出三藏記集 8.41

8.41

The Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa (Sūtra on the Inconceivable of Vimalakīrti) is a name that exhausts the minute, fully encompasses transformation, and is wonderfully transcendent. Its purport is profound and mysterious, beyond the reckoning of words and images; its path transcends the three types of emptiness, beyond the contemplation of the two vehicles. It surpasses the bounds of all conditioned numbers and cuts off the domain of the conscious mind. Vast and indistinct, it is non-acting yet leaves nothing undone; not knowing how it is so, yet being able to be so—this is the inconceivable. Why is this? The sage's wisdom is without knowledge, yet illumines all the myriad things; the Dharmakāya is without form, yet responds equally to diverse shapes. The supreme melody is without words, yet the arcane scriptures spread everywhere; the hidden expedients are without premeditation, yet their movements accord with circumstances. Therefore, it can universally rescue all realms, initiate things, and accomplish tasks; it manifests benefit to the world, yet within itself there is non-action. But those who are confused, seeing the responsive illumination, thereupon call it wisdom; observing the responsive forms, they call it the body; beholding the arcane scriptures, they thereupon call it words; seeing transformations, they thereupon call it expedients. How could the extremity of the Way have its spiritual realm expressed through forms, words, expedients, or wisdom? Yet sentient beings have long been asleep, and without words they cannot awaken; the Way does not operate in isolation, but its expansion depends on humans. Thus the Tathāgata summoned Mañjuśrī from a distant direction and invited Vimalakīrti from another land; they gathered in Vaiśālī to propagate this Way together. As for what this sūtra illuminates: in governing the myriad practices, it takes expedient wisdom as the primary; in establishing the roots of virtue, it takes the six perfections as the foundation; in rescuing the blind and bewildered, it takes loving-kindness and compassion as paramount; in expressing the ultimate宗, it speaks in terms of non-duality. All these various expositions are the root of the inconceivable. As for borrowing seats from the King of Lamps, requesting food from the land of Fragrance, catching the great chiliocosm in the palm of a hand, or accommodating the forms of the universe within a single room—these are the traces of the inconceivable. Yet the dark barrier is difficult to unlock, and the sages' responses are not uniform. Without the root, there is nothing with which to extend the traces; without the traces, there is nothing with which to manifest the root. Though root and traces are distinct, they are one in the inconceivable. Therefore, [the Buddha] commanded the attendant [Ānanda] to mark this as its name. The Heavenly King of the Great Qin is of transcendent spirit surpassing the world, whose mysterious mind awakens on its own; he promotes supreme governance above the myriad affairs of state, and displays the transforming influence of the Way for a thousand years to come. Whenever he studied this scripture, he took it as the abode of his resting spirit; yet he regretted that the translations produced by Zhi and Zhu had their principles obstructed by the text, and constantly feared that the mysterious doctrine would be lost at the hands of translators. The destiny of the Northern Heaven indeed has its appointed place of opening. In the eighth year of Hongshi, the year-counter being in Chunhuo, he ordered the General-in-Chief, the Duke of Changshan, and the General of the Left, the Marquis of Ancheng, together with one thousand two hundred śramaṇas of doctrinal learning, to invite Dharma Master Kumārajīva at the Great Monastery of Chang'an to retranslate an authentic text. Kumārajīva, with his capacity transcending the age, concentrated his mind in the realm of truth; having exhausted the hub of the wheel, he was also skilled in regional languages. At that time, holding the Hu manuscript in his hand, he translated it orally himself, while monastics and laypeople reverently considered each word three times over. Refining and seeking precision, they strove to preserve the holy intention. Its prose is concise and penetrative; its purport is subtle and clear. The subtle and profound words became evident here. Because of my dullness and limited ability, I happened to be present in the audience. Although my thoughts lacked the capacity to plumb the mystery, I nevertheless roughly grasped the meaning of the text. I then followed what I heard and composed an annotated commentary, briefly recording the spoken words, transmitting without fabricating, in the hope that noble persons of the future in different ages may hear it alike.