法苑珠林 36.110

36.110

又毘尼母經云。佛告諸比丘。聽汝等唄。唄者言說之辭。雖聽言說未知說何等法。佛言。從修多羅乃至優婆提舍。隨意所說十二部經。復有疑心。若欲次第說文。眾大文多。恐生疲厭。若略纂集好辭。直示現義。不知如何。以是因緣。具白世尊。佛即聽。諸比丘引經中要言妙辭。直顯其義。

Also, the Vinayamātṛkā states: 'The Buddha told the monks: "I permit you to chant pāṭha." Pāṭha refers to spoken words. Although they were permitted to speak, they did not know what kind of Dharma they should speak. The Buddha said: "From the sūtras up to the upadeśas, you may speak as you wish from the twelve divisions of scriptures." Again they had doubts: "If we wish to speak the text sequentially, the assembly is large and the texts are extensive; we fear producing weariness and fatigue. What if we summarize and compile good phrases to directly reveal the meaning? We do not know if this is permissible." For this reason, they reported the matter fully to the World-Honoured One. The Buddha then permitted the monks to cite essential words and marvelous phrases from the sūtras to directly reveal their meaning.'