十二門論 序

Who

The table of gates and this preface at the head of the fascicle came from the same brush. At the end, its writer says, “and I inscribed the titles and meanings of the chapters at the beginning.” His name leaves only one character: “Rui, with my shallow and contrary understanding.” The preface at the head of the Treatise on the Middle along the same axis is signed “Preface by the Monk Seng Rui” and ends with the same sentence. The preface writer is not the treatise author; a reader must keep them separate.

Concern

“If one principle is not exhausted, the many divergent claims arise in confusion”; “if one source is not traced to its end, the many paths branch and spread.” A gap in the original road lets side roads grow. Thus, “That distinct destinations are not leveled and divergent tendencies are not extinguished is the great being’s concern.” The concern is that the road is uneven, and therefore “Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva opened a path by which those who go forth might pass.”

Name

The three terms are each explained: twelve is “the great number gathering the many branches”; treatise means “exhausting its source and taking its principle to the end”; and gate is “a name for opening passage without obstruction.” The small line beneath each gate’s title likewise ends, “therefore it is made a gate.” This agrees with the treatise author’s statement: “one should enter the meaning of emptiness through the Twelve Gates.”

Passage

“Corrected through the twelve, existence and nonexistence both pass freely.” Both sides pass together; one is not suppressed to establish the other. The next pair follows: “When matters are exhausted within existence and nonexistence, accomplishment is forgotten within transformation”; “when principle reaches the utmost empty position, self is lost at the two limits.”

Forgetting

“Losing self lies in dropping the fish trap; forgetting the trap consists in abandoning what was entrusted to it.” After refuting dharmas, one may grasp the words that refuted them; after forgetting words, one may retain a self that did the forgetting. Therefore “trap and self must both be forgotten.” What is permitted goes only as far as “then one may begin to draw near the real”—near, not attained.

Return

“At one with the hundred transformations, one rests in return.” One does not leave transformation in order to rest. At the end, “set the returning carriage in order at the place of awakening, and bring the mind’s orientation to completion in the ground of buddhahood.” It is a return, not an exit.

The preface writer asks himself, “Could this truly add anything?” He accepts only one sentence: “I merely hope that through this intention I may open a road of rapid progress.”

Translated by the Tripiṭaka master Kumārajīva of Later Qin: the “Table of Gates” and “Preface” at the beginning of the Twelve Gate Treatise, Taishō T30n1568. A marker such as 〔T30 …〕 at the start of a paragraph is a Taishō page–column–line anchor.

A. Table of Gates—A Gate-by-Gate Synopsis of the Twelve Gates

The fascicle begins by listing the names of the Twelve Gates. Beneath each name, a short line explains what that gate investigates and why it is called a gate.

Gate One: Examination of Causes and Conditions

〔T30 0159a05〕 The causes upon which the myriad dharmas depend appear each to possess their own intrinsic nature. Investigated and brought into communication, they in fact possess no intrinsic nature of themselves. Because this can be penetrated without obstruction, it is called a gate.

Gate Two: Examination of an Existing or Nonexisting Effect

The dharma lacking intrinsic nature is investigated again: does it arise after previously existing, or arise after previously not existing? Whether existent or nonexistent, no arising can be obtained. This is therefore made a gate.

Gate Three: Examination of Conditions

The preceding gate investigates the cause; this gate investigates conditions. Whether the four conditions are treated broadly or in summary, no effect can be obtained. This is therefore made a gate.

Gate Four: Examination of Marks

The preceding three gates investigate causes and conditions and thereby know the absence of arising. This gate investigates the three marks. Since the three marks do not exist, this is therefore made a gate.

Gate Five: Examination of What Has Marks and What Lacks Marks

This gate investigates the actuality of the three marks: does a mark mark what already has marks, or mark what originally lacks them? A mark does not mark either what has or what lacks marks. This is therefore made a gate.

Gate Six: Examination of Identity and Difference

Taking what has and lacks marks further, are mark and what is marked found within the same dharma or in different dharmas? They are neither identical nor different. This is therefore made a gate.

Gate Seven: Examination of Existence and Nonexistence

The preceding gate investigates and knows that the three marks are not marks. This gate shows that the four marks are likewise not. Do arising and abiding possess alteration or lack alteration? They cannot exist in one place, nor do they exist in different places. This is therefore made a gate.

Gate Eight: Examination of Nature

Having known existence and nonexistence, one next investigates the nature of dharmas. Whatever changes, is impermanent, and exists through conditions is not nature. This is therefore made a gate.

Gate Nine: Examination of Cause and Effect

Since dharmas lacking intrinsic nature possess no cause or effect, one seeks within alteration and finds no obtainable principle. This is therefore made a gate.

Gate Ten: Examination of the Agent

No cause and no effect means no action. Since the four places have all been searched without finding anything, this is therefore made a gate.

Gate Eleven: Examination of the Three Times

Having investigated and known the absence of action, one must exhaustively examine its cause. Thus, no action can be obtained when sought within the three times. This is therefore made a gate.

Gate Twelve: Examination of Arising

Action is what performs; arising is what emerges. Since neither exists within the three times, who could be the producer? This is therefore made a gate.

B. Preface

1. The Meaning of the Title

Broadly speaking, the work called the Twelve Gate Treatise is the centered balance of the real mark and an essential rule for the place of awakening.

The twelve gates are the great number gathering the many branches. A gate is a name for opening passage without obstruction. To treatise upon them is to exhaust their source and take their principle to its end.

2. What Follows If One Principle Is Not Exhausted and One Source Is Not Traced to Its End?

If one principle is not exhausted, the many divergent claims arise in confusion and lead to opposed orientations. If one source is not traced to its end, the many paths branch and spread and leave traces of different destinations.

That different destinations cannot be leveled and divergent orientations cannot be extinguished—this is precisely the great being’s concern.

3. The Occasion for Composing the Treatise

Therefore Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva opened the path by which those going forth might pass and composed the Twelve Gates to set it right.

Set right through the twelve, both existence and nonexistence pass freely and no matter remains unexhausted.

4. From the Exhaustion of Matters to Losing Self

When matters are exhausted within existence and nonexistence, accomplishment is forgotten within transformation. When principle reaches the utmost empty position, self is lost at the two limits of existence and nonexistence.

Thus, losing self lies in dropping the fish trap; forgetting the trap consists in abandoning what was entrusted to it. Only when trap and self are both forgotten can one be said to draw near the real.

Drawing near the real, empty and real merge in obscurity, and gain and loss possess no boundary. Merged without boundary, one can forget haste between the two mysteries and dissolve distress into unity, set the returning carriage in order at the place of awakening, and bring the mind’s orientation to completion in the ground of buddhahood.

5. Praise for the Treatise’s Function

Vast indeed! It can truly be said to wield a blade without thickness where no gap exists and sound a rare music within the cosmos; to rescue those drowning and lost at the mysterious ford and carry existence and nonexistence beyond their bounds.

Later students have truly met a fortunate time. The level road already lies open and the hidden path is already cleared. They can sound the carriage bells in the northern darkness, drive the white-ox cart southward in return, awaken to great awakening within a dream, and rest in return amid the hundred transformations.

One able to do this possesses wisdom and will also know that the sunlight stands at full brilliance and the mysterious earth has never grown faint.

6. The Preface Writer’s Own Account

Rui, with my shallow and contrary understanding, nevertheless dare with sincere intent to knock at the gate of the empty and mysterious and inwardly aspire to the ultimate aim. I only hope that my daily application may be fitting and that the work accumulated through the years may grow. How much more so those of beautiful ability! My reverence truly cannot contain itself.

Therefore I venture with dull words, straining to search my thoughts, to compose a preface that unfolds this treatise; and I have inscribed the titles and meanings of its gates at the beginning of the fascicle. Could this truly add anything? I merely hope that through this intention I may open for others a road of rapid progress.

The beginning of the Twelve Gate Treatise is not the treatise itself but two other things: a list of twelve gate titles, each with a short line beneath it, and then a preface. The same person placed both there. At the end he says, “I venture with dull words, straining to search my thoughts, to compose a preface that unfolds this treatise; and I have inscribed the titles and meanings of its gates at the beginning.”

Thus, the first of the thirteen units in a reader’s hands does not consist of Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva’s words. Preface is preface and treatise is treatise. Whenever the discussion below quotes the preface, the voice belongs to this preface writer.

1. Who Wrote This Preface?

The preface bears no title naming its author. Only when it turns to self-narration does one character appear: “Rui, with my shallow and contrary understanding.”

One character. Yet corroboration for that character lies at the beginning of the Treatise on the Middle along the same axis. The preface there, signed “Preface by the Monk Seng Rui,” also ends with the same sentence: “and I have inscribed the titles and meanings of the chapters at the beginning.” The two prefaces end through the same act: first composing a preface, then inscribing the titles and explanations of the chapters at the head of the fascicle. The Treatise on the Middle preface also uses the same expression in self-deprecation: “On seeing the breadth of this treatise, one knows that partial awakening is shallow and contrary.” This preface calls its own understanding “shallow and contrary,” using the same term.

The two prefaces also share a skeleton. The preface to the Treatise on the Middle says, “That the Way and the worldly are not leveled and the two limits are not extinguished is the bodhisattva’s concern. Therefore the great being Nāgārjuna analyzed them through the middle way.” This preface says, “That distinct destinations are not leveled and divergent orientations are not extinguished is the great being’s concern. Therefore Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva opened the path by which those going forth might pass and composed the Twelve Gates to set it right.” Sentence form, turn, and even the word concern are the same: first an uneven and unextinguished situation, then the great being’s concern, then Nāgārjuna acts.

The same brush and the same discipline of preface writing. As for this “Rui” and his work in the Guanzhong translation community, the preface itself says no more. It tells us only that he wrote the preface and inscribed the table, and the reader should acknowledge only those two facts. The translator’s name does not appear in the preface but at the head of the root text, beneath “Gate One: Examination of Causes and Conditions”: “composed by Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva” and “translated by the Tripiṭaka master Kumārajīva of Later Qin.” Preface and root text each keep their place; the reader should not assign the preface’s voice to the treatise author.

2. Why Write This Preface? One Principle Unexhausted, the Many Divergences Arise

The preface writer does not begin with praise. He first locates the work: “The Twelve Gate Treatise is the centered balance of the real mark and an essential rule for the place of awakening.” Centered balance is not worldly compromise in which each side yields a little; it is the centered correctness that returns to the real mark. An essential rule is the pivotal standard upon which cultivation depends. One sentence has two faces: inwardly, the real mark; outwardly, a rule for walking.

He then divides the three terms: “The twelve gates are the great number gathering the many branches. A gate is a name for opening passage without obstruction. To treatise upon them is to exhaust their source and take their principle to its end.” Twelve is the number encompassing the many branches; gate is the name for unobstructed opening; treatise is the work of tracing the source and exhausting the principle. Among the three terms, the middle one matters most.

He next states the consequence of failing to exhaust or trace them, and does so concretely: “If one principle is not exhausted, the many divergent claims arise in confusion and give rise to opposed orientations. If one source is not traced to its end, the many paths branch and spread and leave traces of different destinations.”

Read these two sentences slowly. They do not say merely that poor explanation produces misunderstanding. They say: leave one point unexamined and divergent claims will grow from it. To branch and spread is the appearance of leaves separating in every direction. When the source is not exhausted, the road forks like branches, and each branch leaves a trace leading to a different destination. People do not stray without cause; an unclosed gap remained in the original road.

Only then does the next sentence carry its weight: “That different destinations are not leveled and divergent orientations are not extinguished is the great being’s concern.” The great being is not concerned that sentient beings lack belief, but that the road beneath their hands is uneven. The concern is the road, not the person.

“Therefore Nāgārjuna Bodhisattva opened the path by which those going forth might pass and composed the Twelve Gates to set it right.” A road is opened for those who wish to leave. The preface writer gives this one occasion for the treatise’s composition: someone needs to go forth, so the road must first be opened.

3. Gate: The Image This Preface Gives the Entire Treatise

“A gate is a name for opening passage without obstruction.” These words are the sentence most worth remembering in the preface.

A gate is not a wall, a storehouse, or an object to collect. A gate means only this: one can pass through here. A place is called a gate because it lets someone cross without obstruction; once crossed, the gate has completed its task.

The preface writer carries the image through the whole text. He says, “Set right through the twelve, existence and nonexistence both pass freely, and no matter remains unexhausted.” The function of the Twelve Gates is called free passage. He calls the fortune of later students “the level road already lies open and the hidden path is already cleared”—level and open are still the language of road and gate. At the end, his own aspiration is only, “I hope through this intention to open a road of rapid progress.”

From beginning to end, he never once describes the treatise as a house in which one can settle.

Nor did the preface writer add this image from outside. Nāgārjuna himself says under “Gate One: Examination of Causes and Conditions,” “one should enter the meaning of emptiness through the Twelve Gates.” Gates are for entering. Preface and treatise agree exactly here: the Twelve Gates are twelve entrances, not twelve conclusions to be stored.

The twelve short lines beneath the names of the gates follow this image. Nearly each closes in the same form: “because it can be penetrated without obstruction, it is called a gate,” “this is made a gate,” or “therefore it is made a gate.” The short lines do not finish the reasoning behind each gate for the reader. They say only what the gate investigates and where one enters. Beneath the first gate: “The causes upon which the myriad dharmas depend appear each to possess nature; investigated and brought into communication, they in fact possess no intrinsic nature.” The distance between appears and in fact is the entire journey the Twelve Gates will make.

4. Existence and Nonexistence Both Pass Freely: What Is Corrected through the Twelve?

“Set right through the twelve, existence and nonexistence both pass freely, and no matter remains unexhausted.”

The word both cannot be omitted. The writer does not say to suppress existence and establish nonexistence, but to let both sides pass freely together. If a treatise refutes existence while retaining nonexistence, that nonexistence becomes a new point of attachment. The Twelve Gates’ twelve investigations arrive where neither side can be established; hence both pass freely.

The next two sentences form a pair: “When matters are exhausted within existence and nonexistence, accomplishment is forgotten within transformation. When principle reaches the utmost empty position, self is lost at the two limits.”

The first speaks from matters. Once matters are exhausted within the two sides of existence and nonexistence, accomplishment is forgotten within transformation; one no longer supposes that an operative power of creating and changing can be grasped. The second speaks from principle. When principle reaches the utmost empty position, self is lost between the two limits. Together, one releases the dharma grasped and the other the self that grasps.

5. Forgetting Trap and Self Together: The Preface’s Deepest Passage

Next come the preface’s three most important sentences: “Thus, losing self lies in dropping the fish trap; forgetting the trap consists in abandoning what was entrusted to it. Only when trap and self are both forgotten can one begin to draw near the real.”

A fish trap is a bamboo instrument for catching fish. To compare verbal teaching to the trap means that teaching is the implement for obtaining the fish, not the fish itself. The writer’s order is this: to lose self, one must first drop the trap; the possibility of forgetting the trap lies in abandoning the thing entrusted to it.

The layers are peeled with precision. One first grasps dharmas; after dharmas are refuted, one grasps the words that refuted them; after forgetting words, one grasps a self who has forgotten. He therefore says that trap and self must be forgotten together, not only one. Drop the trap while self remains and that self makes “not establishing words” into a new trap. Lose self while the trap remains and the words refuting attachment become what is grasped.

“Then one may begin to draw near the real.” The word is near, not attain. Drawing near is not taking possession. The single word guards the measure: the real mark is not something anyone can hold. Say, “I have attained the real mark,” and self has returned.

The next passage opens from this: “Drawing near the real, empty and real merge in obscurity, and gain and loss possess no boundary. Merged without boundary, one can forget haste between the two mysteries and dissolve distress into unity.” Empty and real merge; gain and loss have no limit. In moments of haste one does not panic, and amid distress one does not scatter. The preface has moved from the treatise’s meaning into daily life. Haste and distress are circumstances people actually encounter; the writer says that one who follows the Twelve Gates to their end can still return to unity there.

Only then comes the destination: “Set the returning carriage in order at the place of awakening and bring the mind’s orientation to completion in the ground of buddhahood.” The returning carriage is made ready and directed to the place of awakening; the mind’s course is finally placed in buddhahood. After traveling so far, this is a return, not a departure.

6. Beneath the Ornament: What Do Those Expansive Sentences Say?

The latter half of the preface suddenly opens into several grand sentences: “Vast indeed! It can truly be said to wield a blade without thickness where no gap exists and sound a rare music within the cosmos; to rescue those drowning and lost at the mysterious ford and carry existence and nonexistence beyond their bounds.”

These sentences are beautiful but not ornamental emptiness. “Wield a blade without thickness where no gap exists” describes a blade of no thickness moving where no space appears. The Twelve Gates investigate not by striking force against force; the blade of nongrasping passes precisely because it holds nothing. “Sound a rare music within the cosmos” speaks of a sound difficult for people to hear. “Rescue those drowning and lost at the mysterious ford” returns to the preface’s first practical concern: carrying people across water. “Carry existence and nonexistence beyond their bounds” returns to the principle: moving both existence and nonexistence outside their territory. The first two clauses concern the wisdom that refutes; the latter two, the people rescued and the attachment left behind.

Then come words for later generations: “Later students have met a fortunate time. The level road already lies open and the hidden path is already cleared. They can sound the carriage bells in the northern darkness, drive the white-ox cart southward in return, awaken to great awakening within a dream, and rest in return amid the hundred transformations.” Later students are fortunate: the road has been leveled, the hidden path opened. They can sound the bells and turn the white-ox cart back, awaken within the dream, and rest amid myriad transformations.

Pause at the words “rest in return amid the hundred transformations.” One does not leave transformation to seek a place of rest; one rests precisely amid transformation. This accords with the direction of the Twelve Gates. What is refuted is never the function of appearances, but the intrinsic nature established behind them.

7. Self-Narration: He Accepts Only One Accomplishment

At the end, the preface turns to self-narration and the voice immediately lowers: “Rui, with my shallow and contrary understanding, nevertheless dare with sincere intent to knock at the empty and mysterious gate and inwardly aspire to the ultimate aim.” With his shallow and contrary understanding, he still dares to knock at the gate with sincerity and cherish the final intent. He asks only that “my daily application may be fitting and the work accumulated through the years may grow.”

Then comes a question: “Could this truly add anything?” He does not claim to have added something to the treatise.

He accepts only the final sentence: “I merely hope that through this intention I may open a road of rapid progress.”

One word, “open”; one word, “road.” They are exactly the terms used at the preface’s beginning for gates and the path of departure. He assigns himself the same place he assigns the treatise: not somewhere for people to dwell, but a road on which they can move faster.

Carried Forward: Illumination from Two Prefaces along the Same Axis

The preceding is the meaning of this preface itself. What follows is a cross-light from the axis of the Three Treatises. The illumination is not this preface; it simply records without deciding what the same person in the same translation community says about these treatises elsewhere.

In the preface signed “Preface by the Monk Seng Rui” at the beginning of the Treatise on the Middle, the writer lists four treatises and gives each a single judgment. Of this work he says, “the refined attainment of the Contemplation in Twelve Gates”; of the Hundred Treatise, “the Hundred Treatise governs the outside and bars error.” One governs the outside; one possesses refined attainment. Both statements belong to that other preface, not this one. This preface never mentions another treatise.

The Treatise on the Middle preface also says, “only then may those worthy in discussion of the Way speak together of the real.” This resembles the path of the present preface’s phrase, “only then may one begin to draw near the real.” Both place the real at the end, and neither is willing to say it has been attained.

Read together along one axis, each remains in its own place. The meaning of this preface is still governed by this preface’s own text.