梵網經述記卷第一 1.8

1.8

第二能詮教體者。文義為體。如瑜伽論八十一云。云何為體。謂契經為體。略有二種。一文。二義。文是所依。義是能依。如是二種總攝一切所知境界。廣如雜集記會。第三攝教分齊。復有二種。一攝教分齊。二翻譯時代。第一攝教者。十二分中方廣因緣分攝。三藏之內契經調伏。說心地等契經藏攝。正說戒法是調伏藏攝。二藏之中菩薩藏攝。三時教中第三時攝。了義說故。第二翻譯時代者。諸德相傳云。真諦三藏將菩薩律藏。擬傳東華。南海上船。船將欲沒。省除餘物。猶不能浮。即去律本。船方得進。三藏歎曰。菩薩戒律漢地無緣。深可悲矣。又曇無讖法師。於西涼州。時有沙門法進等。求菩薩戒。請翻戒本。法師曰。此國人等。性多狡猾。又無剛節。豈有堪為菩薩道器。遂不與授。進等苦請不獲。遂於佛像前立誓要期。苦節求戒。七日纔滿。夢見彌勒親與授戒并授戒本。並皆誦得。後覺夢已見參法師。法師覩其相異。乃喟然歎曰。漢地亦有人矣。則與譯出戒本。今別行地持本首安歸命頌是也。此與進夢所誦文義符同。由可知古德有感。聖迹有應。神功莫知。妙用不測者矣。今此經者。於大秦姚興弘始三年。有西方三藏。名鳩摩羅什。此云童壽。誦此菩薩心地一品。于時有沙門道祥等八百餘人。請羅什法師求菩薩戒。遂於逍遙薗。又云。於草堂中。共學士翻譯出經論五十餘部。今此經最後什法師自誦出。而共譯之。惠融等筆受。亦同誦持。仍別錄出此下卷之中偈頌已後所說戒相。別為一卷。名作梵網經盧舍那佛說菩薩十重四十八輕戒一卷。首標受菩薩戒羯磨等云。此羯磨出梵網經律藏品內虛舍那為妙海王及王子受菩薩戒法。

Second, the essence of the teaching that can express: its essence consists in words and meanings. As fascicle eighty-one of the Yogācārabhūmi states: "What is its essence? It means that the sūtra is its essence. In brief, there are two kinds: first, words; second, meanings. Words are that upon which [meanings] rely, and meanings are that which relies upon [words]. These two kinds comprehensively encompass all knowable realms of objects." It is extensively gathered and explained as in the Abhidharmasamuccaya-bhāṣya. Third, the scope of the teaching subsumed: again, there are two aspects: first, the scope of the teaching subsumed; second, the period of translation. Regarding the first, the teaching subsumed: among the twelve divisions [of scriptures], it is subsumed under the extensive (vaipulya) and causal conditions (nidāna) divisions. Within the three piṭakas, it is the sūtra and the vinaya: the explanation of the mind ground and so forth is subsumed under the Sūtrapiṭaka; the direct explanation of the rules of the precepts is subsumed under the Vinayapiṭaka. Between the two piṭakas, it is subsumed under the Bodhisattvapiṭaka. Among the teachings of the three periods, it is subsumed under the third period, because it is an explicit (nītārtha) teaching. Regarding the second, the period of translation: masters hand down the tradition saying that Tripiṭaka Master Paramārtha intended to transmit the Bodhisattva Vinayapiṭaka to China (Donghua). He boarded a ship on the Southern Sea, and the ship was about to sink. Though other goods were discarded, it still could not float. Only when he cast off the Vinaya text was the ship then able to proceed. The Tripiṭaka Master sighed, saying: "The Bodhisattva Vinaya has no affinity with the land of the Han. How deeply lamentable!" Moreover, when Dharma Master Dharmakṣema was in Xiliangzhou, at that time there were the śramaṇa Fajin and others who sought the bodhisattva precepts and requested him to translate the prātimokṣa text. The Dharma Master said: "The people of this country are mostly deceitful in character and lack steadfast integrity. How could they be vessels fit for the bodhisattva path?" Thus he did not bestow them. Fajin and the others pleaded earnestly without success, whereupon they made vows and set a time limit before an image of the Buddha, seeking the precepts with austere self-restraint. When seven days had just been completed, [Fajin] saw Maitreya in a dream personally bestowing the precepts upon him together with the prātimokṣa text, all of which he was able to recite from memory. Later, having awakened from the dream, he went to visit the Dharma Master. The Dharma Master saw his extraordinary appearance and sighed deeply, saying: "There are indeed men in the land of the Han!" He then translated the prātimokṣa text for him; this is the separately circulating Bodhisattvabhūmi text that begins with the verse of taking refuge. This coincided in words and meaning with what Fajin had recited in his dream. From this it may be known that when ancient masters had sincere resonance, the holy traces responded; their spiritual efficacy is unfathomable and their wondrous functioning is beyond calculation. As for the present sūtra: in the third year of the Hongshi era of Yao Xing of the Later Qin, there was a Western Tripiṭaka Master named Kumārajīva, which means "Youth of Longevity" (Tongshou). He recited this chapter on the Bodhisattva Mind Ground. At that time there were more than eight hundred people, including the śramaṇa Daoxiang, who requested Master Kumārajīva to seek the bodhisattva precepts. Thereupon, in the Xiaoyao Garden—another account says: in the Caotang [Monastery]—together with scholars he translated more than fifty works of sūtras and treatises. As for the present sūtra, it was at the very end that Master Kumārajīva personally recited it from memory, and they translated it together. Huirong and others took it down in writing, and also recited and maintained it together. Furthermore, they separately extracted the characteristics of the precepts explained after the verses in the second fascicle of this [work] to form a separate fascicle entitled Brahmajāla Sūtra: Fascicle of the Bodhisattva Ten Major and Forty-Eight Minor Precepts Spoken by Rocana Buddha. At the head was marked the karman for receiving the bodhisattva precepts, which states: "This karman is extracted from the 'Vinayapiṭaka Chapter' of the Brahmajāla Sūtra, being the method for Rocana's bestowing the bodhisattva precepts upon King Myriad Oceans and the prince."