四分律行事鈔資持記 3.7

3.7

Under "The Meaning of Prescribing the Three Robes in the Gate of Prohibition", the text lists ten passages, which are grouped into five meanings. For the first meaning, the *Sarvāstivāda Vinaya Vibhāṣā* shows the meaning of rarity. The "three names" refers to saṃghāṭī and so forth. Even their northern names did not exist, how much less their actual substances! In the *Guṇaprabha-śāstra*, there are two meanings: first, corresponding to the three seasons; from "also" onward, second, to block insects. Speaking of the "three seasons" was the circumstance that gave rise to the prohibition; it does not mean that the three seasons do not allow wearing them interchangeably. Many people misunderstand this; scholars must know it. In the *Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra*, "noble disciples" generally refers to ordinary beings and noble ones who cultivate the noble path. Non-Buddhists go naked, signifying adherence to emptiness; white-robed laity wear multiple layers, signifying adherence to existence; a bhikṣu's three articles are neither too many nor too few, signifying abiding in the middle way and not adhering to the two extremes of emptiness and existence. In the *Daśādhyāya-vinaya*, because non-Buddhists wore whole pieces of white cotton, they were cut up to distinguish them.