法苑珠林 19.45

19.45

Furthermore, the Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra for Humane Kings states: 'Kings and ministers rely on their own nobility to destroy and eradicate My Dharma, making prohibitive regulations to restrain My disciples, not allowing them to go forth into homelessness, not allowing them to make Buddha statues, establishing monastic controller systems and the like, and registering and compiling records of monks. The bhikṣus stand on the ground while the white-robed [laity] sit on high seats. Furthermore, kings and crown princes arbitrarily create legal regulations, not relying on the Buddha's teachings of causes and conditions; through conditions that break the Saṃgha, monastic controllers supervise the Saṃgha and manage the registers of monks, harshly constraining them—[thus] the Buddha-Dharma will not endure long.'