A Text Binding a Society for the Joint Study of the Flower Garland and Vinaya Commentaries華嚴律章疏講習結社文
夫生國君之土。食國土之毛。無芥子許有補於世者。貧道是已。環顧一身。無可效萬一者。但日夜思欲以區區微力。彌縫佛敎之頽綱。以此奉福朝家耳。今國家崇信法門切矣。法門雖衆。華嚴圓敎。最爲極唱。若談其旨。如譽天地之大。故於玆略之。所謂律者。梵言毗舍那。唐言調伏者是也。謂能調伏六根三表故耳。八萬四千法門。由是而生。是以。如來十大弟子中。唯稱離耶能持律。則律之時義。其大矣哉。故自祖聖各於福地。輾此法輪。其所由來者尙矣。然陵夷至于後世。名在而實廢。器存而用弛。是貧道所嘗嘆息也。且佛氏之旨。幽遠微妙。不可直悟。故於是有章疏鈔傳之學興焉。然由文句詰屈。不可易解。則必須師友以相磨。群集講習。然後是可以言道矣。比來學者各立幔幢。自相爲賢。忌群居喜獨學者皆是。有執卷而難詰者。茫然不能往復酬酢。是亦貧道所嘆者也。竊不自揆。痛欲興此二敎。因與某等共結精舍。廣招學子。使各根究佛法之宗源。此志苟遂。雖死之日。猶生之年也。凡欲入社者。咸來棲集。若鬱於久住。有意遊方者。則聽其所之。不必局於一也。檀越之布施。量已之所堪。不必強其所不能也。其朝夕之供。則廉約爲先。不必妄爲糜費也。先約以三年。於其中增損之。不必拘於限也。此其立社之大槪也。
Now one who is born on the sovereign's soil and eats the grain of the country's land and yet adds not so much as a mustard seed to the world — that is just this poor monk. Look round as I may upon this one body, there is nothing in it to offer up, not a ten-thousandth part. Only, night and day, I think to stitch up with this slight strength of mine the fallen mainstay of the Buddha's teaching, and by it to offer up blessings for the state.
Now the state upholds the gate of the Law and its faith is earnest. Though the gates of the Law are many, the perfect teaching of the Flower Garland is the first and the utmost. To speak of its meaning would be like praising the greatness of heaven and earth, and so it is left out here. What is called the Vinaya (律) is "bisana" in Sanskrit, and in the Chinese tongue "taming and subduing" (調伏) is this. For it can tame and make prostrate the six senses (六根) and the three kinds of karma. The eighty-four thousand gates of the Law come forth from this. And so among the ten great disciples of the Tathagata it is Upali (優波離耶) alone who is spoken of as having held the Vinaya well: is not the Vinaya's meaning for the holding of its time a great one?
And so the Patriarchs and the sages each turned this wheel of the Law in their blessed lands, and the origin of it is ancient. Yet it came down little by little, and in the later age the name remains while the substance is lost and the vessel is there while its use has slackened; and this is what this poor monk has long sighed over.
Again, the Buddha's meaning is far off and subtle and cannot be awakened to straightway. And so there arose from this the learning that unravels and selects and hands down the texts. Yet the phrases are tangled and bent and cannot be unraveled easily; one must have teacher and friend to grind against, and gather in company and study, and only then can one speak of the Way. The students of these days each pitch their tent and plant their flag and call themselves the worthy one; those who dislike dwelling in company and like to study alone are all of this sort. If there is one who takes up a book and questions them closely, they are dazed and cannot give and take. This too is what this poor monk sighs over.
Quietly, without being able to reckon my own measure, I wish earnestly to raise up these two teachings. And so I mean, together with certain others, to bind a retreat house (精舍) and call students widely, that each may dig into the root and source of the Buddha's Law. If this purpose be accomplished, then even the day of my death will be as a year of life.
Let all who would enter this society come and lodge and gather. If dwelling long be irksome and one has a mind to wander, his going shall be followed as it is: we do not bind men to one place. The giving of alms shall be reckoned only by what each one's strength can bear: we do not force upon men what they cannot do. The morning and evening meals shall put frugality first: we do not spend wastefully. We promise three years to begin with, and within that shall add and take away: we are not bound by a term. These are the great outlines of the setting up of the society.
Interlinear notes 1
代人作
Written on another's behalf.