續比丘尼傳守培序
Preface to the Continued Biographies of Bhikṣuṇīs by Shoupei
世間聖人，立於像形上觀察一切，故曰：「乾道成男，坤道成女。」男尊而女卑，夫唱而婦隨，是以中國女子終生無主權。以三從而為德，所謂未嫁從父，已嫁從夫，夫歿而從子。出世聖人，立於體性上觀察一切，故曰：大地眾生皆具如來智慧德相，唯因妄想執著而不能證得。世人始唱男女平權，原來吾佛唱之早矣。非特男女平權，而一切眾生迷皆平權，又不但眾生偕眾生平權，而眾生與諸佛亦平權。凡女子學佛出家者，即打破世間假像的階級，實行出世體性之平權。三從頓舍，終生自主，以有體性之觀察力，故能轉變性質，如化魚而成龍，傳中諸尼僧是也。亦有不脫像形之習氣者，則觸途成滯，如暴腮於龍門，傳外諸尼僧是也。世人已知提倡男女平權，而未知提倡一切眾生悉皆平權，若進而提倡一切眾生本皆平權，不存大小強弱之觀念，則世界可期平矣。但吾佛從平處唱平，世人從不平處唱平，平同而平處特異。世法與佛法不同此也。近有女子頭角崢嶸，露於社會之上，與男子平權矣。慨吾佛教之比丘尼，反寂然無聲，如寒岩枯木，毫無生氣，徒負出世丈夫之虛名，不若在家女子之有志氣，悲乎！末法尼眾，身雖出家，心不知道，而亦不求其知，以為出家止於薙發染衣而已。此等尼眾，如彼盲人誤入歧途，若無援引，奚歸正路？維我 震華大德，年未自立，識已過人，植慧根於夙世，發智花於今時；淵學遠鑒，歎佛法之蕭條；觀古傷今，悲尼眾之不振。是以採訪過去有道之高尼，乃為今後釋子之龜鑒。上從蕭梁，下至民國，聚英集華，名曰續比丘尼傳。冀此傳傳播四方，憲章有道，不使過去克己成仁、茹苦會辛之輩，與草木同腐，湮沒而無聞，亦可令吾現前釋子觀彼比丘尼。我亦比丘尼，彼即如斯，我亦應如斯。彼比丘尼當能如斯，而我比丘尼不能不如斯。此雖文字之般若，實為振興佛教、援引迷途之梯航也。書成，問序於余，余略述著者之志願，以告讀茲傳者，是為序。
Worldly sages, standing upon the observation of forms and appearances, thus declare: “The Way of Qian forms the male, the Way of Kun forms the female.” The male is honored and the female is humble; the husband leads and the wife follows. Therefore, women in China have no sovereignty throughout their lives. Their virtue is defined by the Three Obediences: obeying the father before marriage, obeying the husband after marriage, and obeying the son after the husband’s death.
Sages who transcend the world, standing upon the observation of essence and nature, thus declare: All sentient beings of the great earth possess the Tathāgata’s Wisdom and virtuous marks, yet fail to realize them solely due to deluded thoughts and attachments. People of the world have only recently begun to advocate for equal rights between men and women, yet our Buddha proclaimed it long ago. Not only are men and women equal, but all deluded sentient beings are equal. Moreover, not only are sentient beings equal among themselves, but sentient beings and all Buddhas are also equal.
Any woman who studies the Buddha’s teachings and leaves the household life thereby shatters the worldly, illusory hierarchy and puts into practice the equality of essence and nature that transcends the world. The Three Obediences are instantly abandoned; she becomes sovereign over her own life for its entirety. Because she possesses the power of observation based on essence and nature, she can transform her character, like a fish changing into a dragon. The bhikṣuṇīs recorded in this biography exemplify this. There are also those who fail to shed the habitual tendencies of form and appearance; for them, every path becomes an obstruction, like a fish struggling at the Dragon Gate. These are the bhikṣuṇīs outside this biography.
People of the world already know to promote equal rights between men and women, yet they do not know to promote the equal rights of all sentient beings. If they would further promote the fundamental equality of all sentient beings, without harboring notions of great or small, strong or weak, then peace for the world could be anticipated. However, our Buddha proclaims equality from the standpoint of equality itself, while people of the world proclaim equality from a standpoint of inequality. The equality is the same, but the standpoint from which it is proclaimed is distinctly different. This is how worldly dharmas and the Buddha-dharma differ.
Recently, there are women of outstanding talent who have emerged prominently in society, achieving equal rights with men. It is lamentable that the bhikṣuṇīs of our Buddhist teaching, in contrast, remain silent and still, like cold cliffs and withered trees, utterly devoid of vitality, merely bearing the empty name of “those who have left the household life to become great heroes,” yet lacking the aspiration of laywomen. How sorrowful!
In this Dharma-ending age, bhikṣuṇīs, though their bodies have left the household, their minds do not know the Way, nor do they seek to know it, believing that leaving the household is merely a matter of shaving the head and donning dyed robes. Such bhikṣuṇīs are like blind people who have mistakenly entered a wrong path; without guidance, how can they return to the right one?
Our Venerable Zhenhua, though not yet of independent age, possesses insight surpassing others. He planted roots of wisdom in past lives, and now blossoms with the flower of understanding. With profound learning and far-reaching vision, he laments the decline of the Buddha’s teaching; observing the past and grieving for the present, he sorrows over the不振 of the bhikṣuṇī community. Therefore, he has sought out and recorded the accomplished and virtuous senior bhikṣuṇīs of the past, to serve as a mirror and guide for future followers of Śākyamuni. Gathering the flowers of excellence from the Liang Dynasty of the Southern Dynasties down to the Republic of China, he has compiled this work, titled *A Continued Biographies of Bhikṣuṇīs*.
It is hoped that this biography will spread in all directions, making manifest the models of the Way, so that those of the past who mastered themselves, achieved humanity, endured bitterness, and gathered hardships will not decay along with grass and trees, vanishing unheard. It may also enable us, the present followers of Śākyamuni, to observe those bhikṣuṇīs: I too am a bhikṣuṇī; if they were thus, I too should be thus. If those bhikṣuṇīs could be thus, then I, a bhikṣuṇī, cannot fail to be thus. Although this is but the Prajñā of words, it truly serves as a vessel and guide to revitalize the Buddha’s teaching and rescue those who have lost their way.
When the book was completed, he asked me for a preface. I have briefly related the author’s aspiration to inform the readers of this biography. This serves as the preface.
民國二十五年丙子夏六月中澣，至山退隱守培序於妙心精舍。
In the mid-June of the summer of the Bingzi year, the twenty-fifth year of the Republic of China, I, Shoupei,