鐔津文集 9.3

9.3

十二月日。杭州靈隱寺永安蘭若沙門賜紫臣僧某。謹昧死上書　皇帝陛下。臣聞事天者必因於山。事地者必因於澤。然所因高深則所事者易至也。若　陛下之崇高深大則與夫山澤相萬矣。適人有從事其道者。舍　陛下而不即求之。雖其渠渠終身絕世。烏能得其志也。抑又聞。佛經曰。我法悉已付囑國王大臣者。此正謂佛教損益弛張。在　陛下之明聖矣。如此則佛之徒以其法欲有所云為者。豈宜不賴　陛下而自棄于草莽乎。臣忝佛之徒。實欲扶持其法。今者起巖穴。不遠千里抱其書而趨闕下。願幸　陛下大賜。以成就其志也。臣嘗謂。能仁氏之垂教必以禪為其宗。而佛為其祖。祖者乃其教之大範。宗者乃其教之大統。大統不明則天下學佛者不得一其所詣。大範不正則不得質其所證。夫古今三學輩。競以其所學相勝者。蓋由宗不明祖不正而為其患矣。然非其祖宗素不明不正也。特後世為書者之誤傳耳。又後世學佛者不能盡考經論而校正之。乃有束教者不知佛之微旨妙在乎言外。語禪者不諒佛之所詮概見乎教內。雖一圓顱方服之屬。而紛然自相是非。如此者古今何嘗稍息。臣自不知量。平生竊欲推一其宗祖與天下學佛輩息諍釋疑使百世知其學有所統也。山中嘗力探大藏。或經或傳。校驗其所謂禪宗者。推正其所謂佛祖者。其所見之書果繆。雖古書必斥之。其所見之書果詳。雖古書必取之。又其所出佛祖年世事迹之差訛者。若傳燈之類。皆以眾家傳記。以其累代長曆校之修之。編成其書垂十餘萬言。命曰傳法正宗記。其排布狀畫佛祖相承之像。則曰傳法正宗定祖圖。其推會宗祖之本末者。則曰傳法正宗論。總十有二卷。又以吳縑繪畫其所謂定祖圖者。一面在臣愚淺。自謂吾佛垂教僅二千年。其教被中國殆乎千歲。禪宗傳乎諸夏僅五百年。而乃宗乃祖其事迹本末於此稍詳。可傳以補先聖教法萬分之一耳。適當　陛下以至道慈德治天下。天地萬物和平安裕。而佛老之教得以毘贊大化　陛下又垂神禪悅彌入其道妙。雖古之帝王更百代。未有如　陛下窮理盡性之如此也。是亦佛氏之徒際會遭遇　陛下之一時也。臣所以拳拳懇懇。不避其僭越冐犯之誅。輒以其書與圖上進。欲幸　陛下垂于大藏與經律偕傳臣螻蟻之生已及遲暮。於世固無所待。其區區但欲其教法不微不昧而流播於無窮。人得以資之而務道為善。則臣雖死之日猶生之年也。非敢僥倖欲忝　陛下雨露之渥澤耳。其所證據明文皆出乎大經大論最詳。其所謂傳法正宗論與其定祖圖者。儻　陛下天地垂察使其得與大賜願如景德傳燈錄玉英集例。詔降傳法院編入大藏。即臣死生之大幸。不惟臣之大幸。抑亦天下教門之大幸也。如　陛下睿斷。允臣所請。乞以其書十有二卷者。特降中書施行其傳法正宗記與其定祖圖兼臣舊著輔教編印本者一部三策。其書亦推會二教聖人之道。同乎善世利人矣。謹書上進干黷冕旒。臣不任激切屏營之至。臣誠惶誠恐謹言。

On the [—] day of the twelfth month. The monk So-and-so, subject recipient of the purple robe, of the Yong'an Hermitage at Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou, sincerely risking death, presents this memorial to His Imperial Majesty the Emperor. Your subject has heard that those who serve Heaven must base themselves on mountains, and those who serve Earth must base themselves on marshes. When that which one bases oneself upon is high and deep, that which one serves is easily reached. As for Your Majesty's lofty eminence and profound vastness, it surpasses those mountains and marshes ten thousandfold! If someone undertakes their path yet abandons Your Majesty and does not seek it through you, even if they strive diligently for their entire life away from the world, how could they attain their aim? Furthermore, your subject has heard that the Buddhist sūtras say: 'My Dharma has all been entrusted to kings and great ministers.' This precisely means that the flourishing and waning, loosening and tightening of the Buddhist teaching depends upon Your Majesty's luminous sagacity. Such being the case, if disciples of the Buddha wish to accomplish something through their Dharma, how could it be right not to rely on Your Majesty and instead abandon themselves to the weeds? Your subject, though unworthy to be a disciple of the Buddha, truly desires to uphold his Dharma. Now, emerging from mountain caverns, not considering a thousand miles too far, I hold his books in my arms and hasten to the steps of the imperial palace, hoping to be fortunate enough to receive Your Majesty's great bestowal in order to bring my aspiration to fruition. Your subject has always maintained that the teachings bequeathed by the Capable and Benevolent One must take Chan as their core lineage and the Buddha as its ancestor. The ancestor is the great exemplar of his teaching; the lineage is the great continuum of his teaching. If the great continuum is not made clear, then students of the Buddha throughout the realm cannot be united in what they attain. If the great exemplar is not made correct, they cannot verify what they realize. That throughout antiquity and today those of the three trainings compete to surpass one another with what they study is entirely due to the calamity of the core lineage not being made clear and the ancestors not being made correct. Yet it is not that the ancestors and core lineage were originally unclear or incorrect; it is merely that those of later generations who composed texts transmitted them erroneously. Furthermore, later students of the Buddha have been unable to examine thoroughly all the sūtras and treatises to collate and correct them. Thus there are those constrained by the doctrinal teachings who do not know that the Buddha's subtle intent is wonderfully situated beyond words; while those who talk of Chan do not appreciate that what the Buddha expounded is generally visible within the doctrinal teachings. Although belonging to the single class of shaved heads and square robes, they contentiously dispute right and wrong among themselves. How has such a thing ever ceased, from antiquity to the present? Your subject, not knowing his own limitations, has throughout his life secretly wished to deduce and unify this core lineage and its ancestors, so as to quell disputes, resolve doubts for students of the Buddha throughout the realm, and make a hundred generations know that their learning has a unified continuum. While in the mountains, I once made every effort to search the great canon—whether sūtras or records—to collate and verify what is called the Chan lineage and to deduce and rectify who are called the Buddhist ancestors. If a text I examined was indeed erroneous, even if an ancient work, I rejected it without fail; if a text I examined was indeed detailed and accurate, even if an ancient work, I accepted it without fail. Furthermore, where there were errors in the dates and events of the lives of the Buddhist ancestors—such as in works like the Jingde Record of the Transmission of the Lamp—I collated and amended them using the biographies of various authors and continuous chronological tables across successive dynasties. Compiling them into a book of nearly more than one hundred thousand words, I named it the *Record of the True Lineage of the Dharma Transmission* (*Chuanfa zhengzong ji*). In arranging and drawing the portraits of the mutual succession of the Buddhist ancestors, it is called the *Chart Establishing the Ancestors of the True Lineage of the Dharma Transmission* (*Chuanfa zhengzong dingzu tu*). In inferring and reconciling the roots and branches of the core lineage and ancestors, it is called the *Treatise on the True Lineage of the Dharma Transmission* (*Chuanfa zhengzong lun*). In all, there are twelve fascicles. In addition, I painted on Wu silk what is called the *Chart Establishing the Ancestors*, one scroll. In your subject's foolish shallowness, I tell myself that our Buddha bequeathed his teachings barely two thousand years ago; his teachings have covered the central realm for nearly a thousand years; and the Chan lineage has been transmitted in China for barely five hundred years. Yet the events, origins, and ends of these ancestors and this lineage are here made somewhat clear, and may be handed down to supplement one ten-thousandth of the previous sagely teachings and Dharma. It happens that Your Majesty governs the realm with the ultimate Way and compassionate virtue: heaven, earth, and the ten thousand things are peaceful, harmonious, and abundant, and the teachings of Buddhism and Daoism are able to assist and praise the great transformation. Your Majesty has also turned your attention to the joy of Chan, penetrating ever deeper into its subtle Way. Even among ancient emperors through a hundred generations, none has ever fathomed principle and completely realized nature as Your Majesty has. This is also an encounter of a lifetime for disciples of the Buddhist teaching with Your Majesty. It is for this reason that your subject, earnest and sincere, not shrinking from punishment for presumption and transgression, has ventured to present these texts and chart, wishing that by Your Majesty's grace they might be bestowed upon the great canon to be transmitted alongside the sūtras and vinaya. Your subject's ant-like life has already reached its dusk; in the world, I certainly have nothing to await. My humble wish is merely that this teaching and Dharma not dwindle or be obscured, but spread without end, so that people may draw upon it to devote themselves to the Way and do good; then the day of your subject's death will be as a year of life. I do not dare seek by chance to be favored by the rich moisture of Your Majesty's rain and dew. The textual proofs cited therein all stem from the great sūtras and great treatises with the utmost detail. As for the *Treatise on the True Lineage of the Dharma Transmission* and the *Chart Establishing the Ancestors*, if Your Majesty in heavenly and earthly consideration should deign to examine them and grant them a great bestowal, I pray that following the precedent of the *Record of the Transmission of the Lamp of the Jingde Era* and the *Yuying ji*, an imperial decree be handed down to the Institute for the Translation of Sutras to incorporate them into the great canon. That would be the greatest fortune of your subject in life or death; not only your subject's greatest fortune, but also the greatest fortune of the gates of the teaching throughout the realm. If Your Majesty in your sagacious judgment should grant your subject's request, I beg that these twelve fascicles of texts be specially handed down to the Secretariat to be put into effect—the *Record of the True Lineage of the Dharma Transmission* and the *Chart Establishing the Ancestors*, along with one set in three volumes of the printed edition of the *Compendium in Support of the Teaching* (*Fujiao bian*) previously composed by your subject. That book also infers and reconciles the ways of the sages of both teachings, showing that they agree in bringing goodness to the world and benefiting mankind. With reverence I present this writing, presumptuously troubling the imperial crown. Your subject is overwhelmed by the utmost trepidation and anxiety. Your subject, truly fearful and truly terrified, respectfully speaks.