大宋僧史略 1.8

1.8

夫僧本無史。覺乎弘明二集。可非記言耶。高名僧傳。可非記事耶。言事既全。俱為載筆。原彼東漢。至于我朝。僅一千年。教法污隆。緇徒出沒。富哉事迹。繁矣言詮。蘊結藏中。從何攸濟（贊寧）以太平興國初。疊奉詔旨。高僧傳外別修僧史。及進育王塔。乘馹到闕。勅居東寺。披覽多暇。遂樹立門題。搜求事類。始乎佛生教法流衍。至于三寶住持諸務事始。一皆隱括。約成三卷。號僧史略焉。蓋取裴子野宋略為目。所恨刪采不周。表明多昧。不可鴻碩寓目。預懼缺然者爾。

Monks originally had no histories. Yet consider the two collections of Hongming ji: can they not be said to record words? And the Gaoseng zhuan and Mingseng zhuan: can they not be said to record deeds? Since words and deeds are complete, both constitute written histories. Tracing back from the Eastern Han to our present dynasty, it has been nearly a thousand years. The teaching has waxed and waned; the monastic order has risen and fallen. Abundant indeed are the events; voluminous indeed are the verbal teachings. Pent up in the canon, by what means could they be made useful? In the early years of Taiping Xingguo, I, Zanning, repeatedly received imperial decrees to compile a separate history of the saṃgha in addition to the Gaoseng zhuan. When I presented the reliquary stupa of King Aśoka, traveling by courier relay to the court, an imperial order decreed that I reside at the Eastern Monastery. Having much leisure for reading, I then established chapter headings and sought out categories of events, starting from the Buddha’s birth and the spread of his teaching down to the origins of all matters concerning the maintenance of the triratna. Digesting and condensing them all, I abridged them into three fascicles, entitled Sengshi lüe. This title was taken from Pei Ziye’s Song lüe. What I regret is that my selection is incomplete and the presentation is mostly crude, unfit for the gaze of grand scholars; I can only harbor beforehand the fear of its deficiencies.