大佛頂如來萬行首楞嚴經序
Preface to the Śūraṅgama Sūtra
趙宋泉南沙門釋祖派述
Compiled by Monk Shi Zupai of Quannan in the Song Dynasty
至心歸命禮南謨無見頂相首楞嚴王。圓如來之密因，具菩薩之萬行，真修行路，妙證悟門，大乘義以了明，一切事而究竟。爰自祇園休夏聖王延齋，紫金光聚耀十方，迦陵仙音流法界，恒沙薩埵咸來咨決心疑，闔國王臣畢集願聞法要。教由緣起，阿難被溺於婬坊，道假人弘，師利承宣於祕呪。由是七處徵心，全是妄性淨元明；八還顯見，本來真覺圓常住。標迷悟之根本，令諸闡提而墮彌戾車；示同別之狂勞，俾一顛迦而摧惡叉聚。富樓那執相難性，四緣本紀於異同；波斯匿惑斷為常，一念元無於生滅。妙明覺體，非因非緣非自然；精真見元，不合不和不離即。以至六根虛妄無非菩提妙心，七大遍周盡是如來藏性。三緣永斷，不迷鏡裏之頭；二義斯明，頓悟衣中之寶；金鐘擊處，聲滅而聞自不消。華㲲綰時，六忘而一不可得。譬夫天王賜屋，二十五聖而各陳悟入之門；遠客遊方，十河沙眾而盡識歸還之路。勅文殊之揀選，誰當其根；指觀音之圓通，實從中入。而況三無漏學，真為修習之要機，四淨律儀，實號秉持之明誨。欲誦祕密之章句，須嚴清淨之壇場，無邊積業悉氷消，一切所求皆果遂。復乃開三門之漸次，是先佛之規模；立五品之名題，作將來之眼目。良由兩種之顛倒，遂成十二之類生，歷七趣之輪迴，織五重之渾濁。於是迴千光相攬七寶床，深憐恣客迷主人，痛念認賊為己子。洗心非正，五十重之魔境現前；覺際入交，四十四之聖心超越。而後慶喜欽承於妙誨，能仁宣發於真慈，窮五陰之妄源，勝十方之獻寶。貧人七錢而布施，尚獲輪王；行者一念以流通，定登佛果。真乘奧典，祕字靈文，《大佛頂如來密因修證了義諸菩薩萬行首楞嚴經》甚深法藏。
With utmost sincerity and devotion, I take refuge and pay homage to the Unseen Uṣṇīṣa, the King of Śūraṅgama. It perfects the Tathāgata’s secret cause and encompasses the myriad practices of bodhisattvas. It is the true path of cultivation and the wondrous gate of realization. It elucidates the meaning of the Great Vehicle and brings all matters to their ultimate conclusion.
It began when the Sage King extended the summer retreat at the Jeta Grove, offering a feast. A gathering of violet-golden light illuminated the ten directions, and the kalaviṅka’s immortal tones flowed throughout the Dharma realm. Countless bodhisattvas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges all came to consult and resolve their doubts of mind. The entire assembly of kings and ministers gathered, wishing to hear the essential Dharma. The teaching arose from conditions: Ānanda was ensnared in a house of desire. The Path relies on people to propagate it: Mañjuśrī received and proclaimed the secret mantra. Thus, through investigating the mind in seven places, it was entirely the false nature, pure and originally luminous. Through distinguishing the seeing in eight aspects, it was fundamentally the true awareness, perfect and eternally abiding.
It points out the root of delusion and enlightenment, causing icchantikas to fall among the mlecchas. It reveals the futile toil of sameness and difference, enabling eka-vīcikas to destroy the evil aggregates. Pūrṇa clung to characteristics and disputed about nature; the four conditions fundamentally record distinctions and similarities. King Prasenajit was confused, taking cessation for permanence; a single thought is originally without production or extinction. The wondrous luminous enlightened substance is neither cause, nor condition, nor spontaneous. The essence of the refined true seeing neither combines, nor unites, nor is separate from immediacy.
Furthermore, the six sense faculties, being empty and false, are none other than the wondrous mind of bodhi. The seven elements, pervading everywhere, are entirely the nature of the Tathāgata-garbha. The three conditions are forever severed; one is not deluded by the head in the mirror. The two meanings are thus clarified; one suddenly awakens to the treasure within the robe. When the golden bell is struck, the sound ceases, yet the hearing itself does not vanish. When the flowered cloth is knotted, the six are forgotten, yet the one cannot be obtained.
It is like the Heavenly King bestowing a mansion: twenty-five sages each presented their gate of awakening and entry. Like a distant traveler journeying: the assembly as numerous as sands of ten Ganges rivers all recognized the path of return. Commanding Mañjuśrī to make the selection: who is suited to their faculties? Pointing to Avalokiteśvara’s perfect penetration: entry is truly from within. Moreover, the three studies of no-outflow are truly the essential means for cultivation. The four pure precepts are indeed called the clear instructions to uphold.
To recite the secret verses, one must solemnly prepare a pure altar platform. Boundless accumulated karmas will all melt like ice. All that is sought will be accomplished as wished. Furthermore, it opens the gradual sequence of the three gates, which is the model of past Buddhas. It establishes the fivefold classification of topics, serving as the eye for future generations. Truly, due to two kinds of inversion, the twelve categories of beings came to be. Traversing the revolving of the seven destinies, weaving the five layers of turbidity.
Thereupon, turning a thousand beams of light, He grasped the seven-jeweled throne. Deeply pitying the guest who steals from the host, painfully mindful of recognizing the thief as one’s own child. If the mind’s washing is not correct, fifty layers of demonic states appear. At the border of enlightenment entering interaction, forty-four sagely minds are transcended. Thereafter, Ānanda reverently received the wondrous instructions; the Able One proclaimed and revealed true compassion. Exhausting the false sources of the five aggregates surpasses the offerings of treasures from the ten directions. A poor man giving seven coins in alms still obtains the status of a wheel-turning king. A practitioner with a single thought of circulating this teaching will certainly attain Buddhahood.
The profound vehicle, the esoteric canon, the secret syllables, the numinous text: *The Sūtra of the Foremost Shurangama at the Crown of the Great Buddha, the Tathāgata’s Secret Cause for Cultivation and Verification of the Ultimate Meaning, and the Myriad Practices of All Bodhisattvas*—the very profound Dharma treasury.