天台菩薩戒疏 2.34

2.34

第二十八、別請僧戒。凡求勝福，須託僧次良田，情無曲私施有平等。今乃別請知己，簡棄餘人，非唯闕法供之通心，蓋是俗中之曲廗，彼此我招過，是以制之。別具六緣：一、自是施主，二、設眾會，三、有僧眾，四、故別請，五、行親，六、取物，便犯。若僧次外及他力所逼，要令別請無犯。就文為三：初列請僧之人應求示導，次「知事」下正明請法，三、「若別」下違制結犯。初文舉其三類，犯局二眾一切檀越。不受戒人順教得福，違則無罪。次文言「即得十方賢聖僧」者，心普理通，一攝一切。言「而世人」等者，故《優婆塞戒經》云：「鹿子母別請五百羅漢，鹿子令阿難送食與佛，佛問阿難：鹿子僧次請一人不？阿難言：癡人！雖請五百羅漢，不如佛次一人。」第三、結犯中，言「是外道法」者，佛法之外名外道法，非外外也。律約聲聞開受別請，故知七佛並約聞菩薩無別請法。七佛者皆在此土應化示迹，百劫之內長壽諸天咸所曾見，多引為證，欲使信者有所憑故。謂過去九十劫，初一佛名毘婆尸，亦名維衛，中間諸劫無佛，至第三十一劫有二佛出：一名尸棄亦名式，二名毘舍浮，亦名墮葉。此第九十一賢劫千佛應出，四佛已過：一、拘留孫，二、拘那含牟尼，三、迦葉，四、釋迦。

Twenty-eighth, the precept against issuing private invitations to monks. Whenever one seeks superior merit, one must rely on the fertile field of the saṃgha in regular turn; when the mind has no devious partiality, the giving is equal. Now, privately inviting acquaintances and discriminating against and rejecting others not only lacks the universal mind of Dharma offerings, but is a devious flattery of the mundane world; both self and other incur faults, and therefore it was instituted. It has six specific conditions: (1) oneself being a donor, (2) holding an assembly, (3) there being an assembly of monks, (4) intentionally inviting privately, (5) acting out of favoritism, and (6) presenting the goods; then it is violated. If it is outside the turn of the saṃgha or compelled by another's power, demanding that one invite privately, there is no violation. In the text there are three parts: first, it lists the persons who invite monks, who should seek instruction and guidance; next, from 'the administrator' below, it directly explains the method of invitation; third, from 'If privately' below, it concludes the offense for defying the regulation. The first part adduces their three categories; the offense is restricted to the two assemblies and all dānapatis. Those who have not received the precepts gain merit by following the teaching, and if they violate it they incur no sin. In the second passage, as for 'one immediately obtains the worthy and noble monks of the ten directions': the mind is universal and the principle is pervasive, so one includes all. As for 'Yet worldly people' and so forth: thus the Upāsakaśīla Sūtra says: 'Mṛgāramātā privately invited five hundred arhats; Mṛgāra sent Ānanda to deliver food to the Buddha; the Buddha asked Ānanda: Did Mṛgāra invite a single person by the turn of the saṃgha? Ānanda said: Foolish person! Although she invited five hundred arhats, it does not equal one person invited in the turn of the Buddha.' In the third part, concluding the offense, as for 'this is a dharma of outsiders': what is outside the Buddha Dharma is called a dharma of outsiders; it does not mean non-Buddhists outside. The Vinaya permits the acceptance of private invitations for śrāvakas; hence we know that the seven Buddhas all ruled that for hearing bodhisattvas there is no dharma of private invitation. The seven Buddhas all manifested traces of response and transformation in this land; within a hundred kalpas, the long-lived devas all witnessed them, and they are frequently cited as evidence so that believers may have something to rely upon. That is to say, ninety-one kalpas ago in the past, the first Buddha was named Vipaśyin, also called Weiwei; in the intervening kalpas there were no Buddhas; arriving at the thirty-first kalpa, two Buddhas appeared: one named Śikhin, also called Shi, and the second named Viśvabhū, also called Duoye. In this ninety-first, the Bhadrakalpa, a thousand Buddhas are due to appear, and four Buddhas have already passed: first, Krakucchanda; second, Kanakamuni; third, Kāśyapa; fourth, Śākyamuni.