大宋僧史略 1.56

1.56

經教東流始則朱士行講說未形於文字。分科注解其道安法師歟。安師注經。常恐不合佛意。俄夢道人曰。合理即賓頭盧也。或曰。注經與造疏全別。何推安公為首耶。答注是解經。與別行疏義殊號而同實。矧分其科節不長途散釋。自安之意乎。次則僧叡造維摩疏。直生著維摩法華泥洹小品疏。世皆寶之。

When the scriptural teachings flowed eastward, at first Zhu Shixing gave lectures, but they were not given written form. Dividing sūtras into sections (kē) and writing annotations: was it not Dharma Master Dao'an who began this? When Master An commented on the sūtras, he constantly feared failing to accord with the Buddha's intent. Suddenly he dreamed of a man of the Way who said: "You accord with the principle." This was Piṇḍola. Some ask: "Commenting on sūtras and composing subcommentaries (shù) are entirely different; why do you venerate Master An as the first?" I reply: Commenting is explaining the sūtras; it has a different name from independently circulated commentaries (shùyì), but the reality is the same. Furthermore, dividing them into sections and chapters rather than engaging in continuous, diffuse explanations—did this not originate with An? Next, Sengrui composed a subcommentary on the Vimalakīrti, and Daosheng wrote subcommentaries on the Vimalakīrti, Lotus, Mahāparinirvāṇa, and Xiaopin. The world treasured all of them.