大宋僧史略 1.42

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.