釋氏要覽 1.3

1.3

昔我佛。妙正三身。圓成四智。不泥洹而自證。運漚和以度人。敷顯萬法。指真實際。導誨群性。了根本空。設三昧之門。嚴具足之相。盡有為之執。歸無生之忍。宗會覺海。實蕃淨徒。迨乎寂滅示往。結集垂言。經論以祖述。教法以摽闡。其為大也。至極含受而不可限量。其為小也。細而不遺視之弗見。窮無央之劫不可壞。終內有之識不能稱錯綜端緒。雖惟逮而莫周。恢博開解。非超越而不至。將不由徑儔為所依。則今要覽可由而致之也。靡涉西流知五竺之本末。不游法藏明萬行之節制。動息隨用而立軌。修習知趣而不迷。包括微著。詮乘諦以證之。昭灼品例。卷上下以勻之覽之者。猶若太陽升而萬境廓然矣。謂曰。真如非在句義。且夫一切之法。無礙相中。非學非知。應學應知。去聖彌遠。毛角差別。雖學雖知然後不足罔有行（去聲）向未臻而遠離於學可也。因地果位。繫之在功。今　誠公大師。博富於有聞。法施而留志。承佛威力。載集斯要。曰智曰慧。孰謂不敏。時　皇宋天禧四載李秋既望序而引之。

Formerly, our Buddha wondrously corrected the trikāya and fully perfected the four wisdoms; without entering nirvāṇa, he personally realized [awakening], and employed upāya to deliver people. Expounding and revealing the myriad dharmas, he pointed to the reality limit; guiding and instructing the multitudes, he comprehended original emptiness. He established the gate of samādhi, adorned the complete marks, extinguished attachments to the conditioned, and returned to the forbearance of the non-arising [of dharmas]. When they converged in the ocean of awakening, pure followers truly flourished. Coming to his display of departure into extinction, the councils were held to bequeath his words; scriptures and treatises were transmitted, and the teaching and Dharma were held aloft and clarified. As for their greatness, they encompass the ultimate and cannot be measured; as for their smallness, they are so minute that nothing is omitted, yet when gazed upon they cannot be seen. Exhausting unending kalpas, they cannot be destroyed; running the course of consciousness within existence, they cannot be weighed. Their intertwined threads and clues, though contemplated, cannot be fully grasped; their vast and expansive understanding, without transcendence, cannot be attained. If one does not follow a path, upon what can one rely? Then this present Yaolan can be followed to attain it. Without traveling the western currents, one knows the origins and ends of the five Tianzhus; without roaming the Dharma treasury, one illuminates the regulations of the myriad practices. In motion and rest, according with application, it establishes standards; in cultivation and practice, knowing the destination, one does not go astray. Encompassing the subtle and the manifest, it explains the vehicles and truths to verify them; clearly organizing categories and rules, it balances them across the upper and lower volumes. For one who peruses it, it is just like the sun ascending, whereupon the myriad realms become completely unobstructed. It may be said: Tathatā does not reside in words and phrases. Furthermore, among all dharmas in their unimpeded characteristics, there is neither study nor knowledge, yet one should study and should know. We are increasingly distant from the sage, with differences as fine as hairs and horns. Although studying and although knowing, one still feels inadequate; how could one whose practice and orientation have not yet reached [the goal] distance oneself from study? The cause ground and fruition stage depend upon effort. Now Master Cheng is extensively rich in what he has heard; dedicating himself to the Dharma gift, he maintained his resolve. Inheriting the Buddha's awesome power, he compiled this essential [record]. As for wisdom and sagacity, who would say he is not discerning? Written in the fourth year of the Tianxi era of the Great Song, in the month of the plum autumn, just after the full moon, as a preface and introduction.