辯正論 8.78

8.78

On the eighth day of the fourth month in the third year of the Tianjian era [504 CE], Xiao Yan, Emperor of the Liang State, from Lanling, bows his head and makes prostration to the Buddhas of the ten directions, the revered Dharma of the ten directions, and the Bodhisattva-Saṃgha of the ten directions. Humbly observing the profound principles of the scripture texts, which must be elucidated, it is said that generating the bodhicitta is indeed the mind of the Buddha, to which no other goodness can be compared. It can cause sentient beings to leave the painful gates of the three realms and enter the superior path of wuwei. It marks out emptiness and investigates principle, being abstruse, profound, and subtle; establishing discourse on the basis of meaning, it is manifested through function. Therefore, the Tathāgata's defilements were exhausted and his wisdom concentrated to attain awakening; his supreme Dao penetrated the springs of action, and his virtue was perfected to grasp sagehood. He raised the torch of wisdom to illumine the deluded, and mirrored the stream of Dharma to clarify defilements. He revealed auspicious traces in heaven, and radiated spiritual deportment beyond forms. He crossed sentient beings over the sea of suffering, and led conscious beings to hasten toward nirvāṇa. He ascended the lofty mountain of permanence and bliss, and emerged from the deep boundaries of the river of craving. Words go beyond the four propositions; discourse cuts off the hundred negations. Responding with traces in the Sahā world, he manifested birth to Śuddhodana. When he was born with marks in the royal palace, he stepped across the three realms as supreme; when he attained brilliance beneath the Bodhi tree, he shone universally throughout the great chiliocosm. The roots and inclinations of this land are shallow and slight, prone to disgust and indolence; he designated the second month as the time to arrive at the Twin Trees, which was both to serenely expound the complete and eternal, and to temporarily conceal his radiance beneath the Crane Trees. King Ajātaśatru eliminated his guilt, and Vasu removed his calamity. Had they not encountered the Great Sage Dharma King, who could have rescued them? Although he is hidden in his traces, his Dao is without flaw. I, your disciple, long wandered in delusion and waste, indulging in the service of Laozi; inherited through successive generations, we were dyed by this heterodox dharma. With the arousal of good roots from habit, I cast off delusion and know to return. Now renouncing the former physician, I take refuge in the True Awakened One. I vow that in future lifetimes I will leave home as a young lad, widely propagate the scriptural teachings, convert and liberate sentient beings, and together attain Buddhahood. Entering all hells, I will universally deliver all beings. I would rather sink forever into the evil destinies within the true Dharma than wish to temporarily attain birth in heaven by relying on the teachings of Laozi. Aspiring to the Mahāyāna mind, I depart from thoughts of the One Vehicle. I pray that the Buddhas bear witness and the Bodhisattvas gather me in. Xiao Yan makes prostration.