出三藏記集 11.30

11.30

Form is traced to the beginningless origin of the profound; the myriad practices begin with the profound omen of faith in the precepts. For this reason, Master Kumārajīva from India held it in his heart and recited it. Kumārajīva said: 'These precepts come from the Fanwang jing (Brahmajāla-sūtra).' Master Kumārajīva in his youth took delight in the great expanse, matching the heterodox doctrines in Kapilavastu; his pure wind blew eastwards. Therefore, in the third year of Hongshi, the Qin king, whose Dao matched the accomplishments of a hundred kings, set his mind on the Great Dharma. In the Xiaoyao Garden, three thousand scholars along with Kumārajīva examined and settled more than fifty works of Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna scriptures; only the Bodhisattva's ten major precepts and forty-eight minor infractions were recited out last. At that time, three hundred persons, including Daorong and Sengying, received and practiced them together, cultivating the Bodhisattva Path. How could this benefit only that era? It was indeed a ford across continuous kalpas. Therefore Huirong copied three thousand fascicles to circulate them to later generations, transmitting them from recitation to recitation to entrust them to future students. Gentlemen who delight in the Way: may this not cease in coming kalpas, so that together we may see the thousand Buddhas and sit together beneath the dragon-flower tree!