出三藏記集 9.33

9.33

The ultimate principle is beyond appellation, and therefore sages and worthies remain in aloof silence. The profound purport cannot be transmitted without words, and for this reason Śākyamuni delivered his teaching. Thus, when the Tathāgata appeared in the world, his great teaching was threefold: in restraining body and speech, he checked them with the prohibitive vinaya; in illuminating good and evil, he guided by means of the sūtras; and in expounding the subtle and hidden, he discerned it through dharmalakṣaṇa. Thus, the production of the tripiṭaka originates in differing responses; when brought together in the fundamental principle, disparate paths tend toward the same goal. The prohibitive vinaya is the Vinayapiṭaka, consisting of the Fourfold [Vinaya] and the Ten Recitations. Dharmalakṣaṇa is the Abhidharmapiṭaka, in four sections and five recitations. The sūtras are the four Āgama piṭakas: the Ekottarika-āgama has four sections and eight recitations; the Madhyama-āgama has four sections and five recitations; the Saṃyukta-āgama has four sections and ten recitations; and this Dīrgha-āgama has four sections and four recitations, combining thirty sūtras into a single text. 'Āgama' in the language of Qin means 'recourse of the Dharma'. The 'recourse of the Dharma' is indeed the profound storehouse of all goods, the grove of dhāraṇī. As a scripture, it is profound and vast, comprehensive and rich, gentle yet expansive; it clearly proclaims the traces of misfortune and fortune, of the wise and the foolish; it determines the sources of truth and falsehood, of differing salvations; and it records throughout the calculations of success and failure from antiquity to the present, as well as the categories of things between the two poles of Heaven and Earth. There is no Dao that does not proceed from it, and no Dharma that is not present within it. It is like the great ocean to which the hundred rivers return; hence it takes 'recourse of the Dharma' as its name. Because the long pathways it unfolds and distinguishes record what is distant and enduring, it is designated as 'Long' [Dīrgha]. Those who study this scripture will suddenly awaken from long delusions; the difficult distinction between heterodoxy and orthodoxy becomes as apparent as day and night; retribution, though dark and obscured, is illuminated like shadows and echoes; the tally of kalpas, though vast, is brought as near as morning and evening; and the six directions, though broad, appear right before one's eyes. This may indeed be called a bright torch shining in a dark room, wisdom bestowing five eyes upon the blind, where without peering through doors or windows, knowledge is all-pervading. The Heavenly King of the Great Qin, having cleansed his mind with profound contemplation, stands out in lofty temperament; quietude and wisdom mutually nourished, he brings relief to both the religious and secular worlds. Ever fearing that the subtle words might be obscured in foreign customs, he took the General of the Right, Imperial Commissioner, Colonel of the City Gates, and Duke of Jin, Yao Shuang, whose character was upright, pure, and gentle, and whose profound mind was transcendent—venerating the Great Dharma and having a natural, wondrous awakening. His Majesty paid particular regard to him and constantly entrusted him with Dharma affairs. In the twelfth year of Hongshi, the cyclical year shangzhang yanmao, he invited the Kapiśa tripiṭaka śramaṇa Buddhayaśas to translate the Vinayapiṭaka, the Fourfold [Vinaya] in forty fascicles, which was completed in the fourteenth year. In the fifteenth year, the cyclical year zhaoyang fenruo, he completed the translation of this Dīrgha-āgama. The Liangzhou śramaṇa Zhu Fonian served as translator, and the Daoist master Daohan of the state of Qin served as the scribal recorder. At that time, eminent and renowned śramaṇas of the capital were gathered at his residence to collate and verify it. Reverently receiving the Dharma words, they were attentive and free of errors, eliminating ornamentation and esteeming simplicity, striving to preserve the holy purport. Having the fortunate encounter to be humbly included among those listening, although I had no merit in assisting the good, I participated in the concluding stages of receiving it personally. Therefore, I have briefly recorded the events of the time to show to future readers.