出三藏記集 8.11

8.11

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.