内容介绍 / About the Work

《大城衡鉴》是一部中篇禅悟小说，由达三著述，全书十卷。作品以主人公石胤的人生历程为主线：由双亲相继离世而深感生死无常，继而舍尘慕道、出家参学、住山修行，并在种种人生境缘中返观自心，由迷入悟。

十卷内容层层推进：卷一《苦海莲生》由生死无常而发心求道；卷二《松风指月》写落发参学、宗门机锋与师徒勘验，将禅宗直指人心、贵在亲证的精神融入现代文学叙事，堪称现代禅宗教科书级的文学作品；卷三《草堂礼塔》由日常问答揭示“佛法乃是心法”；卷四《枕山栖谷》写终南住山、历境炼心，并由“舍担”之悟而自号舍担道人。

卷五《灵雨洒心》从人生苦乐入手，引人由外境转向自心；卷六《三观澄明》从世界观、价值观、人生观进一步阐明生命方向与修行实践；卷七至卷九《尘忧输诚》则进入现实人生，以佛法智慧回应婚恋、家庭、信仰、人情与社会生活中的种种烦恼，体现大乘佛法于世间历事炼心、自利利他的精神。卷十《孑然长往》以华严心境不二、一多相即之理收束全书，并以舍担道人不受情缘所转、孑然长往作结。

书中所谓“大城”，就是我们当下一念心所现的整个世界万象。心即是境，境即是心；由心可以观境，由境可以知心。所以说：“心城不二，不二心城。”作者以小说为方便，引领读者借生死、爱憎、顺逆、得失等一切境缘返照自心，由逐境而迷，转为因境知心，由迷归悟，回归自性本源。

作品最终所彰显的，是人人本具佛性这一大乘精神。它不仅是一部禅悟小说，更是一部引人认识自心、返迷归悟、探问生命本源的作品，堪为人生道路上不可或缺的良师善友。

Dacheng Hengjian is a mid-length Chan-inspired novel written by Da San, comprising ten chapters. The story follows the life of Shi Yin, who, after the successive deaths of his parents, comes to deeply realize the impermanence of life. He then leaves worldly attachments behind, enters monastic life, seeks teachers, studies the Dharma, and undertakes solitary practice, gradually turning inward through the circumstances of life and moving from delusion toward awakening. 

The ten chapters unfold progressively. Chapter One, “A Lotus Born in the Sea of Suffering,” begins with the shock of impermanence and the arising of the aspiration to seek the Way. Chapter Two, “Moon Pointed Out by the Pine Wind,” portrays ordination, pilgrimage, Chan encounters, and master-disciple testing; by bringing the Chan spirit of directly pointing to the mind and emphasizing personal realization into modern literary narrative, it may be regarded as a textbook-level literary work on modern Chan Buddhism. Chapter Three, “Paying Homage at Caotang Monastery,” reveals through everyday dialogue that “the Dharma is fundamentally the Dharma of the mind.” Chapter Four, “Dwelling Among Mountains and Valleys,” depicts solitary practice in the Zhongnan Mountains, cultivating the mind through circumstances, and the realization of “laying down the burden,” after which the protagonist takes the name Shedan Daoren. 

Chapter Five, “Spiritual Rain Cleansing the Heart,” begins with the question of happiness and suffering and guides the reader from external circumstances back to the mind. Chapter Six, “The Three Views Made Clear,” further explores worldview, values, and one’s view of life as a framework for understanding life and practice. Chapters Seven through Nine, collectively titled “Offering Sincerity Amid Worldly Troubles,” bring Buddhist wisdom directly into contemporary concerns such as love, marriage, family, faith, human relationships, and social life, expressing the Mahāyāna spirit of cultivating the mind through worldly affairs while benefiting both oneself and others. Chapter Ten, “Walking On Alone,” brings the work to completion through Huayan teachings on the nonduality of mind and world and the mutual interpenetration of the one and the many, ending with Shedan Daoren remaining unmoved by emotional entanglement and departing alone. 

The “Great City” in the title refers to the entire world of phenomena manifested through the mind in this very moment. Mind is circumstance, and circumstance is mind; through the mind one may contemplate the world, and through the world one may come to know the mind. Hence the text declares: “The mind-city is nondual; nondual is the mind-city.” Through the skillful form of fiction, the author guides readers to turn inward through birth and death, love and aversion, favorable and adverse conditions, gain and loss—moving from being lost in appearances to recognizing the mind, from delusion toward awakening, and ultimately back to the source of one’s own nature. 

At its deepest level, the work seeks to reveal the Mahāyāna principle that Buddha-nature is inherently present in every person. More than a Chan-inspired novel, it is a work that invites readers to recognize the mind, return from delusion to awakening, and inquire into the very source of life—an indispensable guide and spiritual companion on the journey of life.