續一切經音義 1.2

1.2

Now, it is heard that when pristine simplicity was harmed and virtue was weakened, humaneness and righteousness gradually unfolded. When knotting cords was abandoned and the milfoil and tortoise [oracles] were established, writing arose. Looking up to observe the heavenly phenomena and looking down to inspect earthly forms, Cangjie first instituted the ancient script, and Shi Zhou compiled the large seal script. Handed down across generations, it underwent alterations according to the times. The large seal and ancient scripts were slightly different in their application. Coming to the Zhou dynasty, the Official for Protectors of the Son of Heaven oversaw the state academy and taught the six principles of character formation according to the Way: pictograms, simple ideograms, compound ideograms, phono-semantic compounds, mutually annotating characters, and phonetic loan characters. These six are the foundation of character creation. Though worm-seal script evolved in form and ancient and modern scripts differed in graph, any departure from these six principles results in errors and confusion. At the end of the Spring and Autumn period, the teachings of the Protector were neglected. When Qin unified the empire, Prime Minister Li Si examined the Zhou script and separately created the small seal script. Clerks strove for simplification, and the variant forms became somewhat corrupt. Cheng Miao altered the script, which was called clerical script. With the rise of the Han dynasty, the study of calligraphy flourished: Yang Xiong authored the Xunzhuan in eighty-nine chapters, and Ban Gu added thirteen chapters, so that the characters used across the literature were generally complete. In the Later Han, Xu Shen assembled the scholarship of the various traditions of ancient, Zhou, and seal scripts, issuing an index of 540 radicals; using the clerical script for glosses and annotations, he composed the Shuowen jiezi. At that time, Cai Bojie, also lamenting that classical scholarship had fallen into decay, petitioned to establish the standard forms of the Five Classics, carving them on stone erected at the gates of the Imperial Academy; these were known as the Stone Classics. Furthermore, Lü Chen composed the Zilin in five fascicles to supply what had been omitted or missed by Xu and Cai. Coming down to the Tang dynasty, academies for the Shuowen, the Stone Classics, and the Zilin were established. During the Dali era, the Filial and Incorrupt candidate Yan Chuanjing, Director of Studies in the State Academy Zhang Shen, and others were commanded to standardize the orthodox forms of the characters of the Five Classics. There were also the Zhitong, the Zhijing, Mr. Lu's Shiwen, Zhang Shen's Kaosheng, the Yunpu, the Yunying, the Yunji, and the Yunlüe. Since authors and works were numerous, expansions and contractions coexisted. They all broadly drew upon the three histories and adduced proofs from the nine classics. If this writing possesses a distinct intent, then its meaning will be without discrepancy. The emergence of pronunciation and meaning thus has a longstanding origin. How much more so for the teachings of the World-Honoured One! The wondrous scriptures of the four Āgamas speak of phenomenal forms in the provisional teachings, while the true lineage of the eight classes displays the unconditioned (asaṃskṛta) in the absolute limit of reality (bhūtakoṭi). Absolute and conventional truths are both set forth; Chinese and Sanskrit are both comprehended. Making use of sounds, names, phrases, and characters as signifiers, they express bodhi and nirvāṇa as the realised object. Expounded from India, they were translated and spread to Cīna. Translated and transmitted back and forth, transcribed in ancient and modern times: in Sanskrit phonetics, a single character may have a twofold function, leading to errors regarding the rising and departing tones among the twelve vowels; numerous characters converge into one, causing doubt regarding nominative or accusative cases within the eight case inflections. Examining strokes and dots: for instance, yan (以冉) and shan (舒贍) are confused between the hand and wood radicals; zhang (知亮) and chang (丑仗) are mixed between heart and cloth radicals; xi (都奚) and di (直尼) are mistaken by adding the stepping-stride radical or the human radical; guan (古玩) and luo (胡瓦) are confused between the clothing radical and the altar radical; tao (吐刀) and chan (丑冉) are not distinguished; yao (以小) and xian (音陷), zhuang (側亮) and mu (莫后) are indistinguishable; niu (語求) and qiang (疾良) cause confusion; missing a single stroke renders shu into zai; lacking a dot impairs xie into fu. Errors of this sort are indeed rampant. If they are not investigated in detail, they will gradually distort the great meaning. Therefore, at the beginning of the Tang, there was the monk Xuanying, who uniquely exercised prior awakening and was naturally endowed with inborn knowledge. He clearly understood the different idioms of Chinese and Sanskrit and recognized rare characters from ancient and modern times. He first initiated this intention, diligently striving to examine them in detail; beginning with the ancient Huayan jing and concluding with the Abhidharmanyāyānusāra, he compiled twenty-five fascicles of Jingyin yi. Next, the monk Huiyuan compiled two fascicles of Xin Huayan yinyi. Furthermore, the monk Master Yun compiled two fascicles of Niepan yinyi. In addition, Master Ji of the Great Cien Temple compiled one fascicle of Fahua yinxun. However, either they were not comprehensive across the Tripiṭaka, or they were limited to a single scripture; when looking for glosses, gaps remained, and the compilations were disorderly. Toward the end of the Jianzhong era of the Tang, there was the monk Huilin. Internally he was meticulous in Esoteric Buddhism, entering the gate of dhāraṇī; externally he investigated the ink traditions, examining the essence of written characters. The subtleties of Indian śabdavidyā and the profundities of Chinese phonology: having received them as a filled vase from earlier masters, he also poured them out like a fountain to later students. Settling his mind for twenty years, he perused the complete Buddhist Canon, compiling a total of one hundred fascicles of pronunciation and meaning. Based on the Kaiyuan shijiao lu, beginning with the Mahāprajñāpāramitā and concluding with the Huming fa, the scriptures glossed totaled 5,048 fascicles in 480 wrappers. Following the Kaiyuan catalogue, successively translated scriptures and treatises, as well as supplementary Vinaya works and biographies, from the Mahāyāna-naya-ṣaṭpāramitā-sūtra through to the end of the Kaiyuan shijiao lu, totaled 266 fascicles in 25 wrappers. These were not recorded in the previous pronunciation [work], and they are what is continued now. Prostrating, I consider that the patron of the copy, Master Wu'ai, is innately endowed with sagacity and divinely bestowed with brilliant intelligence. He lectures comprehensively on all scriptures and extensively weaves commentaries and digests. Carrying on the transmission of the lamp is ever in his mind; benefiting living beings is his purpose. Seeing that the pronunciation and meaning was incomplete and worrying that deficiencies would remain when searching the texts, he accordingly sent a gracious letter commanding my humble self. Ordering me to face the light of the sun, I merely display the light of a firefly. However, there may be cases where character analyses are broad or concise, where explanations of meaning are shallow or deep, or where Chinese-Sanskrit translations diverge between ancient and modern times. Although I have relied on authoritative sources, I await future talents, hoping they will re-examine them in detail, so that no confusion remains.