佛祖統紀 43.49

43.49

The author remarks: In my youth, when I traveled in Nanhai, I saw that monastics dwelling in rural villages kept wives and raised children, and all were able to hold cymbals and drums to take part in responding to ritual invitations. When I asked if they had ordination certificates, they said: "We were only issued permits by the local commandery." Such men were all the result of commandery governors seeking petty gain, ignorant of the fault of desecrating the Three Jewels. Now, this imperial decree specifically admonishes the senior officials; it can indeed be called embodying the mind of protecting the Dharma. I have often heard that monks in Shu mostly keep wives and children in their home villages, and over time this has become such a familiar habit that neither the public nor private sphere regards it as wrong. Nowadays, those from Western Shu who travel and study in the Southeast are truly genuine renunciants.