Preface 序
Master Wang Xianglu | 2018-06-23 | Download | AI assisted translation
| 《金刚经》凡六译，而世之读颂者，每奉秦译，盖喜其文之简净易读也。以故文人注释，多至数十家，类皆释文而疏于述义，般若宗旨远矣！夫般若者，心华妙谛，无实无虚，密密深深，千圣不识，岂一家之私言可尽其奥哉。 |
The Diamond Sūtra has been translated six times in all, yet those who read and recite it have generally revered the Qin translation, presumably because its language is concise, pure, and easy to read. For this reason, literary scholars have produced as many as several dozen commentaries, most of which explain the wording while neglecting to elucidate the meaning; thus, the true purport of prajñā has remained far off. Prajñā is the wondrous truth that is the flower of the mind: neither real nor unreal, subtle and profound. Even a thousand sages cannot comprehend it fully; how could the private words of a single family exhaust its profundity? |
| 《金刚经》三十二分者，梁昭明太子之所作也，苦心分判，以利后学，弘法之功，有足多者。惜西天后来之各家论注，如弥勒八十章偈，无著天亲二论，古人有未及见者，加以经义深邃，世尊不待空生启请，先已应机启发。 |
The thirty-two divisions of the Diamond Sūtra were the work of Crown Prince Zhaoming of the Liang dynasty. With painstaking care he divided the text to benefit later students, and his merit in propagating the Dharma is indeed worthy of much praise. Unfortunately, later Indian commentaries, such as Maitreya’s eighty-stanza verse and the two treatises by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu, were not available to earlier scholars. Moreover, the meaning of the sūtra is profound: before Subhūti had even made his request, the World-Honored One had already responded to the capacities of his listeners and provided instruction. |
| 有为因地修持而言者，有为果地决定而说者，前后文同而义异，学者于无住降心离相成佛诸法，反茫然无下手处矣。然以如是难读之经，人尚手执一篇，百读不厌者，则我震旦人独具之般若因缘也，岂偶然哉。 |
Some passages speak of cultivation at the causal stage, while others speak of certainty at the stage of fruition. Although the wording before and after may be the same, their meanings differ. Thus, students are instead left at a loss as to where to begin with such teachings as non-abiding, subduing the mind, relinquishing appearances, and becoming a Buddha. Yet people still hold this difficult sūtra in their hands and never tire of reading it a hundred times. This is surely the distinctive karmic affinity with prajñā possessed by us Chinese; how could it be accidental? |
| 吾师王骧陆居士主讲于印心精舍已五年矣，以梁注三十二分有未尽焉，乃参无著大士意，重判之为二十分，附以小分，名曰分段贯释。 |
My teacher, the lay practitioner Wang Xianglu, had been giving lectures at Mind-Seal Vihara for five years. Finding that the Liang commentary’s thirty-two divisions were not exhaustive, he consulted the intent of the great bodhisattva Asaṅga and redivided the text into twenty sections, with supplementary subsections, calling it A Connected Explanation by Sections. |
| 上述其分段之义，下注以贯释之理，使读者了然于全经之旨：何者为经中主要纲领？何者为初修人降心法要？又何者为初地证道发大身时之意境？以及最后为已证得者，如何决定？分分开示，段段详释，尤恐学人之不易醒目也。 |
Above, he explains the rationale for the divisions; below, he provides a connected exposition, enabling readers to understand clearly the meaning of the entire sūtra: What are its principal outlines? What are the essential methods for beginners to subdue the mind? What is the state of mind when one on the first bhūmi realizes the Way and brings forth the great body? And finally, for those who have already realized it, how is certainty attained? Each division is explained, and every section interpreted in detail, out of particular concern that students might not readily grasp the essential points. |
| 复冠之以总说，附之以简表，更提经内文句以启其参，末附释字一门以便初学，而补他书之所不及，是总说焉，分义焉，注释焉，参句焉，列表焉，以及释字焉，综为六门。是一经而反复六次讲解矣，后再接解心经，亦分段释义，计分为七分，两经汇释，文约义深，都为八万余言，所以嘉惠后学者至矣。 |
He further prefaces it with a general exposition, appends concise charts, and selects passages from the sūtra to inspire investigation. At the end, he adds a section explaining characters for the convenience of beginners and to supplement what other books have not covered. Thus there are six approaches: general exposition, explanation of the divisions, commentary, passages for investigation, charts, and explanations of characters. In this way, a single sūtra is explained six times over. Thereafter, he proceeds to explain the Heart Sūtra, likewise interpreting its meaning by sections, seven in all. Together, the explanations of the two sūtras are concise in language and profound in meaning, totaling more than eighty thousand words. The benefit bestowed upon later students is truly immense. |
| 师于分段之次，尝思有以回向昭明太子者。丁丑春脱稿时，忽有浙江湖州属乌镇张氏讲经之请，乌镇为梁太子注经之地，有太子与沈尚书读书遗址，师即于其处说法，各镇来会者数百人，成立佛会，乌镇之有法会自此始。 |
While arranging these divisions, the Master had often considered how he might dedicate the merit to Crown Prince Zhaoming. When the manuscript was completed in the spring of the dingchou year, he unexpectedly received an invitation from the Zhang family of Wuzhen, Huzhou Prefecture, Zhejiang, to lecture on the sūtra. Wuzhen was the place where the Liang crown prince had annotated the sūtra, and it contained the remains of the place where the prince and Minister Shen had studied. The Master thereupon taught the Dharma at that very site. Several hundred people from various towns came to attend, and a Buddhist association was established. From that time onward, Wuzhen had Dharma assemblies. |
| 又即张云伯夫人慧光居士之力。然则梁太子未竟之志，得师为之圆成，因缘之巧，又非偶然也。 |
This was also made possible through the efforts of Lay Practitioner Huiguang, the wife of Zhang Yunbo. Thus, the uncompleted aspiration of the Liang crown prince was brought to fulfillment through the Master. Such a felicitous conjunction of causes and conditions was likewise no accident. |
| 戊寅秋，盂兰胜会时，天津印心精舍第二次道场开始，谋所以荐度十方死于国难者，巢君章甫宽甫恭甫奉其先人九余居士遗命，嘱印此经，各方纷纷赞助，铨以先大夫怡亭公与先慈蒋太夫人百龄冥寿，幸附于功德之末，爰发心印行千册，并留底版，冀垂永久。 |
In the autumn of the wuyin year, during the Ullambana Dharma assembly, the second bodhimaṇḍa of Tianjin Mind-Seal Vihara began. Plans were made to assist in delivering those throughout the ten directions who had died in the national calamity. Chao Zhangfu, Kuanfu, and Gongfu, acting in accordance with the final wishes of their late father, Lay Practitioner Jiuyu, entrusted the printing of this sūtra to us. Support came in abundance from every quarter. In connection with the posthumous centennial birthdays of my late father, Master Yiting, and my late mother, Madame Jiang, I was fortunate to contribute at the end of this work of merit. I therefore resolved to print one thousand copies and retain the printing blocks, hoping that they might endure for generations. |
| 又师在乌镇绍兴等地所开示法要，有《学佛最初决定》一书，为初学正因地者，文极重要，谨再版附于后。 |
Moreover, the essential Dharma instructions given by the Master in Wuzhen, Shaoxing, and other places have been collected in the book The Initial Essential Determination for Studying Buddhism. Its text is of the utmost importance for beginners who are properly establishing the causal ground, and it is respectfully reprinted here as an appendix. |
| 呜呼！佛法衰微久矣。 |
Alas! The Buddhadharma has long been in decline. |
| 五百年必有王者兴，自民国十七（1928）年，大愚师祖开山而后，佛道重光，各宗融会，使骧陆师之分化而弘扬，则小子等终不识般若为何事，成佛为何义，如人入暗，则无所见，此岂区区一人之私幸哉！虽然，经自经，师自师，生死事大，惟在自决，先师有言：从门入者，不是家珍，须自己胸中流出，方有少分相应。 |
Every five hundred years, a great ruler is bound to arise. Since the seventeenth year of the Republic of China (1928), when Patriarch Dayu founded the tradition, the Buddha Way has shone anew. The various schools have been brought into harmony, enabling Master Xianglu to distinguish and propagate them. Without this, we lesser ones would never have known what prajñā is or what it means to become a Buddha. It would be like entering darkness, where nothing can be seen. How could this be merely one person’s private good fortune? Nevertheless, the sūtra is the sūtra, and the Master is the Master; the matter of birth and death is grave and can only be decided by oneself. The late Master said: “What enters through the gate is not one’s family treasure. It must flow forth from one’s own breast; only then can there be even a small measure of accord.” |
| 愿世之读是经者，以筏为喻，不取法相，仍从自觉下手，庶不负先觉之慈悲也矣。 |
May those in the world who read this sūtra take the raft as their metaphor, refrain from grasping at dharma appearances, and begin with their own awakening, so that they may not disappoint the compassion of those awakened before them. |
| 戊寅秋古梁溪弟子涵普祝铨谨序 |
Respectfully prefaced in the autumn of the wuyin year by Hanpu Zhu Quan, disciple of ancient Liangxi |
