出三藏記集 6.17

6.17

The aggregates, sense-fields, and elements are a profound malady of the world. They gallop through human minds, transforming virtue into madness: ears become deaf and mouths lose taste; beings are drunk on glory and favor, embracing ignorance and plunging into darkness, weeping bitterly in the three destinies. This disease is like leprosy: it penetrates the bones and reaches the marrow, leaving good physicians to fold their hands in despair. It is like an epileptic fit: when it strikes, all is plunged into darkness, with no awareness of anything. The Great Sage, mourning this, felt grief arising from within; forgetting his own body, he serenely stepped into the charcoal embers, bearing thick virtue and enduring wild attacks. He observed the snares dense as heavy clouds and halted the hunting nets across the eight directions. Great ignorance could no longer flap its wings, and the love of fame could no longer sprint ahead. He gathered good thoughts from the tip of a fine hair, and plucked the ferocious and stubborn from the tiger's mouth. Taking great tranquility as supreme joy, the five notes could not deafen his ears; taking non-action as the true flavor, the five flavors could not corrupt his palate. Shining his physical form in the defiled world, those he rescued were beyond count; when his descents to instruct reached their end, he sank secretly into the nameless. The various unattached ones [the arhats] soon each took flight and passed away. The assembly of great disciples deeply feared that the wondrous Dharma would become confounded, abandoned, and lost. Thereupon, they had Kāśyapa compile what Ānanda had transmitted into a total of three baskets [the Tripiṭaka], which encompass the dark and vast, difficult to fathom and measure. When the Hero of the World administers medicine, he must base it on the original illness. Illnesses cannot be uniform; for this reason, the various scriptures depend on one another to be complete, and none but the talented and holy can synthesize and master them. From then onward, eminent masters of spiritual penetrations each composed interpretations, or surveyed and compiled various scriptures to serve as models of practice. Are they not like a pearl necklace? One selects those precious pearls to set off their forms and colors, wearing them on the chest or crown as radiance and ornament. Is it not like painting? One blends and distinguishes the various pigments to depict glorious splendor. What the wise and discerning have compiled is just like this. This scripture is of that very sort. There was a renunciant enlightened being hailing from Parthia, courtesy name Shigao, whose great compassion flowed everywhere, spreading transformation to this land. Translating Fan into Jin, he revealed the subtle and elucidated the profound. What he expounded and disseminated was exclusively devoted to dhyāna contemplation; pure and abstruse numerical doctrines were deep and far-reaching. This scripture is among those he brought forth. Of the evils of the aggregates and sense-fields, people do not know the suffering; therefore, the ancient sages illuminated them with calming and insight. The knots of the aggregates are diminished day by day, completing the chapter on nirvāṇa. Unless one recognizes the crucial juncture, who could take part in this? From the beginning to the nine eliminations, there are forty-five medicines in all. Cutting off and understanding through wisdom to enter the three divisions completes the four truths. From the twelve links of conditioned arising to the division on purifying dharmas completes the four confidences. As for its practice, it is solely spiritual, hence accomplished without words; it is solely wondrous, hence reached without traveling. One who unifies this practice is clear and unobstructed in all four directions, establishes the roots and attains the eye, becomes a son of the Ten Powers, succeeds to the lineage of the Dharma King, and sheds moisture over the great thousand worlds. If one seeks realization, one uproots the three fetters, maintains life to accomplish the Path, and directly reaches the arhat. This is indeed the boat and oar of the Great Vehicle, the vital gateway to nirvāṇa. In this land of Jin, dhyāna contemplation has grown lax and abandoned; though students have arisen, scarcely any have exhausted their outflows. Why is this? Dhyāna contemplation preserves the abstruse, smelts the subtle, and enters tranquility; whatever stage of the Path one seeks to attain, it is like looking into the palm of one's hand. Neglecting and abandoning this essential, yet hoping to witness realization—is that not difficult? I, Dao'an, having accumulated sins from the recent past, was born to encounter the hundredfold snares, with the barbarians causing severe distress. The holy guides of the world secretly fled to the Jin mountains; living in solitude apart from the community, hidden away in a deep ravine, I stole time to read these texts. With shallow knowledge and solitary views, I was blocked and could not penetrate them; night and day I harbored doubts, with nowhere to consult or verify them. Just then, the bhikṣu Zhu Faji of Taiyang and the man of the Path Zhi Tanjiang of Bingzhou, scaling precipitous heights and braving bandits, gathered from afar with great devotion. These two scholars were lofty, clear, broadly learned, and untiring in instruction. Thereupon, together with them, I solved perplexities, smoothed impediments, and composed this commentary. Living in an age without the Buddha and residing in a frontier realm, sounds and customs are different, and standards are not the same. Moreover, measuring the holy with foolishness, it is difficult to reach it. I only hope that for those who have not yet stepped on the path, this may offer a slight, humble aid; I do not dare presume to have definitively analyzed and fathomed the scripture's meaning.