四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 1.376

1.376

Next, requesting the seven witnessing masters. By principle, one must request them accordingly. Since the karman ritual is not upheld alone, one must take these people to witness that there is no error. As an upright rule in the Daśādhyāya-vinaya, one should by analogy request them. Then the recipient generates wholesome [roots] and the former masters have earnest minds; both sides are harmonious, which is truly sharing the same Dharma. In the world, many do not practice this, which merely destroys the Dharma of itself. If we consider the merit of generating the precepts, their virtue is equal to that of the three masters; why should one not request them? One may request them following the model of the three masters. If they are in the great assembly, many monks also need not necessarily be universally limited.