淨名經集解關中疏 1.2

1.2

In the past, during the reign of Emperor Ming of the Han, the Dharma teachings first flowed west of the Congling Mountains; stupas and images began to be established, yet translation remained hindered. Coming down to the Wei and Jin dynasties, propagation was initiated, but the various scriptures that were produced still suffered from loose phrasing and clumsy reasoning. This was because practitioners had not yet harmonized with the great perspective, and translators lacked fluency in regional languages. Since the Great Dharma is profound and subtle, their gains and losses could not easily be measured. From the winter of the third year of the Hongshi era of the Qin (401 CE), Kumārajīva entered the Pass. He first translated the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra and the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa, and then reached the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā and the Śataka Śāstra, causing [scholars] to become steeped in the ultimate principle. Thereafter he retranslated this sūtra, the Lotus Sūtra, and others; therefore, the language was precise, the principles were thoroughly plumbed, and there was nothing to fault. In recent times, transmission and study have largely grown lax: scholars are bold in pursuing heterodoxies, resulting in the primary tenets becoming overgrown and the ultimate reality obscured. While the earlier works produced in Guanzhong were concise in expression and deep in purport, when handed down to later students, some shrink from their brevity and find them difficult to penetrate. Indeed, times change and discernment dims; how could this be any fault of the former worthies? Daoye does not measure his own mediocrity and shallowness, but has ventured to supplement and expand: for the Jingming [Sūtra], using Sengzhao's commentary as the base, and for the Lotus Sūtra, relying on Daosheng's commentary. Thereafter I sought widely among various interpretations to comprehend the wondrous purport together. Although I 'transmit rather than create', I am ultimately ashamed before the one who lost his sheep. At this time, in the first year of the Shangyuan era, the year being kundun (760 CE), the first year of the Yongtai era, and again in summer at the Bodhi Bodhimaṇḍa in Chang'an, I revised and finalized it, hoping that the Dharma mirror will shine ever brighter and the lamp of wisdom will increase.