佛祖統紀 8.12

8.12

For those who transmit the Way of the sages, the essential point lies simply in elucidating doctrine and contemplation. Looking upward to Nāgārjuna and downward to Jingxi, it is fitting that they are revered as patriarchs across nine generations. As for the two masters, Sui and Xiu, they successively lectured and expounded without letting the original enterprise fall to ruin. In the disaster of the Huichang era, the doctrinal scrolls were dispersed and lost; Masters Wai, Xiu, and Song transmitted solely the path of calming and contemplation. In the era of Luoxi, relying on the King of Wu-Yue who sought the lost texts from across the eastern sea, Diguan came from Goryeo bringing the doctrinal scrolls back to us. Thereupon the Way of the patriarchs was greatly revitalized once more, and Siming's revival truly relied on this support. These various masters, whether prominent or obscure, transmitted without inventing, and their being styled 'patriarchs' is because the transmission had continuity and the orthodox lineage had its succession. I have composed this 'Chronicle of the Eight Patriarchs from Xingdao Downward'.