出三藏記集 8.11

8.11

摩訶般若波羅蜜者。出八地之由路。登十階之龍津也。夫淵府不足以盡其深美。故寄大以目之。水鏡未可以喻其澄朗。故假慧以稱之。造盡不足以得其崖極。故借度以明之。然則功託有無。度名所以立。照本靜末。慧目以之生。曠兼無外。大稱由以起。斯三名者。雖義涉有流而詣得非心。跡寄有用而功實非待。非心故以不住為宗。非待故以無照為本。本以無照則凝知於化始。宗以非心則忘功於行地。故啟章玄門。以不住為始。妙歸三慧。以無得為終。假號照其真。應行顯其明。無生冲其用。功德旍其深。大明要終以驗始。漚和即始以悟終。蕩蕩焉。真可謂大業者之通塗。畢佛乘者之要軌也。夫寶重故防深。功高故校廣。囑累之所以慇懃。功德之所以屢增。良有以也。而經來茲土。乃以秦言譯之。典摸乖於殊制。名實喪於不謹。致使求之彌至而失之彌遠。頓轡重關而窮路轉廣。不遇淵匠殆將墜矣。亡師安和上。鑿荒塗以開轍。摽玄指於性空。落乖蹤而直達。殆不以謬文為閡也。亹亹之功。思過其半。邁之遠矣。究摩羅什法師。慧心夙悟超拔特詣。天魔于而不能迴。淵識難而不能屈。扇龍樹之遺風。振慧響於此世。秦王感其來儀。時運開其凝滯。以弘始三年歲次星紀冬十二月二十日至長安。秦王扣其虛關。匠伯陶其淵致。虛關既闡乃正此文言。淵致既宣而出其釋論。渭濱流祇洹之化。西明啟如來之心。逍遙集德義之僧。京城溢道詠之音。末法中興將始於此乎。予既知命遇此真化。敢竭微誠屬當譯任。執筆之際三惟亡師五失及三不易之誨。則憂懼交懷。惕焉若厲。雖復履薄臨深。未足喻也。幸冀宗匠通鑒。文雖左右而旨不違中。遂謹受案譯敢當此任。以弘始五年歲在癸卯四月二十三日。於京城之北逍遙園中出此經。法師手執胡本口宣秦言。兩釋異音交辯文旨。秦王躬攬舊經。驗其得失。諮其通途。坦其宗致。與諸宿舊義業沙門釋慧恭僧䂮僧遷寶度慧精法欽道流僧叡道恢道㯹道恒道悰等五百餘人。詳其義旨。審其文中。然後書之。以其年十二月十五日出盡。校正檢括。明年四月二十三日乃訖。文雖粗定。以釋論撿之猶多不盡。是以隨出其論隨而正之。釋論既訖。爾乃文定。定之未已。已有寫而傳者。又有以意增損。私以般若波羅蜜為題者。致使文言舛錯前後不同。良由後生虛己懷薄信我情篤故也。胡本唯序品阿鞞跋致品魔品有名。餘者直第其事數而已。法師以名非佛制。唯存序品略其二目。其事數之名與舊不同者。皆是法師以義正之者也。如陰入持等名。與義乖故隨義改之。陰為眾。入為處。持為性。解脫為背捨。除入為勝處。意止為念處。意斷為正勤。覺意為菩提。直行為聖道。諸如此比。改之甚眾。胡音失者。正之以天竺。秦名謬者。定之以字義。不可變者。即而書之。是以異名斌然胡音殆半。斯實匠者之公謹。筆受之重慎也。幸冀遵實崇本之賢。推而體之。不以文撲見咎煩異見慎也。

Mahāprajñāpāramitā is the thoroughfare by which one emerges from the eight stages, the dragon-ford by which one ascends the ten levels. An abyss-treasury is insufficient to fathom its profound beauty, hence "great" is borrowed to designate it. A water-mirror cannot illustrate its clear lucidity, hence "wisdom" is applied to praise it. Reaching the end is insufficient to attain its ultimate bounds, hence "crossing over" is borrowed to illuminate it. Thus, its function relies on being and non-being, and so the name "crossing over" is established; it illumines the root and stills the branches, and so the designation of "wisdom" arises; it vast and universally encompasses without exterior, and so the title of "great" originates. Though these three names conceptually touch upon the realm of existence, their destination reaches non-mind; though their traces rely on the functional, their merit in truth depends on nothing. Because it is non-mind, non-abiding is made its principle; because it depends on nothing, non-illumination is made its root. Its root being non-illumination, knowledge congeals at the origin of transformation; its principle being non-mind, effort is forgotten in the stage of practice. Therefore, opening the chapter of the profound gate, it begins with non-abiding; wonderfully returning to the three wisdoms, it ends with non-attainment. Provisional names illumine its reality; responsive actions manifest its clarity; the unproduced empties its functioning; merits and virtues proclaim its depth. Great illumination anticipates the end to verify the beginning; expedient means (upāya) adheres to the beginning to awaken to the end. How vast! Truly it can be called the open thoroughfare of the great enterprise, the essential track that culminates the Buddha Vehicle! Because the treasure is precious, the defense is deep; because the merit is high, the comparison is broad. That the entrustment is so earnest and the merit is repeatedly multiplied is truly with good reason. Yet when the sūtra came to this land, it was translated into the speech of Qin; its canons and models departed from the differing rules, and name and reality were lost through lack of precision. This resulted in the search being ever more earnest while the departure grew ever more distant; reins pulled up at successive barriers, the blind alleys grew ever wider. Had it not met with profound masters, it would nearly have fallen into ruin. My late master, the Upādhyāya [Dao]an, cleared the barren paths to open ruts, and pointed out the profound purport in the emptiness of nature; he discarded discordant traces and arrived directly, hardly being obstructed by erroneous texts. In his tireless effort, his insight went more than halfway, surpassing others by far. Dharma Master Kumārajīva's insightful mind was enlightened early on, extraordinarily transcendent; heavenly demons lured him but could not turn him aside, and profound intellects questioned him but could not bend him. Fanning the lingering breeze of Nāgārjuna, he set the reverberation of wisdom ringing in this world. The King of Qin, moved by his coming, opened what had stagnated according to the opportune moment. In the third year of Hongshi, when the year was in the Star-Marker, on the twentieth day of the twelfth month in winter, he arrived in Chang'an. The King of Qin knocked at his empty gate, and the master artisan shaped his profound intent. Once the empty gate was thrown open, these texts and words were rectified; once the profound intent was proclaimed, his explanatory commentary was produced. On the banks of the Wei flowed the transformative influence of Jetavana; the Ximing [Monastery] opened the mind of the Tathāgata; the Xiaoyao [Garden] gathered monks of virtue and righteousness; and the capital overflowed with the sounds of chanting the Way. Is it not here that the middle-period revival in the Final Dharma age will begin? Having recognized my destiny and encountered this true teaching, I dared to exhaust my humble sincerity to undertake the translation assignment. At the moment of taking up the brush, thrice reflecting on my late master's instructions on the five losses and three difficulties, anxiety and fear mingled in my breast, terrified as if walking on the edge of a precipice; even treading on thin ice or standing before a deep abyss would not suffice as an analogy. Fortunately, relying on the universal discernment of the leading master, though the phrasing wavered, the purport did not depart from the middle; thereupon I reverently received and examined the translation, daring to undertake this responsibility. In the fifth year of Hongshi, the year being Guimao, on the twenty-third day of the fourth month, this sūtra was brought forth in the Xiaoyao Garden to the north of the capital. The Dharma Master held the Hu text in hand and orally proclaimed it in the speech of Qin; both explained the differing phonetics and mutually clarified the text's purport. The King of Qin personally held the old sūtra to verify its merits and defects, inquiring into its unobstructed path and laying open its essential purport. Together with more than five hundred senior and experienced śramaṇas of doctrinal accomplishment—Shi Huigong, Sengrui, Sengqian, Baodu, Huijing, Faqin, Daoliu, Sengrui, Daohui, Daobiao, Daoheng, Daochong, and others—they scrutinized the doctrinal purport, verified the text's core, and only then wrote it down. On the fifteenth day of the twelfth month of that year, the translation was completed. Through collation and verification, it was finally concluded on the twenty-third day of the fourth month of the following year. Although the text was roughly established, when examined against the explanatory commentary there was still much left incomplete; therefore, as the commentary was produced, the text was corrected accordingly. Only after the explanatory commentary was finished was the text established. Before this fixing was completed, there were already those who copied and transmitted it, and those who arbitrarily added or subtracted, privately giving it the title Prajñāpāramitā. This caused errors in the words and phrasing, making the earlier and later versions inconsistent. This was truly because later students lacked humility and harbored shallow views, having strong confidence in their own opinions. In the Hu original, only the Introductory Chapter, the Avaivartika Chapter, and the Māra Chapter had titles; the rest merely numbered their matters and items. The Dharma Master, considering that titles were not instituted by the Buddha, retained only the Introductory Chapter and omitted the other two headings. Where the names of these matters and items differed from the old ones, they were all rectified by the Dharma Master according to the meaning. For instance, names like yin, ru, and chi departed from the meaning, so they were altered according to the meaning: yin became zhong, ru became chu, chi became xing, jietuo became beishe, chuyu became shengchu, yizhi became nianchu, yiduan became zhengqin, jueyi became puti, and zhixing became shengdao. In cases such as these, the revisions were exceedingly numerous. Where Hu sounds were erroneous, they were corrected by means of Tianzhu; where Qin designations were mistaken, they were fixed according to the meaning of the characters. Those that could not be changed were written down as they were. Therefore, divergent names are varied and brilliant, with Hu pronunciations nearly half. This is truly the impartiality and prudence of the master, and the gravity and caution of the scribal recorder. It is my fortunate hope that the worthy who honor reality and revere the root will examine and embody this, neither blaming it for its plain phrasing nor suspecting it for its tedious differences.