出三藏記集 11.36

11.36

The World-Honored One established three teachings: the first is the moral precepts and discipline (vinaya), the second is meditative concentration (dhyāna), and the third is wisdom (prajñā). These three are the portal to the ultimate Way and the critical nexus of nirvāṇa. Precepts are the Ganjiang sword that severs the three evil destinies; meditation is the sharp instrument that cuts off distraction; wisdom is the wondrous physician who matches medicine to disease. If one is complete in these three, what difficulty can there be in attaining the Way? However, their application has a sequence: whether lay or monastic, none does not take precepts as the foundation. Why is this? Though governing mere physical forms, the body is the boat and carriage for hundreds of practices. If for an instant one is not prudent and dignified, the intention to violate the precepts will enter. Once the intention to violate the precepts has entered, to then hope not to enter the three evil destinies is something never heard of before. Therefore, the Tathāgata placed [vinaya] at the head of the Tripiṭaka. Foreign lands esteem the vinaya; every monastery establishes a vinaya master. Month after month, they assemble together to recite the precepts. On the day of reciting the precepts, through the entire night until dawn, they chant the incisive instructions, holding and disciplining one another. Those who transgress the vinaya are unfailingly impeached, like falcons pursuing sparrows. The Great Dharma flowed east not long ago. Our masters first received ordination under the Qin; moreover, among translators, few collated and examined carefully. What earlier men transmitted was inherited and taken as correct. When it came to the Venerable Cheng, he rectified much. Formerly, when I was in Ye, I studied these matters in my youth; before I could investigate the precepts, I encountered an age of disorder and was always dissatisfied at not having thoroughly mastered this. When the year was in Chunhuo (382 CE), I traveled from Xiangyang to the region west of the Pass. I met the foreign cleric Dharmanandi, who recited the Abhidharma and was well versed in the Vinaya. I then instructed the Liangzhou śramaṇa Zhu Fonian to transcribe the Indic text, Daoxian to translate it, and Huichang to act as scribal recorder. Passing through summer and approaching winter, the text was finally completed. When examining the earlier widely circulated worldly precepts, their errors were numerous: some diverged in phrasing and import, while others only roughly gave the gist. Formerly, I obtained a set of precepts from Faqian of Wusui; its wording was cumbersome and direct, and I often lamented it in my mind. But now, the rules and regulations in [Dharma]nandi's precepts are identical with it, like matching two tallies—once stepping out the gate, they completely correspond! Only then did I realize that what seemed bland and flavorless was precisely the straightforward flavor of the Way. Yet I was dissatisfied with its scrupulousness and its texts having many repetitions, and so I immediately ordered Huichang to prune the burdensome and remove the redundant. Huichang then rose from his mat and said, 'It is greatly improper to do so! The precepts are like ritual decorum: in ritual decorum, one upholds it without altering its recitation, esteeming ancient regulations and showing caution in every movement. The precepts were formulated directly through the mark of the broad and long tongue and the three penetrations of the heart; the holy sages of the eight ranks treasure and prize them. Master transmits them to master; if a single word departs from the original, one is banished without pardon. Vinaya masters in foreign lands are truly like this in fact. In this land, regarding the Shangshu and the writings of the Yellow River and Luo River, their texts are plain and unadorned, yet no one dares lay a hand on them, manifesting reverence for the statutory words of ancient kings and compliance with divine mandates. How could it be that with the Buddha's precepts, which are prized by sages and worthies, they may be altered to conform to local idioms? I fear this would lose the strict teaching of the four reliances. Rather than clever convenience, it is better to preserve elegant correctness. Translating Hu into Chinese, scholars of the Eastern teachings might still criticize it; I pray that you will not pare it down merely to pursue embellishment!' The assembly all praised this as good. Thereupon, following the Indic text, we only accommodated the phrasing where words were inverted. The previously translated thirteen matters concerning raising funds within the interior chamber and consulting with donors; the thirty matters concerning visiting families of high status, variegated red embroidered garments, and the rules of the seven causes and conditions—instances like these missed the import in many places. If future students truly wish to seek the elegant words of the ancient sages, they should examine this in detail. All translations into the language of Qin that are convenient, brief, and uncumbersome are like grape wine diluted with water. Foreigners say that the precepts have seven categories, whereas previously translated precepts all have eight categories. Now, the precepts have seven [classes of] repentance, followed by the śaikṣa-karaṇīya. The śaikṣa-karaṇīya clearly has one hundred and seven matters. As such, there are seven categories. Another tradition has it that the śaikṣa-karaṇīya has one hundred and ten matters. I was dissatisfied with its excess. [Dharma]nandi said, 'From the vinaya master I orally received them, recording them ten by ten without any surplus.' Later, when Sengchun was in the country of Kucha at the place of Buddhasmṛti, he obtained the bhikṣuṇī prātimokṣa and brought it out; it was exactly the same as [Dharma]nandi's, having one hundred and ten [matters]. Only then did I know that it was truly not excessive. Thus, the bhikṣu precepts do not stop at two hundred and fifty, and the bhikṣuṇī precepts do not stop at five hundred. In the bhikṣu prātimokṣa, when about to recite the precepts, the karmadāna goes before the hall and proclaims, 'Those who are impure, go out!' Next, he says, 'Yubamen nubolopichu' (meaning: 'Great śramaṇas may enter', proclaimed three times). Afterward, he enters and chants the distribution of tallies, saying, 'Epo hantu (quiet and tranquil), asu (born), hanluo zhelishi (distributing tallies), pusatuo (poṣadha / recitation of precepts), xinmilidi (one-mindedness), posuobidu (samādhi), hanluo jilinuo (holding tallies).' The reciter of the precepts then says, 'The saṅgha is assembled in harmony. Those who have not received the full precepts, go out! What shall the saṅgha do?' The response is: 'Recite the precepts.' 'May those who have not come convey their purity.' (Pause slightly, and after purity is reported to have been declared), having declared it, [he says], 'Of spring, summer, or winter, such-and-such number of days have already passed' (counting the days according to the season).