出三藏記集 11
English (machine translation) 11
- Language
- English
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Compiled by the Śramaṇa Shi Sengyou of Jianchu Monastery in the Liang
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1. Preface to the *Mūlamadhyamakakārikā*, by Sengrui of Chang'an
2. Preface to the *Mūlamadhyamakakārikā*, by Dharma Master Tanying
3. Preface to the *Śataśāstra*, by Dharma Master Sengzhao
4. Preface to the *Dvādaśamukhaśāstra*, by Sengrui of Chang'an
5. Record of the *Tattvasiddhi-śāstra*, from the afterword to the treatise
6. Summary Record of the *Tattvasiddhi-śāstra*, newly compiled
7. Preface to the Abridged *Tattvasiddhi-śāstra*, by Zhou Yong
8. Preface to the Biography of Harivarman, by Xuanchang of Jiangling
9. Colophon to the *Bodhisattvaprātimokṣa*, author unknown
10. Preface on the Origins of the Transmission of the *Bhikṣuṇī-prātimokṣa*, from the foreword to the precepts
11. Preface to the *Bhikṣu Great Precepts*, from the foreword to the precepts
12. Preface to the Comparative Edition of the 260 Precepts for Great Bhikṣus across Three Recensions, by Zhu Tanwulan
13. Three Records (Foreword, Middle, and Afterword) to the Single Scroll of the Two Kinds of Dāna Rites for Nuns, the Twelve Miscellaneous Matters of the Summer Retreat, and Miscellaneous Matters Recently Produced in the Guanzhong Region
14. Colophon to the *Mātṛkā*, from the afterword to the sūtra
15. Record of the *Samantapāsādikā-vinayavibhāṣā*, from the foreword to the vinaya
16. Preface to the Names of the Thousand Buddhas, from the *Bhadrakalpika-sūtra*, by Zhu Tanwulan
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Preface to the *Mūlamadhyamakakārikā*, Number 1
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By Shi Sengrui
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The *Mūlamadhyamakakārikā* has five hundred verses; it was composed by Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna. It is named 'Middle' to illuminate its reality; it is termed 'Treatise' to exhaust its words. Reality cannot be comprehended without a name; therefore, it relies on 'the Middle' to proclaim it. Words cannot be fully grasped without explanation; therefore, it borrows 'Treatise' to clarify it. Once its reality is proclaimed and its words are clarified, then with regard to the bodhisattva's practice and the illumination at the site of enlightenment (bodhimaṇḍa), there is a clear and profound liberation.
Now, lingering delusions arise from inverted views, and the three realms sink and drown on their account; one-sided awakenings stem from averse knowledge, and uncompromising minds lead to estrangement on their account. Hence we know that great awakening lies in vast illumination, while small wisdom is tangled in a narrow heart. If illumination is not vast, it is insufficient to level existence and non-existence and unify the sacred and the conventional. If knowledge is not exhaustive, one cannot traverse the middle path and obliterate the two extremes. That the sacred and conventional are not leveled and the two extremes are not obliterated is the grief of the bodhisattva. Therefore, the great master Nāgārjuna broke through them with the Middle Way, causing those in deluded realms to gaze upon the dark purport and immediately transform; he pacified them with immediate transformation, causing visitors of profound awakening to lose their questions upon the dawn of breakthrough. Vast and boundless! He can truly be said to have leveled the road of principle upon the ethereal steps, opened the dark gate within the cosmos, fanned the wind of wisdom upon dry decay, and poured the sweet dew (amṛta) upon the withered and parched.
Now, when a structure of a hundred beams rises, one disdains the cramped meanness of a thatched hut; beholding the vast expanse of this treatise, one recognizes the vulgarity and baseness of one-sided awakenings. How fortunate that this small realm of China should suddenly be able to move Vulture Peak to serve as a bulwark! The coarse inclinations of this frontier region have thus received the lingering grace of this flowing light. From now on, worthy men who discuss the Way can at last converse about the real with it.
It is said that in the various kingdoms of India, all who dared venture into the ranks of scholars relished this treatise and treated it as vital. Those who dipped their brushes to set forth explanations were also quite numerous. What was translated here is the commentary of the Indian brāhmaṇa named Piṅgala, which means 'Blue Eyes' in the Qin language. Although this man had faith in and understanding of the profound Dharma, his phrasing was not elegant or balanced. Where it was incongruous, deficient, cumbersome, or repetitive, the Dharma Master [Kumārajīva] trimmed and supplemented it, so that the principle running through the scriptures was fully brought out; yet the style was occasionally uneven and not entirely perfected. The *Śataśāstra* deals with the external to ward off heresy; this text dispels the internal to wash away stagnation. The *Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa* is profound and extensive; the contemplation of the *Dvādaśamukhaśāstra* reaches the core of the matter. If one investigates these four, it is truly like the sun and moon entering one's breast: there is nothing that is not brightly mirrored and thoroughly understood. I savored and relished it, unable to put it down; thus, forgetting my own vulgar clumsiness, I entrusted my awakened feelings to a preface, and also listed the chapter meanings and placed them at the head. How could I expect to be capable of explaining it? It is merely out of a desire to rejoice in finding my own mind in accord with it.
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Preface to the *Mūlamadhyamakakārikā*, Number 2
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By Dharma Master [Tan]ying
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Now, the myriad transformations are not without a source, yet that which sources them is without mark. The empty source is not without an accordance, yet that which accords with it is without mind. Therefore, the consummate person, by means of the wondrous wisdom of no-mind, accords with that empty source of no-mark. Inner and outer are both obscured; conditions and cognition are alike quiescent. How could names and numbers find room therein? Yet, as the substance of those who aspire to the profound must have a course whereby to proceed, without names there is no means to grasp the numbers, and without numbers there is no means to model the source. Thus names were established to name it, and numbers were instituted to discriminate it. This being so, the arising of names and numbers arises from entanglements whereby one may approach the utmost, yet they are not the utmost itself. If indeed they are not the utmost, what permanence could they possess? For this reason, when the Tathāgata first attained true awakening, responding to beings and receiving the coarse, he opened it to them with existence; later, for the sake of the Great Vehicle, he taught the dharmas of emptiness. The teachings suited the occasions, and what was realized was non-dual. Coming down to the final age within the semblance teaching, people's faculties became superficial and their understanding of the Way grew dim. They ultimately discarded the fish and kept the trap, preserved the finger and forgot the moon: beholding the teaching of emptiness, they immediately claimed that sin and merit are both extinguished; hearing the explanation of marks, they immediately took them to be real. This caused existence and non-existence to arise in conflict, and arising and ceasing to contend by turns, so that the various extremes of annihilation and permanence sprang up in turmoil. At that time there was a great being whose name was Nāgārjuna. Entrusting himself to the ocean palace, he attained the forbearance of the non-arising of dharmas. Intent on aiding the ancestral teaching and uplifting the bequeathed doctrine, he composed a treatise to determine the mean. As for his intention in establishing the treatise, there is no word it does not probe to the limit, and no dharma it does not exhaust. Yet gathering its essential import, it synthesizes the two truths: because of the ultimate truth, there is no existence; because of the conventional truth, there is no non-existence. Because it is ultimate, there is no existence—hence though non-existent, it exists; because it is conventional, there is no non-existence—hence though existent, it is non-existent. Though existent, it is non-existent, and thus not entangled in existence; though non-existent, it exists, and thus not stranded in non-existence. Not stranded in non-existence, views of annihilation cease; not abiding in existence, permanence and the like melt away like ice. Quieting these various extremes—therefore it is named "Middle". Analyzing the subtle through questions and answers—this is why it is called a "treatise". Such was the overarching intent of the author. It is also called "Madhyamaka-darśana" (Middle Contemplation), merely because contemplation is discerned in the mind, while treatise is proclaimed by the mouth. (Master Kumārajīva produced it at the Great Monastery in the eleventh year of the Hongshi era of the Qin).
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Preface to the Śata-śāstra (Treatise in One Hundred Verses), Number Three
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By Shi Sengzhao
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The Śata-śāstra is a ford that connects to the holy mind, an essential treatise that discloses the ultimate truth. More than eight hundred years after the Buddha's nirvāṇa, there was a renunciant great being whose name was Deva. His profound mind had solitary awakening; his remarkable talent was lofty and bright. His virtue shone upon his age; his spirit transcended the mundane realm. Thus he was able to throw open the double barrier of the tripiṭaka and level the dark paths of the twelvefold [canon]. He walked supreme in Kapilavastu, serving as a moat and citadel for the Dharma. At that time, heterodox paths were rampant and divergent teachings competed to arise; their perverted eloquence approximated truth, almost throwing the right path into disorder. Looking up, he lamented the decline of the holy teachings; looking down, he pitied the abandoned delusion of the confused multitudes. Wishing to rescue the drowning afar, he composed this treatise, whereby he guarded the orthodox and checked the heterodox, making the ancestral ultimate brilliantly clear. In this way, orthodox transformation flourished through it, and heterodox ways declined through it. Were he not one who comprehended all subtleties, who could have produced such a work? As the treatise has one hundred verses, it takes "One Hundred" as its name. Its principles are deep and profound, gathering the essentials of the multitude of scriptures; its phrasing is gentle and concise, exhausting the beauty of composition. Yet its ultimate import is subtle and simple, so that few find its gate. There was the Bodhisattva Vasu, whose brilliant wisdom was internally harmonious and whose marvelous thought was extraordinarily penetrating; according from afar with the profound trace, he made an explanatory commentary for it, causing the submerged and hidden meanings to be revealed in splendid brushwork, recited, savored, spread, and extended to future generations. Its literary elegance is radiant, and its ancestral path easily understood. As a treatise, its words are without fixity; it refutes without clinging. At ease without any base, yet facts do not lose their truth; detached without reliance, yet principle naturally and profoundly accords. The way of returning to the source is manifest herein! There was the Indian śramaṇa Kumārajīva, whose capacity was profound and vast, whose exceptional spirit was transcendent and remote. Even after years of drilling and aspiring, he remained increasingly immeasurable. He constantly savored and chanted this treatise, taking it as an essential of the mind. Although he had personally translated it earlier, the local dialects were not yet harmonious, causing those who reflected on it to hesitate over erroneous phrasing, and those who determined positions to run counter to the ultimate goal. Yao Song, the Colonel of the Retainers and Marquess of Ancheng of the Great Qin, was of clear and relaxed charm, with an empty mind and refined excellence. Widely conversant in both inner and outer learning, he thoroughly understood both principle and thought. In his youth he was fond of the Great Way, and as he grew older became all the more devoted. Though bodily bound by current affairs, his discourse on the Dharma never ceased. Whenever he stroked this text, he felt deep regret. In the sixth year of the Hongshi era, the cyclical year being Shouxing, he gathered śramaṇas who appreciated the taste of principle to examine and rectify the original text together with Kumārajīva. Refining it and checking the commentary, they strived to preserve the treatise's purport, making it plain without being rustic, concise yet surely hitting the mark. The ancestral intent became distinctly clear, leaving no defect. The treatise has twenty chapters in all, each with five verses. As for the last ten chapters, that person considered them of no benefit to this land, and therefore omitted and did not transmit them. It is hoped that gentlemen of clear understanding will examine and peruse it.
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Preface to the Dvādaśanikāya-śāstra (Twelve Gate Treatise), Number Four
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By Master Sengrui
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The Dvādaśanikāya-śāstra is indeed the arbiter of the true mark, the essential track to the bodhimaṇḍa. The "twelve gates" are the great number that gathers the multitude of branches. "Gate" is the designation for opening through without obstruction. To "treatise" it is to desire to plumb its source and exhaust its principle. If one principle is not exhausted, then the multitude of differences will be in turmoil, resulting in the deviation of straying inclinations; if one source is not plumbed, then the multitude of paths will spread out, leaving traces of disparate directions. That disparate directions are not leveled and diverging inclinations are not abolished is the sorrow of the great being. Therefore, the Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna opened the path of origin for those who emerge, composing the twelve gates to rectify them. Rectifying them by means of the twelve, existence and non-existence are both made clear, and affairs are thoroughly exhausted. When affairs are exhausted in existence and non-existence, one forgets merit in the creation and transformation; when principle culminates in the empty position, one loses the self in the two limits. This being so, losing the self lies in shedding the trap, and forgetting the trap consists in relinquishing reliance. When trap and self are both forgotten, one may then approach the real. Approaching the real, emptiness and reality are both obscured, and gain and loss are boundless. Obscured and boundless, one can forget the haste in the two profundities, and eliminate stumbling into a single accord, directing the returning carriage toward the bodhimaṇḍa, and fulfilling the aspiring mind in the Buddha-stage. Boundless indeed! He may truly be said to wield the empty blade in that which has no crevices, to play the inaudible sound within the realm, to rescue the drowned and lost at the profound ford, and to carry existence and non-existence beyond the worldly bounds. How fortunate are later students! The level path is already smooth, and the dark track already opened; truly they may sound the carriage bells in the Northern Darkness, and drive the white ox back toward the South, awakening to the Great Awakening in the dream realm, and resting in peace by immediate recourse to the hundred transformations. Such being the case, how could one further know the sun when it is in its zenith, or the dark earth when it has not yet ceased? Rui, with the shallow understanding of a base and vulgar person, still ventures in bright sincerity and empty receptivity to harbor aspiration for the ancestral ultimate, hoping for what is fitting in daily practice and trusting that yearly reckoning may yield fruit. How much more so for those of exquisite talent! Unable to overcome the utmost reverent admiration, I venture with blunt phrasing and short thought to preface and set it forth, additionally listing the chapter headings at the beginning. How could this be beneficial? I merely hope by this mind to open a path for my own advancement. (Master Kumārajīva produced it at the Great Monastery in the eleventh year of the Hongshi era of the Qin).
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Record of the Tattvasiddhi-śāstra (Chéngshí lùn), Number Five
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From the colophon of the treatise
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On the eighth day of the ninth month in the thirteenth year of the Hongshi era of the Great Qin, the cyclical year being Shiwei, Yao Xian, Director of the Department of State Affairs, requested the production of this treatise; it was concluded on the fifteenth day of the ninth month of the following year. The foreign Dharma Master Kumārajīva held the Indian text in hand and translated it orally himself, with Tan'gui serving as scribal recorder.
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Record of the Abridged Tattvasiddhi-śāstra, Number Six
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Newly composed
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The Tattvasiddhi-śāstra in sixteen fascicles was produced by Master Kumārajīva in Chang'an, with Tan'gui as the scribal recorder and Tanying making the fair copy. Ying, wishing to make the text profound, later rearranged it into five divisions on his own; the rest all followed the old text. In the tenth month of the seventh year of the Yongming era of the Qi, Prince Wenxuan gathered more than five hundred eminent monks of great learning from the capital, and invited Master Sengrou of Dinglin Monastery and Master Huici of Xie Monastery to take turns lecturing on it at Puhong Monastery, wishing to make them investigate its dark subtleties and resolve questionable attachments while seated. He further requested Sengyou and Master Zhicheng of Anle Monastery to assemble more than seven hundred famous and virtuous individuals from the two assemblies of the nun community to continue lecturing on the Daśādhyāya-vinaya, aspiring to cause the four assemblies to purify their karmas and return to purity. The Prince consistently considered the Mahāyāna sūtras to be deep and profound, the ford that fulfills the Way, and the pivot of the True Dharma; yet in recent generations they had declined, with none earnestly cultivating them, abandoning the root to pursue the branches and wasting effort on verbose treatises. Therefore, right at the Vinaya seat, he instructed Rou, Ci, and other masters of treatises to excerpt and collate the Tattvasiddhi, pruning the verbose and preserving the essentials, abridging it into nine fascicles so that with concise phrasing and prominent principle it would be easy to study and investigate. On the twenty-third day of the first month of the eighth year, the assembly was dissolved, and offerings of three grades corresponding to the three karmas were separately distributed to reward those who had merit and encourage those who fell short: the highest received more than thirty items, the middle about twenty kinds, and the lowest merely several articles. Thereupon one hundred copies of the abridged treatise were transcribed and circulated, and Zhou Yong was instructed to compose a preface to the treatise. It is now recorded below.
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Preface to the Excerpted Tattvasiddhi-śāstra, Number Seven
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Composed by Zhou Yong
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When we examine the composition of treatises on the numbers (abhidharma), although their production arose during later compilations and did not issue from a single voice, nevertheless, in opening schools and naming divisions, each without exception had an extensive lineage, all being sufficient to encompass names and numbers and the rise and fall of the Vaipulya teachings; their toilsome labor and manifest benefits cannot be measured in words. As for the Tattvasiddhi-śāstra, it gathers the secret numbers of the three vehicles and plumbs the subtle elucidation of mind and matter; indicating causes and determining fruits, understanding and delusion run alongside one another, so that the pivots of the minds of ordinary persons and sages are completely revealed within it. Moreover, in its design as a text, it takes treatises on established positions as its basis; its restraint and release, concealment and expression, all possess standard rules. Gentle yet penetrating, its every move touches on encouragement and benefit. From the very beginning of the "Section on the Inception" to the final chapter of the "Section on the Path", its two hundred and two chapters are interwoven like fish scales and glistening colors: there are none whose words do not issue from the profound scriptures, yet whose meanings are not mired in heterodox gates. Therefore, it necessarily adduces line and compass from afar, and sets out regulations in minute detail, distinguishing the similar, cleansing the divergent, and firmly planting a clear path; its efficacious aid is truly conspicuous in this regard. Since its efficacy is proclaimed in the correct sūtras, it is untainted by heterodox learning; though it is a recent offshoot and small stream, it actually brings change to the square teachings. Therefore, the contemporary students all say that their aspiration resides in the great scriptures, yet on the day they set out, there are none who do not rely on crossing by this path. Boarding the ford and braving the waters, they originally anticipated a long journey; yet the words of this book are refined and its principles abundant, so that its flavor of thought is easily indulged in. Recently they have vied to plunge into its rushing stream, treading one upon the other's heels. Furthermore, its fascicles being vast and its principles complicated, it is difficult to exhaust one's efforts on it; thus, journeying far and not returning, they ultimately hinder their proper task. Recently, although the Nirvāṇa and Lotus Sūtras are occasionally lectured upon, and the Vimalakīrti and Śrīmālā are somewhat attended to in spare sessions, as for the refined principles of the Pañcaviṃśati-sāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā, teachers are rather sparse, and the profound vastness of the Daśabhūmika is about to perish from worldly study. This is all due to reposing within the treatise masters and seeking equality among those who have lost their bearings from infancy. This has caused the great scriptures to become overgrown with weeds and the lineage of principle to be suspended in practice. Speaking of this brings lament and sorrow; tossing in bed, one forgets to rest. Since the Tattvasiddhi has merit for the orthodox seal, the matter cannot be dispensed with; yet students have followed the flow into where they plunge, so this affliction should be trimmed. Now, wishing internally to preserve the merit of the Tattvasiddhi and externally to relieve the anxiety of scholars, we have weighed and selected talents of the treatise, thoroughly investigating the urgent and the relaxed, cutting the text to brevity and reducing it to nine fascicles. By deleting the prolix and selecting the essentials to obtain efficacy for the fundamental root, assistance to the Vaipulya will not be lacking, and half the troubles of students will be dispersed. Thus merit will return to the utmost scriptures and their Way will spread ever wider, so that the various Prajñā sūtras do not fall to the ground. The practice lies in the source of the mind, so we hope it avoids the fault of curtailment. The complete scripture remains complete; how could it hinder those fond of learning? Those who mutually grasp the meaning in the mind of the Way may rejoice in accordance without prior consultation.
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Preface to the Biography of Harivarman, Number Eight
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Composed by Xuanchang of Jiangling
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I observe that Harivarman composed a treatise to illuminate the scriptures, its critical pivot and meaning profound, a work pursued by later scholars. Master Chang of Jingzhou composed a biography that somewhat verified the facts of his life. Therefore, I have additionally recorded and appended it to the end of the prefaces. Although it deviates from the category, its manifest verification is identical.
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Harivarman—called Shizikai in the Song—appeared nine hundred years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, born as the son of a brāhmaṇa in Central India. In his birth, he was truly one born destined for his age: in childhood his spiritual promise was preeminent, and in adulthood his thought encompassed transformation and adaptation. As for secular classics and the Vedas, along with unusual techniques of yin and yang, and Tiśya's lofty treatises, as well as external questioning and disputations, all of them he investigated in their profundity once they crossed his ears, and exhausted their subtleties once met by his mind. Yet he considered secular teachings mere inherited conventions, not the essential core of the mind. Encountering a brāhmaṇa who guided him to the true track, he thereupon pulled out his hairpin and changed his robes, becoming a disciple of Kumāralāta, a śramaṇa of the Sarvāstivāda school. His master, recognizing his extraordinary capacity, at once instructed him in renowned scriptures: the Great Abhidharma composed by Kātyāyana, which had several thousand verses, transmitting it to him with the words: 'This treatise is indeed the comprehensive model for the scriptures and the essential summary of the tripiṭaka. If you can investigate it with single-minded devotion, your awakening to the Way will not be far off.' Thereupon Harivarman reverently accepted and studied it; before a month had passed, he had mastered its text and meaning. He then sighed with deep feeling and said: 'I have heard that the Buddha's intent is vacant and serene, beyond the reach of names and characteristics; its spirit is clear and wonderfully transcendent, rarely plumbed by ordinary sentiments. For this reason the ancient masters revered and respected it, and I too focused my mind in turning to it with devotion. As for what has been received today, I see only superficial prolixity impeding the mind, and fragmented divisions harming the intent. A sūtra says: "Names and characteristics ultimately possess no marvelous distinction." If this was taken as the gradual accommodation to the times by the ancient sages answering their era, then this is the stream of teaching, not the source of transformation.' Thereupon, within several years, he plumbed the purport of the tripiṭaka and investigated the origin of the nine streams; only then did he realize that the five schools established the foundation for wandering astray, and Kātyāyana initiated the beginning of biased contention. In confusing disarray their legacy was left, their plans diverging into a hundred ruts, causing those who seek the central lineage to be blinded by its prolix text, and those who seek the teaching to be confused by its divergent tracks. When the source is identical yet the branches differ, it is indeed a sign of impending decline; that the collapsed guidelines are not restored is also a sorrow for those who propagate the Way. He thereupon spoke openly against the five differences and disputed with the masters to correct them, striving to follow the great standard and taking his stand without deference. He was so sharp and agile that his spearheads rose everywhere, embracing all accomplished masters; his eloquence flowed like a hanging river, his clear replies meeting no obstruction. At that time the masters were shaken like thunder, looking at each other at a loss. Later, gathering on another day, they deliberated: 'This youth relies on his brilliance to trample upon the seniors of long standing; his statements have roots and branches and cannot easily be overturned. Now that we are advanced in years and meet with such a turn of fortune, what should we do?' Someone among the debaters said: 'Is it only that this youth's talent and brilliance surpass others? It is rather that our scriptures and treatises are easily exhausted. We think that learning knows no self-sufficiency: when in darkness, one consults the bright. The distinction between clarity and obscurity is already evident; why stubbornly cling to biased knowledge and refuse to learn from broad perspective?' The senior elders said: 'We indeed admire his brilliance deeply, yet we have occupied the world's venerable position for a long time. It is clear that we cannot suddenly abandon our long-standing vocation to seek instruction from a youth. Why is this so? The roots are identical while the leaves disperse—such is the nature of forms and numbers. The rise of the five schools has its own origin. We need only reinforce our original vocation and practice it reverently. Having been born at the end of a thousand years, who can trace back to the beginning of the correct Dharma from afar? Moreover, when Harivarman first pulled out his hairpin, he received the Way from our group; later participating in divergent studies, he had already separated himself from our community. Because masters and ancestors differ, the five schools do not depart from the regulation of expelling dissenters. The former master's ancient scriptures may fortunately be transmitted, while his individual insight may save him from the conformist crowd.' Since Harivarman possessed grand talent and free-spirited detachment, with a broad mind and far-reaching capacity, though public rebukes clamored around him, he remained proud, composed, and deeply realized, forgetting self-interest and traveling clearly in the ordinary path. His spiritual function was calm and profound; choosing his tree, he altered his steps. At that time there were monks of the Mahāsāṃghika school dwelling in Pāṭaliputra, all revering the Mahāyāna, saying it was the root of the five schools. Having long heard that Harivarman's talent surpassed the eminent crowd and was envied by the masters, they sighed together and invited him to dwell with them. Thereupon he was able to apply his mind to the Vaipulya and concentrate his intent on the ninefold division of scriptures, collecting subtle words and searching out hidden meanings. He then broadly cited the discussions of the hundred schools and various streams to test the arguments regarding the profundities, open passages, and blockages of the scriptures. He refined the five schools and critically reviewed their divergent tenets; he investigated Kātyāyana and rejected his biased errors; discarding prolixity and abandoning the branches, he longed to preserve and return to the root. Thus he composed an illuminating treatise entitled the Tattvasiddhi (Chéngshí lùn). Revering and adhering to the tripiṭaka, he set forth the four noble truths in proper order, brightly explaining the ultimate standard across two hundred and two chapters. His intent lay in unifying the lineage and gloriously exalting the bequeathed tracks, hoping to put an end to divergent contentions and together follow universal salvation. When this treatise was promulgated, its profound elegance drew crowds; within ten days it shook Magadha. At that time in India there was a non-Buddhist dialectician, said to be a disciple of Ulūka, whose clear discernment was unconstrained and who always set forth arguments mocking the orthodox. Traveling through various states to challenge others, none could master him. Hearing that the king of Pāṭaliputra revered the Three Jewels, he wished to obstruct the king's faith and also make his name resound in distant regions; so he took his staff and traveled south of the Gaṅgā directly to Magadha. The king was displeased to hear this, and at once issued a summons throughout his territory: whoever could defeat him in debate would be honored as the National Master. The heroes across the whole realm feared his high reputation, and all said: 'Unless one has the talent of Harivarman, who is equal to this undertaking?' Hearing this, the king was delighted and immediately gave orders to welcome him reverently. When Harivarman arrived, the king invited him to ascend the debate hall and bade him determine the truth between the two with the non-Buddhist. At that time the non-Buddhist's ambition reached the clouds; proudly chanting, he said: 'Our great master Kaṇāda was magnificent, relied upon as a teacher of the world. In extensive phrasing, the six categories are linked together; in concise purport, consciousness differs from the soul. The soul is the master of consciousness; annihilation alone is our tenet. Should anyone dare oppose this, let my head be cut off in apology!' Harivarman, possessing grand talent transcending the world, looked upon him lightly; his spiritual promise soared to the skies, and the expression of his face did not change. With deep emotion he replied: 'How strange is your discourse! The reason you have traveled across distant lands is to exalt your soul and augment your consciousness. Yet taking annihilation as your tenet, you slander your own purport. Do you lack consciousness? Can the soul be annihilated? Since the soul is not consciousness, does the soul know consciousness, or does consciousness know the soul? If the soul knows consciousness, who knows the soul? If consciousness knows the soul, is consciousness also the soul?' The non-Buddhist then drew back and doubted himself, saying: 'If the principle must be annihilation, then I have no consciousness. If consciousness knows the soul, then the soul is not the primary tenet.' Thereupon, contemplating deeply, he admitted defeat, submissive in both mind and body. The king, his ministers, and the common people rejoiced beyond measure, and together with the whole land honored Harivarman as the National Master. The king then reprimanded Harivarman's former community for having previously envied a worthy of renown. The original community looked at each other with shame and deficiency; all of them yielded and earnestly invited him back to his old residence. The king also said: 'Subduing the heterodox and returning to the orthodox—how vast is his virtue! Yet the worthy ones who propagate the teaching still hold divergent pursuits, opposing the bequeathed fish-traps and throwing the model into confusion. We request that he examine and unify them, so that the errant and benighted may revere the bright.' The king immediately proclaimed him the Great Ancestor of the Semblance Teaching. As a result, debaters from the eight directions and those of profound differences, moved by the desire to resolve past doubts, assembled like companions bound by a pledge. With peerless talent and transcendent eloquence, Harivarman always sought to take the sage as his teacher, adhere to the scriptures, integrate the silent, and harmonize the divergent. He then broadly adduced the open and blocked paths of the tripiṭaka, completely closing off the routes of contention among the five schools; he interrogated what they clung to, resolved what they found difficult, and his illuminating eloquence was expansive, encompassing all doctrines. Facing order and disorder, he responded to the key impetus, his spiritual mastery as though effortless. Thereupon the renowned heroes from all quarters could harbor no differing views; all abandoned their separate schemes and received the true track of the Way. Pure transformation flourished because of this, and heterodox mists dispersed because of this. Were it not for one whose spirit matched the true ford and whose Way joined the profound purport, who could sweep away and settle all differences, causing people to discard selfhood and seek universality? Thus I have roughly set forth the beginning and end, leaving it to those who take pleasure in such matters. (Biographies of the great masters who composed the treatises on enumeration were all collected under the Sarvāstivāda school; since this master was not included in those biographies, his account is appended here.)
11.28
Ninth: Postscript to the Bodhisattva Prātimokṣa
11.29
Author unknown
11.30
Form is traced to the beginningless origin of the profound; the myriad practices begin with the profound omen of faith in the precepts. For this reason, Master Kumārajīva from India held it in his heart and recited it. Kumārajīva said: 'These precepts come from the Fanwang jing (Brahmajāla-sūtra).' Master Kumārajīva in his youth took delight in the great expanse, matching the heterodox doctrines in Kapilavastu; his pure wind blew eastwards. Therefore, in the third year of Hongshi, the Qin king, whose Dao matched the accomplishments of a hundred kings, set his mind on the Great Dharma. In the Xiaoyao Garden, three thousand scholars along with Kumārajīva examined and settled more than fifty works of Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna scriptures; only the Bodhisattva's ten major precepts and forty-eight minor infractions were recited out last. At that time, three hundred persons, including Daorong and Sengying, received and practiced them together, cultivating the Bodhisattva Path. How could this benefit only that era? It was indeed a ford across continuous kalpas. Therefore Huirong copied three thousand fascicles to circulate them to later generations, transmitting them from recitation to recitation to entrust them to future students. Gentlemen who delight in the Way: may this not cease in coming kalpas, so that together we may see the thousand Buddhas and sit together beneath the dragon-flower tree!
11.31
Tenth: Preface on the Origin and Transmission of the Bhikṣuṇī Prātimokṣa (Preceding the Prātimokṣa; produced during the reign of Emperor Xiaowu of the Jin)
11.32
In the kingdom of Kucha, monasteries are exceedingly numerous and adorned with utmost beauty. In the royal palace, carved images of the Buddha are erected, no different from those in monasteries. There is a monastery named Damulan (with 170 monks), a northern mountain monastery named Zhelilan (with 50 monks), King Jianmu's Xinlan (with 60 monks), and King Wensu's Lan (with 70 monks).
11.33
The four monasteries above were governed by Fotushemi. The monks of the monasteries all changed their rooms and bed-seats every three months, or changed monasteries; those who had not completed five summer retreats were not permitted to spend a single night without reliance. The King's New Saṃghārāma (90 monks; there was a young śramaṇa named Kumāra, of great talent and lofty brilliance, studying Mahāyāna, who was master and disciple with Shemi, whereas Shemi was a student of the Āgamas); the Ali Monastery (180 bhikṣuṇīs); the Shu Ruogan Monastery (50 bhikṣuṇīs); the Aliba Monastery (30 bhikṣuṇī ascetics)—the bhikṣuṇīs of the three monasteries above all relied on Shemi to receive the Dharma and precepts; under foreign law, bhikṣuṇīs are not permitted to be independent. The nuns of these three monasteries were mostly wives and daughters of kings and nobles east of the Congling (Pamir) Mountains, gathering from afar for the sake of the Way. These monasteries ordered themselves by their own regulations, having strict restraints; they also changed rooms every three months, or changed monasteries. When going out, they never walked without three senior nuns. Most upheld the five hundred precepts; if anyone spent a night without a teacher, they were immediately reprimanded. The Great Bhikṣuṇī Prātimokṣa now produced is that which was regularly used in these monasteries. Shemi was initially unwilling to let this prātimokṣa come east; Sengchun and others sought it with utmost diligence, constantly lamenting this. Later, Fazheng arrived; it was solely through him that this prātimokṣa was finally obtained. Understanding form so as to extinguish lust does not lie in stopping alluring adornment; lacking desire so as to stop theft does not lie in carefully locking things away. If one understands form, there is no passion for external appearance; what need is there to calculate whether the appearance is adorned or not? If one lacks desire, there is no attachment to pearls and jade; why bother about loose storage or tight binding? This is what is meant by: 'Without bolts, yet it cannot be opened; without bindings, yet it cannot be untied.' Such being the inner restraint, externally they also disfigure their looks and wear coarse robes, their deportment conforming to the rules, not looking at what is not Dharma, not eating at improper times, their bodies like rotten pillars and their minds like damp ashes—this is what these precepts mean. Is it not because the Sage is good at saving people that no person is abandoned? However, women's minds are weak and often unrestrained; the Buddha discerned their subtleties, so the prevention ought to be strict. For this reason, the established precepts are always double those for men. The Great Dharma has flowed here for over five hundred years, yet the Great Bhikṣuṇī Prātimokṣa had no clear text. Inferring from this, foreign religious masters also found such people difficult [to regulate]. In recent years, Fatai despised those who were teachers of men in his time, residing in a great domain yet passively watching without having a single complete vinaya for the saṃgha sought out and produced; in the end it could not be made complete. In the past, I obtained the Daluqing Bhikṣuṇī Precepts, but by mistake received a box of its medical recipes; I kept it with me for over twenty years, with no one to translate it. Recently, wishing to compare and produce it, I found it was completely not the nuns' precepts; only then did I realize that communication was obstructed to such a degree. Fortunately, Sengchun came from Kucha and obtained this prātimokṣa text, causing Zhu Fonian, Dharmadharma, and Huichang to transmit it, so that this single vinaya corpus could finally be completed. Yet propagation depends on the person; I do not know whether such people can revere and practice it. (The text of these precepts often differs from the present precepts; female learners are still called śikṣamāṇās.)
11.34
Eleventh: Preface to the Great Bhikṣu Prātimokṣa
11.35
Composed by Shi Dao'an
11.36
The World-Honored One established three teachings: the first is the moral precepts and discipline (vinaya), the second is meditative concentration (dhyāna), and the third is wisdom (prajñā). These three are the portal to the ultimate Way and the critical nexus of nirvāṇa. Precepts are the Ganjiang sword that severs the three evil destinies; meditation is the sharp instrument that cuts off distraction; wisdom is the wondrous physician who matches medicine to disease. If one is complete in these three, what difficulty can there be in attaining the Way? However, their application has a sequence: whether lay or monastic, none does not take precepts as the foundation. Why is this? Though governing mere physical forms, the body is the boat and carriage for hundreds of practices. If for an instant one is not prudent and dignified, the intention to violate the precepts will enter. Once the intention to violate the precepts has entered, to then hope not to enter the three evil destinies is something never heard of before. Therefore, the Tathāgata placed [vinaya] at the head of the Tripiṭaka. Foreign lands esteem the vinaya; every monastery establishes a vinaya master. Month after month, they assemble together to recite the precepts. On the day of reciting the precepts, through the entire night until dawn, they chant the incisive instructions, holding and disciplining one another. Those who transgress the vinaya are unfailingly impeached, like falcons pursuing sparrows. The Great Dharma flowed east not long ago. Our masters first received ordination under the Qin; moreover, among translators, few collated and examined carefully. What earlier men transmitted was inherited and taken as correct. When it came to the Venerable Cheng, he rectified much. Formerly, when I was in Ye, I studied these matters in my youth; before I could investigate the precepts, I encountered an age of disorder and was always dissatisfied at not having thoroughly mastered this. When the year was in Chunhuo (382 CE), I traveled from Xiangyang to the region west of the Pass. I met the foreign cleric Dharmanandi, who recited the Abhidharma and was well versed in the Vinaya. I then instructed the Liangzhou śramaṇa Zhu Fonian to transcribe the Indic text, Daoxian to translate it, and Huichang to act as scribal recorder. Passing through summer and approaching winter, the text was finally completed. When examining the earlier widely circulated worldly precepts, their errors were numerous: some diverged in phrasing and import, while others only roughly gave the gist. Formerly, I obtained a set of precepts from Faqian of Wusui; its wording was cumbersome and direct, and I often lamented it in my mind. But now, the rules and regulations in [Dharma]nandi's precepts are identical with it, like matching two tallies—once stepping out the gate, they completely correspond! Only then did I realize that what seemed bland and flavorless was precisely the straightforward flavor of the Way. Yet I was dissatisfied with its scrupulousness and its texts having many repetitions, and so I immediately ordered Huichang to prune the burdensome and remove the redundant. Huichang then rose from his mat and said, 'It is greatly improper to do so! The precepts are like ritual decorum: in ritual decorum, one upholds it without altering its recitation, esteeming ancient regulations and showing caution in every movement. The precepts were formulated directly through the mark of the broad and long tongue and the three penetrations of the heart; the holy sages of the eight ranks treasure and prize them. Master transmits them to master; if a single word departs from the original, one is banished without pardon. Vinaya masters in foreign lands are truly like this in fact. In this land, regarding the Shangshu and the writings of the Yellow River and Luo River, their texts are plain and unadorned, yet no one dares lay a hand on them, manifesting reverence for the statutory words of ancient kings and compliance with divine mandates. How could it be that with the Buddha's precepts, which are prized by sages and worthies, they may be altered to conform to local idioms? I fear this would lose the strict teaching of the four reliances. Rather than clever convenience, it is better to preserve elegant correctness. Translating Hu into Chinese, scholars of the Eastern teachings might still criticize it; I pray that you will not pare it down merely to pursue embellishment!' The assembly all praised this as good. Thereupon, following the Indic text, we only accommodated the phrasing where words were inverted. The previously translated thirteen matters concerning raising funds within the interior chamber and consulting with donors; the thirty matters concerning visiting families of high status, variegated red embroidered garments, and the rules of the seven causes and conditions—instances like these missed the import in many places. If future students truly wish to seek the elegant words of the ancient sages, they should examine this in detail. All translations into the language of Qin that are convenient, brief, and uncumbersome are like grape wine diluted with water. Foreigners say that the precepts have seven categories, whereas previously translated precepts all have eight categories. Now, the precepts have seven [classes of] repentance, followed by the śaikṣa-karaṇīya. The śaikṣa-karaṇīya clearly has one hundred and seven matters. As such, there are seven categories. Another tradition has it that the śaikṣa-karaṇīya has one hundred and ten matters. I was dissatisfied with its excess. [Dharma]nandi said, 'From the vinaya master I orally received them, recording them ten by ten without any surplus.' Later, when Sengchun was in the country of Kucha at the place of Buddhasmṛti, he obtained the bhikṣuṇī prātimokṣa and brought it out; it was exactly the same as [Dharma]nandi's, having one hundred and ten [matters]. Only then did I know that it was truly not excessive. Thus, the bhikṣu precepts do not stop at two hundred and fifty, and the bhikṣuṇī precepts do not stop at five hundred. In the bhikṣu prātimokṣa, when about to recite the precepts, the karmadāna goes before the hall and proclaims, 'Those who are impure, go out!' Next, he says, 'Yubamen nubolopichu' (meaning: 'Great śramaṇas may enter', proclaimed three times). Afterward, he enters and chants the distribution of tallies, saying, 'Epo hantu (quiet and tranquil), asu (born), hanluo zhelishi (distributing tallies), pusatuo (poṣadha / recitation of precepts), xinmilidi (one-mindedness), posuobidu (samādhi), hanluo jilinuo (holding tallies).' The reciter of the precepts then says, 'The saṅgha is assembled in harmony. Those who have not received the full precepts, go out! What shall the saṅgha do?' The response is: 'Recite the precepts.' 'May those who have not come convey their purity.' (Pause slightly, and after purity is reported to have been declared), having declared it, [he says], 'Of spring, summer, or winter, such-and-such number of days have already passed' (counting the days according to the season).
11.37
Let the saṅgha contemplate together
All the faults of birth and death,
Seeking the way to transcend the world.
If one vigorously upholds the precepts,
One will likewise return to death;
If one does not vigorously uphold the precepts,
One will likewise return to death.
Rather die while upholding the precepts
Than live while violating them!
Just as a swift current flows,
The sun and moon do not abide;
Human life is swifter than they,
And what departs does not return again.
11.38
From this verse onward, there are the poṣadha karmavācanā and the precept texts; they are not fully transcribed again.
11.39
Twelfth: Preface to the Comparative Collation of Three Editions of the Great Bhikṣu Precepts in Two Hundred and Sixty Rules
11.40
By Zhu Tanwulan
11.41
Now, the precepts are that whence humans and devas are born, that whereby the Three Vehicles are realized, and the critical nexus of nirvāṇa. Therefore, when the World-Honored One conferred medicine, he prioritized the precepts. Precepts are one of the Tripiṭaka. If one does not restrain oneself with precepts and lets the mind race after the six sense objects while hoping to escape the three evil destinies, is it not like seeking to cross a vast sea without a boat? It is also like a fish coming out of a deep abyss, or a wild goose's feather entering a blazing fire—to hope that it will not die or be scorched has never happened. If a practitioner adorns himself with precepts and fiercely applies his mind to the fifty-eight rules, what difficulty is there in attaining the Way? Since I was imbued with the transforming teachings, I have set my mind on the vinaya. Formerly, when I was in Mount Lu at the place of Zhu Sengshu, I obtained a copy of the precepts and kept it with me for nearly twenty years. Each time I examined it, I lamented that its text was plain and heavy. It happened that the rules of the precepts brought out by Dharmanandi were identical with it; however, [Dharma]nandi's precepts had many [rules], setting forth one hundred and ten matters [in the śaikṣa section], so that the precepts totaled two hundred and sixty. Master Shi [Dao'an] asked [Dharma]nandi, and [Dharma]nandi said, 'I orally received them from a vinaya master, recording them one by one, and do not know the reason.' The bhikṣuṇī precepts also set forth many [rules] in the same way, having one hundred and ten. Among the thirty [naiḥsargika-prāyaścittika] rules, the twenty-first in the two-hundred-and-fifty-rule version says that keeping an extra bowl past ten days entails forfeiture and repentance; it continues that this bhikṣu must hand over this bowl to the bhikṣusaṅgha. The twenty-second in the two-hundred-and-sixty-rule version says that if a bowl is broken and mended up to five times, and one has not yet obtained a new bowl, the old one should be surrendered to the saṅgha. Examining its logic and import, it should be as in the two-hundred-and-fifty-rule version, placed after the extra bowl; merging the matter with the broken bowl makes it duplicate and redundant. I have annotated the matter following the extra bowl beneath the broken bowl, because the child should follow the mother. Among the ninety [prāyaścittika] rules, many are intermingled and the matters do not match up. I again shifted them to follow the two-hundred-and-sixty-rule version, making categories of matters correspond to one another, though at times there are still dissimilarities. 'Eating a second meal without remaining cause' entails falling [into repentance]; it should correspond to 'eating a second meal without belonging to another's invitation'—since it lacks this 'except for cause' matter, and is merged with 'individual invitation', I therefore placed it against 'individual invitation'. One precept is under 'eating a second meal', and one precept is under 'individual invitation', meaning that if there is a remaining cause, one may eat a second meal and also accept an invitation out of turn. 'Not extending the hand to receive food' and 'frightening oneself or teaching others to be frightened'—these two precepts have no counterparts. Was this an omission in transmission and copying, or was the original text deficient? The [rules] set forth in abundance also have some that do not correspond or are dissimilar; I do not know the reason. Availing myself of leisure, I compiled this comparative collation of the three editions, roughly marking their beginnings and ends. I took the two-hundred-and-sixty precepts as the root, the two-hundred-and-fifty-rule version as the child, and appended the full lines of the previously translated commonly used precepts to the end of each matter. Yet there are some that diverge entirely and are dissimilar; some divide one into two, and some merge three into one. I again separated and merged them to make the matters accord with one another. However, these two precepts might divide lines and lose the import. If virtuous talents of sharp brilliance should peruse this, may they reflect further to establish the definitive text and pardon my shortcomings. (Afterward, the bhikṣu Sengxiang brought an original text again from Chang'an and was able to collate it again; with occasional additions and omissions, it became the most definitive text.)
First 41 of 62 passages. Read on
Linked texts (1)
- 出三藏記集 — 僧祐, Classical Chinese