成唯識論 白話全本 · 冊6
釋結施願分Concluding Interpretation and Dedication
全文五層 →Full five layers →〔所釋之頌〕第三十頌釋竟·結施願
釋結施願分
〔結釋示正名〕
這部論是用「三分」（也就是境、行、果，或者相、性、位這三段）來成立「唯識」的道理的，所以才叫它《成唯識論》（「成」就是成立、論證的意思）。
〔釋亦名〕
這部論還有另一個名字，叫《淨唯識論》。為什麼叫「淨」？因為它把「唯識」這個道理顯發得極為清淨明朗，所以用這個名字。
〔示本論名 · 釋結施願〕
這裡說的「本論」，指的是世親菩薩所造的那三十首頌（《成唯識論》是後人解釋這三十頌的釋論，這三十頌才是被解釋的根本，所以叫「本論」）。這「本論」的名字就叫《唯識三十論頌》——為什麼叫「三十」？因為單單這三十首頌，就剛剛好把「唯識」的道理顯發圓滿了：不多一首、也不少一首，多一首是贅、少一首是缺，恰恰三十首就把這個道理講周全了。 接下來是一首『結施願偈』（造論收尾、迴向發願的偈子）：（世親說）我已經依著聖教（佛說的經）和正理（正確的道理），把「唯識」的「性」（它的本質）和「相」（它的相狀）這兩層意思分別講明了；我願意把造這部論所得到的一切功德，都施與一切眾生，並且發願：跟眾生一起、快快地登上「無上覺」（也就是無上正等菩提，最圓滿的覺悟）。
〔後序〕——沈玄明 撰（唐·古德）
唐代沈玄明所撰。全文為駢文，所記為本論成書、糅譯始末與譯場人物，非論本義理。
（後序一開頭，先讚佛的境界。）話說從根本上講——佛覺悟的境界，就像一片大海，又清澈、又深玄，把千流萬派全都涵納進來，一路通到「宗極」（也就是最究竟的那個道理）；佛那神妙的心機，能把最幽微難見的道理闡發出來，覆蓋著天地萬象，凝結成「至真」（最真實的那個本體）。打個比方：佛就像一輪朗朗高照的慧日，把「六幽」（六道裡那些幽暗的角落）一一照得分明，像一面明鏡；又像一片佈灑下來的慈雲，把「八㝢」（八方天下）都澆得清涼。佛只用「一音」說法（佛說法只發一種聲音），眾生卻能各自當下領會（各類眾生隨著自己的根器，都聽得懂、都得到受用）；佛的教化遠遠超出「三乘」（聲聞、緣覺、菩薩這三條路）之上，在道上飛馳奔騰，沒有止境。
（接著講佛應機說法，從小乘一路到大乘。）世尊看出憍陳如他們是「半器」（也就是只裝得下一半、根器還小的小乘人），就在鹿野苑替他們開渡「有」這一層教法（先說「有」，講四聖諦這些）；後來又照見須菩提（也就是「善現」）已經是圓滿的大根器了，就在靈鷲山（也叫「鷲嶺」）給他演說「空空」的般若（連「空」本身也要空掉的那種究竟般若）。佛雖然早已遠遠超脫了「常、斷」這兩個極端（既不執一切恆常、也不執一切斷滅），可是難道就把「有」和「空」這套說法也像捕魚的竹簍、捉兔的網（筌蹄，用完就丟的工具）一樣全扔了嗎？——並沒有；佛正是用這些把無上靈妙的究竟宗旨顯發出來，把「中道」（不落兩邊的正道）凝聚在這（唯識）的教法裡。
（再講佛滅度後，正法漸漸散亂。）等到佛在金河邊（也就是拘尸那城的跋提河畔）入了滅度、收斂了光景，那本來純正的法源就分成一支支岔流、再也難以追溯回源頭了；後世的「玉牒」（指經典）也像霏霏飄落的花瓣一樣四散零落，一股股澆薄的風氣（指錯誤的學說）你接著我、我接著你地相繼鼓動起來。於是「二十八見」（外道的種種邪見）就在「五天」（五印度，整個印度）裡攪得人迷迷糊糊，就好像桑樹林間的大雁迷了方向、找不著路；「一十六師」（外道的十六個宗師）也在「四主」（四方人君所統的疆域）裡攪得人分不清真假，就好像雲霧裡的牛，看不清是黑是白。
（這一段引出主角世親菩薩。）佛滅度之後將近五百年（「半千」就是五百），有一位聖者出世了，這就是世親——他實在是這個「賢劫」（我們這一大劫）裡應世而來的真人。他把自己「生知」的天分（天生就有的大智慧）藏起來，先用淺近的方式提攜、教化眾人；他一出生就像飛光放彩，照亮了眾多有情。他先在小乘裡用功：把那永不昏昧的智慧照在「八蘊」上（指有部的《發智論》，全論分八蘊），把最初的心思琢磨在「六足」上（指有部的六部「足論」），在《俱舍論》裡開出談辯的奇葩（「芝」是靈芝，比喻精彩的議論），高高標舉「說有」這一宗（指說一切有部）剩下來的義理。後來他回轉到大乘：把玄妙的法海攝持過來，把「研空」（深研空義）的究竟道理裝點得更加華美，他的教化之道正往上昇、照到了極處，最後澄澄湛湛地、純純一一地凝結在這（三十）頌裡。——這《唯識三十偈》，就是世親「歸根」（晚年歸宗大乘、回到根本）時留下來的遺作啊。
（這一段讚這三十頌文約義深，同時點出它『只立頌、未廣釋』。）這三十頌裡的道理，深深地收藏著，像深淵大海一樣；它把唯識的種種境相，浮現在「榮河」（光華燦爛的河流）之上。它的義理鬱鬱盛盛，像一團「煙飈」（升騰的雲氣）；它的文采華麗，像虹霓織成的文章鋪在「玄圃」（崑崙山上的仙苑）裡。它的字句含攝著天地萬象，短短一個字裡就包著上千層意思；它的妙旨高超得像要飛上天去，它幽深的光彩像滿天星華。然而——這裡話鋒一轉：這麼幽微的義理線索，世親還來不及一一宣講出來，那冥冥深奧的精神，遠遠超出凡夫所能到達的境界；它孤零零的光明，光斂著、不肯顯露，那祕密的思想，就潛藏在津渡口（隱而不發）——（這幾句話的意思是說：世親只造出了這根本的三十頌，還沒來得及自己詳加解釋，就把這幽深的義理隱藏起來了。下文正好接上：是後來的十大論師替他作釋的。）
（這一段講十大論師出來替三十頌作釋，並交代論名的由來。）在世親之後，有護法、安慧等「十大菩薩」（也就是註解這三十頌的十大論師）出世。他們把玄妙的明珠收藏在「八藏」（指浩瀚的教藏、一切教典）裡，又在「四圍」（四方）高高聳立起一層層的義理樓閣。他們把心安住在觀照「二因」上（深察因果之理），把精神棲止在清淨的「三觀」裡（修種種觀行）；他們的光輝上升到「十地」（菩薩修證的十個階位），用清澄的智慧之水去滋潤「賢林」（賢者聚集的林園，喻學眾）；他們已經逼近「七覺」（七覺支，趨向覺悟的七種法）的微妙之機，用皎潔的修行之月，照破「重夜」（一重又一重的漫漫長夜，喻無明）。他們性情既溫和又熱烈，仰慕並追隨著前代的賢德（「躅」就是踏著前人的足跡走）；他們的言辭像箭一樣噴湧、像泉水一樣不竭，他們的思緒像風一般捲著珍寶飛馳——他們全都對著世親的這根本三十頌，各自寫下了自己的註釋（每人作了一部釋論）。後來玄奘把這十家的釋論糅合成一部，定名叫《成唯識論》，又名《淨唯識論》。
（這一段講這部論在義理上的功用——破「有」也破「空」，立中道。）這部論一方面把心外的「二取」（也就是「能取」的主觀、和「所取」的客觀，被執為實有的那兩頭）空掉，止息了那種一味黏著「實有」的迷路（破「有執」）；另一方面又安立識內的「一心」（承認有唯識所現的這一心），遣除那種乾脆把一切都當成「空」的妄執（破「惡取空」，也就是錯把空當成什麼都沒有）。一個人要是對這「心」「境」的道理昏昧不明，就會在苦海裡長久沉淪；要是悟到了「有」「空」並非二邊（非空非有的中道）這個旨趣，就能一步登上覺悟的彼岸。在這部論面前，『九十（五）外道』（九十五種外道）被攪亂了車轍、連旗子都倒了（喻外道之說被破），『十八（部）小乘』也被攔下了他們的「羬軒」（羊拉的小車，喻小乘）、轉而去扶持「龍轂」（龍駕的大車，喻大乘）。這部論窮究到神妙之處、體會到精微之理，深入到最幽隱（「賾」就是深隱）的地方去探它的關鍵；它的義理精純地貫通「十支」（瑜伽行派的十支論書），透徹地該攝「九分」（佛說的九分教，九類經文）。它的氣象，可以回頭與《易經》的「十翼」（孔子解《易》的十篇）比翼齊飛，可以俯臨「九流」（諸子百家）而疏濬出美玉般的清波；它把最深邃精微的道理全都講盡了，把法王（佛）的奧妙經典全都闡發了。到了極處，連「名相」（種種稱謂）都泯絕了、連「言象」（言說和取象的工具，就是上文說的筌蹄之類）也一併忘掉了（言忘象絕，直契本義）。它讓靈妙的光景在「西申」（西天竺，印度）大放光明，又把虹彩般的光輝深藏在「震旦」（古印度對中國的稱呼）；它救濟眾生、弘揚大道，最後深深地歸結到根本的宗德上去。
（這一段轉到譯主玄奘，先讚他的德學，再敘他西行求法。）說到那位大和尚、三藏法師玄奘——他天性睿智明哲，能舍離一切虛妄的執著（連「真」的執著也放下），他既踐行仁德，智慧又如飛翔一般高遠；他在『九門禪定』（種種禪定法門）裡證得了寂靜，安穩得像融融的高山，他胸中的「八萬玄津」（八萬四千法門的玄妙津渡）奔騰流瀉，匯成了汪洋大海。他智德的功夫，像一重重砌起的金牆，光耀如月；像一座座高峻的玉宇，飛舉如霞。他的芳潔純粹超過了「澄蘭」（清香的蘭草），他孕育出來的風采華美超過了「龍翼」。他痛惜佛那精微的言教光彩被埋沒了、嗟嘆那弘大的義理光輝衰落了，於是發下誓願、踏上了這遙遠的征途（指西行印度）：他游渡過「祥河」攔路的河水，攀過聖地寶樹低垂的枝條，順著雕花的橋（「鏤杠」）一路神遊，踩著積雪的山峯（「霙峯」）安步前行；他登上佛跡的台階去證道，瞻仰著佛的玄妙聖影來莊嚴自己的修因。他在印度採訪奧義、遍觀奇珍，前後歷時「二紀」（一紀十二年，二紀約二十四年，指他西行求法的整段歲月）；最後他用檀香封好、把寫在貝葉上的經本一一篆錄收藏，像當年白馬馱經那樣（用『白馬馱經』這個典故，指馱載著經卷），返回到「三秦」（長安一帶）。
（這一段讚大唐皇室護持譯經，並列出譯場的人事與規模。）我大唐——它的吉慶祥瑞，可比「金輪」（金輪聖王，轉輪王中最高的一等）；它的禎祥，憑藉著「樞電」般的帝德（喻天子的威德如樞機、如閃電）。大唐囊括了「大千」（大千世界，喻天下之廣）而光被四方、安宅天下，駕馭著「六辯」（六種辯才）而如飛龍在天；它神妙的教化暗暗通達四方，連「九仙」（四方遠國）都來進獻珍寶（「賮寶」就是進貢的寶物），它玄妙的謀猷向四處闡揚，連百神都肅然各盡其職。天子「凝旒邃拱」（冠冕垂著玉串、深深拱手，形容垂衣拱手、無為而治），在夜色裡杳然與聖人通夢（暗用感夢求法的典故）；他揮灑文采、鋪布華章，煥然地寫下文字來暗暗讚助（佛法）。於是天子降下「綸旨」（詔令），普遍下令翻譯：敕命尚書左僕射、燕國公于志寧，中書令、高陽公許敬宗等人負責「潤色」（修飾文辭），沙門釋神泰等人負責「證義」（勘定義理是否正確），沙門釋靖邁等人負責「質文」（校理文字、斟酌文與質）。這項譯事，從貞觀十九年（645）開始，一直到顯慶末年才結束，譯出的部數將近六十部、卷數多達一千卷。這場盛事，氣象遠遠超過了蓬萊仙境，浩浩蕩蕩、池水環繞無際；它使法寶更加興隆，大大地開啟了眾多迷昧的眾生。連『頌德文』『序經文』都蒙天子親自「宸藻」（皇帝親手寫成的文章），這玄妙佛法之盛，是前所未聞的。
（這一段專記《成唯識論》這部書是哪一年、怎麼糅譯出來的——全篇的關鍵。）就在顯慶四年（659，這一年歲次己未，後序用「龍捿叶洽」這套古曆名來指它），冬令時節應著節序到來、那一年的閏月又正落在陽月，玄奘就把這「十釋」（十大論師的十部釋論）共四千五百頌，匯聚起來——本來各家分立、各依各的本子，玄奘把它們糅合（融會、合譯）成一部，編定為十卷。到那個月終、那一年將盡的時候，整理綜合的工作才算完成。譯文裡精細地包羅了訓詁（字義的解釋），仔細地研求了「夷夏」（也就是梵文和漢文）兩邊的對應；它的音調驚動了「韶律」（喻聲律之美如舜樂），它的文采揮灑到了天庭。當時更有「白鳳」呈現奇瑞、「紫微」（帝星）顯出祥兆——種種瑞應。於是，本來十家『文字相同、意思卻各異』（各說各話）的釋論，經玄奘這麼一糅，竟好像是出於同一位大師的手筆一樣渾然一體。由此可見：「古聖」（指世親和十大論師）跟「今賢」（指玄奘），他們的理趣其實是一致的（「揆」就是準則、道理）。
（後序最後一段，讚玄奘的弟子窺基，並交代他作《述記》傳後學，全篇就此收結。）玄奘三藏的弟子，名叫「基」（也就是窺基大師）——他出身「鼎族高門、玉田華胄」（都是形容名門望族、世家子弟），壯年就已經在體味佛道，少年（『綺年』就是年少之時）便已在參究玄理。他的學業之高峻，勝過「林遠」（指東晉的道安、慧遠兩位高僧）；他的見識之清澈，像一面雲鏡。他閑雅的威儀，像玉一樣瑩潔，超越了道的幽深而澄明；他飄逸的風韻像蘭花一樣芳香，他飛揚的辯才壓過了「法汰」（東晉名僧竺法汰）。他梳理那「八梵」（八種清淨梵音）般的仙妙法音，像沖天的白鶴飛舞著、帶來禎祥；他鋪陳像「九章」（典雅的篇章）那樣的華美法範，像桐樹上鸞鳥的身影一樣絢爛多采。他在譯經的同道之間放光，連「叡」（東晉名僧僧叡）都得在他面前俯首潛藏、把光彩融到他這裡來；他在講義理的學眾之中顯彩，回看「猷」（指慧猷一輩高僧）也能舒展暢達、高高地超越。他秀美得像初晨（「初昕」就是破曉）那一輪美玉般的朝陽，光明遠勝過了世間的玄學家和儒者；他剛勁得像「彌天」（指『彌天釋道安』，道安自稱『彌天釋道安』）那樣的絕世文筆，超騰邁越了真諦與俗諦兩端。他親自承受玄奘的「四辯」（四無礙辯）真傳，言談間還能助發「三明」（宿命、天眼、漏盡三明）；他替後學疏通門徑（「戶牖」就是門窗，喻入道之門）、引渡津口，他的功業有資於樸素的根柢，他通達的義理寄託於精神。他綜理出這部《成唯識論》的綱領，辨明它的章節品第，還另外撰寫了《義疏》（也就是《成唯識論述記》），把它傳給後來的學人。但願這教法能盤踞在「黃陸」（中土、中原大地）上，那盛況能跨越並媲美「龜疇」（指河圖、洛書這些祥瑞）；願這祥瑞浮現在紫宮（帝宮）之上，光彩蓋過了「麟籀」（古文、籀文等古老典籍）。（沈玄明最後自謙地說：）我只是用盡了自己「庸謏」（淺陋鄙薄）的言辭，把這部論造作、翻譯的宗旨原委，簡略地敘述一番罷了。
C. The division of concluding interpretation and the vow of dedication
〔Concluding interpretation showing the right title〕
This treatise uses "three divisions" (that is, the three sections of object, practice, and fruit — or of mark, nature, and stages) to establish the principle of "consciousness-only," and that is why it is called Cheng Weishi Lun ("establish" meaning to establish and to prove).
〔Interpreting the alternate title〕
This treatise also has another name, Jing Weishi Lun (the treatise of pure consciousness-only). Why the word "pure"? Because it discloses this principle of "consciousness-only" so utterly clearly and brightly; and so that name is used.
〔Showing the root-treatise's title · interpreting the dedication-and-vow conclusion〕
The "root treatise" spoken of here means those thirty verses composed by the bodhisattva Vasubandhu (the Cheng Weishi Lun is the interpretive treatise by which later people explained these thirty verses; these thirty verses are the very root that gets explained, and so they are called the "root treatise"). The name of this "root treatise" is the Weishi Sanshi Lun-song (the Thirty Verses on consciousness-only) — why is it called "thirty"? Because just these thirty verses alone bring the principle of "consciousness-only" to perfect completion: not one verse too many, not one verse too few — one more would be excess, one fewer would be lack, and exactly these thirty round the principle out to the full. Next comes a "closing verse of dedication and vow" (the verse that rounds off the composition, dedicating and making a vow): (Vasubandhu says) I have, in dependence on the holy teaching (the scriptures the Buddha spoke) and on right principle (correct reasoning), distinguished and made clear the two senses of "consciousness-only" — its "nature" (its essence) and its "mark" (its appearance); and I am willing to take all the merit I have gained by composing this treatise and bestow it on all beings, and to make this vow: that together with all beings I may swiftly mount to "supreme awakening" (that is, supreme, perfect awakening, the most complete realization of all).
〔Postface〕— composed by Shen Xuanming (a Tang dynasty ancient worthy)
Shen Xuanming of the Tang dynasty composed this postface in parallel prose. It records the treatise's composition, Xuanzang's compilation and translation, and the personnel of the translation bureau; it is not part of the treatise's doctrinal exposition.
Postface 〔T31 0059b02〕
(The postface opens by praising the Buddha's state.) Speaking from the root of it — the state of the Buddha's awakening is like one great ocean, at once clear and deep and dark-mysterious, taking in the thousand streams and ten thousand currents all at once, running through all the way to the "ultimate ground" (that is, the most final principle); and the Buddha's marvelous workings of mind can disclose the subtlest, hardest-to-see principles, covering heaven and earth and the ten thousand images, congealing them into the "utterly real" (the truest substance of all). To draw a comparison: the Buddha is like one bright sun of wisdom blazing high, lighting up every one of the "six dark places" (the gloomy corners within the six destinies) clear as a bright mirror; and like a spread of compassion-clouds let down, watering the "eight quarters" (the lands of the eight directions) into coolness. The Buddha preaches with but "one sound" (the Buddha emits only one kind of voice in preaching), yet beings each understand it on the spot in their own way (the many kinds of beings, each according to his own capacity, all grasp it and all draw benefit); and the Buddha's teaching ranges far beyond the "three vehicles" (the three roads of the disciple, the solitary-realizer, and the bodhisattva), galloping and racing onward upon the Way, with no end to its course.
(Next it tells how the Buddha taught according to capacity, from the Lesser Vehicle all the way to the Great.) The World-Honored One saw that Kauṇḍinya and the rest were "half-vessels" (that is, Lesser Vehicle men who could hold only half, whose capacity was still small), and so at the Deer Park he opened for them the teaching that ferries across by way of "the existent" (preaching "the existent" first, the Four Noble Truths and such); later he saw that Subhūti (that is, "Sublime Manifestation") was already of full and complete great capacity, and so on Vulture Peak (also called "the Eagle Range") he expounded for him the prajñā of "emptiness of emptiness" (the ultimate prajñā in which even "emptiness" itself must be emptied out). Although the Buddha had long since utterly transcended the two extremes of "permanence and annihilation" (clinging neither to all things as eternal nor to all things as cut off), did he therefore throw away the whole teaching of "the existent" and "emptiness" too, like a fish-trap or a rabbit-snare (the trap and snare, tools one discards once done with)? — No, he did not; it is precisely by these that the Buddha discloses the unsurpassed, numinous, ultimate purport, congealing the "middle way" (the right path that falls into neither extreme) into this (consciousness-only) teaching.
(Now it tells how, after the Buddha's passing, the true Dharma gradually scattered into confusion.) When the Buddha by the Gold River (that is, the bank of the Hiraṇyavatī at Kuśinagara) entered final extinction and gathered in his light, the source of the Dharma, once pure and unmixed, broke up into one branching stream after another, no longer to be traced back to its spring; and the "jade-tablets" (meaning the scriptures) of later ages, like petals drifting down in scattered flurries, fell apart in disorder, while stream after stream of thinning customs (meaning mistaken doctrines) rose up one after another, each fanning the next. Thereupon the "twenty-eight views" (the assorted false views of the outer paths) churned people into a daze throughout the "five heavens" (the five regions of India, the whole of India), like wild geese in a mulberry grove that have lost their way and cannot find the road; and the "sixteen masters" (the sixteen schoolmasters of the outer paths) churned people, all across the "four lords' [realms]" (the lands ruled by the sovereigns of the four quarters), into not telling true from false, like oxen in the mist that cannot be made out whether black or white.
(This passage brings on the protagonist, the bodhisattva Vasubandhu.) Nearly five hundred years after the Buddha's passing ("half a thousand" being five hundred), a holy one came into the world — this is Vasubandhu, who truly is the realized man who came in response to the age within this "Worthy Eon" (this great eon of ours). He hid away his "born-knowing" gift (the great wisdom he had from birth) and first took up shallow, near-at-hand means to lift up and teach the people; from the moment of his birth he was like flying light shedding splendor, lighting up the host of sentient beings. He first worked within the Lesser Vehicle: he cast the never-dimming wisdom upon the "eight aggregates" (meaning the Sarvāstivāda's Jñānaprasthāna, whose whole text is divided into eight aggregates), and polished his earliest thought upon the "six feet" (meaning the Sarvāstivāda's six "foot" treatises); within the Abhidharmakośa he opened the rare blossom of disputation ("blossom" being the magic fungus, a figure for brilliant argument), holding high the leftover doctrines of the "those-who-teach-the-existent" school (meaning the Sarvāstivāda). Later he turned round to the Great Vehicle: he took in its mysterious dharma-ocean, and adorned still more richly the ultimate principle of "investigating emptiness" (delving deep into the sense of emptiness); his teaching-way was mounting upward and shining to the very limit, and at last it congealed — clear, still, pure, and unified — into these (thirty) verses. — This Triṃśikā (the Thirty Verses on consciousness-only) is the work Vasubandhu left behind when he "returned to the root" (in his later years coming home to the Great Vehicle, returning to the foundation).
(This passage praises the thirty verses as compact in word and deep in sense, while pointing out that they "set up only the verses, without expounding them at length.") The principle within these thirty verses is stored away deep, like a great ocean's abyss; it lets the assorted object-appearances of consciousness-only float up upon the "Splendid River" (a river of glittering radiance). Its sense is lush and thick, like a mass of "rising vapor"; its literary luster is gorgeous, like a piece woven of rainbow brocade spread across the "Dark Garden" (the immortals' park atop Mount Kunlun). Its words hold within them heaven and earth and the ten thousand images, and a single short character wraps up a thousand layers of meaning inside it; its marvelous purport soars so high it seems about to fly up to heaven, and its deep luster is like a sky full of starry splendor. And yet — here the brush turns — these subtle threads of the principle Vasubandhu had not yet had the chance to expound one by one; that dim, profound spirit reaches far beyond the bounds an ordinary man can attain; its solitary brightness keeps its glow drawn in, unwilling to show itself, and those secret thoughts lie hidden away at the ferry-crossing (held back, not let out). — (The point of these few lines is to say: Vasubandhu composed only these root thirty verses, and before he had the chance to expound them in detail himself, he hid this deep principle away. The line that follows takes it right up: it was the ten great masters afterward who composed the interpretation for him.)
(This passage tells how the ten great masters came forth to compose the interpretation of the thirty verses, and accounts for the origin of the treatise's titles.) After Vasubandhu there came the "ten great bodhisattvas" — Dharmapāla, Sthiramati, and the rest (that is, the ten great masters who annotated these thirty verses). They stored the mysterious pearl away in the "eight treasuries" (meaning the vast teaching-store, all the teaching-texts), and reared up tier upon tier of doctrine-towers in the "four surrounds" (the four quarters). They settled their minds upon the contemplation of the "two causes" (deeply examining the principle of cause and effect), and lodged their spirits within the pure "three contemplations" (cultivating the various contemplation-practices); their radiance rose to the "ten stages" (the ten ranks of the bodhisattva's cultivation and realization), and with the pure water of wisdom they watered the "grove of the worthy" (the park where the worthy gather, a figure for the body of students); they had already drawn near to the subtle pivot of the "seven [factors of] awakening" (the seven awakening-limbs, the seven dharmas tending toward awakening), and with the bright moon of practice they broke open the "layered night" (the long, long night, layer upon layer, a figure for ignorance). In temper they were at once gentle and ardent, looking up to and following in the footsteps of the worthy of former ages ("treading" being to walk in the tracks of those before); their words gushed like arrows, welled like an inexhaustible spring; their thoughts went racing like a wind that carries jewels along — and they all, facing these root thirty verses of Vasubandhu, each wrote down his own annotation (each composing one interpretive treatise). Afterward Xuanzang wove these ten houses' interpretive treatises into one, and fixed its name as the Cheng Weishi Lun, also named the Jing Weishi Lun.
(This passage tells of the treatise's function in the doctrine — refuting "the existent" and refuting "emptiness" too, and setting up the middle way.) This treatise, on the one hand, empties out the "two graspings" outside the mind (that is, the "grasping" subject and the "grasped" object, the two ends taken to be really existent), stilling that one-sided clinging to "real existence" gone astray (refuting the "attachment to the existent"); and on the other hand it sets up the "one mind" within consciousness (granting that there is this one mind that consciousness-only manifests), driving out that deluded clinging that flatly takes everything to be "empty" (refuting the "wrongly-grasped emptiness," that is, the mistake of taking emptiness to mean sheer nothingness). If a man stays dim and unclear about this principle of "mind" and "object," he will sink and drown long in the sea of suffering; but if he wakes to the purport that "the existent" and "emptiness" are not two extremes (the middle way of neither-empty-nor-existent), he can at one step mount up to the far shore of awakening. Before this treatise, the "ninety[-five] outer paths" (the ninety-five kinds of outer paths) had their wheel-ruts thrown into confusion and their very banners toppled (a figure for the outer paths' doctrines being refuted), and the "eighteen [schools of the] Lesser Vehicle" too had their "ram-carts" pulled up short (the little carts the rams draw, a figure for the Lesser Vehicle) and turned instead to uphold the "dragon-hub" (the great carriage the dragons draw, a figure for the Great Vehicle). This treatise probes through to the marvelous, fathoms the finest principle, and enters into the most hidden places ("the hidden" being the deep-concealed) to search out their pivot; its sense purely runs through the "ten supports" (the ten support-treatises of the Yogācāra school), and thoroughly gathers up the "nine divisions" (the nine divisions of the Buddha's teaching, the nine classes of scriptural text). In its grandeur it can look back and fly wing to wing with the "Ten Wings" of the Book of Changes (the ten pieces by which Confucius explained the Changes), and can look down upon the "nine streams" (the hundred schools of thought) and dredge up from them a jade-pure current; it has expounded to the full the deepest, finest principle, and disclosed entire the profound scriptures of the Dharma-King (the Buddha). At its utmost, even "names and marks" (the assorted designations) are blotted out, and even "words and images" (the tools of speech and of taking-an-image, the very fish-trap-and-snare spoken of above) are forgotten together (words gone, images cut off, directly meeting the root sense). It made the numinous radiance blaze out across the "Western Sindhu" (Western India, that is, India), and stored the rainbow-like luster away in "Cīnasthāna" (ancient India's name for China); it ferries beings across and propagates the great Way, and in the end comes home, far and deep, to the root virtue-and-purport.
(This passage turns to the translation-master Xuanzang, first praising his virtue and learning, then telling of his westward journey in quest of the Dharma.) As for that great preceptor, the Tripiṭaka master of the Dharma Xuanzang — by nature he was wise and clear-sighted, able to let go of every false clinging (laying down even the clinging to "the real"); he both walked the path of benevolence and had wisdom as far-soaring as flight; within the "nine gates of meditative absorption" (the various gateways of dhyāna) he realized stillness, settled as a high mountain blended into one, and the "eighty thousand mysterious fords" within his breast (the marvelous ferry-crossings of the eighty-four thousand dharma-gates) surged and poured forth, gathering into a vast sea. The cultivation of his wisdom-virtue was like a golden wall built tier upon tier, gleaming like the moon; like a high jade hall, soaring up like rosy cloud. His fragrant purity outdid the "clear orchid" (the sweet-scented orchid grass), and the splendor he nurtured outdid the "dragon-wing." He grieved that the Buddha's fine, subtle teaching had had its luster buried away, and sighed that the great doctrine's radiance had fallen into decline, and so he made a vow and set out upon this far journey (meaning his westward journey to India): he swam across the barring waters of the "Auspicious River," climbed the low-hanging branches of the holy land's jewel-trees, and along the carved-railing bridge ("the carved span") roamed in spirit all the way, treading with steady steps over the snow-piled peaks ("the snow peaks"); he mounted the steps where the Buddha had walked to realize the Way, and gazed up at the Buddha's mysterious holy shadow to adorn his own cultivation-cause. In India he sought out the profound and viewed everywhere the rare and precious, passing through, all told, "two cycles" (one cycle being twelve years, two cycles about twenty-four years, meaning the whole span of his westward quest for the Dharma); at last he sealed up with sandalwood and tablet-by-tablet recorded the scripture-texts written on palm-leaves, and like the White Horse of old that carried the scriptures (using the allusion of "the White Horse carrying the scriptures," meaning bearing the scripture-rolls), he returned to the "Three Qin" (the region around Chang'an).
(This passage praises the imperial house of the Great Tang for upholding the translation of scriptures, and lists the personnel and scale of the translation bureau.) Our Great Tang — its felicity and auspicious omens may be matched with the "Golden Wheel" (the Golden-Wheel sage-king, the highest grade of wheel-turning kings); its blessed signs rest upon the imperial virtue like a "pivot, like lightning" (a figure for the Son of Heaven's majestic virtue, like the pivot of all things, like a lightning-flash). The Great Tang takes in the "Great Thousand" (the great-thousand world, a figure for the breadth of all-under-heaven) and lets its light cover and house the four quarters, riding the "six [kinds of] eloquence" so as to fly like a dragon in the heavens; its marvelous teaching reaches quietly through to the four quarters, so that even the "nine immortals" (the far countries of the four directions) come to offer their precious tribute ("tribute-treasure" being the treasures presented in homage), and its mysterious counsels are propagated on every side, so that the hundred spirits stand in awe and each fulfills his office. The Son of Heaven, "his beaded crown still, his hands deep-folded" (the jade strings hanging from the crown, the hands clasped deep — a figure for ruling by letting the robes hang and folding the hands, governing by non-action), in the dark of night reached afar and communed in dream with the holy ones (a hidden use of the allusion of "seeking the Dharma through a dream-vision"); he plied his literary brilliance and spread out splendid pieces, and in radiance wrote down words to give his hidden support (to the Buddha-Dharma). Thereupon the Son of Heaven sent down a "silken edict" (an imperial command), commanding broadly that the translation be done: he charged the Director of the Department of State Affairs of the Left, Duke of Yan, Yu Zhining; the Secretariat Director, Duke of Gaoyang, Xu Jingzong, and the rest with "polishing" (refining the wording); the śramaṇa Shi Shentai and the rest with "verifying the sense" (settling whether the doctrine was correct); and the śramaṇa Shi Jingmai and the rest with "weighing the text" (collating the words, weighing ornament against plainness). This work of translation began in the nineteenth year of Zhenguan (645) and went on until the close of the Xianqing era; the number of texts translated came to nearly sixty, the number of fascicles to as many as a thousand. The grandeur of this affair far outdid the fairyland of Penglai, vast and rolling, the pool-waters circling without end; it made the Dharma-treasure flourish all the more, and greatly opened up the many deluded beings. Even the "merit-praising piece" and the "scripture-prefacing piece" were honored with the Son of Heaven's own "imperial composition" (the writing the emperor wrote with his own hand) — a flourishing of this mysterious Buddha-Dharma never before heard of.
(This passage records specifically in which year and how the Cheng Weishi Lun was redacted and translated — the key of the whole piece.) It was in the fourth year of Xianqing (659; in that year the cyclical sign was jiwei, which the postface points to with the old calendrical phrase "the dragon roosting at xiehe"), when the winter season answered to the turn of the calendar and the intercalary month of that year fell just upon the yang month, that Xuanzang took these "ten interpretations" (the ten interpretive treatises of the ten great masters), four thousand five hundred verses in all, and gathered them together — they had each stood apart, each following its own text, and Xuanzang wove them (blending and translating them into one) into a single text, fixing it into ten fascicles. By the time that month was at its end and that year drawing to its close, the work of sorting and synthesizing was at last complete. The translated text finely encompassed the "glosses" (the explanations of word-meanings), and carefully sought out the correspondences between "barbarian and Chinese" (that is, the Sanskrit and the Chinese on either side); its cadence startled the "Shao melodies" (a figure for the beauty of its sound-rules, like the music of Shun), and its literary luster reached up to the very courts of heaven. There were moreover the "white phoenix" showing forth a rare portent and the "Purple Tenuity" (the emperor-star) revealing an auspicious sign — omens of every kind. And so the interpretive treatises of the ten houses, which had been "alike in wording yet diverging in sense" (each saying its own thing), once Xuanzang had woven them this way, came out as if of one piece, as though from the brush of one and the same master. From this one may see: the "ancient sages" (meaning Vasubandhu and the ten great masters) and the "worthy of today" (meaning Xuanzang) — their tenor of principle is in fact one and the same ("measure" being the standard, the principle).
(The postface's last passage praises Xuanzang's disciple Kuiji, and accounts for his composing the Shuji to hand down to later students; with this the whole piece closes.) The disciple of Tripiṭaka master Xuanzang, named "Ji" (that is, the great master Kuiji) — he came of a "noble clan and lofty house, of jade-field flowering stock" (all phrases describing a family of name and station, the son of a great house); in the prime of his years he was already savoring the Buddha-Way, and from his youth ("the silken years" being the time of youth) he was already probing the mysterious principle. The loftiness of his learning surpassed "Lin and Yuan" (meaning the two eminent monks of the Eastern Jin, Daoan and Huiyuan); the clarity of his discernment was like one mirror of cloud. His leisurely deportment was bright and pure as jade, surpassing the Way's own depth in its limpid clarity; his free-flowing tone was fragrant as the orchid, and his soaring eloquence overtopped "Fatai" (the famous monk of the Eastern Jin, Zhu Fatai). He drew out the immortal dharma-sounds like the "eight Brahmā [tones]" (the eight kinds of pure brahma-voice), like a sky-soaring white crane dancing and bearing in good fortune; and he laid out splendid dharma-models like the "nine chapters" (the elegant, classic pieces), gorgeous and many-hued as the shadow of a luan-bird upon the wutong tree. Among his fellows in translation he sent forth light, so that even "Rui" (the famous Eastern Jin monk Sengrui) must bow before him and hide his own glow, melting his luster into Kuiji's; among the body of students of the doctrine he showed his splendor, so that looking back even "You" (meaning eminent monks of the Huiyou rank) might unfurl and reach freely, mounting high above. He was lovely as the first dawn ("the first daybreak" being the break of day), that one round of jade-bright morning sun, his brightness far outshining the worldly metaphysicians and Confucians; he was strong as the "heaven-spanning" (meaning "the heaven-spanning Shi Daoan," for Daoan styled himself "the heaven-spanning Shi Daoan"), that peerless brush, leaping and striding beyond both the conventional and the ultimate truths. He received in person Xuanzang's true transmission of the "four eloquences" (the four unobstructed eloquences), and in his discourse could moreover help draw forth the "three clarities" (the three clarities: knowledge of former lives, the divine eye, and the extinction of the outflows); for later students he opened up the door and window ("the door and window" being the gateway into the Way), and ferried them across at the crossing; his achievement had its resource in a plain, unadorned root, and his penetrating grasp of the doctrine was lodged in spirit. He synthesized the great outline of this Cheng Weishi Lun, distinguished its chapters and sections in their order, and besides this composed the Yishu (that is, the Cheng Weishi Lun Shuji), to hand it down to the students who came after. May this teaching coil and settle upon the "Yellow Land" (the Central Plains, the heartland of China), its grandeur striding across to rival the "tortoise-tablets" (meaning the River Chart and the Luo Writing, those auspicious signs); may this auspice float up over the Purple Palace (the imperial palace), its splendor overshadowing the "qilin-seal" (the ancient writings, the great-seal and tadpole scripts and the like). (Shen Xuanming closes with a word of self-deprecation:) I have only used to the full my own "mean and shallow" (humble, coarse, lowly) words, to set out in brief outline the purport and whole story of how this treatise was composed and translated — that is all.