大唐內典錄 6.3

6.3

The preface states: That which is called the Mahāyāna canon refers to the intentions of the buddhas and great beings. The teaching is fundamentally without mark, and the principle and purport are without conditioning causes. It governs all existences to lead them out of heavy darkness, and uproots the causes in the mind to pacify afflictions and delusions: this is its aim. Therefore a sūtra says: 'The path of words is cut off, and the place of mental activity is extinguished.' Reluctantly using names and marks, it serves as the fish trap and hare snare. Thus its voice can fill the realm under Heaven without stagnating in existence or emptiness, and its form can permeate the Dharmadhātu while rising pre-eminently above feelings and sensory realms. Since both self and other are eliminated, what 'small' or 'great' is there to be mounted? Adapting to capacities to apply conversion, it displays the differences of conditioned marks. Now let us discuss the Lord of the Teaching: in meaning, three aspects are manifest. The Dharma-buddha is constantly abiding, lodging its measurement in the Light of Quiescence; the responsive body adopts temporary marks, taking physical form in the ocean of the Piṭaka. The lotus throne opens with a thousand petals, and following each petal, a hundred million wheels appear; following each wheel, one thousand million [buddhas] open the transformation. The transformation buddhas appear according to capacities. Therefore the three bodies separate and merge, and the two truths pertain to existence and emptiness, rising and falling according to feelings and measures, and hiding or appearing to meet the conditions before them. Investigating their root, they ultimately return to the primal source. Now let us discuss the essence of the teaching: it is the Vaipulya One Vehicle. Causes, conditions, and expedient means accomplish tasks in worldly things. Therefore the three baskets and nine piṭakas summarize the profound realm of principles and meanings; the twelve divisions and eighty thousand [teachings] encompass the deep import of marks and views. Like clouds, they cover both plains and marshes; like rain, they equally moisten high and low. Trees grow luxuriantly in accordance with their roots and leaves, and blossom brightly following their flowers and fruits. Thus the text says: 'What you are practicing is the bodhisattva path'—this is its proof. Delusions are divided into the five entrenchments, distinguishing the origins of sharp and dull faculties; wisdom is divided into six positions, revealing the clarity and darkness of practice and understanding. The precept sūtras contain six groups, protecting and upholding them whether minor or major; concentration gathers existence and emptiness, gazing equally whether deep or shallow; wisdom encompasses both absolute and conventional, brightly penetrating both ordinary mortals and sages. Being called the wisdom of all species, there is no realm it does not know; uniquely designated the Great Sage, there is no mark it does not penetrate. Accumulating space as its measure, there is no non-arising that is not within the gateway of transformation; using the great earth as tallies, there is no moment in which it does not deliver living beings. Describing it broadly according to conditions, its general outline is like this. Universally called Mahāyāna, there is no teaching it does not subsume. Described in this light, there is no separate Hīnayāna. Hence we know that the great can subsume the small, as the ocean admits a hundred rivers; the small cannot contain the great, as a courtyard cannot accommodate dragons and elephants. Since the sūtras flowed into the eastern Xia, this teaching has flourished immensely. Full versions are often lacking, and separate chapters have their own catalogued titles; the translators appended them following their source texts, causing the true teaching to be repeated and piled up back and forth. Therefore, the Mahāyāna of India was concluded according to category, divided into twelve, each having one hundred thousand verses. The western kingdom of the Juqu has the complete original text; as described elsewhere, one may inspect it oneself. Moreover, as for the Avataṃsaka, of which more than thirty thousand verses are currently translated: examining the original text, two parts are still missing, and the remaining eleven [sections] are naturally largely deficient. Yet various catalogues arrange their orders by distinguishing single and multiple translations; discussing their facts and meanings, they are entangled and difficult to record. Thus the Great Prajñā Sūtra was translated more than ten times, yet they took the Great Sūtra as the first single translation and the Daoxing as the second repeated translation, arbitrarily dividing earlier and later and thereby losing the doctrinal thread. Now, following the original sūtras, they are arranged according to single and multiple translations; raising the main cord, the items and chapters are fully prepared. Furthermore, the living or deceased statuses and dynasties of the translators are narrated, in the hope that those who inspect and read it will know where the origin and end return. Thus, beginning from the Later Han and reaching the first year of the imperial Longshuo era, across eighteen dynasties and more than six hundred years, there are in total 498 works in 2,363 fascicles subsumed under the Mahāyāna Bodhisattva Piṭaka. As for other separately produced, apocryphal, and annotated or composed works, each embodies the source of transformation and none fails to support it; they are catalogued separately so as not to confuse the true vehicle. However, the lost texts are extremely numerous, with no way to obtain their originals; we hope that fellow travelers in the boat will supply these omissions and deficiencies.