重刻寶王三昧念佛直指序
Preface to the Reprint of the Direct Pointing to the Buddha-Recitation Samādhi, the King of Treasures
重刻寶王三昧念佛直指序
Preface to the Reprint of the Direct Pointing to Buddha Recitation in the Samadhi of the King of Treasures
念佛三昧所以名為寶王者。如摩尼珠。普雨一切諸三昧寶。如轉輪王。普統一切諸三昧王。蓋是至圓至頓之法門也。始自華嚴終至法華。一代時教。無不讚揚此寶王三昧。始自文殊普賢乃至永明楚石。一切菩薩聖祖。無不修證弘通此寶王三昧。而世之昧者。猶以為自性彌陀非即樂邦教主。惟心淨土不在十萬億西。妄認六塵緣影為自心相。全不知十方法界一一無非即心自性也。可不哀哉。元末明初。鄞江有大善知識。厥名妙叶。深憫邪見。述為念佛直指二十二篇。世久失傳。故雲棲老人每欲見之。而不可得。神廟年間。古吳萬融禪伯偶于亂書中得此遺帙。與唐飛錫法師所撰寶王論同為一編。皆雲棲老人所未見也。韓朝集居士。先刻寶王論板置于雲棲。予續刻此直指板留于佛日。客歲幻寓長于。有車𮐗蕃居士。秉受歸戒。聽講唯識心要及南岳大乘止觀。遂專心修淨土行。今夏禁足九旬。執持名號。因念今時狂妄之徒薄視念佛法門。以大悲心手輯古今淨土法語一冊。名曰念佛須知。分為信解發願修行證驗四門。蓋信願行三乃生西之要筏。而證驗則舉果以勸因也。節錄甫成。適予應祖堂請。重到長于。遂虛心乞予讐較可否。予曰。居士之志則善矣。但淨土法語從古迄今充楹積棟。曷擇其簡切精到者而流通之。不尤易取信乎。以予觀居士命名立科之旨。則叶師直指最為相似。何以言之。彼第一極樂依正。第二斥妄顯真。第三訶謬解。乃至第八示折攝。皆居士所謂信解門也。第九勸修。即居士所謂發願門也。第十勸戒殺。乃至第十八羅顯眾義。皆居士所謂修行門也。第十九一願四義謂戒解行向。是重申以願攝信行也。戒亦是行。解即是信。向仍是願。一願便具四義。四義乃滿一願。明信願行本非條別。願居於中而統前後。厥義彰矣。第二十示滅罪義。第二十一示列祖行。皆居士所謂證驗門也。第二十二正示廻向普勸往生。例同經論有流通分。從始至終。雅合居士之旨若此。居士何不捨己從人樂取於人以為善乎。於是居士踴躍歡喜再拜稽首。而謝曰。某乃知妙叶大師先得我心之所同然。又能發我之所未發也。今得奉此遺編。誓當刊布流通。用薦先人早生淨土。又願普與法界有情。決定信入此門。永不退轉。請更序厥緣。以為同志者告。噫如車居士。亦可謂勇於自利利他者矣。讀是書者。慎勿負此苦心也哉。
Why is Buddha Recitation Samādhi called the King of Jewels? It is like a maṇi jewel that rains down all the treasures of every samādhi. It is like a wheel-turning king who governs all the kings of samādhi. It is, indeed, the most perfect and most sudden of Dharma gates. From the Avataṃsaka Sutra at the beginning to the Lotus Sutra at the end, throughout the teachings of one Buddha's lifetime, there is not one that fails to praise this King of Jewels samādhi. From Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra down to Yongming and Chushi, all Bodhisattvas and holy patriarchs without exception cultivated, realized, and propagated this King of Jewels samādhi. Yet the deluded people of the world still think that the Amitābha of their own nature is not the same as the Lord of the Land of Bliss, and that the Pure Land of the mind alone is not located in the West, a hundred thousand koṭis of buddha-lands away. They mistakenly take the shadowy impressions of the six sense objects as the mark of their own mind, entirely unaware that each and every one of the ten directions' Dharma realms is nothing other than the mind's own nature. How pitiful this is! At the end of the Yuan and beginning of the Ming dynasty, in Yinjiang there was a great good teacher named Miaoye. Deeply moved by compassion for wrong views, he composed twenty-two chapters entitled A Direct Pointing to Buddha Recitation. In time it was lost and no longer transmitted, so the Elder of Yunqi always wished to see it but could not obtain it. During the Wanli era, the Chan master Wanrong of ancient Wu happened to find this lost volume among a pile of disordered books. It was bound together with the Treatise on the King of Jewels composed by Master Feixi of Tang, and both were works the Elder of Yunqi had never seen. The lay Buddhist Han Chaoji first had the Treatise on the King of Jewels printed and its woodblocks placed at Yunqi. I then had this Direct Pointing printed and its woodblocks kept at Fori. Last year, while I was temporarily staying at Changgan, there was a lay Buddhist named Che Fufan who had received the Three Refuges and the Precepts, and who had listened to lectures on The Essentials of Consciousness-Only and on Nanyue's Great Calming and Contemplation. He then devoted himself single-mindedly to the practice of Pure Land. This summer he observed a ninety-day retreat, holding fast to the Buddha's name. Reflecting that today's arrogant and deluded people look down on the Dharma gate of Buddha Recitation, he compiled, out of great compassion, a volume of Pure Land sayings from ancient and modern times, entitled What One Should Know About Buddha Recitation. It is divided into four sections: Faith and Understanding, Making the Vow, Spiritual Practice, and Verification. Faith, vow, and practice are the essential raft for being born in the West, while verification cites the fruit to encourage the cause. The excerpts had just been completed when I was invited by the Ancestral Hall and returned to Changgan. He then humbly asked me to proofread it and judge its merits. I said: Your intention, lay Buddhist, is good. But Pure Land sayings from ancient times to the present fill pillars and pile up beyond the rafters. Why not select the concise, direct, and most refined among them to circulate? Would that not be easier to believe? In my view, the purport of your titles and divisions most closely resembles Master Ye's Direct Pointing. Why do I say so? Its first chapter on the dependent and primary rewards of the Land of Bliss, the second on refuting delusion and revealing the true, the third on censuring mistaken interpretations, and even the eighth on showing the interplay of encouragement and restraint—all these are what you call the section on Faith and Understanding. The ninth, urging practice, is what you call the section on Making the Vow. The tenth, urging the precept against killing, through the eighteenth, which lays out and reveals various meanings, are all what you call the section on Spiritual Practice. The nineteenth, on one vow containing four meanings—precepts, understanding, practice, and dedication—reaffirms that vow encompasses faith and practice. Precepts are also practice; understanding is faith; dedication is still vow. One vow possesses all four meanings, and the four meanings fulfill the one vow. This makes clear that faith, vow, and practice are not separate items. The vow stands in the middle and governs both what precedes and what follows. Its meaning is made manifest. The twentieth, showing the meaning of extinguishing offenses, and the twenty-first, showing the practices of the patriarchs, are both what you call the section on Verification. The twenty-second, directly showing dedication and universally urging rebirth, corresponds to the circulation section found in sutras and treatises. From beginning to end, it accords perfectly with your purpose. Why not, lay Buddhist, set aside your own views and follow others, gladly learning from others to do good? Thereupon the lay Buddhist leaped with joy, bowed repeatedly with his head to the ground, and said in gratitude: I now know that Master Miaoye had already grasped what my own heart holds in common with his, and could further bring forth what I had not yet brought forth. Now that I have received this surviving compilation, I vow to have it printed and circulated, to help my ancestors be reborn in the Pure Land, and further vow to lead all sentient beings throughout the Dharma realm to decisively believe and enter this gate, never to retreat. Please write a preface recounting these circumstances, to inform those of like mind. Ah! A lay Buddhist like Che may indeed be called one who bravely benefits himself and others. Readers of this book, be careful not to betray this painstaking effort!
庚寅冬十有一月之吉古吳蕅益道人智旭識於祖堂幽栖寺之大悲壇右
In the auspicious period of the eleventh month of winter in the Gengyin year, the Daoist Zhi Xu of Gǔwú, Ouyi, recorded this to the right of the Great Compassion Altar at the Youqi Temple of the Ancestral Hall.