唯識三十論要釋 1.2

1.2

言所緣者復有二種。初明造論。後顯傳譯。佛薄伽梵悲導有情法門雖多。其要有四因緣。唯識無相真如隨對根宜諸經各說。餘三理門已有廣論。唯識深旨未有辨明。佛涅槃後九百年中。無著菩薩事大慈尊請說瑜伽中邊等論。自造顯揚對法等論顯唯識理。猶未圓明。故我世親明增菩薩遂造二論開闡一乘。初一部名唯識二十頌。顯唯識理度破外計略申自宗。後一部名唯識三十。以三十頌顯唯識理略破外計廣申自宗。未及造釋上生知足。後護法等十大論師妙極內宗善窮外論。知見彌廣利樂弘多。時美其德遂稱菩薩。各造一釋宣暢頌文。雖其真宗並行於世。道蘊西域未布東華。我唐貞觀有大三藏遍覺大師。厥名玄奘。幼小出家志高世表。師無遠近業該內外。中夏法理既遍研精。他方教跡願就尋究。遂拂衣東夏杖錫西天。周遊道邦博訪經誥。窮先賢之謬見通古德之未聞。名立義成來歸本土。我唐先帝請為國師。雖大譯真經廣翻正論。於唯識深義祕同髻珠。傳非其人未即翻授。唯為慈恩獨訓斯旨。初於貞觀二十二年在慈恩寺譯斯本頌。後顯慶末年於坊州玉華宮寺乃翻釋論。初翻之際十釋別行。後因諮請糅成一本。包含名相該羅邪正。今取正義而釋頌文。論所緣竟。

As for the 'occasions' (pratyaya), there are moreover two kinds: first, explaining the composition of the treatise; second, presenting its transmission and translation. Although the teaching gates by which the Buddha, the Bhagavat, compassionately guided sentient beings are manifold, their essentials have four [approaches]: conditioned arising (pratītyasamutpāda), vijñapti-mātra, signlessness (animitta), and tathatā. These were spoken individually in various sūtras according to what was suitable to faculties. For the other three doctrinal gates there were already extensive treatises, but the profound intention of vijñapti-mātra had not yet been elucidated. Nine hundred years after the Buddha's nirvāṇa, the Bodhisattva Asaṅga attended upon the Great Compassionate Honoured One, Maitreya, and requested the exposition of such treatises as the Yogācārabhūmi and Madhyāntavibhāga. He himself composed such treatises as the Prakaraṇāryavācā and Abhidharmasamuccaya to elucidate the principle of vijñapti-mātra, yet it was not yet fully perfected and clear. Therefore our Bodhisattva of Ever-Increasing Radiance, Vasubandhu, subsequently composed two treatises to open and clarify the Single Vehicle. The first treatise is named Viṃśatikā-vijñaptimātratā; it illuminates the principle of vijñapti-mātra, broadly refutes heterodox doctrines, and briefly sets forth his own tenet. The second treatise is named the Triṃśikā; using thirty verses, it illuminates the principle of vijñapti-mātra, briefly refutes heterodox doctrines, and broadly sets forth his own tenet. Before he could compose a commentary, he was reborn in the Tuṣita Heaven. Afterwards, Dharmapāla and ten other great treatise masters profoundly attained the ultimate of the inner tenets and thoroughly penetrated the external treatises. Their knowledge and vision were ever broader, and the benefit and happiness [they brought] were immensely vast. In their time, people praised their virtue and thereupon called them bodhisattvas. Each composed a commentary to explain and proclaim the verses. Although their true teachings circulated together in the world, the repository of the Way was preserved in the Western Regions and had not yet spread to the Eastern Florescence. In our Tang dynasty, during the Zhenguan era, there was the Great Tripiṭaka Master of Complete Enlightenment, whose name was Xuanzang. Having left household life in his youth, his aspiration soared beyond the world. Without regard to distance he sought teachers, and his learning encompassed both the inner and outer [texts]. Having thoroughly investigated the Dharma principles of the Central Lands, he wished to seek and investigate the traces of the teachings in other regions. He then shook out his robes to leave the Eastern Florescence, leaning on his staff toward the Western Heavens. Traveling throughout the realms of the Way, he extensively sought out sūtras and authoritative texts, plumbing the erroneous views of former sages and penetrating what ancient worthies had not yet heard. His name established and his purpose accomplished, he returned to his native land. The late emperor of our Tang invited him to be the Preceptor of the State. Although he extensively translated the true sūtras and broadly rendered the correct treatises, regarding the profound meaning of vijñapti-mātra, he kept it secret as the jewel in the topknot; because transmission was not to just any person, he did not immediately translate and impart it. He solely instructed Ci'en in this purport alone. First, in the twenty-second year of Zhenguan, he translated these root verses at Ci'en Monastery. Later, at the end of the Xianqing era, at Yuhua Palace Monastery in Fangzhou, he then translated the commentary. When first translated, the ten commentaries were circulated separately. Later, following a request, they were blended into a single work, encompassing terms and marks, and incorporating the heterodox and the orthodox. Now, taking the correct meanings, [we] interpret the verses. The explanation of the treatise's occasions is concluded.