四分律行事鈔資持記 1.67

1.67

敘古中，初科。佛滅千年，至後漢明帝時，騰蘭初至；人雖剃染，未有歸戒。跨及曹魏，將二百年；曇摩柯羅（或作迦羅，此云法時。）依《四分羯磨》，立十人受戒；為始出《僧祇戒本》，令眾誦習。（第一差也。）至姚秦時，十誦廣律初翻，人即依用。（此二差也。）其次《四分》、《僧祇》、《五分》三部廣文，並傳此地；人謂《僧祇》與先戒本文理相合，乃捨《十誦》多演《僧祇》。（此三差也。）唯《四分》、《五分》，曾未弘通。至于元魏法聰律師，方悟前非；於即罷講《僧祇》，首傳《四分》；然以人情執舊，多未伏從。及乎隋朝智首律師作《五部區分鈔》，往往未能盡理，尚有紛紜；故今鈔中特須提示。歷年既久，執諍仍繁；不能備陳，故但通斥云諸師等。東流者，標其所至；或云西來，言其所從。幾字平呼，近也。自漢至唐撰鈔之時，凡五百五十九年，故云近耳。（若取曹魏得戒已來，近四百年。）穿鑿者，學無師稟，肆意攻求，不從正理，故以比焉。（《孟子》云：所惡於智者其為鑿也。注云：惡人用智而妄穿鑿。）

Under recounting the past, in the first section: a thousand years after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, reaching the time of Emperor Ming of the Later Han, Shemoteng and Zhu Falan first arrived; although people shaved their heads and dyed their garments, they did not yet have the refuges and precepts. Spanning down to the Cao Wei, nearly two hundred years later, Dharmakāla (also written Kāla, translated here as Fatime) established the ordination of ten people based on the Dharmaguptaka Karmavācanā; as a beginning, he produced the Mahāsāṃghika Prātimokṣa and had the saṅgha recite and practice it. (This was the first divergence.) In the Yao Qin period, when the extensive Daśādhyāya-vinaya was first translated, people immediately relied upon and used it. (This was the second divergence.) Next, the three extensive texts of the Dharmaguptaka, Mahāsāṃghika, and Mahīśāsaka were all transmitted to this land; people thought that the Mahāsāṃghika matched the text and principles of the earlier Prātimokṣa, so they abandoned the Daśādhyāya and mostly expounded the Mahāsāṃghika. (This was the third divergence.) Only the Dharmaguptaka and Mahīśāsaka were never widely propagated. It was not until Vinaya Master Facong of the Northern Wei that people first realized their former errors; thereupon he ceased lecturing on the Mahāsāṃghika and was the first to transmit the Dharmaguptaka; however, because human inclinations clung to the old, most did not submit and follow. Coming down to the Sui dynasty, when Vinaya Master Zhishou composed the Manual Distinguishing the Five Schools, he often failed to exhaust the principles, and confusion still remained; therefore, in the present Manual, it must be specifically pointed out. After a long passage of years, contentious clinging remained rampant; being unable to recount it fully, he merely made a general rebuke of the "various masters" and so forth. "Flowing east" indicates the destination reached; some say "coming from the west," speaking of where it originated. The character ji is read in the level tone, meaning nearly. From the Han to the Tang when the Manual was compiled, there were altogether 559 years, hence it says "nearly." (If counting from the Cao Wei when precepts were obtained, it was nearly 400 years.) "Far-fetched interpretation" refers to studying without a master's transmission, willfully investigating and pursuing without following proper principles, hence it is used as a comparison. (Mencius said: "What I dislike in wise men is their far-fetched interpretation." The commentary says: "Disliking people who use cleverness to make wild and far-fetched interpretations.")