大宋僧史略 1.8

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.