大宋僧史略 1

English (machine translation) 1

Language: English

Zanning was surnamed Gao. His ancestors were from Bohai. He left home at Xiangfu Monastery in Hangzhou, studied the Nanshan Vinaya school, and wrote on the vinaya, being called at that time the "Tiger of the Vinaya." He was granted the title Mingyi Zongwen. In the third year of Taiping Xingguo, Emperor Taizong heard of his fame, summoned him for an audience at Zifu Hall, and prolonged his inquiries for entire days. He further bestowed upon him the title Tonghui, decreed that he reside at Tianshou Monastery on the Right Street, and ordered him to compile a history of the saṃgha. An imperial edict also ordered him to compile the thirty fascicles of the Da Song Gaoseng zhuan, as well as the Deeds of the Sages and Worthies of the Three Teachings in one hundred fascicles. He also authored the Collection of Inner Classics in one hundred and fifty fascicles and the Collection of Outer Learning in forty-nine fascicles. The Hanlin Academician Wang Yucheng wrote a preface to his collected works praising him to the utmost. During the Zhidao era, he manifested his passing. In the fourth year of Chongning, the posthumous title Yuanming was added. This is recorded in the Rhymed Biographies of Monks, fascicle 24, citing the Zheng tong of Shiwentan, fascicle 3; the Fozu tongzai, fascicle 18; and the Jigu lüe, fascicle 3. The author, with his wide-ranging and penetrating talent, arranged fifty-nine sections on the rise and decline of matters and things to instruct new students; it may well be called a jade disc of Zhao for a thousand ages. Among those who pursue the Buddha vehicle, who could fail to look up to his lingering light? However, this book existed only in a single old Keichō woodblock edition, and its circulation was exceedingly sparse. The scholars of the Bande Jiao Society secretly sighed in lamentation over this. Intending to recarve the blocks and spread it widely in the world, they entrusted me with collating and editing it. Clumsy and unrefined as I am, how could I achieve perfection? If there are any deficiencies, I must await future correction. Meeting the needs of this secluded land lacking in books, I have set forth a brief biography of the author and composed this preface for it.
Recorded by the śramaṇa Xingjie at the mountain lodge on Mount Sanyuan on the Buddha’s birthday, the fourth month of the sixteenth year of Jōji.

1.3

Preface to the Recarving of the Sengshi lüe

1.4

As recorded in the Buddhist scriptures: the hells, hungry ghosts, and animals; Uttarakuru; the dīrghāyuṣo devāḥ; being born before or after a Buddha; blindness, deafness, and muteness; worldly knowledge and clever sophistry; and disbelieving and slandering the Buddha, Dharma, and Saṃgha—these are called the eight conditions lacking leisure (aṣṭāv akṣaṇāḥ). Those born into such conditions have deep and heavy impediments, lacking the leisure to cultivate the mind and remaining ignorant of the true Dharma; for long kalpas they are driven about, reincarnating without end. From this one knows that if worldly cleverness and mundane intellect do not penetrate the Buddhist scriptures, their understanding will be obscured to the true reality, and in practical affairs they will be like the blind and deaf. Boastful and showy, fancying themselves capable, they hinder goodness and revile the saṃgha, whom even the Buddha cannot save. In life they suffer demotion and exile, and in death they enter Avīci. Those who disobey Sovereign Heaven and bring about worldly turmoil are all of this kind. Turmoil is invariably caused by undermining the good, as is fully recorded in the Buddhist scriptures.
In our dynasty, Hanlin Academician Wang (Yucheng) spent his life writing works that rejected and reviled the Śākya clan; even Han Tuizhi of the Tang and our Song's Ou Yangshu—what Buddhist scriptures call Devamāra Pāpīyas, icchantika, and tīrthika—could not have surpassed him. Yet when he occasionally met an outstanding monk, he secretly respected him in his heart. I once read Duke Wang (Yucheng)'s collected works, which contain a poem presented to the Buddhist Registrar and Master of Study, Tonghui, which says: 'An imperial decree ordered the compilation of the history of the saṃgha on the shores of Zhejiang; amidst ten thousand volumes of books, he has grown old. Coming to the imperial court, he still rides Zhidun's horse; wielding his brush, he must await Zhongni’s lin-unicorn. Mist and snow shine upon the pine window at dawn; scattered moss blossoms fill the bamboo courtyard in spring. Would you allow me to pay a brief visit to your quiet study, even if it covers Master Tao's robes in dust?' His intention was privately to compare himself to Tao Pengze visiting Master Huiyuan, thereby elevating himself. Duke Ouyang Wenzhong also recorded the teasing words exchanged during the lantern festival between Hanlin Academician Wang and Buddhist Registrar Ning, which included the remark that the books of Qin and Zheng were preserved and not burned. Wang also wrote Ning's epitaph, which expressed sincere admiration and conviction, noting that Ning had a collected works in one hundred and seventy fascicles currently circulating in the world. Wang's slandering of the saṃgha and destruction of the Buddha was like that of wasps and scorpions, owls and beasts, barking at Yao and shooting at the phoenix—all under heaven know it. Why was it that he alone showed fraternal affection toward Tonghui, treating him as a master, composing poems and writing an inscription to praise him? It is because Tonghui's learning, conduct, talent, and knowledge were comparable to his own; birds of a feather flock together, so they naturally loved and respected one another. Moreover, concerning conventional compositions, their superiority or inferiority remains uncertain; but regarding studying the Buddha, illuminating the mind, and extensively comprehending the great teaching, Wang certainly fell short.
Furthermore, the vast, expansive, and magnificent words of the Śākya clan encompass the dharmadhātu and penetrate down to the paramāṇu. They sever delusion, transcend bondage, secretly accord with reality, and unite with the sagely. They forever cast off transmigration, perpetually leave the river of craving, depart the bewildering ford of ten thousand kalpas, and escape the nets of views of the caturmāra. Undestroyed through kalpas of disasters, they endure alongside empty space. Compared with worldly writing, the difference is truly between heaven and earth. When the Buddha appears to benefit beings, responding to great capacities, he divides his form through countless Padmagarbha realms and Buddha lands; receiving ordinary mortals, he manifests as a sixteen-foot body, the master of the three-thousandfold world. Thus did Xuan Ni (Confucius) revere him as the ultimate sage, and Laozi honor him: 'India is my teacher, named Buddha, awakening all the people.' He is the compassionate father of all under heaven, nurturing all living beings—the great sage who transcends the mundane world. How could the two sages, Kong and Lao, have revered him falsely? It was out of their modesty in feeling their goodness inadequate, guarding the feminine and keeping the weak, not daring to put themselves ahead of the world. Li Du, Prince Consort Commandant of our dynasty, inscribed a poem praising the Buddha at a monastery: 'Zhongni revered him as the ultimate sage; Laozi praised him as the ancient ruler. Above the heavens and below the heavens, there should be none to compare.' It was carved on a stele in the separate courtyard of the eastern corridor of Xiangguo Monastery.
Indeed, the Buddha radiated light before the Primal Beginning and cast his form at the origin of the Great Void. His clouds of compassion and rain of Dharma nourish all living beings; a thousand sages gladly revere him, and ten thousand spirits joyfully venerate him. It is entirely fitting that Xuan Ni and Boyang were pleased upon hearing of his fame, and admiring his virtue, took refuge in him. In the Tang, Li Shangyin praised him, saying: 'The teacher of us Confucians is Lu Zhongni; Zhongni took Dan the Dragon as his teacher. I know not whom Dan took as his teacher—it was India, who skillfully enters into unconditioned reality. I bow my head to the Correctly Enlightened One, the teacher of my teacher's teacher.' How splendid are these Confucian words! They truly understand the Buddha. Does not the scripture say: 'Except on Mount Malaya, sandalwood does not grow; all fine words are born within the Buddha's Dharma'? Before the Buddha appeared, conventional illusory phenomena had no names. In establishing his teachings, the Buddha comprehensively responded to all capacities; in summary, they do not exceed the two truths, ultimate and conventional. The ultimate explains the maxims of the wondrous principle and investigates the essential path of release from birth and death; the conventional encourages goodness and punishes evil, detailing karmic retribution for sins and blessings. Even texts on governing the world are the legacy of the Buddhas' transformation. Therefore the scripture says: 'All that pacifies the people and aids creatures in the world comes from the Buddhas.' After the extinction of the Dharma, Brahmins collected and extracted Buddhist scriptures, placed them into their own canons, and passed them to later generations. In the chiliocosm, every land has its standard canons: in India there are the four Vedas, and in this land there are the Five Classics and Three Histories. Therefore it is said: 'All dharmas are the Buddha Dharma.' How could this be mere empty words? Nowadays, Daoists plagiarize Buddhist scriptures to compile their own teachings, and half of the outer paths' scriptures are stolen from the Buddha Dharma; all knowledgeable persons know this.
Only Master Ning was extensively versed in both inner and outer learning, investigating both the ultimate and the conventional. Looking at what the Master compiled, from the sympathetic resonance of creatures to the most subtle arts and minor crafts, he gathered them all. This was out of a desire to study the Buddha and know all phenomena universally. In the fourth year of Chongning, an imperial edict conferred upon him the title Great Master Yuanming Tonghui, Compiler of the Historiography Institute and Buddhist Registrar of the Left Street in the Eastern Capital, so as to honor his learning and conduct. Of the Master’s works, only the thirty fascicles of the Da Song Gaoseng zhuan and the three fascicles of the Sengshi lüe entered the canon and were circulated by imperial decree; the rest have mostly disappeared. Finding this canonical edition amidst the fires of war: without this book, how could one know the history, principles, origins, and order of the Buddhist Dharma? If this text were allowed to fall to the ground, the Great Dharma would face sinking into oblivion. Therefore, I ventured to lead my fellow monks, giving rise to the mind of inner protection. Thereupon, the Buddhist Registrars and Vice Directors of the Two Streets, as well as past and present monastic officials and meditation and doctrinal lecturers of Lin'an Prefecture, jointly contributed surplus funds, ordered craftsmen to engrave the woodblocks, and attached them to the canon for circulation. Thereupon I copied Duke Wang's poem and Duke Ou's record to show to future generations, so that people of worldly knowledge and clever sophistry might come to believe in time. The worthies and sages of the three teachings ultimately return to one principle; thus, those submerged in the eight conditions lacking leisure may still be saved. Therefore, I compose this preface.

1.5

Preface by Fadao, Transmitter of the Western Sanskrit Tripiṭaka and specially granted the title Great Master Baojue Yuantong Faji, on the Jisi day of the fourth month, the Guihai [Jiazi] year, the fourteenth year of Shaoxing, the birthday of the Tathāgata.

1.6

Da Song Sengshi lüe (with preface)

1.7

Compiled by imperial decree by Great Master Tonghui Zanning, Buddhist Registrar of the Right Street

1.8

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.

1.9

1. The Era of the Buddha's Descent and Birth
2. Monks Entering China
3. The Eastern Transmission of Scriptures and Images
4. The Construction of Saṃghārāmas (Appended: Bathing the Buddha and Parading Images)
5. The Translation of Sūtras
6. The Translation of Vinaya
7. The Translation of Śāstras
8. Leaving Home in China
9. Rules for Robes and Vestments
10. Erecting Altars and Receiving Precepts
11. The Origin of Nuns Receiving Precepts
12. Methods for Uposatha Observance and Repentance
13. Evolution of Etiquette and Ceremonies
14. Commenting on Scriptures
15. Lectures by Monks
16. Lectures by Nuns
17. Compiling Commentaries and Outlining Scriptures
18. Explaining the Vinaya
19. Explaining the Śāstras
20. Chief Lecturers
21. Transmitting Methods of Chan Contemplation (Appended: Establishing Separate Chan Dwellings)
22. Monks of This Land Traveling to the Western Regions
23. Transmitting the Esoteric Canon (Appended: Outer Learning)

1.10

Altogether only sixty sections have been established. Merely abridging and extracting from collections and biographies, and recording what has been heard, they clarify the origins of the hundred matters since the eastern transmission of the Buddha Dharma.

1.11

The Era of the Buddha's Descent and Birth

1.12

Regarding the Buddha's birthday, various accounts differ. First, his manifestations and appearances were extraordinary, teaching according to whatever conditions he met, hence what was seen and heard differed. Second, among the monks who came from the Western Regions, their birthplaces included cities and villages, and their transmitted matters belonged to different lineages and doctrines, hence their accounts differed. Third, the Western Regions were simple and rustic, rarely keeping records of ordinary events, being relaxed and not prizing detail, hence the transmissions differed. Now, relying on eastern records as well as what is clarified in the scriptures and vinaya, there are various accounts.

1.13

The Shangtong zhuan, the Han faben neizhuan, and the Āgama sūtras all say that on the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the twenty-third year of King Zhao of Zhou, auspicious white elephant omens appeared, and he descended into Queen Māyā's womb. On the eighth day of the fourth month of the following year, beneath a sala tree in Lumbinī Park, he was born from her right side.

1.14

The Zhoushu yiji says: On the eighth day of the fourth month, the Jiayin year, the twenty-fourth year of King Zhao, the rivers, springs, and pools suddenly overflowed, wells gushed up, and palaces shook. That night, five-colored light and vapors pierced the Taiwei constellation and spread across the western quarter, turning the color of a green-blue rainbow. At that time the king asked Grand Astrologer Su You. You replied: 'A great sage has emerged in the western quarter, hence this auspicious omen has appeared.' The king asked: 'Will there be any harm to the state?' He replied: 'After one thousand years, his voice and teachings will reach here.'

1.15

Also, the Wuyun tu says that the Buddha was born in the Wuwu year, the forty-eighth year of King Ping of the Eastern Zhou; this theory, however, lacks evidence. Furthermore, according to the records of Dao'an and Kumārajīva as well as the stone pillar inscriptions, the Buddha was born in the Yichou year, the fifth year of King Huan, the eighteenth ruler of Zhou; this too is incorrect.

1.16

Furthermore, in the Kaihuang Sanbao lu by Fei Changfang, it is determined that the Buddha was born on the eighth day of the fourth month in the jiawu year, the tenth year of King Zhuang of the Zhou, taking the disappearance of the regular stars as proof. In addition, Faxian once travelled in the Western Regions and stated that the Buddha was born during the reign of the kings of Shang; Faxian, having seen in the Lion Country [Sri Lanka] the Buddha's tooth brought forth in the third month to be offered before the king, heard the proclamation: 'One thousand four hundred and ninety-seven years have already passed since the Buddha's nirvāṇa.' Calculating backwards from the Yixi era of the Jin, Faxian knew that the Buddha was born in the Shang era. Furthermore, the Dotted Record of the Myriad Sages by Vinaya Master Du of Mount Lu states that the Buddha was born in the jiaxu year, the second year of King Zhending of the Zhou. Dharma Master Fabao completely rejected this. In addition, in the Gantong zhuan, it is said that the Buddha's trace was seen during the time of Jie of the Xia.

1.17

As for the above various theories, the imperial reigns differ: first, the end of the Xia; second, the end of the Shang; third, the time of King Zhao of the Zhou; fourth, the time of King Ping; fifth, the time of King Huan; sixth, the time of King Zhuang; seventh, the time of King Zhending. All of these rely on accounts in the chronicles of this land. If one consults the sūtras and vinaya, the Yufo jing says that all Buddhas are born on the eighth day of the fourth month. The Ruiying jing also says he was born on the eighth day of the fourth month. However, the Sarvāstivāda-śāstra says he was born on the eighth day of the second month. Thus, within the inner teachings, two accounts differ. Now I say: if the Buddha was born in the Xia era, that is the eighth day of the fourth month with the dipper pointing to si; if born in the Shang era, that is the eighth day of the month with the dipper pointing to chen; if born in the Zhou era, that is the eighth day of the month with the dipper pointing to mao. Furthermore, according to Vinaya Master Xuan of Nanshan questioning a celestial being: 'Records in this land concerning the Buddha's birth say variously the Shang era, or the time of King Zhao of the Zhou, or the age of Duke Zhuang of Lu. How may it be precisely established?' The celestial being replied: 'All have their reasons. This disciple was born in the time of Jie of the Xia, and in heaven completely witnessed the Buddha's descending transformation. Yet the Buddha has three bodies; the Dharma and Reward Bodies cannot be seen by humans or devas. Only because the Transformation Body Buddha universally covers the three thousand worlds are there ten billion Śākyamunis. Responding to different capacities, their timings are not fixed; there is no cause for doubt.'

1.18

Nowadays in the Eastern Capital, the bathing of the Buddha takes place on the eighth day of the twelfth month, claiming it to be the Buddha's birthday. According to the Zhihuan tujing, in the monastery there is a crystal lion about the size of a fist whose mouth emits wondrous sounds; bodhisattvas who hear it all transcend stages. Every year, when it comes to the eighth day of the twelfth month, men and women in the city of Śrāvastī vie to hold fragrant flowers and come to listen to the sound of the Dharma. Examining that text, it does not say it is the Buddha's birthday; I suspect that in India the eighth day of the twelfth month was merely a festival. Or I suspect they followed the Sarvāstivāda-śāstra's eighth day of the second month, since the twelfth month was the second month under the Zhou calendar. Because east and west are far apart, many discrepancies arise.

1.19

Furthermore, that Jiangbiao takes the current eighth day of the fourth month as the Buddha's birthday follows the Ruiying jing. If the Zhou calendar were used, it would properly be the current eighth day of the second month; using the month with the dipper pointing to si makes it the sixth month under the Zhou calendar. Examining this, there are two reasons for the mistaken use of the month with the dipper pointing to si: first, hearing the sound and immediately using it without verifying the reality to ascertain the season; second, translators of sūtras mostly used the Xia calendar, and thus this error occurred. If it is as Nanshan said, sentient beings differ in what they see and hear, so the seasons are not uniform, and one should not rigidly adhere [to one]. Nevertheless, where the two lands connect and what the Tripiṭaka has transmitted, taking him to have been born in the time of King Zhao of the Zhou has the most reasonable basis.

1.20

To restate it: when it was said earlier 'the eighth day of the month', was that for the Eastern Xia [China] or the Western Regions? If one traces the branches to find the root and follows the water to seek the source, then the matter will be complete and the principle coherent. Moreover, theories regarding the New Year in India differ. In the Gaoseng zhuan, when Huiyan debated the center and the periphery with He Chengtian, he said that the Western Regions take the month with the dipper pointing to chen as the beginning of the year. The biography also says that the thirtieth day of the twelfth month is called the Month of the Great Miracle, which corresponds to the fifteenth day of the first month in this land, referring to the Xia calendar; and they take the sixteenth day, when the crescent wanes, as the first day of the month. It is not yet clear whether the month pointing to chen takes the day the moon appears in the present third month as the start of the year, or whether it follows the division of fortnights. In the Western lands there are no names like the first, second, or third months; they merely take the asterism associated with the month as its name, such as the month of Vaiśākha or Kārttika.

1.21

Furthermore, among the countries north of the Congling Mountains, some take the month pointing to wei as the start of the year, or take springtime as the summer retreat (varṣā). From this we know that principles and reckonings vary from place to place. How much more so when the Buddha preached the sūtras in the Western Regions and the arhats composed the treatises in India—they certainly did not refer to the months of the Eastern Land! What is called the eighth day of the fourth month is the eighth day of the fourth month in the Western Regions. Because this event corresponded to the auspicious omens on the eighth day of the fourth month under King Zhao in the Zhoushu yiji, I suspect that at the time of translation they took down what was spoken phonetically and mistakenly identified it with the Xia calendar. Only because there is the fifteenth day of the seventh month, where the Vinaya text on the end of the retreat used this land's calendar, people were confused by it; therefore both are preserved.

1.22

The Coming of the Monks to the Eastern Land

1.23

The Wuyun tu says: 'There must have been chronicles of the sacred teachings and miraculous traces of the Zhou era, as well as King Aśoka building stūpas in this land; yet because the First Emperor of Qin burned the books, these were consumed in the flames as well, so there is now nowhere to trace them.' According to records, in the time of the First Emperor, eighteen sages including the śramaṇa Śrībandhu came with sūtras to convert the people; the First Emperor did not believe them and imprisoned them. At night a divine being broke open the prison and released them. Furthermore, in the time of Emperor Cheng of the Han, when Liu Xiang collated books in the Tianlu Pavilion, he frequently came across Buddhist scriptures; and when compiling the Liexian zhuan, he included one hundred and thirty-six persons, of whom seventy-four had already seen Buddhist sūtras. Investigating through these, we know that in the Zhou and Qin eras there were already the Buddha's teachings and śramaṇas, though they had not yet flourished greatly. When it came to Yongping 7 under Emperor Ming, the second sovereign of the Later Han, because he dreamed of a golden man, he dispatched Qin Jing, Cai Yin, and Wang Zun to India to welcome the Buddha's teachings; in the Yuezhi country they met the two śramaṇas Kāśyapa Mātaṅga and Dharmaratna and entered the Eastern Xia, which is now taken as the beginning. At that time, although the Buddha-Dharma reached the Central Plains, it had not yet spread south of the Yangtze River; faith and acceptance were not widespread, and transmission and practice were not complete. When the Sun clan divided the realm and borders were closed, there was Kang Senghui, originally a man of the Kangju country, who first began converting the southern lands during the Chiwu era.

1.24

The Eastward Transmission of Scriptures and Images

1.25

Tracing its origin, the Buddha's Way is difficult to conceive, and its miraculous traces are inherently extraordinary; it cannot be measured by ordinary sentiments, nor sought through common rules. Thus, just as the monks of the Eastern Han came after Liu Xiang had already encountered Indic manuscripts, and King Aśoka's stūpas appeared when the Qin dynasty already possessed divine images. The Shi Lao zhi states: 'The learning of the Śākya clan was heard of in the Western Han. In the Yuanshou era of Emperor Wu, Huo Qubing captured the golden man of King Kunye; the Emperor regarded it as a great deity and arranged it in the Ganquan Palace, burning incense and bowing in worship. This was the beginning of the transmission of the Buddha-Dharma.' When the Western Regions were opened, Zhang Qian was sent as an envoy to Bactria, and on his return reported that in Shendu [India] there was the teaching of the Buddha. In the Yuanshou era of Emperor Ai, Jing Xian went to the Yuezhi and received the Buddha's scriptures by oral instruction. However, at that time faith was not yet deep and the Way was not yet widely practiced, like the first waters of the great Yangtze River, or the tip of a sprout of a giant tree. Now we take the reign of Emperor Ming of the Han, when the two śramaṇas brought the Sūtra in Forty-Two Sections and an image painted on white cotton, as the beginning. Furthermore, as in the Gantong zhuan, King Mu of the Zhou built Ling'an Monastery, and the stone flower of Yongzhou supported King Aśoka's stūpa—could these not have preceded the Eastern Han? These are matters that thought cannot fathom and discourse cannot reach, and may be left out of account. Now, relying on historical traces that can be conceived and discussed, we take Yongping as the beginning.

1.26

The Founding of Saṅghārāmas

1.27

Scriptures and images having arrived and the disciples of the Saṃgha having gathered, the places where they dwell must necessarily be pure lands; hence the turning of the wheel of Dharma must rely on the ground. Therefore monasteries and halls were established. When the two men Mātaṅga and Dharmaratna had triumphed in the contest of powers, Emperor Ming was delighted. At first he extended courtesy to them at the Court of State Ceremonial (Honglusi). The Honglusi was originally a residence for entertaining the four barbarian tribes and distant kingdoms. Soon afterwards, he ordered that a separate site be chosen outside the Western Yong Gate of Luoyang to build a vihāra; because white horses carried the bundles of sūtras, 'White Horse' was used as its title. As for 'si' (monastery), the Shiming states: 'Si means to succeed (si); those managing affairs succeed one another within it.' It was originally an official title. When the Western monks first arrived, they temporarily lodged in an official hall; when moving into a separate residence, not forgetting their origins, they still retained the designation 'si'. The name 'monastery' (sengsi) began with this. As for saṅghārāma, it is translated as 'community garden' (zhongyuan), meaning the residence of the multitude, situated in a garden or park, a place for propagation and growth; disciples of the Buddha propagate the sprouts of the Way and holy fruits. Therefore, in the sūtras there are the Kalandaka Bamboo Grove and the Jetavana Anāthapiṇḍada Park, all being monasteries of the Western Regions. As for miraculous traces, such as King Mu of the Zhou building Xianji Monastery, these are difficult to substantiate and are called unfathomable matters. In the first year of the Shiguang era under Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei, a monastery was founded and called Zhaoti. In the Daye era of Emperor Yang of the Sui, monasteries throughout the realm were changed to 'bodhimaṇḍas' (daochang); under the Tang, they returned to being called 'si'.

1.28

According to Dharma Master Lingyu's Sigao, there are ten names for monasteries: first, si (its meaning follows the Shiming); second, 'pure dwelling' (the defiled cannot live together); third, 'common abode of the Dharma' (the boundary where both Dharma and food are shared); fourth, 'world-transcending abode' (a place for cultivating departure from the secular); fifth, vihāra ('refined abode', not a place for the coarse and violent to dwell); sixth, 'pure park' (a place where the three karmas are unstained); seventh, 'vajra-kṣetra' (a steadfast land where men of the Way dwell); eighth, 'bodhimaṇḍa of quiescent cessation' (in the Jetavana there is the Padmagarbha world adorned with the seven jewels, called the bodhimaṇḍa of quiescent cessation, where Vairocana Buddha preached the Avataṃsaka); ninth, 'place of distant separation' (those who enter it are far from afflictions and close to the bliss of quiescent cessation); tenth, 'place of drawing near' (as in practicing peaceful and joyful practices, because within this one draws near to the Dharma). These ten names in this land follow the Zhihuan tujing; each explanation of their characteristics has its own significance, as in that Sigao. Today's usage has six kinds: first, 'cave' (ku), as when the Northern Wei chiseled mountains into caves to install sacred statues and house monks (now in the Tianzhu Monastery at Longmen in Luoyang there are stone caves, such as the Nārāyaṇa-vajra Buddha cave, which are examples); second, 'cloister' (yuan) (now largely used by abbots of the Chan school); third, 'grove' (lin) (the Vinaya says 'dwell in one grove', and in the sūtras there is the Jetavana); fourth, 'temple' (miao) (such as the Gautama Temple in the Samantapāsādikā); fifth, araṇya (those without the form of an enclosed cloister); sixth, 'common hall' (putong) (today there are many on Mount Wutai). Furthermore, according to records, when Emperor Ming of the Han died, a Jetavana was erected atop his mausoleum; from then on, the tombs and mounds of the common people sometimes had stūpas built upon them (this appears in Yang Xuanzhi's Luoyang qielan ji). From the Yongping era of the Han to the Yongjia era of the Jin, Luoyang had only forty-two monasteries. But when the Northern Wei made Luoyang its capital, they deeply believed in Buddhism; magnificent buildings succeeded one another, and ministers and wealthy citizens competed to establish monasteries, totaling over a thousand. When the Later Zhao had its capital at Ye, it built more than eight hundred monasteries, the remains of which still survive today.

1.29

Regarding the bathing of the Buddha: Tripiṭaka Master Yijing of the Tang personally travelled to the Western Regions and witnessed in India that every day at late morning the karmadāna would ring the bell, and in the monastery courtyard they would take statues of bronze or stone, place them in a basin to music, rub incense or mud, and pour water over them, wiping them with fine cotton. Raising two fingers, they would sprinkle water onto their own heads, calling it the water of auspiciousness, hoping to obtain supreme benefit. Question: What does the bathing of the Buddha signify? Answer: It symbolizes the moment of the Buddha's birth when dragons sprayed fragrant rain to bathe the Buddha's body. However, their daily washing there is not with the intention of celebrating the birthday. I suspect that because the Five Indias are very hot, since the monks bathe frequently, the Buddha is also washed diligently. In the Eastern Xia, esteeming the eighth day of the twelfth month, or the eighth day of the second or fourth month, is done specifically for the Buddha's birthday.

1.30

Regarding the procession of images: Since the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, kings and ministers often lamented that they had not personally seen the Buddha. For this reason, they established images of the Buddha's descent into birth, or made images of the prince inspecting the city. When Faxian of the Jin arrived in Pāṭaliputra, he saw that they processed images on the eighth day of the second month (jianmao). They tied together carts into five tiers, about twenty feet high, shaped like a stūpa, painted with the forms of the devas, and made shrines out of various jewels, in which the Buddha sat with attending bodhisattvas standing by. There were about twenty carts, each adorned in its own style. Sons of brāhmaṇas invited the Buddhas, which sequentially entered the city to stay overnight, with offerings made through the whole night; every state was like this. Kings and elders established halls of merit and medicine, and all who were poor and sick went there, leaving only after the physicians examined them and their illnesses were cured. Furthermore, north of the mountains at the Donghuangcheng Monastery in Kucha, during the ten days following the autumn equinox each year, the saṃgha of the entire state would assemble for the five-year great assembly (in the Western Regions called a pañcavārṣika). The king and the common people all cast aside their worldly affairs to receive the scriptures, listen to the Dharma, adorn the Buddha images, and carry them on carts and carriages; this was called the procession of images. In Khotan, they processed images starting on the first day of the fourth month and concluding on the fourteenth day, after which the king and queen returned to the palace. Nowadays, in Lingwu at Xiatai, every year on the eighth day of the second month, monks carry dry-lacquer Buddha images, surrounded by retinues, guided by banners, canopies, and music; this is called inspecting the city. It is bounded by the city streets and marketplaces, and the common people rely on it to eliminate calamities. Moreover, when the summer retreat concludes in this land, the monastic assembly holds flowers and fans, blows conches, and beats cymbals, marching forward in double files; this is called the emerging-in-ranks kārtika (taking the name of the month Kārtika). The 'Treatise on Buddhism and Daoism' says: 'On the eighth day of the fourth month, Emperor Shizu of the Wei had the images of various monasteries carried in carts along the broad avenues. The emperor proceeded to the gate tower to watch, scattering flowers and paying homage.' Furthermore, when the golden image of the Jingxing Nunnery came forth, an imperial edict assigned one hundred Yulin guardsmen; raising the sedan chair and playing music were all provided by the palace. Also, after the retreat concluded, on the following day all assembled to circumambulate villages and towns, worshipping various caityas, with canopied carts raising images, their banners and flowers blotting out the sun; it was named a sāmagrī (rendered here as 'harmonious gathering'). These are the practices of processing through cities in the Divine Land (China).

1.31

Translating the Scriptures

1.32

Formerly, when Liu Xiang collated books in the Tianlu Pavilion, he saw Buddhist scriptures. We know that at that time no translations had yet been made, so they must have been preserved as Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscripts. If so, how did Liu Xiang recognize Sanskrit characters and say that among the ranked immortals there were more than seventy people who had already seen Buddhist scriptures? And was Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī also termed a ranked immortal? Liu Xiang possessed vast erudition and complete talent; the learning of interpreters came naturally to him. He perused their Sanskrit manuscripts, rendered them into Chinese, and thereby identified some seventy people who had seen Buddhist scriptures. If we speak of translation, then Kāśyapa Mātaṅga's initial production of the Sūtra of Forty-two Sections, together with Dharmaratna's co-translation of such scriptures as the Daśabhūmika, the Buddha's Jātaka, the Ocean of Dharma Pitaka, and the Buddha's Deeds, marked the beginning. Next, An Shigao, Lokakṣema, Zhi Qian, and others translated and transmitted in succession. From the end of the Han through the beginning of the Wei, translation gradually flourished, sometimes translating fo ('Buddha') as zhongyou ('blessing of the multitude'), or pratyekabuddha as gufo ('ancient Buddha'). Lokakṣema translated the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, which says: 'The Buddha was on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa in Rājagṛha.' Retention and omission differed, and adoptions and rejections varied. These were the trail-blazers of scriptural translation.

1.33

Translating the Vinaya

1.34

The Buddha instituted the vinaya to regulate the internal assembly, like the penal laws of a state, laying down uniform rules. It is not known who first translated vinaya as lü ('statute/monastic code'). According to records, in the gengxu year, the third year of the Jianning era of Emperor Ling of the Han (170 CE), An Shigao first produced one fascicle of the Yijue lü (Vinaya of Decisive Meaning), followed by one fascicle of the Bhikṣu Rules of Restraint. Coming to the Cao-Wei dynasty, the Indian Tripiṭaka master Dharmakāla (rendered here as 'Dharmatime') arrived in Xuchang and Luoyang. Lamenting that monks within the Wei borders had no vinaya standards, in the Jiaping era he and Saṅghavarmā translated the Sifen jiemo (Dharmaguptaka Karmavācanā) and the Sengqi jiexin (Mahāsāṃghika Prātimokṣa Heart). Records say this was the beginning of the monastic precepts and vinaya in this land.

1.35

Translating the Treatises

1.36

During the reign of Emperor Xiaowu of the Jin, the śramaṇa Saṅghadeva of Kashmir translated the Za apitan pibosha (Saṃyuktābhidharma-vibhāṣā) in fourteen fascicles. Next, Kumārajīva of the Yao-Qin translated the Dazhidulun (Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa) and the Chengshilun (Tattvasiddhi-śāstra); these were the beginnings of translating treatises. Dao'an's Catalogue and Sengyou's Chu sanzang jiji both describe it thus as a standard model. Furthermore, there was the single title Vibhāṣā; in it, Kātyāyanīputra extracted its essential principles and cited scriptures to explain and interpret them, making the forty-four chapters of the Abhidharma; this too is a treatise.

1.37

Going Forth into the Monastic Life in the Eastern Land

1.38

Now, the wildly ignorant, lodged in a saṃghārāma, suddenly give rise to wholesome thoughts; Mencius, living next to a school, immediately became imbued with the Confucian spirit. Once the Buddhadharma spread, the people were all transformed. At that time, how could there not be those who pulled out their hairpins, untied their pendants, cast off their sandals, and gave up their bodies [to the holy life]? Emperor Ming of the Han permitted the Marquis of Yangcheng, Liu Jun, and others to leave household life, which was the beginning of monks. When the women of Luoyang, Apan and others, left household life, this was the beginning of nuns.

1.39

Codes and Standards of Monastic Robes

1.40

According to records, during the Han and Wei eras, those who went forth mostly wore saṃghāṭīs made of red cloth. This was because there were no woven silk fabrics in the Western regions, and they also valued the colors of red dye (mulan) and gandha; hence they wore cloth dyed red. The colors of robes in the Western regions also differed according to the school: the Sarvāstivāda wore black robes; the Dharmaguptaka wore deep red robes; the Mahīśāsaka wore blue-green robes. Those wearing red cloth were monks of the Dharmaguptaka who had arrived first in the Han land. Later, under the Liang, Dharma Master Huilang constantly wore blue-green patchwork. Master Baozhi made a prophecy beforehand, saying: 'At the Xinghuang Monastery there will be a blue-robed bodhisattva who will broadly propagate the Mahāyāna.' When Lang appeared, it indeed matched his words. A broad explanation of robe colors is found in the Scripture on the Clothing of Deportment of the Five Schools. Nowadays, south of the Yangtze, they mostly wear black and red robes, occasionally with mixed blue-green and yellow, called 'yellow-brown' or 'stone-lotus brown.' In the Eastern Capital and the Guanzhong regions, brown robes are favored; in Bing Prefecture and You Prefecture, black is favored. Wearing black, however, is most contrary to the Dharma. Why? Black is a superior dye, a primary color, one of the five cardinal colors. To the question: 'What does a zhi (monastic) robe look like?', the answer is: 'It is purple with a light black tone; it is not a primary color.' In the Kaogongji, dipping three times produces xian (light red); five dippings produce zou (purplish-red); seven dippings produce zhi (blackish). Dipping it again into black makes zou, which is the color of a sparrow's head; dipping it again makes zhi. Thus we know that zhi originally derives from deep red; it is the purplish-red of a sparrow's head. Therefore, the nun Jingxiu saw the color of the robes of the holy assembly to be like ripe mulberries—that is, light red and deep black. Today the robe color of bhikṣus in Moling (Nanjing) imitates the zhi robes of India. Furthermore, under the Later Zhou, out of aversion to hearing the prophecy concerning 'men in black robes,' they completely abolished black robes and wore yellow robes; this began with the Zhou. In addition to the three robes, there is the yenapo, shaped like a shoulder-covering robe; it appears in the Record of the Western Seas Sent Home. When lecturers allow themselves, they wear it: if one masters the lecture of a single text, one drags one strip; if one lectures on two or three texts, one drags accordingly to the number of lectures; such is the napo. Furthermore, when palace women of the Later Wei saw monks performing the pravāraṇā (reflection), baring the right shoulder, they donated a shoulder-covering garment, termed the 'half-shirt' (pianshan). It preserved both flaps, collar, and sleeves, losing the original form of the saṃkakṣikā; this began with the Wei. Furthermore, on their feet they wear socks or slippers, yuqian sandals, or short boot-like shoes. The Record Sent Home says: 'In the Western Regions there are those who hold bamboo parasols or umbrellas.' When the eminent monk Huishao of the Liang received invitations, he would carry a staff and wear a bamboo hat himself. Today monks extensively wear bamboo hats, Chan masters wear palm-bark hats, and they carry water flasks, water filters, tin staffs, razor knives, small axes, and needle cases; these are all requisites. Recently there are those who wear white robes; this is a grave transgression. The Buddha prophesied that when the kāṣāya turns white and cannot receive dye, will it not be this? If there are discerning and Dharma-compliant monastic leaders who seize them and destroy their color, they are truly powerful and superior people who protect the Dharma. Formerly, at the end of the Tang, Chan Master Guanyin of Yuzhang saw that southern Chan pilgrims mostly wore white patchwork robes; he always filled jars with dye and urged them to dye them. Today everyone in the realm calls yellow patchwork robes 'Guanyin patchwork.' This master had studied early on and had a heartfelt concern for protecting the Dharma, and he is praised to this day.

1.41

Establishing Altars and Obtaining Precepts

1.42

Tracing back to the monks of the Han and Wei, although they shaved their heads and dyed their robes into monastic form, the precepts and vinaya were not yet fully provided. At that time, the two assemblies only received the three refuges. From the Yongping era of the Later Han through the Huangchu era of the Wei, there was no distinction between fully ordained monks and novice monks. There was the Tripiṭaka master Dharmakāla, as well as Zhu Luyan, Vighna, and others, who all transmitted the meaning of the vinaya. During the Jiaping and Zhengyuan eras, Dharmakāla and Saṅghavarmā produced the Mahāsāṃghika Prātimokṣa Heart in Luoyang and established the karmavācanā procedures for fully ordained monks. This was the beginning of establishing an altar in the Eastern land. Examining maṇḍalas in detail, their arrangements generally differ: some measure the ground with cow dung, while others construct tiers of wood, pounding earth to divide levels—both are called altars (tan). Sweeping the earth clean is called a ceremonial ground (shan). Shan, chang, and tan differ, yet all are the maṇḍalas of the Western Regions. Relying on the Vinaya school, one must define the boundaries and margins; the limits follow their natural terrain and arise from ritual acts. Thinking back to the Wei dynasty, it must indeed have been informal and rudimentary. As for receiving the precepts in this land, Zhu Shixing was the first. During the Yongming era of the Southern Dynasties, an ordination altar was first built in Sanwu; this was the beginning in the Wu region. In the early Tang, Vinaya Master Daoxuan of Nanshan at the Linggan Monastery established an altar according to the Dharma; he moved the long-eyebrow monk (who is Piṇḍola) to rejoice and praise it. For establishing an altar compliant with the Dharma, nothing surpassed this. Daoxuan composed the Jietan jing (Scripture on the Ordination Altar) in one fascicle, which circulates in the world today. I have often lamented that Nanshan did not clarify the form and specifications of the inverted bowl on the fourth tier of the altar; therefore I composed the Inverted Bowl Form and Specifications, so that those who delight in it may consult it to assist their broad learning. Now, Zhenshao, Master Guanghua and Vice Buddhist Registrar of the Right Street, first collected donations from a parish association and built a stone ordination altar at the Taiping Xingguo Monastery in the Eastern Capital, strictly following Nanshan's Scripture on the Ordination Altar. Magnificent and stately, it is peerless in all under heaven.

1.43

The Origins of Nuns Receiving Precepts

1.44

How could Mahāprajāpatī's initial circumstances have been easy? Apan's leaving the secular world was also truly rare. At first they merely received the three refuges, and the two assemblies were not yet fully present. According to the Chart of the Five Phases, from the dingmao year of the Yongping era of the Han down to the jiaxu year of the Yuanjia era of the Song, 367 years intervened before nuns obtained the full precepts. Furthermore, the Biography of the Masters and Disciples of the Sarvāstivāda says: 'In the spring of the eleventh year of the Yuanjia era of the Song, the nun Devasārā and ten others from the Kingdom of the Lion (Sri Lanka), upon the altar at the Nanlin Monastery in Jiankang, conducted the ritual for receiving the precepts in the presence of the two assemblies for the nuns Huiguo, Jingyin, and others of the Jingfu Monastery, ordaining more than three hundred people in twelve days.' Huiguo was the first in this land for a nun to receive the precepts from both assemblies. We know that Apan and others only received the three refuges. Furthermore, in the Xiankang era of the Jin, the nun Jingjian received the precepts from only one assembly; this too was incomplete. In the Jianwu era, various nuns north of the Yangtze went to monks' monasteries to receive the precepts, continuing without interruption through successive dynasties. Recently, due to an edict of Emperor Taizu, nuns were not permitted to go among monks to receive the precepts; since then, nuns have returned to obtaining the fundamental precepts from only one assembly, and their precept status is ultimately incomplete. Now our sage sovereign is brilliant and makes clear judgments; those who protect the Dharma should memorialize and request to continue practicing according to the old ways, avoiding the rapid demise of the Dharma.

1.45

Rituals for Receiving Uposatha and Repentance

1.46

Since the Dharma was transmitted eastward, affairs were mostly rudimentary and unrefined. Thus the Gaoseng zhuan states: "Even when vegetarian feasts and repentance liturgies were established, they resembled sacrificial offerings." During the Wei and Jin periods, monks all sat on spread grass to eat; in their deportment of rising and sitting, as well as in their chanting and converting, there were virtually no regulations. Coming down to the Eastern Jin, there was Dharma Master Dao'an of the Former Qin. His insightful understanding was innate; he first investigated the sūtras and vinaya, formulating ceremonies for attending invitations, monastic blessings, hymns, veneration, recollecting the Buddha, and so forth. In all there were three models, the first being the offering of incense and setting the seats. In the chapter on "Establishing Rules for Attending Invitations," Vinaya Master Daoxuan clearly elucidated the standards. If those of round-shaven heads do not consult them, incurring the ridicule of being like broken grain, they bring it upon themselves—how lamentable! Recently I heard that a merchant from the Western River made a vegetarian feast to fulfil a vow. When he first presented the written statement, several monks were unable to read it and were driven away by the merchant. How laughable! Later generations hearing of this ought to study diligently late into the night: first, so as not to receive alms in vain; second, to shelter the assembly of monks; and third, to spread their fame to all four quarters.

First 46 of 74 passages. Read on

Linked texts (1)

大宋僧史略 — Classical Chinese