大宋僧史略 1.4

1.4

As recorded in the Buddhist scriptures: the hells, hungry ghosts, and animals; Uttarakuru; the dīrghāyuṣo devāḥ; being born before or after a Buddha; blindness, deafness, and muteness; worldly knowledge and clever sophistry; and disbelieving and slandering the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṃgha—these are called the eight conditions lacking leisure (aṣṭāv akṣaṇāḥ). Those born into such conditions have deep and heavy impediments, lacking the leisure to cultivate the mind and remaining ignorant of the true Dharma; for long kalpas they are driven about, reincarnating without end. From this one knows that if worldly cleverness and mundane intellect do not penetrate the Buddhist scriptures, their understanding will be obscured to the true reality, and in practical affairs they will be like the blind and deaf. Boastful and showy, fancying themselves capable, they hinder goodness and revile the saṃgha, whom even the Buddha cannot save. In life they suffer demotion and exile, and in death they enter Avīci. Those who disobey Sovereign Heaven and bring about worldly turmoil are all of this kind. Turmoil is invariably caused by undermining the good, as is fully recorded in the Buddhist scriptures.
In our dynasty, Hanlin Academician Wang (Yucheng) spent his life writing works that rejected and reviled the Śākya clan; even Han Tuizhi of the Tang and our Song's Ou Yangshu—what Buddhist scriptures call Devamāra Pāpīyas, icchantika, and tīrthika—could not have surpassed him. Yet when he occasionally met an outstanding monk, he secretly respected him in his heart. I once read Duke Wang (Yucheng)'s collected works, which contain a poem presented to the Buddhist Registrar and Master of Study, Tonghui, which says: 'An imperial decree ordered the compilation of the history of the saṃgha on the shores of Zhejiang; amidst ten thousand volumes of books, he has grown old. Coming to the imperial court, he still rides Zhidun's horse; wielding his brush, he must await Zhongni’s lin-unicorn. Mist and snow shine upon the pine window at dawn; scattered moss blossoms fill the bamboo courtyard in spring. Would you allow me to pay a brief visit to your quiet study, even if it covers Master Tao's robes in dust?' His intention was privately to compare himself to Tao Pengze visiting Master Huiyuan, thereby elevating himself. Duke Ouyang Wenzhong also recorded the teasing words exchanged during the lantern festival between Hanlin Academician Wang and Buddhist Registrar Ning, which included the remark that the books of Qin and Zheng were preserved and not burned. Wang also wrote Ning's epitaph, which expressed sincere admiration and conviction, noting that Ning had a collected works in one hundred and seventy fascicles currently circulating in the world. Wang's slandering of the saṃgha and destruction of the Buddha was like that of wasps and scorpions, owls and beasts, barking at Yao and shooting at the phoenix—all under heaven know it. Why was it that he alone showed fraternal affection toward Tonghui, treating him as a master, composing poems and writing an inscription to praise him? It is because Tonghui's learning, conduct, talent, and knowledge were comparable to his own; birds of a feather flock together, so they naturally loved and respected one another. Moreover, concerning conventional compositions, their superiority or inferiority remains uncertain; but regarding studying the Buddha, illuminating the mind, and extensively comprehending the great teaching, Wang certainly fell short.
Furthermore, the vast, expansive, and magnificent words of the Śākya clan encompass the dharmadhātu and penetrate down to the paramāṇu. They sever delusion, transcend bondage, secretly accord with reality, and unite with the sagely. They forever cast off transmigration, perpetually leave the river of craving, depart the bewildering ford of ten thousand kalpas, and escape the nets of views of the caturmāra. Undestroyed through kalpas of disasters, they endure alongside empty space. Compared with worldly writing, the difference is truly between heaven and earth. When the Buddha appears to benefit beings, responding to great capacities, he divides his form through countless Padmagarbha realms and Buddha lands; receiving ordinary mortals, he manifests as a sixteen-foot body, the master of the three-thousandfold world. Thus did Xuan Ni (Confucius) revere him as the ultimate sage, and Laozi honor him: 'India is my teacher, named Buddha, awakening all the people.' He is the compassionate father of all under heaven, nurturing all living beings—the great sage who transcends the mundane world. How could the two sages, Kong and Lao, have revered him falsely? It was out of their modesty in feeling their goodness inadequate, guarding the feminine and keeping the weak, not daring to put themselves ahead of the world. Li Du, Prince Consort Commandant of our dynasty, inscribed a poem praising the Buddha at a monastery: 'Zhongni revered him as the ultimate sage; Laozi praised him as the ancient ruler. Above the heavens and below the heavens, there should be none to compare.' It was carved on a stele in the separate courtyard of the eastern corridor of Xiangguo Monastery.
Indeed, the Buddha radiated light before the Primal Beginning and cast his form at the origin of the Great Void. His clouds of compassion and rain of Dharma nourish all living beings; a thousand sages gladly revere him, and ten thousand spirits joyfully venerate him. It is entirely fitting that Xuan Ni and Boyang were pleased upon hearing of his fame, and admiring his virtue, took refuge in him. In the Tang, Li Shangyin praised him, saying: 'The teacher of us Confucians is Lu Zhongni; Zhongni took Dan the Dragon as his teacher. I know not whom Dan took as his teacher—it was India, who skillfully enters into unconditioned reality. I bow my head to the Correctly Enlightened One, the teacher of my teacher's teacher.' How splendid are these Confucian words! They truly understand the Buddha. Does not the scripture say: 'Except on Mount Malaya, sandalwood does not grow; all fine words are born within the Buddha's Dharma'? Before the Buddha appeared, conventional illusory phenomena had no names. In establishing his teachings, the Buddha comprehensively responded to all capacities; in summary, they do not exceed the two truths, ultimate and conventional. The ultimate explains the maxims of the wondrous principle and investigates the essential path of release from birth and death; the conventional encourages goodness and punishes evil, detailing karmic retribution for sins and blessings. Even texts on governing the world are the legacy of the Buddhas' transformation. Therefore the scripture says: 'All that pacifies the people and aids creatures in the world comes from the Buddhas.' After the extinction of the Dharma, Brahmins collected and extracted Buddhist scriptures, placed them into their own canons, and passed them to later generations. In the chiliocosm, every land has its standard canons: in India there are the four Vedas, and in this land there are the Five Classics and Three Histories. Therefore it is said: 'All dharmas are the Buddha Dharma.' How could this be mere empty words? Nowadays, Daoists plagiarize Buddhist scriptures to compile their own teachings, and half of the outer paths' scriptures are stolen from the Buddha Dharma; all knowledgeable persons know this.
Only Master Ning was extensively versed in both inner and outer learning, investigating both the ultimate and the conventional. Looking at what the Master compiled, from the sympathetic resonance of creatures to the most subtle arts and minor crafts, he gathered them all. This was out of a desire to study the Buddha and know all phenomena universally. In the fourth year of Chongning, an imperial edict conferred upon him the title Great Master Yuanming Tonghui, Compiler of the Historiography Institute and Buddhist Registrar of the Left Street in the Eastern Capital, so as to honor his learning and conduct. Of the Master’s works, only the thirty fascicles of the Da Song Gaoseng zhuan and the three fascicles of the Sengshi lüe entered the canon and were circulated by imperial decree; the rest have mostly disappeared. Finding this canonical edition amidst the fires of war: without this book, how could one know the history, principles, origins, and order of the Buddhist Dharma? If this text were allowed to fall to the ground, the Great Dharma would face sinking into oblivion. Therefore, I ventured to lead my fellow monks, giving rise to the mind of inner protection. Thereupon, the Buddhist Registrars and Vice Directors of the Two Streets, as well as past and present monastic officials and meditation and doctrinal lecturers of Lin'an Prefecture, jointly contributed surplus funds, ordered craftsmen to engrave the woodblocks, and attached them to the canon for circulation. Thereupon I copied Duke Wang's poem and Duke Ou's record to show to future generations, so that people of worldly knowledge and clever sophistry might come to believe in time. The worthies and sages of the three teachings ultimately return to one principle; thus, those submerged in the eight conditions lacking leisure may still be saved. Therefore, I compose this preface.