國清百錄 2.37

2.37

The Emperor respectfully inquires after Dhyāna Master Zhiyi of Guangzhai Monastery. We hold deep respect and faith in the Buddhist teachings. Formerly, during the time of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou when the Buddha-Dharma was destroyed, We made a resolve and vowed that We must protect and maintain it. When We received the Mandate from Heaven, We thereupon revived it; reverently relying on divine power, the wheel of the Dharma turned anew, and sentient beings of the ten directions all obtained benefit. Recently, because the Chen dynasty was cruel, chaotic, and tyrannical, so that the common people of the southeast could not endure the bitter toil, We therefore ordered generals and dispatched troops to eliminate harm for the people. The region of Wu and Yue has now been cleared and pacified, and monastics and laypeople are settled in peace, which deeply accords with Our intent. We revere the true Dharma and succour the populace, wishing that the field of merit may endure forever and the ford and bridge be limitless.

Master, since you have already left the worldly net to cultivate yourself and transform others, We sincerely hope that you will encourage and advance the ranks of the Saṅgha to strictly maintain the prohibitive precepts, causing those who see them to submit in reverence and those who hear to immediately generate goodness; only then will you fulfill the mind of the Great Way, and this constitutes the vocation of renunciation. If the body wears the clerical robes while the mind is tainted by secular dust, not only will sentient beings have nowhere to take refuge, but We also fear that slanders will once again be cast upon the gate of the wondrous Dharma. You ought to mutually exhort one another so as to align with Our intent. The spring days are growing gradually warmer; is your religious person comfortable? Sixteenth day of the first month of the tenth year of Kaihuang. Li Delin, Lord of Anping and President of the Chancellery, prostrated himself to report. Li Yuancao, Master of the Hall and Vice Director of the Chancellery, proclaimed it. Pei Ju, Drafter of the Chancellery, executed it.