善導

善導之生卒，藏中諸傳一概不繫，且諸傳自身互不相合。《續高僧傳》道宣於其同時只稱「近有山僧善導者」〔T50n2060 0684a11〕，不著姓氏年月；《佛祖統紀》開篇作「不知何處人」〔T49n2035 0263a22〕；《淨土往生傳》作「不原其姓。亦不悉何許人。」〔T51n2071 0119a25〕；而《往生西方淨土瑞應傳》獨作姓朱、泗州人，與上三傳相違。本編如實標不詳，不代為補——那句「近有」是唐人記唐事之語，比任何一個數字都硬。

Of Shandao's dates the canon's several lives give none, and they do not agree among themselves. In the Further Biographies, Daoxuan — writing in his own generation — says only "there is lately a mountain monk named Shandao" 〔T50n2060 0684a11〕, with no surname and no year; the Chronicle opens "no one knows where he came from" 〔T49n2035 0263a22〕; the Rebirth Biographies say "his surname is not traced, nor is it known whence he came" 〔T51n2071 0119a25〕; while one further account alone gives him the surname Zhu and a home in Sizhou, against the other three. This edition marks his dates honestly as unknown rather than supplying them — that "lately" is a Tang man writing of Tang events, and it is harder evidence than any figure.

其一生之轉在一次旁聽。「唐太宗正觀中。見西河綽禪師九品道場講誦觀經」〔T49n2035 0263a22〕，大喜曰此真入佛之津要，修餘行業迂僻難成，唯此觀門速超生死。既入京師廣行此化，寫彌陀經數萬卷，士女奉者其數無量，時在光明寺說法〔T50n2060 0684a11〕。《佛祖統紀》記其行持：「三十餘年不暫睡臥」〔T49n2035 0263a28〕，般舟行道，護持戒品纖毫不犯；凡有嚫施盡用於寫經畫壁。高宗知其念佛口出光明，「賜號其寺曰光明」〔T49n2035 0263b18〕。

The turn of his life came from sitting in on another man's lecture. "In Taizong's Zhenguan years he saw the Chan master Chuo of Xihe, in the hall of the nine grades, lecturing on and reciting the Contemplation Sūtra" 〔T49n2035 0263a22〕, and rejoiced: this is the true ford into buddhahood; other practices are roundabout and hard to complete, and only this gate of contemplation passes swiftly beyond birth-and-death. Once in the capital he spread the teaching widely, had the Amitābha Sūtra copied in tens of thousands of scrolls, and those who took it up were beyond counting; he was then preaching at Guangming monastery 〔T50n2060 0684a11〕. The Chronicle records his practice: "for more than thirty years he did not lie down to sleep" 〔T49n2035 0263a28〕, walking the pratyutpanna course and keeping the precepts without a hair's breadth of transgression, every offering he received going into copying scriptures and painting walls. Gaozong, learning that light came from his mouth as he called the Buddha's name, "gave his monastery the name Guangming" 〔T49n2035 0263b18〕.

本編所取其書二部。《觀無量壽佛經疏》〔T37n1753〕卷末有他自誌一句，於譯注一門最相應：「此義已請證定竟」〔T37n1753 0278c25〕，「一句一字不可加減」〔T37n1753 0278c25〕，「欲寫者一如經法」〔T37n1753 0278c25〕——一個注家對自己的疏所下的封印。另一部《轉經行道願往生淨土法事讚》〔T47n1979〕卷端署「沙門善導集記」〔T47n1979 0424b27〕。本編淨土一軸以其疏為主鏡；其人之年不詳，而其書之封印逐字可讀。

Two of his books are taken up in this edition. At the end of his Commentary on the Contemplation Sūtra 〔T37n1753〕 stands a line in his own hand that bears directly on the work of translating and annotating: "the meaning here has been submitted and settled" 〔T37n1753 0278c25〕, "not one phrase, not one word may be added or taken away" 〔T37n1753 0278c25〕, "whoever would copy it, copy it exactly as one copies a sūtra" 〔T37n1753 0278c25〕 — a commentator setting his own seal on his own commentary. The other, the Liturgical Hymns for Turning the Sūtra and Walking the Path 〔T47n1979〕, is headed "gathered and recorded by the monk Shandao" 〔T47n1979 0424b27〕. This edition's Pure Land axis takes his commentary as its principal mirror; the man's years are unknown, and the seal on his book can be read word for word.