No. 296-A重刻楞嚴截流小引
夫楞嚴一經，乃如來神變逗時之妙藥，病者遇之，無不立瘥。昔阿難示染，登伽示婬，盖為見色聞聲之流，不能斷截愛網，作一方便，故阿難發起，而如來宣說此經也。時在會聖眾，皆見如來無頂相中，湧出化佛，坐寶蓮華，演說神呪。剗其淨見，則截而無流；不順根塵，則流而可截。此堅固神丹，蘊在十卷文中。余甞與同志商確此經，求之本文勿得，求之諸家註疏又勿得，如望洋焉。偶得戒師截流，讀之恍焉悟也。毉即自醫，何用向外覔醫？譬如醫王患病，捨却自己神丹，別求方藥，曷稱智者？茲截流一出，懷疑者如湯沃雪，有慧者亦不至棄海認浮漚，此緣非小。余欲再付剞劂，使之流通，如流欲截而愈流，閱者當具隻眼，方獲無相光中一粒神丹。
The Shurangama Sutra is the Tathagata’s miraculous remedy, tailored to the times. Those who are afflicted encounter it and are instantly healed. In the past, Ananda showed himself as defiled, and Matangi displayed lust—this was a skillful means for those trapped by sights and sounds, unable to cut through the net of craving. Thus, Ananda initiated the request, and the Tathagata expounded this sutra. At that time, the assembly of saints witnessed, from the Tathagata’s invisible crown, a transformation Buddha emerge, seated on a precious lotus, reciting a spiritual mantra. To cut through pure seeing is to sever it so it no longer flows; to reject sense faculties and objects is to allow the flow to be cut. This solid spiritual elixir lies within the ten scrolls of text. I once discussed this sutra with like-minded friends, seeking its meaning in the original text without success, and seeking it in various commentaries also without success—like gazing at the vast ocean. By chance, I obtained a work from Master Jieliu (Cutting the Flow) and read it, suddenly awakening. A healer can heal themselves; why seek a doctor externally? If a king of medicine falls ill but discards his own divine elixir to seek prescriptions elsewhere, can he be called wise? Now that this *Cutting the Flow* has emerged, those with doubts see it melt like snow before hot water; the wise will not abandon the ocean to cling to a bubble. This karmic connection is not trivial. I wish to have it reprinted and circulated, so that the flow, though it seeks to be cut, flows all the more. Readers must keep a discerning eye to obtain a single particle of the divine elixir from the formless light.
萬曆甲寅中秋日， 玉溪菩提菴聖行和南述
On the fifteenth day of mid-autumn in the year *Jia Yin* of the Wanli era, Shengxing, of the Bodhi Hermitage in Yuxi, humbly records this with folded hands.