釋氏要覽 3.424

3.424

杜氏云。精義曰。准禮無文自魏司徒繆襲改葬父母遂刻石以誌又宋元嘉十一年王球死立石誌顏延之為文因此士族祖習焉又馮鑑續事始云。按西京雜記。前漢杜子臨終作文命刻石埋於墓前厥後恐因此矣○白氏六帖云。孔子之喪公西赤為識（識銘誌也）子張之喪公明儀為識（此又非起於漢魏也）又云。銘者論譔先祖之有德君子觀於銘既美其所稱又美其所為故。銘之義稱美不稱惡先祖無美而稱之是誣也。有美而不明也。知而不傳不仁也。三者君子所恥也（取要言之故略而不次）今釋子二師實有德行名業亦宜識之。為僧傳之張本也。

Du [You] states: "The *Jingyi* says: 'According to the rites, there is no text [for this]. From the time Miao Xi, Minister of Works of the Wei, reburied his parents and subsequently carved stone to record it, and further when Wang Qiu died in the eleventh year of Yuanjia of the Song and an inscribed stone was erected with Yan Yanzhi composing the text, the gentry clans followed this as a custom.'" Moreover, Feng Jian's *Xushi shi* states: "According to the *Xijing zaji*, Du Zi of the Former Han, when approaching his end, composed a text and ordered stone to be carved and buried before his grave; thereafter it was likely modeled on this." Bai Juyi's *Liutie* states: "At Confucius's funeral, Gongxi Chi made the mark (the mark is the inscription); at Zizhang's funeral, Gongming Yi made the mark (this again did not begin in the Han or Wei)." It also states: "An inscription is a discourse compiling the virtues of ancestors. When a gentleman examines an inscription, he praises what it commends and also praises what [the deceased] did. Therefore, the principle of an inscription is to praise the good and not to praise the evil. To praise an ancestor when he lacked goodness is slanderous falsehood; to fail to illuminate goodness when it existed is unfaithfulness; to know it and not transmit it is unbenevolence. These three are what a gentleman is ashamed of." (Extracting the essential words, it is summarized and not strictly ordered.) Nowadays, if the two masters of a Śākya disciple truly have virtuous conduct, fame, and karma, they should also be inscribed, serving as the basis for a monastic biography.