釋氏要覽 1.5

1.5

道誠自委講　京寺。東歸維桑。始寓龍華禪府。後住月輪蘭若。中間十年。寂絕外事。唯讀藏經日為常課酬昔志也。然則臨文昧義。猶渴夫飲河。但能滿腹。不知其深廣焉。或見出家人須知之事。隨便抄錄之。洎天禧三年秋。

Since I, Daocheng, was entrusted with lecturing at the capital monasteries, I returned east to my homeland. I first stayed at the Longhua Chan Monastery and later resided at the Yuelun Hermitage. In the intervening ten years, I completely cut off external affairs, solely reading the canon as my daily regular practice to fulfill my former resolve. Yet when facing the texts, I was sometimes obscure about their meanings, like a thirsty man drinking from a river: he can only fill his belly, without knowing its depth or breadth. Whenever I saw matters that those who have undertaken pravrajyā ought to know, I copied them down as convenient. Coming to the autumn of the third year of the Tianxi era,