大唐內典錄 10.21

10.21

Preface: An ancient said, "The right path is distant and difficult to attain; the crooked trail is swift and easy to discern." These words are apt indeed! The substance and purport of true sūtras are thoroughly fused and profound; forged compositions are shallow and mixed in phrasing and intent. Like jade and ordinary stone, or vermilion and purple, the deluded conflate them; yet before penetrating insight, they have nowhere to hide their shapes. They should firmly be designated as forgeries and falsities; how could they remain relegated to the category of doubts? Therefore, Master Shi Dao'an, [known as] "Filling the Heavens" under the Jin, wrote in his Catalogue of Doubts: "In foreign lands, those studying the Dharma all kneel and receive it orally. That which is received from the same master, even if transmitted through ten or twenty successions to subsequent students, if there is a single word different, they investigate it together and, finding [the error], immediately discard it; the monastic rules brook no indulgence. The sūtras have arrived in the land of Jin not long ago; yet meddlesome people mix sand with gold, presenting a dazzling appearance, without any rectification. How then could one distinguish the genuine from the false? When a farmer leaves grain and weeds growing together, Houji sighs over it; when ordinary stone is sealed up in a golden coffer alongside jade, Bian He feels humiliated by it. How could I, Dao'an, daring to join the ranks of scholars, behold the Jing and Wei rivers mingling their currents and dragons advancing alongside snakes, without feeling ashamed? Now I list what are not Buddhist sūtras to show future scholars, so that all may know their vulgarity and perversity." Dao'an's preface was thus. Those who forge [texts] come to an inauspicious end; those who are led into foolishness drift along with them. Generation after generation, such fraudulent excesses have not been absent: either giving rise to successive demonic deceptions, or resulting from embellished falsehoods for improper livelihood; such crowds are numerous! It is essential to investigate and eliminate them. Among them, some share the same titles and do not differ [nominally] from the genuine, such as the Tiwei or the Faju. If one does not investigate them in person, one will fall into confusion over the titles and be overtaken by ignorance regarding the Dharma. Can one not take warning? Since the Dharma flowed into the Central Plains, it has thrice suffered suppression and destruction; and even after it was re-established, because the genuine sūtras had not been read, meddlesome, reckless youths had "Thus have I heard" arise from within their doors and windows, and ignorant elders of vulgar society had approvals issue forth from their own minds. All followed the subjective inclinations of ears and eyes; hence they are not the comprehensive intent of the sūtras. Bringing error and deception to future scholars, it is truly enough to chill the heart! Alas! Has the Latter Age of the Dharma finally come to this? Formerly, in the Kaihuang era, the founder of the Sui dynasty newly established a catalogue of scriptures, collating and examining spurious excesses; nearly five hundred fascicles were all burnt and eliminated. Among the people today, [some texts] are still circulated without having been evaluated and arranged. Since they are defilements of the Dharma, they must not be omitted. Thus I have set them forth clearly in this Sui section, in the hope that [the reader] will realize the vast benefits of broad investigation.