Preface to the Platform Sūtra 坛经序
Master Wang Xianglu | 2018-06-23 | Download | AI assisted translation
| 妙道虚玄，不可思议，忘言得旨，端可悟明。故世尊分座于多子塔前，拈花于灵山会上，似火与火，以心印心。西传四七至菩提达摩，东来此土，直指人心，见性成佛。 |
The wondrous Way is empty and mysterious, beyond conception and expression. By forgetting words, one attains its purport and may thereby awaken to clear understanding. Thus the World-Honored One shared his seat before the Many Sons Stūpa and held up a flower at the assembly on Vulture Peak—like fire kindling fire, mind sealing mind. After twenty-eight transmissions in the West, it reached Bodhidharma, who came east to this land and directly pointed to the mind: seeing one’s true nature, one becomes a Buddha. |
| 有可大师者，首于言下悟入，末上三拜得髓受衣绍祖，开阐正宗。三传而至黄梅，会中高僧七百，惟负舂居士一偈传衣为六代祖，南遁十余年，一旦以非风幡动之机触开印宗正眼，居士由是祝发登坛应跋陀罗悬记，开东山法门。 |
There was Great Master Huike, who was the first to awaken upon hearing these words. In the end, after making three prostrations, he received the marrow and the robe, succeeded to the patriarchal lineage, and expounded the true tradition. After three further transmissions, it reached Huangmei. Among the seven hundred eminent monks in the assembly, only the layman who pounded rice received the robe through a single verse and became the Sixth Patriarch. He fled south for more than ten years. One day, the circumstance of “neither wind nor banner moving” opened Dharma Master Yinzong’s true eye. The layman then shaved his head, ascended the ordination platform, fulfilled Buddhabhadra’s prophecy, and opened the Dharma gate of East Mountain. |
| 韦使君命海禅者录其语，目之曰法宝坛经。大师始于五羊终至曹溪，说法三十七年，沾甘露味，入圣超凡者，莫计其数。悟佛心宗行解相应为大知识者，名载传灯，惟南岳青原，执侍最久，尽得无巴鼻。 |
Governor Wei instructed Chan practitioner Hai to record his words and entitled it The Dharma Treasure Platform Sūtra. The Great Master began at Wuyang and ended at Caoqi, teaching the Dharma for thirty-seven years. Those who received the flavor of sweet dew, entered sagehood, and transcended the ordinary were beyond number. Among those who awakened to the Buddha’s mind-school and whose practice and understanding accorded, becoming great spiritual teachers whose names are recorded in the Transmission of the Lamp, only Nanyue and Qingyuan attended him for the longest time and fully obtained what was without any trace of concealment. |
| 故出马祖石头，机智圆明，玄风大震。乃有临济、沩仰、曹洞、云门、法眼诸公巍然而出，道德超群、门庭险峻。启迪英灵衲子，奋志冲关。一门深入，五派同源。历遍炉锤，规模广大。原其五家纲要，尽出坛经。 |
Thus Ma-tsu and Shih-t’ou emerged, their skillful wisdom perfectly clear and the mysterious style greatly invigorated. Then the masters Linji, Weiyang, Caodong, Yunmen, and Fayan arose in majestic succession, surpassing all others in virtue, their schools lofty and formidable. They inspired gifted monastics to rouse their resolve and break through the barrier. Though they entered deeply through a single gate, the five schools shared one source. Having passed through every furnace and hammer, their scope became vast. Examining the essential principles of the five houses, all issue from the Platform Sūtra. |
| 夫坛经者，言简义丰，理明事备，具足诸佛无量法门。一一法门，具足无量妙义。一一妙义，发挥诸佛无量妙理。即弥勒楼阁中，即普贤毛孔中，善入者即同善财，于一念间圆满功德，与普贤等，与诸佛等。 |
The Platform Sūtra is concise in language yet rich in meaning; its principle is clear and its practical matters complete. It contains the immeasurable Dharma gates of all Buddhas. Each Dharma gate contains immeasurable wondrous meanings, and each wondrous meaning expounds the immeasurable wondrous principles of all Buddhas. Whether within Maitreya’s tower or within each pore of Samantabhadra, those who enter well are the same as Sudhana: in a single thought, they perfect their merit and virtue, becoming equal to Samantabhadra and equal to all Buddhas. |
| 惜乎！坛经为后人节略太多，不见六祖大全之旨。德异幼年尝见古本，自后遍求三十余载，近得通上人寻到全文，遂刊于吴中休休禅庵，与诸胜士同一受用。惟愿开卷举目，直入大圆觉海，续佛祖慧命无穷，斯余志愿满矣。 |
Alas! Later generations abridged the Platform Sūtra too severely, so that the complete purport of the Sixth Patriarch can no longer be seen. In his youth, Deyi once saw an ancient edition. For more than thirty years thereafter, he sought it everywhere. Recently, Venerable Tong found the complete text, and so it was published at Xiuxiu Chan Hermitage in Wuzhong, for shared benefit with all worthy people. May all who open this volume and raise their eyes enter directly into the great ocean of perfect enlightenment, continuing the wisdom-life of the Buddhas and patriarchs without end. Then my aspiration will be fulfilled. |
| 至元二十七年庚寅岁中春日古筠比丘德异撰 |
Written by Bhikṣu Deyi of Guyun, on a mid-spring day in the gengyin year, the twenty-seventh year of the Zhiyuan era. |
