No. 1256-A玄鑑五宗引
Introduction to the Five Schools of Zen by Xuánjiàn
直指單傳初無委曲。五宗不傳之妙誰敢舉揚。後來法久成獘生出異端。故五家依門傍戶者。或設為五位君臣。四種料揀。三關九帶。十智同真。門庭各立。互相提唱。雖則一期建立。詎知後代兒孫一箇箇墮在參天荊棘中。枝上牽枝蔓中引蔓。山野自愧不能㘞地一聲為佛祖忠臣。盡焚窠臼。今反將七百陳爛葛藤新飜一遍𦘕蛇添足。難逃明眼人前白日見鬼矣。
Pointing directly, single transmission, from the start without complication. Who dares to proclaim the unspoken marvel of the Five Schools? Over time, as the Dharma aged, flaws emerged, giving rise to deviant paths. Thus, those of the Five Houses who clung to doorways and leaned on walls devised systems like the Five Positions of Ruler and Minister, the Four Categories of Selection, the Three Barriers and Nine Threads, and the Ten Wisdoms Sharing the True. Each established their own gate, each echoing the other. Though these frameworks served their time, who knew that later generations of descendants would fall, one by one, into a forest of towering thorns—branch entangling branch, vine leading to vine.
I, a humble mountain dweller, am ashamed that I cannot, with a single earth-shattering shout, act as a loyal servant to the Buddhas and Patriarchs, burning all these old nests to ashes. Instead, I now take these seven hundred worn-out vines and turn them over once more, adding legs to a painted snake. In the eyes of the clear-sighted, this is like seeing ghosts in broad daylight—a folly impossible to hide.
萬曆丁未仲冬少室後參覺虗一識