法苑珠林 11.57

11.57

蓋聞。大聖逗機影迹無方。所現之處無非利益。故諦分真俗事決形心。憑假實而上征。寄乘權而下比。良由生老病死。終無自出之期。菩提涅槃。得有修入之證。但內典無邊。應機而說。故使法輪則柰苑初轉。僧侶則憍陳始度。至於迦葉兄弟目連朋友。西域之大勢。東方之遍告。二十八天之主。一十六國之王。莫不服道而傾心飡風而合掌。於是他化宮裏。乃敷十地。耆闍山上方會三乘。善吉談無得之宗。淨名顯不言之旨。伏十仙之外道。制六群之比丘。胸前則吐納江河。掌內則搖蕩山谷。論劫則方石屢盡。辯數則微塵可窮。斯乃三界之大師。萬古之獨步。吾自庸才談何以盡。縱使周公之制禮作樂。孔子之述易刪詩。予賜之言語。商偃之文學。爰及左元放葛仙子老聃河上公莊周之等。並區區於方內。何足道哉。若我師大法。人天軌模三千法式。洎流中夏益利淵深。廣療三毒傳照百燈。相繼不絕。胡可勝言。

We have heard that the Great Sage's adaptation to capacities and his traces are without fixed direction; wherever he manifests, there is none that is not benefited. Therefore, the truths are divided into the ultimate and the conventional, and matters are determined by form and mind. Relying on the provisional and the real, one ascends; availing oneself of the vehicle and the expedient, one compares below. Truly, because through birth, old age, sickness, and death there is never a time of emerging on one's own, in bodhi and nirvāṇa there can be the realization of cultivation and entry. However, the inner scriptures are limitless, spoken in response to capacities. Thus, the wheel of the Dharma was first turned in the Deer Park, and the saṃgha was first delivered with Kauṇḍinya. As for the Kāśyapa brothers, the friends [Śāriputra and] Maudgalyāyana, the great influence in the Western Regions, and the universal proclamation in the eastern quarters; the lords of the twenty-eight heavens and the kings of the sixteen states—none did not submit to the Way and incline their hearts, admiring his virtue and joining their palms. Thereupon, in the Palace of Paranirmitavaśavartin, he unfolded the ten stages; atop Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa, he brought together the three vehicles. Subhūti expounded the doctrine of non-attainment, and Vimalakīrti revealed the import of non-speaking. He subdued the non-Buddhists of the ten ṛṣis and restrained the bhikṣus of the group of six. In his chest he swallowed and poured forth rivers; in his palm he shook and swayed mountain valleys. In discussing kalpas, the square stone was repeatedly exhausted; in analyzing counts, even fine motes of dust could be fathomed. Truly, he is the Great Master of the tridhātu, walking alone across ten thousand ages. With my mediocre talent, how could I describe him fully? Even if the Duke of Zhou instituted rituals and created music, Confucius commented on the Changes and edited the Odes, Zigong and Ziyou possessed eloquence, and Zixia and Ziyou possessed literary scholarship; down to Zuo Yuanfang, Ge Xianzi, Laozi, the Master of the Riverbank, Zhuang Zhou, and their kind—they were all confined within the mundane realm; how could they be worth mentioning? As for our Master's Great Dharma, it is the model for humans and gods, the standard for the three-thousandfold world. When it flowed into the Central Xia, its benefits were deep and vast. Widely curing the three poisons, transmitting illumination like a hundred lamps, continuing unbroken—how could it be fully described?