No. 1643-A兜率龜鏡集緣起
Preface to Collection of Tou-Lyu Gui Jing
是集之由作也。初本師和尚侍者遠目上座。以童真入道。精修密踐。得上生徵應。緇素見聞。莫不感羨咨嗟。時清士曾通紹。因啟師曰。紹聞。西方有往生集。行世。而兜率上生。古今不乏名賢。何獨無乎。願師撰之。以為萬世龜鏡。師曰。善哉。子之問也。誠為救病之良藥。渡苦海之慈舟。盖以凡夫一念迷真。妄緣塵影。流浪生死。渺無返期。六趣升沉。三界奚出。未階三賢十聖。寧免分段生方。況茲末世狂妄。多以識心影子。為見性悟道。錯認石火電光。為了却生死。肆志空談。撥無因果。毀持戒者為執相。詆看教者為鑽故紙。貶往生者為小根下愚。不思馬鳴龍樹願覲彌陀。無著天親誓見彌勒。其為何根何愚哉。妄譏賢聖。輕謗經律。罪將誰代。雖云頓悟。習惑未除。一入他腹。隔陰之昏難免。五祖戒。青艸堂。遜長老。嚴首座。足為前鑒。識想紛飛。擬齊先哲。煩惱熾炎。言超佛祖。未證無生。終隨業識流轉。彌陀彌勒真大知識。捨而不參。觀音勢至天台淨慈。誠為良友。胡不親哉。覺生母鄒氏。已蒙慈尊接引。得升內院。洪恩浩瀚。圖報莫由。乃復懇本師。速成斯集。為四眾之寶筏。後代之資粮。師由是撿諸經論傳記。并所見聞者。彚編成帙。授我鋟梓。公諸天下。覺因問師曰。未審和尚志在西方耶。兜率耶。師曰。可問取木橛去。曰某甲不解木橛音。師曰。蒼天蒼天。曰乞和尚垂慈顯示。師曰。今日舌頭不快。且待別時向你道。覺因作禮。述其巔末(五祖戒後身。為蘇長公。青草堂後身。為曾魯公。遜長老後身。為李侍郎。嚴首座後身。為王龜齡。鴈蕩僧後身。為秦氏子檜)。
The origins of this collection are as follows. The initial teacher, the elder Yuanmu who served as an attendant to the Master, entered the path with a childlike purity. Through deep practice and secret cultivation, he attained signs of rebirth in the Tushita Heaven. Monastics and laypeople alike, having seen and heard this, were filled with admiration and sighs of wonder. At that time, the pure scholar Zeng Tongshao asked the Master, "I have heard that there exists a 'Collection of Rebirth in the Pure Land' popular in the Western tradition. But regarding rebirth in the Tushita Heaven, from ancient times to the present, there have been many eminent practitioners—why is there no such collection for them? I respectfully ask you to compile one, so it may serve as a mirror for all generations." The Master replied, "Excellent! Your question is truly a good medicine for saving beings and a compassionate ship for crossing the sea of suffering. Why? Because ordinary beings, in a single moment of delusion about their true nature, cling to illusions and shadows of causes and conditions, drifting through birth and death with no hope of return. They rise and fall through the six realms of existence; how can they escape the three realms? Before reaching the stage of the ten sages, how can they avoid the realm of separate birth and death? Especially in this degenerate age of arrogance, many mistake the shadows of discriminating consciousness for seeing their true nature and attaining enlightenment. They wrongly identify the fleeting spark of a flint or a flash of lightning as liberation from birth and death. They indulge in empty talk, deny cause and effect, criticize those who uphold precepts as clinging to forms, mock those who study scriptures as picking through old papers, and belittle those who seek rebirth as beings of small capacity and inferior wisdom. Do they not recall that Asvaghosa and Nagarjuna aspired to see Amitabha, and Asanga and Vasubandhu vowed to see Maitreya? What root or petty nature do they have? They foolishly criticize the noble ones, slander the scriptures and precepts—who can take their place in bearing this sin? Though they speak of sudden enlightenment, their habitual delusions are not yet removed. Once they enter another womb, the darkness of the intermediate state becomes unavoidable. The examples of the Five-Precept Preceptor, the Blue Cottage Monk, the Humble Elder Xun, and the Venerable Yan all stand as warnings. Their consciousness is in chaos and confusion; they try to rival the ancients. Their afflictions blaze like fire; they boast of surpassing the Buddha. Without having realized non-arising, they eventually drift with the flow of karmic consciousness. Maitreya and Amitabha are true great teachers, yet they refuse to attend them. Avalokiteshvara, Mahasthama, Tiantai, and Jingci are truly good friends—why do they not draw close to them? My awakened mother, née Zou, has already received the compassionate welcome of the Honored One and been reborn in the Inner Court. Her immense kindness is like a vast ocean, and I find no way to repay it. So I again earnestly asked my Master to quickly complete this collection, to serve as a precious raft for the fourfold assembly and provisions for future generations. Thus, the Master consulted various scriptures, treatises, and biographical records, along with things he had seen and heard, compiled them into a volume, and entrusted it to me for printing, to be made public throughout the world. With this in mind, I asked the Master, "Does Your Holiness's aspiration lie in the Western Pure Land or the Tushita Heaven?" The Master said, "Go ask the wooden peg." I said, "I do not understand the sound of the wooden peg." The Master said, "Heavens, heavens!" I said, "Pray, Your Holiness, out of compassion, explain clearly." The Master said, "My tongue is not feeling well today. Wait until another time to tell you." Thus, I prostrated and related the entire story from beginning to end.
(The Five-Precept Preceptor's later incarnation was Su Changgong; the Blue Cottage Monk's later incarnation was Zeng Lugong; the Venerable Xun's later incarnation was Minister Li; the Venerable Yan's later incarnation was Wang Guiling. The Yandang Monk's later incarnation was Qin Huai.)
旹
At that time,
康熈歲次辛亥孟夏寶象林釋開覺和南識
During the early summer of the Xinhai year in the Kangxi reign, the monk Kaijue of Baoxiang Forest humbly wrote this.