四分律行事鈔資持記 1.17

1.17

次科，傳教失中，初文。上既通敘兩土澆訛，下不別敘西方，蓋非今意。但明此土，引生述作。因前而致，故標所以。震嶺者，震是梵言之省略，嶺即土境之通名；如世州郡，多以江山川澤通而召之。又如〈釋相〉云：震嶺受緣，即明東夏得戒之始耳。又《僧傳》中，贊曇延法師云：震嶺宏標，遺教法主；準知震嶺之號，但目此方，不煩穿鑿。（舊云：國嶺兩標，震是此方，嶺即葱嶺，非也。）具云震旦，亦云真丹，此翻漢地。傳教者，指弘通之人。九代者，自後漢明帝佛法初傳，至於大唐祖師出世，凡歷九代（後漢、魏、晉、宋、齊、梁、陳、隋、唐）。草之出叢曰拔萃，人之超群曰出類。（語出《孟子》，有若歎孔子曰：出於其類，拔乎其萃。自生民已來，未有盛如孔子也。今借用之。）事出胸襟，謂之智術。此明前代諸師任意自裁，不憑正教；上句彰其英敏，下句斥其師心。

In the next section, on errors in transmitting the teachings, this is the first passage. The preceding section having generally described the deterioration and corruption in both lands, what follows does not separately narrate the Western Regions, as that is not the present focus. It only clarifies this land to introduce the occasion for authoring the work. Arising out of the preceding, it thus marks the causal origins. As for 'Zhenling' (the Zhen Peaks), 'Zhen' is an abbreviation of the Sanskrit name, and 'ling' (peaks) is a general designation for this terrestrial territory; just as in the worldly realm, provinces and commanderies are often referred to collectively by their rivers, mountains, streams, and marshes. Furthermore, as the 'Explaining Marks' section says: 'The conditions for receiving [the precepts] in the Zhen Peaks' refers to the beginning of obtaining the precepts in the Eastern Xia. In addition, the Biographies of Monks, in praising Dharma Master Tanyan, says: 'The grand standard of the Zhen Peaks, the Dharma master of the bequeathed teachings.' By this one can know that the title 'Zhen Peaks' refers solely to this land, and there is no need for forced interpretations. (An old theory says: 'Two markers, country and mountain: Zhen is this land, and ling refers to the Congling Mountains.' This is incorrect.) In full it is called Zhendan, or also Zhendan, which is translated as the land of Han. 'Those who transmitted the teachings' refers to those who propagated and disseminated them. As for 'nine dynasties', from Emperor Ming of the Later Han, when the Buddhadharma was first transmitted, down to the emergence in the world of our Patriarchal Master under the Great Tang, a total of nine dynasties elapsed (the Later Han, Wei, Jin, Song, Qi, Liang, Chen, Sui, and Tang). Grass standing out above the thicket is called 'rising above the thicket' (bacui); a person surpassing the multitude is called 'standing out from their kind' (chulei). (The phrase comes from Mencius, where You Ruo praises Confucius, saying: 'He stood out from his kind, he rose above the thicket. Ever since there have been living people, there has never been one as magnificent as Confucius.' It is borrowed here.) That which arises from one's own chest and mind is called 'intellectual contrivance' (zhishu). This explains that the various masters of previous dynasties acted arbitrarily according to their own will and did not rely on the correct teachings; the upper clause highlights their brilliance and agility, while the lower clause censures their relying on their own opinions.