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A. P’u fa ssu fo The Refuge of the Four Buddhas of the Universal Dharma as noted in the Introduction, the study of the texts of the San-chieh movement form one of the most exciting yet exacerbating tasks that any researcher faces. Exciting, because the story of their disappearance over one millennium ago and their rediscovery in the early twentieth century presents opportunities for the sorts of textual detective work that traditionally has been at the heart of the discipline of Buddhist studies; exacerbating, though, for the sheer scope of the opportunities so provided. The goodly number of extant manuscripts combined with the dearth of scholarship since Yabuki’s pioneering work in the twenties and thirties means that the editing and translation process will be slow and arduous—given the loose-yet-frequent use of prooftexts, for example, it is often dif³cult or even impossible to track down the citations that Hsin-hsing so liberally scattered throughout his writing . This means that at this stage little more than overviews and vague approximations of the full context of these texts can be attempted, and it is to be hoped that future authors will be able to correct the misreadings and deepen and broaden the contextual base of the translations offered here.1 The P’u fa ssu fo 3ÀvM is a portion of a manuscript discovered at Tunhuang (Stein #5668) and sent to Britain by Sir Aurel Stein.2 Although brief, 1 As my discussion of Hsin-hsing’s teachings on Buddha-nature and the Inexhaustible Storehouse is the subject of parts two, three, and four, as a rule notes to the translations are con³ned to textual matters. 2 Yabuki assigned the title on the basis of the content; my translation is based on Yabuki’s edition (Yabuki, Sangaikyõ no kenkyð, 201–206 (itself based on Yabuki’s articles “Sangaikyõ no fuhõ ni tsuite,” Tetsugaku zasshi, vol. 33 (1918) nos. 373 (pp. 334–65) and 374 (pp. 449–74). Recently Nishimoto Teruma has re-investigated the original manuscript in its larger context and has proposed the title Ti san chieh fo fa kuang shih ÙX‰MÀct; Nishimoto, Sangaikyõ, 205-216; an edition of the full text of Stein #5668 is included in Nishimoto, Sangaikyõ 609–22; see also Hubbard, “Perfect Buddhahood, Absolute Delusion,” and “A Heretical Chinese Buddhist Text.” 247 the section of this text translated here preserves the most detailed explanation of the very important doctrine of the fourfold refuge of the Universal Buddha, the San-chieh teaching on tathagatagarbha and Buddha-nature. Because the fragment preserves no title we cannot trace it in any of the various catalogues. However, we do know it is a later composition because it quotes the Ghanavyðha-sðtra, a text ³rst translated in 765.3 The text also quotes from other standard texts of the tathagatagarbha tradition such as the Laªk„vat„ra and the Šr‡m„l„dev‡. It further mentions several contemporaneous theories of Buddha-nature and is thus important for contextualizing the Sanchieh doctrine of tathagatagarbha and Buddha-nature. The text is described in Giles’s Descriptive Catalogue of the Chinese Manuscripts from Tunhuang as follows: 5938. Buddhist *doctrinal handbook.* Booklet of loose numbered leaves with hole in the middle for string: ff. 7-10, 12-14 (in a different hand), 36-39. Small neat handwriting. Smooth yellow paper. 13 x 16.5 cm. S. 5668.4š › The Buddha as the Matrix of Enlightenment [Truth and untruth] are neither different nor the same. [Nonetheless , truth and untruth] are one as well as different, while being neither one nor different. Although separated from attachments, the truth of the universe produces the untruth of the universe; therefore, untruth is dependent upon truth. But truth is not independent, because it is forever dependent on untruth; neither does untruth arise independently, because it is necessarily dependent upon truth. Again, the matrix of enlightenment and all of samsara , the essence and the forms, are also like this [that is, neither the same nor different]. Like gold and the ornaments made from gold, the essence and forms are forever the same. Again, the matrix of enlightenment and the phenomenal forms of the universe, the essence and forms, are forever different , as dust and moisture are always distinct; thus they are neither different nor not different. The Scripture [of the Lion’s Roar of Queen Šr‡m„l„] says: “If there is no doubt about the matrix of enlightenment...

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