steps of beginners and mark the foremost traces for later zeal. Furthermore, I have illustrated and praised it widely on temple walls, hoping that the foolish and wise may understand alike, and their discernment and faith become firm and strong; that the way of ten thousand years may open afar, and the foundation of the seven assemblies be established. Those who revere and believe it are called people of pure practice; those who take it as ancestral and practice it will not lose the designation of pure abiding. I bequeath this to my friends so that they may know its meaning.