出三藏記集 8.44

8.44

The Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa is a standard discourse of former sages and a magnificent hallmark of the pervasive Way. Its text is subtle and graceful; its purport is profound and far-reaching. It may be said that its tune is high and its singers few, so the entire world rarely grasps it. Now, the Sanskrit text of this sūtra originated in Vaiśālī; formerly, when the Han arose, it first flowed into this land. At that time, there was the upāsaka Zhi Qian (Gongming); down to the Jin, there were Dharmarakṣa and Zhu Shulan. These three worthy men all broadly integrated ancient scholarship, probed subtlety, and penetrated the utmost mystery; they also had thorough fluency and understanding in the different sounds of various lands. Translating and transmitting successively, they made three distinct sūtras. Originating from the same root, their translators were different and their productions varied. Some differed in the inclusion or omission, or the sequence of phrasing; some differed in presence or absence, division or combination, quantity or brevity; some used regional vernaculars or archaic glosses, where the characters diverged while the intent was the same; in some cases, the phrasing was as distant as Hu and Yue, and their intents also diverged; or the text and meaning were mixed and confused, lying between doubt and likelihood. Instances such as these are of many kinds. If one is partial to a single sūtra, one loses the benefit of comprehensive mastery; if one broadly opens all three, the text is cumbersome and difficult to investigate. Therefore, I have combined two and made them conform: taking the version produced by [Zhi] Qian as the base, and taking the version produced by [Zhu Shu]lan as the dependent. I have divided chapters and marked off sentences so that matters of the same category follow one another, enabling those who consult it to look above and glance below, reading that one while examining this one, which suffices to relieve the labor of discrepancies and digressions. What is easy is indeed easy to know. If one can collate and compare the differences, exhausting the principles and understanding the transformations, then the myriad streams will return to the same [source], and the hundred deliberations will arrive at one [result]. I hope this may illuminate great comprehension for those who have not yet awakened, and unite similarities and differences into an equal purport. If there are places where the pairings do not match or perhaps lose their proper categories, I await later wise and discerning gentlemen to edit and rectify them.