僧羯磨 1.3

1.3

Verily, at the Deer Park and the Dragon City, the wondrous footprints of śīla were opened; on Elephant Rock and Vulture Peak, the profound lineage of liberation was revealed. Thereupon, across the three-thousand great thousands [of worlds], beings received pure coolness and emerged from the burning house; in heaven above and on earth below, they boarded the raft of the precepts and crossed the delusive ford. The inner assembly thereby flourished, and outside adherents were thereby brought to peace and bliss. Thereafter, when the True [One] was concealed within fine muslin, there arose the sorrow of the broke axle for those of much learning; the correct and subtle words were obscured, and rare it was to see the steadfastness of the floating bladder. Then Kāśyapa emerged prominently, seeking in the void to mend the severed cords; Upāli vigorously arose, rallying the fallen guidelines and giving profound support. The torch of wisdom shone brightly once again; the ocean of precepts was thereby purified anew. The teachings of the Vinaya are vast and profound, indeed hard to mention exhaustively. These karman procedures, then, are the correct methods for continuing and exalting [the teaching], the grand regulations for safeguarding and upholding it. Their core branches return to the five chapters, and their origins arise from the Dharmaguptaka [Vinaya]; truly they are the crucial mechanism of bodhi, genuinely the ferry for crossing to nirvāṇa.