尼羯磨 1.3

1.3

Tracing back to the Deer Park and the Dragon City, the wondrous tracks of śīla were first opened; at Elephant Rock and Vulture Peak, the profound tenets of liberation were unfolded. Thereupon throughout the great trichiliocosm, [beings] received cool refreshment and escaped the burning house; above the heavens and beneath the heavens, they boarded the raft of the precepts and crossed the bewildering ford. The inner community flourished through this, and external followers found peace and happiness thereby. Thereafter, the True [One] was concealed beneath fine cotton robes, and much learning faced the sorrow of a broken axle; the subtle words of correctness were obscured, and rare was the sight of a flotation bladder's firmness. Thereupon Kāśyapa pre-eminently emerged, holding fast the broken cord and seeking [the teachings] without bias; Upāli's task arose, lifting up the fallen net and providing profound support. The torch of wisdom was once again brightened, and the ocean of precepts was thereby purified anew. The Vinaya teachings are vast and profound, indeed difficult to cite in their entirety. These karman procedures are the correct method for succession and exaltation, the grand framework for rectification and protection; their fundamental line traces to the five classes of offences, and their headwaters arise from the Dharmaguptaka-vinaya. They are truly the crucial pivot of bodhi, genuinely the ford across to nirvāṇa.