辯偽錄 1.5

1.5

I have heard that before the five movements took shape, there were originally no names for persons or things; once the three realms of heaven, earth, and humankind were established, the designations of noble and base were set in order. When the six lines were first differentiated, the eight trigrams were initially drawn, and writings and tallies came into being, determining the canonical texts. In the phoenix seal script, tortoise diagrams, gold-bound caskets, and jade inscriptions, there were the different paths of the hundred schools and the divided categories of the myriad fascicles. Although their principles investigated the subtle and their words exhausted standards for things, in recording passions and encompassing nature they never went beyond the mundane realm; in examining origins and pursuing ends, how could they encompass what lies beyond worldly transformation? How much more so does the dharmakāya transcend form, soaring high above the Primordial Ruler; and how much more does paramārtha-satya surpass all denomination, far exceeding the realm of thought and speech! In illustrious plans and flourishing realities, every age has had its masters. Ruyi's secular surname was Yan, a native of Taiyuan. He was a descendant of Yanzan. For successive generations his ancestors were wearers of the official cap and sash, and after migrating to Daijun they made it their home. At nine years of age he shaved his hair, followed his teacher, and received instruction. When jade leaves the Mount Jing, its precious worth becomes all the more apparent; when cassia leaves the secluded cliff, its fragrant breeze travels far. This venerable master inwardly plumbed the depths of the tripiṭaka, and outwardly investigated the origins of the nine philosophical schools. His fame stood foremost in China; his reputation was heard at court and across the realm. Exercising an eloquence that could discuss the heavens and displaying unmatched talent, his magnificent writings were interwoven like fine brocade, and his majestic spirit rose into the clouds. The gems and pearls of Ban Gu and Sima Qian could not be compared to him; how could the writings of Gu Kaizhi and Lu Ji even run abreast with his? As for the teachings of Master Zhuang and Master Mo, the texts of Huang-Lao and Lao Dan, the slanderous texts of the Three Clarities against the Way, the treatises on the ten anomalies and nine delusions, the secrets of the Primordial Concealing the Moon, and the rituals of the Lingbao Red Script, they shone brightly within his breast and were as clear to him as the palm of his hand. In addition, in Chan he practiced across the five lineages, and broadly examined the various books. Possessing both towering talent and a mighty brush, he devoted himself especially to writing. Beyond the exercise of his thought, his drawing from the source was inexhaustible. In repressing error, he had the power of the roaring stone; in upholding truth, he had the virtue of lashing the corpse. In talent he truly equaled Dao'an and Huiyuan; in learning he surpassed Sengzhao and Daosheng. He was truly a dragon scale in the ocean of awakening, a pillar and beam of the Buddhist gate. We have observed that the Quanzhen Daoists Qiu Chuji, Li Zhichang, Shi Zhijing, Linghu Zhang, and others, with shallow and vulgar learning and short-sighted understanding, have together produced coarse rhetoric to attack and ruin the correct Dharma, beating cloth drums in a futile attempt to rival the thunder gate, causing people of middling and lower faculties to give rise to perverse views. Having reverently received Sechen Khan, the Sage and Bright Emperor, who brought forth great compassion and pitied their blindness, fearing they would fall into niraya, his majesty ordered this treatise to be composed. It stirred the ocean of the Dharma and shattered their sharp-tongued eloquence: the sharpness of the Green Cock vied in racing, and the piebald form of the Yellow Horse contended in galloping. It was like the great furnace burning a slender wing, or the blazing sun melting fragile ice: the party destined to win or lose was plainly seen therein. Briefly returning to the meditative absorption of benevolence, he has already crushed the demon army. On the twentieth day of the tenth month in the eighteenth year of Zhiyuan, we further reverently received the sacred edict of the late emperor, decreeing that the spurious scriptures throughout the realm be completely incinerated at once. Because of this, the sun of the Buddha shone again across the blue skies, and the cloud of the Dharma spread broadly over Jambudvīpa. The above works composed by Ruyi, including literary rhapsodies, commentaries, prefaces to four scriptures, the Hanwen bietuan, the Xinghai fu, and others, are already circulating in the world. However, this treatise in five fascicles and over two hundred sheets exhausts the origins of Buddhism and Daoism and discriminates the merits and defects of the perverse and the correct. Truly, the loftier the song, the fewer who join in harmony—a matter of deep regret. My own writing is embarrassed by lacking elegance, and my learning is neither comprehensive nor perfect. Beholding the fine words of this treatise and revering the immense protection of our Emperor, I am overcome with joy and dancing, and have exerted myself to write this introduction, presumptuously using a wisteria cord to link these precious gems, hoping that broadly learned and refined gentlemen will scrutinize its import. Related by the wild old man of Xuexi, Gui Jixiang, Abbot of Dayunfeng, continuing the ancestral lineage of the śramaṇas.