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Taishō no. 220
Fascicle 576

Śramaṇa Xuanze of Ximing Temple

Translated into English by Shaku Shingan (1.8.2025)

Indeed, I see the way just keeping precepts externally purifies one, illuminates the spiritual life within, and how spiritual principles strengthen one internally and then manifest in one’s conduct. However, if one does not inquire into the nature of all manner of conduct and tranquility, one might mistakenly become biased toward one of them. This is why Mañjuśrī, who relied on Śrāvastī,[1] was emulated in his manner of alms-seeking by Nāgaśrī. They humbled themselves, took cautious steps, controlled their movements of flexion and extension and their hands, thinking both thoughts and non-thoughts, initiating both practice and non-practice, eating illusory food, conversely resembling suspended gourds; being sustained by non-sustenance, like being sustained by the Cold Well.[2]

Soon after, Nāgaśrī freely contemplated the practice of emptiness, clarifying his mind in the Ocean-like Samādhi, nurturing the spirit of living beings in the manner of water,[3] and exhausting his precious treasury of merits. He was at ease with the six quakings and was unshaken, riding the three vehicles to abide in cessation. Without a master, he is unmastered; rejecting the mind-king,[4] he has beneficial vision. While without friends, he is not friendless: expanding his circle of good friends, he assembles them from afar. 

Therefore, the lay [female] disciple is instructed to offer into the bowl thus, but, she was startled by the disappearance of an extended hand. This teaching makes arhats cast away their obstructions, touching their minds with silence, informing them that they have already been extinguished. Just as if they were a clam’s mirage,[5] one cuts off views, knowing to gather one’s breath and forget the ascent while climing. One awakens to emptiness and ceases grasping in a manner resembling the phoenix seeing his reflection in a mirror.[6]

Thus, one can discern the near from the far, and establish the conventional based on the truth: realising the perils of life are as the gatherings of dew, one comes to know its illusory substance as being like a floating bubble, lightning clouds fleetingly flashing blue and purple, and that the clouds in the sky are shadows of a ceremonial parasol. 

While the text is concise, its meaning is rich. It was formerly kept hidden, and now it is transmitted. Although it is a single scroll and a solitary transmission, repeated study of it will surely give rise to an understanding of its multiple layers of meaning.