鐔津文集 9.3

9.3

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.