盂蘭盆經讚述 1.1

1.1

Self and other […] fluent in the eight eloquences, shaking [the world with their] […] voice, flowing […] As for the word "sūtra": because it takes its name from the master of the teaching, it is called "Spoken by the Buddha: Ullam[bana Sūtra]" […] blood flowed upwards, leaving only skin and bones clinging together, life hanging as if suspended upside down. Having […] initiated […] As for calling it *ullambana* (*yulanpen*): it is a vessel that holds food. Sweet […] of a hundred flavors […] nothing can surpass this; famed meals from the Fragrant Accumulation are all set forth upon the table. Placed inside the vessel, it is offered to the Buddha and given to the Saṅgha, so as to rescue [beings from] the suffering of hanging upside down. Hence it is called *pen* (vessel). "Sūtra" (*jing*) is the teaching that can express [the meaning]. In Sanskrit it is called *sūtra*, newly translated as *sūtra* (*sutanlan*); here it is called *jing*, and also called *xian* (thread). A sūtra has five meanings, which briefly rely on two approaches: first, it is called a gushing spring, which abides without exhausting; second, it is called a chalk-line, which accords with and determines the correct and the deviant. Because it determines the exposition without alteration, it is called a sūtra. Relying on the *Buddhabbūmi-upadeśa*, because it can string together and can subsume, it is called a sūtra; for the Buddha's holy teaching strings together and subsumes the meanings that should be spoken and the living beings who are to be transformed. One should know that here, expounding the ullambana vessel pulls out suffering, [demonstrates] filial conduct, and benefits sentient beings; relying on the expressed meaning, it is therefore called a sūtra. Just as with the *Pratītyasamutpāda Sūtra*, the *Ratnasaṃgraha-śāstra*, and so forth, it is therefore called a sūtra.