出三藏記集 8.44

8.44

蓋維摩詰經者。先哲之格言。弥道之宏標也。其文微而婉。厥旨幽而遠。可謂唱高和寡。故舉世罕攬。然斯經梵本出自維耶離。在昔漢興始流茲土。于時有優婆塞支恭明。逮及於晉有法護叔蘭。此三賢者並博綜稽古研機極玄。殊方異音兼通關解。先後譯傳別為三經。同本人殊出異。或辭句出入先後不同。或有無離合多少各異。或方言訓古字乖趣同。或其文胡越其趣亦乖。或文義混雜在疑似之間。若此之比。其塗非一。若其偏執一經則失兼通之功。廣披其三則文煩難究。余是以合兩令相附。以明所出為本。以蘭所出為子。分章斷句使事類相從。令尋之者瞻上視下讀彼案此。足以釋乖迀之勞。易則易知矣。若能參考挍異極數通變。則萬流同歸百慮一至。庶可以闡大通於未寐。闔同異於均致。若其配不相儔儻失其類者。俟後明哲君子刊之從正。

The Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa is a standard discourse of former sages and a magnificent hallmark of the pervasive Way. Its text is subtle and graceful; its purport is profound and far-reaching. It may be said that its tune is high and its singers few, so the entire world rarely grasps it. Now, the Sanskrit text of this sūtra originated in Vaiśālī; formerly, when the Han arose, it first flowed into this land. At that time, there was the upāsaka Zhi Qian (Gongming); down to the Jin, there were Dharmarakṣa and Zhu Shulan. These three worthy men all broadly integrated ancient scholarship, probed subtlety, and penetrated the utmost mystery; they also had thorough fluency and understanding in the different sounds of various lands. Translating and transmitting successively, they made three distinct sūtras. Originating from the same root, their translators were different and their productions varied. Some differed in the inclusion or omission, or the sequence of phrasing; some differed in presence or absence, division or combination, quantity or brevity; some used regional vernaculars or archaic glosses, where the characters diverged while the intent was the same; in some cases, the phrasing was as distant as Hu and Yue, and their intents also diverged; or the text and meaning were mixed and confused, lying between doubt and likelihood. Instances such as these are of many kinds. If one is partial to a single sūtra, one loses the benefit of comprehensive mastery; if one broadly opens all three, the text is cumbersome and difficult to investigate. Therefore, I have combined two and made them conform: taking the version produced by [Zhi] Qian as the base, and taking the version produced by [Zhu Shu]lan as the dependent. I have divided chapters and marked off sentences so that matters of the same category follow one another, enabling those who consult it to look above and glance below, reading that one while examining this one, which suffices to relieve the labor of discrepancies and digressions. What is easy is indeed easy to know. If one can collate and compare the differences, exhausting the principles and understanding the transformations, then the myriad streams will return to the same [source], and the hundred deliberations will arrive at one [result]. I hope this may illuminate great comprehension for those who have not yet awakened, and unite similarities and differences into an equal purport. If there are places where the pairings do not match or perhaps lose their proper categories, I await later wise and discerning gentlemen to edit and rectify them.