釋氏稽古略 3.126

3.126

The Vinaya Reaches Japan. In the fourteenth year of Kaiyuan [726], the monk Yōrei and others from the state of Japan arrived in Yangzhou. They presented ten saṃghāṭī robes, upon which were embroidered representations of mountains, rivers, and extraordinary creatures. Their lord had sent them along to be bestowed upon Chinese śramaṇas. At that time, Vinaya Master Jianzhen received the robes and marveled that foreigners had the seed-nature of Buddhahood and wished to go and convert them. Meeting Yōrei and the others who urged and requested him, the Vinaya Master thereupon boarded a ship and sailed east to Japan. Their king took the trouble to come out to welcome and console him, housing him in the Vairocana Hall. Shortly thereafter, he requested Jianzhen to confer the refuges and precepts; the queen and all the ministers received them in succession. From this time onward, Japan began to have the Vinaya school (His biography).