Nirvana Sutra Profound Meaning Commentary (涅槃經玄義文句)

It is said that the great teaching of Nirvana aims to sustain the eternal life. Yet, when one's vitality is strong and the organs are robust, the alternating influences of the six energies and the interplay of the five flavors are sufficient to nourish the body—what need is there to sustain life? But when vitality declines, wind, rain, fog, and dew invade from without, while sweet, sour, sorrow, and pain injure from within. Treating the surface leads to the liver and spleen overpowering each other; reinforcing the center causes cold and heat to intensify. If one wishes to expel evil and support the good, preserving life like ice and jade, only the wondrous medicine of Agada can save them.

Just as the Buddha's light first illuminates the high mountains and plains, and at noon casts no shadow, when the Dharma's fortune is radiant and flourishing, why worry about the continuity of wisdom-life? The Buddha, observing the decline of the age—its impurity and confusion, where people easily fall into wrong views, harbor impurities like grain hoarded by thieves, and wander lonely and sick—gently guides the faint-hearted and carefully supports the withered Dharma-body. If left to wander aimlessly, it becomes lost and adrift. At such a time, to uphold precepts, cultivate concentration, embrace love, and partake of the nectar of Dharma to sustain wisdom-life, nothing but upholding the Vinaya and expounding the eternal can achieve this.

This teaching guides the misguided and the lesser, leading them gradually to sudden realization. It also uses the impermanent to cultivate the eternal, weaving through complexities until all converge in the eternal, like pearls in Indra's net or the light of a thousand lamps—nothing is excluded, nothing remains unintegrated. Thus, even dust and insects, the small and the misguided, can all receive the seal of eternal life. This is the supreme Agada, essential for saving a declining age.

Zhang'an, thirsting for the nectar of Dharma, journeyed through mountains and rivers, thinking of the blind and the stray, his compassion unceasing. He extensively sought old commentaries, enduring hardships in dark forests and rough conditions, tasting a hundred sufferings before completing the Profound Commentary. All this was done to save a declining age.

Master Xian, seeing the shallow roots and limited capacities of later generations, recognized the reliance on this scripture, yet found the Profound Commentary obscure and unclear. Moved to tears at the crossroads, he composed the Phrase Commentary to clarify its meaning—all to save a declining age.

Yet, the phrases seemed elusive, and the commentary was often misunderstood by Chan practitioners. Only the venerable monk Shouda, who early bathed in the royal spring and strictly upheld the jeweled precepts, deeply comprehended both teaching and contemplation, and whose writings were abundant, looked upon this commentary with profound sighing. He restored its original meaning, cleared misunderstandings, and refined its essence. Though the master has passed, many have followed his will, diligently collating texts, examining Song and Ming editions without exception. From commentary to the profound, from the profound to the phrases, they searched until, at Hengchuan and Jizu, they obtained manuscript copies, which I was entrusted to collate.

This work is like gold in the Jambu River. Now that it is being published, I dare to inform learners: all the efforts of the wise in this scripture are to save a declining age. Today, the decline has reached its extreme; the lonely and suffering walk shoulder to shoulder. Yet this wondrous medicine, pounded, sifted, and prepared, is right here before us. If one refuses to take it, wasting wisdom-life, how can one face the earnest efforts of the Buddhas and ancestors?

In the spring of the second month of the Renzi year during the Kuangzheng era, the acting archbishop Cideng respectfully composed this preface.