出三藏記集 10.11

10.11

The surging of desire undergoes a hundred turns and a thousand transformations, and its fluctuations shape the teachings; how could they be confined to a single aspect? Therefore, the Fully Awakened One, according to the shifts of the mind, gave them the name of sūtras. When deviation ceases, it is called rectitude; when distraction ceases, it is called samādhi. Square or round according to the vessel, joining or dispersing in accord with custom: being adapted to the vessel, names are established based on substance; following custom, medicine is prescribed in response to the condition. Since the establishment of names is not fixed, the names possess a spiritual path; since the prescribing of medicine is not fixed, the medicine responds and connects with the cause. Being thus adaptable and penetrating the causes, the various practices unfold and become bound through the Dharma. Whether two, three, up to ten, it depends on the person; illnesses vary in number, and individuals serve as the category. Just as medicinal formulas have single and compound remedies, taking the pulse and observing the complexion serve to prescribe medicine according to the sickness. The dharmas collaborate to complete one another—is it not so? Ever since the Buddha passed into the hidden realm, what Ānanda transmitted was divided into the three baskets, continuing the former thread and classifying the various sūtras. In the Śrāvakayāna, they are the Āgamas; among the four collections, the Madhyama-āgama is the treasury of numerical categories, and the Abhidharma is the forest of numerical categories. Among the grand scholars and learned men of Chize, those who did not study the Abhidharma were indeed deficient. For those who build a boat to cross over, their substance is secure; for those who refine numerical categories to establish themselves, their achievement is fine. Therefore, whenever the Prajñā[-pāramitā] unfolds, it inevitably analyzes all dharmas through numbers and balances categories to form scriptures. These are the collar and throat of all sūtras, the crucial pivot of the Path. Can one not attend to it? Can one not attend to it? Ah! Among the former disciples, the one who did not forget the subtle numerical categories was Śāriputra. Following in his footsteps down to the present, it has a long tradition. Those who are devoted to this enterprise may yet fail to achieve it. In the land of Jin, Shigao was the most outstanding. Magnificent! His numerical teachings had a deep source and flowed clear; embracing virtue and bringing harmony, he spread fragrance in this realm. Although I, Dao'an, aspire to his lofty traces, I have no way to reach them. Yet in turning, circling, extinguishing, and cultivating, [the teaching] has not fallen to the ground. Unifying the mind without confusion to build accumulated habit, shifting the will to tread far, and changing one's nature to pursue the lofty—though one might wish to tire, one cannot. People also have a saying: 'A sage is the accumulation of human sentiments.' Since sagehood arises from accumulated labor between the forge and hammer, how could one stop? The general principle of sūtras is that different explanations lead to the same practice: different explanations clarify the destination of a single practice; the same practice indicates that its essentials cannot dispense with one another, so that practices must be performed together. Fulfilling their destination, they abide in the same place without becoming novel; not being novel, they arrive all at once without confusion; being practiced together, they gather densely without bewilderment. What is called knowing difference and knowing identity is great comprehension; having both identity and difference is called great completeness. Examining with this, how could the meaning remain hidden? How could the meaning remain hidden? In profound contemplation, nothing is finer than discerning identity and difference, yet those who find its gate are perhaps few; in lucidity, nothing surpasses distinguishing numerical categories, yet those who enter its chamber are scarce. Formerly, Yan Diao composed the Chapter-and-Phrase Commentary on the Ten Wisdoms, and Kang Senghui compiled the Essential Items of the Six Perfections; whenever I studied their traces, I rejoiced in gaining awakening. However, there are still omissions, and long-practiced teachings that remained unrecorded. Now I have excerpted and arranged them, entitling it The Meaning of the Ten Dharmapadas. As an explanation of what is routinely practiced, or as a compilation of what was not gathered in the past to bequeath to posterity, perhaps my peers may examine it.