佛祖統紀 1.40

1.40

In establishing biographies for the masters of recent times, three criteria should be applied: first, contemplative practice cultivated with clarity; second, lecturing and instructing with essential intent; third, composing writings to elucidate the school. Those outside these three criteria are spurious. As for those who managed Dharma affairs and assisted the doctrinal school from without, they are also recorded so that later generations may cherish and revere them. As for court officials, eminent worthies, Confucian scholars, and lay devotees who were able to comprehend this Way, had they not possessed the merit of past perfuming, who among them could have attained such? For this reason, selections have occasionally been made from them. Explanation of the Title and Its Meaning: