四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 1.77

1.77

後明鈔興本意。夫鈔者，固令撮略正文，包括諸意也！余智同螢曜，量實疎庸；何敢輕侮猷言，動成戲論。雖然，學有所承，承必知本；每所引用，先加覆撿。於一事之下，廢立意多；諸師所存，情見繁廣。今並刪略，止存文證。及教通餘論，理相難知；自非通解，焉能究盡？具如集《義鈔》所顯。而抄略證文，多不具委，但取文義堪來入宗者。自外不盡之文，必欲尋討，知其始末，則非鈔者之意。故文云：諸比丘欲不具說文句，佛言聽之。《毘尼母論》云：佛令引要言妙辭，直顯其義。庶令臨機有用，無待訪於他人；即事即行，豈復疑於罪福？猶恐後代加諸不急之務，增益其中，使真宗蕪穢，行者致迷；鳥鼠之喻，復存於茲日矣！

Finally, clarifying the original intention behind compiling this manual: A manual is truly intended to extract the essentials of the canonical texts and encompass their various meanings! My wisdom is merely like the glow of a firefly, and my capacity is truly crude and mediocre; how could I dare lightly disrespect the exemplary teachings, lightly turning them into frivolous discourse? Nevertheless, study requires an inheritance, and inheritance must recognize its root; whenever I cite something, I first verify and cross-examine it. Under a single matter, there are many ideas of rejection and establishment, and what the various masters have preserved involves voluminous views and sentiments. Now I have pruned and abbreviated them all, preserving only the textual proofs. Furthermore, where the teaching extends into other treatises, the principles and marks are difficult to fathom; unless one possesses comprehensive understanding, how could one exhaust them? They are fully displayed in the compiled *Yichao* (Meaning Manual). However, the cited textual proofs in this manual are mostly not detailed, selecting only those whose textual meaning is fit to be integrated into the main tradition. As for the inexhaustive texts outside this, if one insists on searching through them to know their beginning and end, that is not the intention of a manual compiler. Therefore, a text states: When the bhikṣus wished not to recite all the words and phrases fully, the Buddha said, 'I permit it.' The *Vinayamātṛkā* states: 'The Buddha commanded that one cite essential words and subtle phrasing to reveal the meaning directly.' The aim is to make it useful when encountering circumstances, without needing to consult others; acting immediately upon the matter at hand, how could one still doubt over sin and merit? Still, I fear that later generations may add non-urgent matters and augment its contents, causing the true tradition to become overgrown with weeds and practitioners to fall into delusion; the parable of the bird and the rat would then exist once again today!