大唐大慈恩寺三藏法師傳序
Preface to the Biography of Tripitaka Master Xuanzang of the Great Ci'en Temple of the Great Tang Dynasty
垂拱四年三月十五日，仰上沙門釋彥悰述
Preface by the Monk Shi Yancong, on the fifteenth day of the third month of the fourth year of the Chuigong Era.
恭惟，釋迦氏之臨忍土也，始演八正、啟三寶以黜群邪之典，由是佛教行焉。方等一乘，圓宗十地，謂之大法，言真筌也。化城垢服，濟鹿馳羊，謂之小學，言權旨也。至於禪戒呪術，厥趣萬途，而滅惑利生，其歸一揆。是故歷代英聖仰而寶之。八會之經謂之為本，根其義也；三轉之法謂之為末，枝其義也。暨夫天雨四花，地現六動，解其髻寶，示以衣珠，借一以破三，攝末歸本者也。《付法藏傳》曰：聖者阿難能誦持如來所有法藏，如瓶瀉水，置之異器，即謂釋尊一代四十九年應物逗機適時之教也。逮提河輟潤，堅林晦影，邃旨冲宗，於焉殆絕。我先昆迦葉，屬五棺已掩，千㲲將焚，痛人天眼滅，蒼生莫救，故召諸聖眾，集結微言。考繩墨以立定門，即貫華而開律部，據優波提舍以之為論，剖析空、有，顯別斷、常，示之以因修，明之以果證，足以貽範當代，軌訓將來，歸向之徒，並遵其義。及王、秦奉使，考日光而求佛，騰、蘭應請，策練影以通經。厥後易首抽腸之賓播美於天外，篆葉結鬘之奧譯粹於區中。然至賾至神，思慮者或迷其性相；唯恍唯忽，言談者有昧其是非。況去聖既遙，來教多闕，殊途競軫，別路揚鑣而已哉。
Reverently we consider: When Shakyamuni came to the enduring realm, he first taught the Eightfold Path, opened the Three Jewels, and expelled the scriptures of various deluded paths. Thus Buddhism spread. The One Vehicle of the Correct and Equal doctrine, the Ten Stages of the Perfect Teaching—these are called the Great Dharma, the true expression of reality. The phantom city, the soiled robes, the deer-drawn chariots, the goat-carts—these are called the Lesser Teachings, expedient means. As for Chan, precepts, and incantations, they take myriad paths. Yet in extinguishing delusion and benefiting living beings, they all converge on the same principle. For this reason, wise and holy figures throughout the ages have honored them as treasures.
The sutras of the eight assemblies are called the root, for their meaning is fundamental. The three-turn teachings are called the branches, for their significance is derivative. When the celestial rain of four flowers descended and the earth manifested the six movements, the jewel on the crown was loosened, the pearl in the garment was revealed. Using the one to break the three, one gathers the branches back to the root.
The *Transmission of the Dharma Treasury* says: The holy Ananda could recite and uphold all the Dharma stores of the Tathagata, just as water poured from one vessel into another. This refers to the teachings of the Honored One over forty-nine years, his timely instruction responding to the capacities of beings.
When the river of the Final Teaching dried up, the Jambu tree forest dimmed. The profound doctrines, the sublime tenets—they were nearly lost. Our great elder Mahakashyapa, seeing the fivefold coffin already sealed and a thousand cotton shrouds about to be burned, grieved that the eyes of gods and humans would close, and living beings would find no rescue. Therefore, he summoned the assembly of saints to compile the subtle words. Taking the measuring-line, he established the gate of discipline. Stringing flowers together, he opened the Vinaya. Based on the Upadesha, he composed the treatises, analyzing emptiness and existence, clearly distinguishing permanence from annihilation. He showed the path of causal cultivation and illumined the realization of results—sufficient to be a model for the present age and a guide for the future. All who turn toward it follow its meaning.
When King Ajatashatru and King Ashoka sent envoys seeking the Buddha by measuring sunlight, when Kasyapa Matanga and Zhu Falan received the imperial invitation, their shadows pacing the sundial, they transmitted the sutras. Later, those who braided their own hair and extracted their entrails spread their fame beyond the heavens. The profound translations of palm-leaf texts and floral garlands were refined in this central land.
Yet the supreme, the most divine—those lost in thought may confuse their essence and characteristics. The only vague, the only subtle—those given to talk may mistake truth and falsehood. Still more, as we are already far from the saint, so many teachings are missing. Disparate paths compete and diverge; separate ways gallop on their own, each flourishing distinctively.
法師懸弭誕辰，室表空生之應，佩觽登歲，心符妙德之誠。以愛海無出要之津，覺地有栖神之宅，故削髮矯翰，翔集二空，異縣他山，載馳千里。每慨古賢之得本行本，魚魯致乖；痛先匠之聞疑傳疑，豕亥斯惑。竊惟音樂樹下必存金石之響，五天竺內想具百篇之義。遂發憤忘食，履嶮若夷，輕萬死以涉葱河，重一言而之柰苑。鷲山猴沼，仰勝迹以瞻奇；鹿野仙城，訪遺編於蠧簡。春秋寒暑一十七年，耳目見聞百三十國，揚我皇之盛烈，振彼后之權豪，偃異學之高輶，拔同師之巨幟。名王拜首，勝侶摩肩，萬古風猷，一人而已。
To commemorate the Master's birth, Heaven sent a sign of emptiness-born wisdom. From childhood, his heart mirrored the truth of wondrous virtue. Seeing that the ocean of desire holds no escape, And that the ground of awakening is the home where the spirit rests, He shaved his head and soared on the path of the two emptinesses. Through strange lands and foreign mountains, he traveled a thousand miles.
He often grieved that the ancient sages' attainment of the essence and practice of the Dharma had been corrupted by scribal errors, And lamented that the earlier masters' doubts and transmitted errors had led to confusion even in reading. He considered that beneath the tree of music, the sound of metal and stone must still resound; That in the Five Indias, the meaning of the hundred texts would be fully present.
Thus he applied himself with such zeal that he forgot to eat. He treaded perilous paths as if they were level ground, Risked death to cross the Indus and the Pamirs, And, for the sake of a single word of truth, journeyed to the Garden of Jeta.
At Vulture Peak and the Monkey Pond, he gazed upon sacred traces in wonder; In the Deer Park and the city of immortals, he sought the lost scrolls among the worm-eaten texts. Across seventeen years of cold and heat, through his ears and eyes he saw more than 130 kingdoms. He proclaimed the splendid virtue of our Emperor, curbed the power and pride of foreign kings, Bowed the lofty banner of heterodox learning, and pulled down the proud standard of rival schools.
Noble kings bowed their heads before him; virtuous companions thronged at his side. In a thousand years of practice, there is but one such man.
法師於彼國所獲大、小二乘三藏梵本等，總有六百五十六部，並載以巨象，并諸郵駿，蒙霜犯雪，自天祐以元亨，陽苦陰淫，假皇威而利涉。粵以貞觀十有九祀達于上京，道俗迎之，闐城溢郭，鏘鏘濟濟，亦一期之盛也。及謁見天子，勞問慇懃，爰命有司，瞾令宣譯，人百敬奉，難以具言。至如氏族簪纓，捐親入道，遊踐遠邇，中外讚揚，示息化以歸真，同薪盡而火滅，若斯之類則備乎茲傳也。
After having obtained a total of 656 major and minor Mahayana and Hinayana Tripitaka Sanskrit manuscripts in that country, the Master loaded them onto large elephants and post-horses, braving frost and snow. With divine protection ensuring a smooth journey, and braving both heat and cold, rain and damp, he relied on the imperial authority to safely cross treacherous paths. In the nineteenth year of the Zhenguan era, he arrived at the capital. Both monastics and laypeople welcomed him, filling the entire city and overflowing the suburbs, a majestic and orderly gathering—truly a magnificent event of that time. Upon the imperial audience, the Emperor cordially received him with warm concern, and subsequently commanded the relevant authorities to arrange for the translation of the scriptures. The reverence and devotion from all were beyond words. As for matters such as his noble family lineage, his renunciation of worldly life to enter the monastic path, his extensive travels near and far, the praise he received from both Central and Western regions, and how he demonstrated cessation of conditioned existence to return to ultimate reality, akin to a fire ceasing when its fuel is exhausted—these affairs are all fully recorded in this biography.
《傳》本五卷，魏國西寺前沙門慧立所述。立俗姓趙，豳國公劉人，隋起居郎司隷從事毅之子，博考儒釋，雅善篇章，妙辯雲飛，溢思泉涌。加以直詞正色，不憚威嚴，赴水蹈火，無所屈撓。覩三藏之學行，矚三藏之形儀，鑽之仰之，彌堅彌遠，因修撰其事，以貽終古。乃削藁云畢，慮遺諸美，遂藏之地府，代莫得聞。爾後役思纏痾，氣懸鍾漏，乃顧命門徒，掘以啟之，將出而卒。門人等哀慟荒鯁，悲不自勝，而此《傳》流離分散他所，累載搜購，近乃獲全。因命余以序之，迫余以次之。余撫己缺然，拒而不應。因又謂余曰：「佛法之事豈預俗徒，況乃當仁苦為辭讓？」余再懷慚退，沈吟久之，執紙操翰，汍瀾腷臆，方乃參犬羊以虎豹，糅瓦石以琳璆，錯綜本文，箋為十卷，庶後之覽者無或嗤焉。
The original biography consisted of five scrolls, composed by the former Śramaṇa Huili of the Western Monastery in the Kingdom of Wei. Huili’s lay surname was Zhao. He was a native of Liugong in the Bin State, and the son of Yi, an Imperial Diarist and Clerk in the Department of State Affairs during the Sui Dynasty. He was well-versed in both Confucianism and Buddhism, excelled in literary composition, possessed brilliant eloquence that flowed like clouds, and a mind overflowing with ideas. Moreover, he was upright in his words and demeanor, unafraid of authority, willing to go through fire and water without any bending or faltering. Observing the learning and conduct of the Tripiṭaka Master (Xuanzang), and beholding his appearance, he studied him with reverence, finding him ever more profound and distant. Because of this, he compiled an account of his affairs, to hand down to future ages. After completing the draft, fearing he had omitted some fine points, he hid the work away in a secret repository, unknown to the world. Later, worn out by his labors and afflicted by illness, his life hanging by a thread, he instructed his disciples to dig it up and bring it forth, but he died just after it was unearthed. His disciples were filled with overwhelming grief and sorrow, unable to bear their sadness, and the biography was scattered and lost to other places. After many years of searching and collecting, it was recently recovered in its entirety. I was then asked to write a preface to it and pressured to edit it. I modestly declined, feeling myself inadequate, and refused to comply. Then I was told, “How can the affairs of the Buddha’s Dharma be entrusted to worldly persons? Especially when you should take on this virtuous task, why are you so reluctant to decline?” Feeling ashamed again, I retreated, hesitated for a long time, then took up the brush and paper, my tears flowing and my heart filled with emotion. I then mixed the writings of a dog or sheep with those of tigers and leopards, mingled tiles and stones with jewels and jade, wove together the original text, and annotated it into ten scrolls. I hope that future readers will not mock my efforts.
大慈恩寺三藏法師傳卷第一
Biography of Tripitaka Master Xuanzang, Great Ci'en Temple, Volume 1
沙門慧立本譯彥悰箋