法苑珠林 39.5

39.5

原夫伽藍者。昔布金西域肇樹福基。締搆東川終祈淨業。所以寶塔蘊其光明。精舍圖其形像。遍滿三千之界。住持一萬之年。建苦海之舟航。為信根之枝幹。覩則發心。見便忘返。益福生善。稱為伽藍也。但惟年代日遠法教衰替。寺像雖立敬福罕儔。或真或偽。改換隨情。或精或麁。乃同糞土。遂令目覩其迹莫識厥旨。日用其事不知所由。是以行道之眾心無所安。流俗之徒於法無敬。輕慢於是乎生。陵蹈於是乎起。欲以此護法。不亦難哉者乎。是以古德寺誥。乃有多名。或名道場。即無生廷也。或名為寺。即公廷也。或名淨住舍。或名法同舍。或名出世間舍。或名精舍。或名清淨無極園。或名金剛淨剎。或名寂滅道場。或名遠離惡處。或名親近善處。並隨義立各有所表。今道俗離居豈得稱名也。

Originating with the saṃghārāma: in the past, gold was spread in the Western Regions to inaugurate the foundation of merit; structures were erected in the Eastern Lands ultimately to pray for pure karma. Thus, precious stupas harbor their radiant brilliance, and vihāras delineate their likenesses; they spread across the trichiliocosm and maintain the Dharma for ten thousand years, building boats and rafts on the sea of suffering, serving as the branches and trunk for the roots of faith. Beholding them, one gives rise to the mind [of awakening]; seeing them, one forgets to return. Increasing merit and generating goodness, they are termed saṃghārāmas. Yet, as the years and months grow distant, the Dharma teachings decline and waste away. Although temples and images are erected, respects and offerings are rarely comparable [to those of old]. Some are genuine, some false; they are altered according to personal whim. Some are fine, some crude, like unto dung and earth. Consequently, those whose eyes behold their traces fail to understand their purport, and those who employ their services daily know not their origin. Hence, the minds of the multitude practicing the Way find no peace, and worldly folk show no reverence toward the Dharma; slight and disrespect are thus born, and abuse and transgression thus arise. If one wishes to protect the Dharma by these means, would that not be exceedingly difficult? Therefore, the temple titles of ancient worthies had multiple names: sometimes called "place of the Way" (bodhimaṇḍa), which means the courtyard of non-birth; sometimes called "temple" (sì), which means the public court; sometimes called "dwelling of pure abiding"; or "dwelling of identity with the Dharma"; or "supramundane dwelling"; or "vihāra"; or "park of pure infinity"; or "vajra-pure kṣetra"; or "bodhimaṇḍa of calm extinction"; or "dwelling far removed from evil"; or "dwelling close to the good." All were established according to meaning, each expressing something. Nowadays, when clerics and laity dwell separately, how could they merit such names?