釋氏稽古略 4.276

4.276

Under the Song, in the autumn, on the first day of the ninth month, Vinaya Master Yuanzhao of Lingzhi Monastery in Hangzhou sat in the lotus posture and entered quiescence, at the age of sixty-nine, with a monastic seniority of fifty-one summers. He was buried in the northwest corner of the monastery and posthumously titled Dazhi. Liu Tao inscribed his stūpa, Guan Yan wrote the stele of his conduct and deeds, and Sun Di erected the stone. Zhao's courtesy name was Zhanran; he was born into the Tang family of Yuhang. Originally, the great learning of the Vinaya was personally instituted by the Buddha. From Mañjuśrī on down, none was permitted to add a single phrase; when Upāli compiled the texts, he did not dare elaborate by a single word. Among the human world, the heavens, the ten directions, the three realms, and the endless holy multitudes of the ocean of lands, all share the identical Vinaya; it can truly be called strict. It is like the rites, music, and punitive expeditions of the secular world, which must proceed from the Son of Heaven, without princes, dukes, ministers, or grandees being allowed to usurp them. However, when the Great Dharma traveled east, only the Vinaya remained unclear, and scholars lost their way. During the Zhenguan era of Emperor Taizong of the Tang, Great Vinaya Master Daoxuan, Chengzhao of Mount Zhongnan in Yongxing Army, composed the *Jieshu*, the *Jiemoshu*, and the *Shichao* to propagate the *Dharmaguptaka Vinaya*. It was transmitted for over four hundred years, with nearly sixty schools of commentators. Among them, Vinaya Master Yankan of Great Zhaoqing Monastery composed the *Huizheng ji*, which alone was exhaustive in its principles. Finally, this Yuanzhao, Dazhi of Lingzhi, used the perfect meaning of the Lotus Sūtra's revelation to compose the *Zichi ji*. Taking different paths to the same goal as Master Huizheng, he brought to light the original intent of Nanshan [Daoxuan], aligning upward with the Buddha's regulations. From this time on, Huizheng and Zichi separated into schools of Vinaya. Just as breaking a golden staff does not lose the gold's nature, can the unmanifest precept-essence truly be divided?