四分律行事鈔資持記 1.15

1.15

敘弘傳中，初文。正法像法，各一千年，末法萬年。如來定在正法，四依通於正像。文為二段，上明教主親弘，下明弟子傳化。《住法圖贊》，列二十五祖，即以如來為開法大師；迦葉已下，為傳法聖僧。今此戒律，佛出方制；本其元始，故云自也。大師者，所謂天人之師，即十號之一；以道訓人，故彰斯目。然以師通凡小，加大簡之。是則三界獨尊，九道依學；唯佛大聖，得此嘉號；自餘凡鄙，安可僣稱！故《十誦》云：若比丘言我是大師，說大師事法，得蘭夷罪，同大妄故。（言我是，犯蘭；說事法，得夷。）言在世者，娑婆五濁，所取之土也；大千世界，所化之境也。賢劫中第九減劫，人壽百歲，出世之時也。三十成道，說三乘法；度人無量，八十唱滅。今指五十年中行化之時，故云在世。言偏弘者。謂雖談眾典，然於毘尼最所留意。故〈篇聚〉云：世尊處世，深達物機；凡所施為，必以威儀為主是也。又經通餘人所說，律唯金口親宣；大權影響，但知祇奉；況餘小聖，安敢措詞！又復諸經說有時限，律則通於始終。《義鈔》云：始於鹿苑，終至鶴林，隨根制戒，乃有萬差等。具斯三意，永異餘經；偏弘之言，想無昧矣。爰即語詞。此明如來滅後，迦葉而下結集傳持，故云無普。普即廢也。言四依者，凡有三種。一人四依。（內凡為初依，初果為二依，二、三兩果為三依，四果為四依。）《涅槃》云：有四種人能護正法，為世所依；此並大權示聲聞像，傳法化人，眾生所賴，四並名依。二行四依。（糞掃衣、長乞食、樹下坐、腐爛藥，此四種行，入道之緣，上根利器所依止故。）三法四依。（謂依法不依人、依義不依語、依智不依識、依了義經不依不了義經，此之四法，簡辨邪正，末世所憑，故得名也。）今此所標，即人四依。昔來但列二十四祖，今意不爾。二十四師，且據相承傳法之者。若約橫論，同時弘闡，人實非一；毱多五子，豈不明乎！就竪而言，師子已下，豈無傳教！況復下云逮于像季；則知四依之言，兼該正像；弘法之師，豈唯二十四人而已。（二十四師名字化跡，廣在《付法藏傳》及《住法圖贊》，須者尋之。）

In narrating the propagation, the first passage: the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma each last one thousand years; the Final Dharma lasts ten thousand years. The Tathāgata was definitively present during the True Dharma; the four refuges universally cover both the True and Semblance [periods]. The text has two sections: the upper clarifies the Master of the Teaching personally propagating it; the lower clarifies the disciples transmitting and transforming. The *Laudatory Biographies of the Preservation of the Dharma* lists twenty-five patriarchs, taking the Tathāgata as the Great Master who opened the Dharma, and Kāśyapa onward as the noble saṃgha who transmitted the Dharma. Now, as for these precepts and vinaya, the Buddha instituted them only upon appearing [in the world]; tracing back to their origin, it therefore says "from." "Great Master" refers to the teacher of devas and humans, which is one of the ten titles; because he instructs people with the path, this title is displayed. However, because "master" universally applies to ordinary beings and the Small [Vehicle], "Great" is added to differentiate him. Thus he is uniquely honoured in the three realms, and relied upon for study by the nine paths; only the Buddha, the Great Sage, obtains this fine title. How could any remaining ordinary or base persons usurp it! Therefore the *Daśādhyāya-vinaya* says: "If a bhikṣu says, 'I am the Great Master,' or speaks of the matters and dharmas of the Great Master, he incurs a sthūlātyaya or pārājika offense, because it is identical to a great falsehood." (Saying "I am" incurs a sthūlātyaya; speaking of the matters and dharmas incurs a pārājika.) "In the world" refers to the Sahā world of five defilements as the land assumed; the trichiliocosm as the realm being converted; the ninth decreasing kalpa in the Auspicious Kalpa, when the human lifespan is one hundred years, as the time of appearing in the world. He attained awakening at thirty, spoke the Dharma of the three vehicles, crossed over countless people, and proclaimed cessation at eighty. Here it refers to the fifty years of active teaching; hence it says "in the world." "Specifically propagated" means that although he spoke of many scriptures, he was most attentive to the Vinaya. Therefore "Categories of Offenses" says: "The World-Honoured One, dwelling in the world, deeply penetrated the capacities of beings; in whatever he instituted, he always made deportment primary." This is it. Furthermore, sūtras were universally spoken by other people, whereas the vinaya was exclusively proclaimed in person from the golden mouth; the great manifestations and shadow-reflections only knew how to revere and obey—how could other lesser sages dare to utter a word! Moreover, the various sūtras were spoken at restricted times, whereas the vinaya spans from beginning to end. The *Compendium of Meanings* says: "Beginning at the Deer Park and ending at the Crane Forest, instituting precepts in response to capacities, there were ten thousand differences," and so forth. Endowed with these three meanings, it differs forever from the other sūtras; the statement about "specifically propagated" is, I trust, without obscurity. Yuan (爰) is an initial particle. This clarifies that after the Tathāgata's cessation, Kāśyapa and those below compiled, transmitted, and maintained it; hence it says "without cessation." Pu (普) means to discard. As for "the four refuges," there are three kinds in all: First, the four refuges of persons. (Inner ordinary beings are the first refuge; stream-enterers are the second refuge; once-returners and non-returners are the third refuge; arhats are the fourth refuge.) The *Nirvāṇa-sūtra* says: "There are four kinds of persons who can protect the True Dharma and serve as refuges for the world." These are all great provisional manifestations appearing in the form of śrāvakas, transmitting the Dharma to convert people, upon whom sentient beings rely; all four are named refuges. Second, the four refuges of practice. (Robes made of rags from a dust heap, begging for food constantly, dwelling at the foot of a tree, and putrid medicine: these four kinds of practices are conditions for entering the path, relied upon by those of superior faculties and sharp capacities.) Third, the four refuges of dharma. (Namely, relying on the Dharma and not on the person, relying on the meaning and not on the word, relying on wisdom and not on consciousness, and relying on definitive sūtras and not on non-definitive sūtras; these four dharmas distinguish the false from the correct and are relied upon in the Final Age, hence obtaining this name.) What is indicated here is precisely the four refuges of persons. In the past, only twenty-four patriarchs were listed, but our present intention is not so. The twenty-four masters merely refer to those who successively transmitted the Dharma. Considered horizontally, those who propagated and expounded at the same time were in reality not just one; is this not clear from the five disciples of Upagupta? Considered vertically, below Siṃha, were there no teachers transmitting the teachings? What is more, it states below, "reaching down to the end of the Semblance [period]"; thus we know that the term "four refuges" encompasses both the True and the Semblance [periods]; how could the masters who propagated the Dharma be merely twenty-four persons? (The names and transformative deeds of the twenty-four masters are fully found in the *Fu fazang zhuan* and the *Laudatory Biographies of the Preservation of the Dharma*; let those who need them consult them.)