序
Preface
太虛
Master Xuyun
比因西藏學者法尊譯出黃衣士宗克巴祖師所造菩提道次第廣論，教授世苑漢藏院學僧，將梓行而問世，余為參訂其譯文，閱至：「如是以諸共道淨相續已，决定應須趣入密咒，以能速滿二資糧故。設踰共道非所堪能，或由種性功能虛劣，不樂趣密咒者，則唯應將此之次第加以推廣。」其為特尚密宗之理論，甚為顯然。例之賢首以別教一乘特尚華嚴，天台以純圓獨妙特尚法華，固將無別。然中國尚禪宗者，斥除一切經律論義，雖若宗鏡錄遍錄經論，亦但揚厥宗，鄙餘法為中下。尚淨土者，亦勸人不參禪學教，專守一句彌陀。賢台雖可以小始終頓藏通別圓位攝所餘佛言，然既為劣機而設，非勝根所必須，縱曰圓人無不可用為圓法，亦唯俟不獲已時始一援之，而學者又誰肯劣根自居，於是亦皆被棄此風至日本而加厲，橫判顯密教竪判十住心之東密，則除秘密盡排為淺顯，高唱經題之日蓮，則於法華亦捨迹門而僅崇本門。今日本雖經明治維新復興，然亦祗有各宗而無整全之佛教。中國至清季除參話頭念彌陀外，時一講習者亦禪之楞嚴淨之彌陀疏鈔及天台法華與四教儀或賢首五教儀附相宗入要而已。經律論古疏早多散失，保之大藏者亦徒資供奉，或翻閱以種善根耳。空疎媕陋之既極，唯仗沿習風俗以支持。學校興而一呼迷信，幾潰頹無以復存，迄今欲扶掖以經論律儀，亦尚無以樹立其基礎，而借觀西藏四五百年來之黃衣士風教，獨能卓然安住，內充外弘，遐被康青蒙滿而不匱，為之勝緣者雖非一，而此論力闡上士道必經中下士道，俾趣密之士，亦須取一切經律論所詮戒定慧遍為教授，實為最主要原因。論云：「如道炬釋：『未修止觀，學習律儀學處以前，是為戒學。奢摩他者，是為定學。毗缽舍那，是為慧學。復次奢摩他前。是方便分福德資糧，依世俗諦廣大道次，發起三種殊勝慧者，是般若分智慧資糧，依勝義諦甚深道次。』若於此次第决定數量决定之智慧方便中僅取一分者，當决定知不成菩提。」
Because the Tibetan scholar Fazun translated the *Lamrim Chenmo* (The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment) composed by the great Master Tsongkhapa, founder of the Yellow Hat School, and taught it to the monastic students at the Sino-Tibetan Institute of the Buddhist Academy, it was about to be printed and published. I was invited to help revise the translation. When I read the passage: "Thus, after purifying one's mental continuum through the common path, one should definitely enter into mantra practice, because it can quickly perfect the two accumulations. If one cannot go beyond the common path, or due to weak faculties or inferior disposition does not delight in mantra practice, then one should simply expand and develop this sequence," it was evident that this theory particularly exalts Esoteric Buddhism. This is similar to how the Xianshou (Huayan) school uniquely exalts the Avatamsaka Sutra as the exclusive complete teaching, and the Tiantai school exclusively venerates the Lotus Sutra as the perfectly profound teaching. Indeed, there is no difference.
However, in China, those who advocate Chan Buddhism reject all scriptural, textual, and doctrinal studies. Even though works like the *Mirror of the Source* (Zongjing Lu) extensively cite scriptures and treatises, they merely promote their own school while dismissing other teachings as mediocre or inferior. Those who advocate Pure Land also urge people not to practice meditation or study doctrines, but to single-mindedly recite the name of Amitabha. Although the Tiantai and Huayan schools can categorize all other Buddhist teachings under their frameworks of the five periods and eight teachings, or the small, initial, final, sudden, and complete teachings, these are designed for inferior capacities and are not necessary for superior faculties. Even if it is said that a person of complete understanding can use all methods as complete teachings, it is only resorted to when absolutely necessary. Moreover, who among scholars would willingly consider themselves as having inferior roots? Thus, these teachings are also abandoned. This trend, when it reached Japan, became even more extreme. The Japanese Shingon school, which horizontally classifies exoteric and esoteric teachings and vertically classifies the ten stages of mind, dismisses everything except the secret teachings as shallow and superficial. The Nichiren school, which loudly proclaims the title of the Lotus Sutra, even abandons the provisional teachings and venerates only the fundamental teaching. Although Japan has revived since the Meiji Restoration, it now only has various individual schools without complete and unified Buddhism.
In China, by the end of the Qing Dynasty, apart from contemplating meditation topics and reciting Amitabha's name, what was occasionally studied included the *Shurangama Sutra* for Chan, the *Commentary on the Amitabha Sutra* for Pure Land, and the Tiantai school's *Lotus Sutra* with its *Four Teachings of Tiantai*, or the Huayan school's *Five Teachings*, along with some essentials of the Consciousness-Only school. The ancient commentaries on scriptures, treatises, and monastic rules had long been scattered and lost. What was preserved in the canon merely served as objects of worship, or was browsed merely to plant virtuous seeds. Having become extremely superficial and ignorant, Buddhism could only rely on customary practices for support. When schools arose and denounced Buddhism as superstition, it nearly collapsed and could no longer sustain itself. Even now, when we try to support it with scriptures, treatises, and monastic discipline, we still lack a foundation to establish it.
In contrast, looking at the Yellow Hat School tradition of Tibet over the past four or five hundred years, it has stood firm and secure, flourishing internally and expanding externally, reaching far into Kham, Amdo, Mongolia, and Manchuria without exhaustion. Although there are many contributing causes for this, the most important one is that this treatise thoroughly expounds that the path of the superior person necessarily passes through the paths of the middling and lesser persons, requiring even those who pursue mantra practice to take all the ethics, concentration, and wisdom taught in all scriptures, treatises, and monastic codes as their complete instructions. As the treatise states: "According to the *Lamp for the Path* commentary: 'Before cultivating calm abiding and insight, learning the ethical precepts constitutes the training in higher ethics. Calm abiding constitutes the training in higher concentration. Insight constitutes the training in higher wisdom. Furthermore, before calm abiding are the methods that accumulate the merit of virtue, following the vast path of conventional truth, giving rise to three types of exceptional wisdom, which is the wisdom portion accumulating the wisdom of knowledge, following the profound path of ultimate truth.' If one takes only one portion of this wisdom and method, in which the sequence and quantities are definitively determined, one should definitely know that enlightenment will not be attained."
福德資糧則人天俱攝，智慧資糧則聲緣相協，律及經論，皆所依止，僅取一分，不成菩提。雖未嘗不別有最勝之歸趣，而確定皆攝入次第之過程。於是不沒自宗，不離餘法，而巧能安立一切言教，皆趣修證，故從天竺相性各判三時以致華日諸宗之判攝時教，皆遜此論獨具之優點，余昔於佛學概論，明因緣所生法為五乘共法，三法印為三乘共法，一切法實相至無障礙法界為大乘不共法，後於大乘本生心地觀經，又增說共不共通法為總要，粗引端緒，語焉不彰。今雖未能獨崇密宗，欣覩三士道總建立之典要，乃特提出以申論之。
The accumulation of merit covers both human and celestial realms, while the accumulation of wisdom harmonizes with the paths of Hearers and Pratyekabuddhas. The Vinaya and the Sutras and Shastras all serve as foundations; relying on only one aspect cannot lead to enlightenment. Although there are indeed supreme ultimate goals, all are certainly incorporated into the progressive stages. In this way, without abandoning one's own tradition and without departing from other teachings, one skillfully establishes all doctrines so that they all lead to practice and realization. Thus, from the division of the Three Periods in India based on characteristics and nature, to the various schools in China and Japan that classify and interpret the teachings, none surpass the unique advantages of this treatise. In my previous "Introduction to Buddhist Studies," I explained that the principle of dependent origination is the shared teaching of the Five Vehicles, the Three Dharma Seals are the shared teaching of the Three Vehicles, and the ultimate reality of all phenomena up to the unhindered Dharma Realm is the exclusive teaching of the Mahayana. Later, in the *Mahayana Sutra of the Contemplation of the Mind-Ground*, I further added the distinction between shared and unshared dharmas as the essential summary, but only sketched the beginning without elaborating fully. Although I cannot yet exclusively uphold the Esoteric School, I am delighted to see the essential teachings on the complete establishment of the Three Levels of the Path, and have therefore specially presented them for discussion.
民國二十四年一月三十日於世苑圖書館
January 30, 1935, at the World Buddhist Studies Library