瑜伽師地論略纂 6.144

6.144

「處所根栽施設建立」者，如樹栽，樹之根本，故聲根本名曰根栽，即是字也。出聲處所，名為處所，出聲處故，本聲明也。謂劫初起，梵王創造一百萬頌《聲明》；後命慧減，帝釋復略為十萬頌；次有迦單沒羅仙，略為一萬二千頌；次有波膩尼仙，略為八千頌。此上四論，總名處所。今現行者唯有後二，前之二論並已滅沒。　字體根栽，《聲明論》有三百頌；波膩尼仙所造，略成聲明頌，為一千頌，名為《聲明略本頌》；後有《八界論》，有八百頌，名為《因緣》；又有《聞釋迦論》，一千五百頌；又有《溫那地論》，二千五百頌。此五聲明並名根栽，能與根本處所聲明為生智解所依本故。然護法菩薩造二萬五千頌，名《雜寶聲論》，西方以為聲明究竟之極論，盛行於世也。　「相續」者，是聲明中合聲合字法為一品，是第一分。　「名號」者，劫初時，梵王於一一法皆立千名，帝釋後減為一百名，後又減為十名，後又減為三名，總為一品，是第二名號品、名號分。　「總略」者，是聲明中根本略要。　「彼益」者，是次中略之，令物生解，名為彼益。　「宣說」者，是廣宣說。謂略、中、廣是後三品，即後三名。上來五分即是五品，是本聲明之分品故，合名處所。

Regarding "the designation and establishment of loci and roots (dhātu/prakṛti)": like the root of a tree, which is the foundation of the tree, the foundation of vocal sound is therefore called "root," which refers to the phonemes (akṣara). The places from which vocal sounds emerge are called "loci" (sthāna); because they are the loci from which sounds emerge, they are the root grammatical treatises (śabdavidyā). That is, at the beginning of the kalpa, Brahmā created a Śabdavidyā of one million verses. Later, as human lifespan and wisdom decreased, Śakra abridged it to one hundred thousand verses. Next, the ṛṣi Kātantra abridged it to twelve thousand verses. Next, the ṛṣi Pāṇini abridged it to eight thousand verses. These four treatises above are collectively named "loci." At present, only the latter two are extant; the former two treatises are both lost. As for the roots of the letter-forms, the Śabdavidyā-śāstra has three hundred verses; what the ṛṣi Pāṇini composed as an abridged text of grammatical verses has one thousand verses, named the Abridged Root Verses of Śabdavidyā. Later, there was the Aṣṭadhātu-śāstra of eight hundred verses, named Hetupratyaya; there was also the Śākaṭāyana-śāstra of one thousand five hundred verses; and there was also the Uṇādi-śāstra of two thousand five hundred verses. These five treatises on grammar are all called "roots," because they serve as the foundational basis from which understanding and knowledge arise for the root grammar of loci. Furthermore, Bodhisattva Dharmapāla composed twenty-five thousand verses named the Prakīrṇa-śabda-śāstra, which is regarded in the Western Regions as the ultimate and consummate treatise on grammar and is widely circulated in the world. "Continuity" is a chapter in grammar concerning the rules of combining sounds and combining phonemes; this is the first section. "Nomenclature": at the beginning of the kalpa, Brahmā established one thousand names for every single phenomenon; Śakra later reduced them to one hundred names; later they were reduced again to ten names; and later reduced again to three names. These are gathered as a chapter, which is the second chapter, the section on nomenclature. "Summary" refers to the essential root summary in grammar. "Benefit thereto" refers to abridging moderately next to enable beings to generate understanding; this is called "benefit thereto." "Expounding" refers to broad and detailed exposition. That is to say, brief, moderate, and broad are the latter three chapters—namely, the latter three titles. The five sections above are precisely the five chapters; because they are the chapters and sections of the root grammar, they are collectively termed "loci".