四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 1.3

1.3

Indeed, the virtue of the precepts is inconceivable, towering above all phenomena; it serves as a guide for the five vehicles and truly acts as a ferry across the waters for the three jewels! If one undertakes cultivation in reliance upon the teaching, the merit of concentration and wisdom is peerless; when it maintains the Buddha's Dharma, all other texts cease their claims before it. From the time the Great Master was in the world, he specially propagated this canon; reaching down to the four reliances, the bequeathed tradition continued unabated. Coming to the Semblance Age and the final era, times gradually grew degenerate and corrupt; men contended with lips and tongues, and engaged in fervent debates over matters without form. Thus, since the teaching was transmitted to the Qin ranges, nine dynasties have heard of it; yet those who stood out from the crowd possessed only intellectual arts. If one wishes to elucidate and make manifest the proper conduct, to regulate and sustain the semblance teaching; to bequeath enduring models and instruct late learners; to rejoin the profound cords that have snapped, and re-erect the great standards that have collapsed—these matters can indeed be examined in detail and appraised. Is it not that relying on the empty is easy to shape into sound, whereas regulating practical affairs is difficult to execute with flawless clarity?