國清百錄 4.5

4.5

Presented by the monk Zhiyue and the whole community of Guoqing Monastery on Mount Tiantai. The Concurrent Gentleman of the Court for Receiving Strangers, Lu Zhengli, arrived and respectfully proclaimed the imperial edict of the tenth month, twenty-ninth day, which stated: Your Heavenly Compassion offers instruction, bestowing upon the monastery its auspicious name, along with offerings of two thousand bolts of material, one thousand hu of rice, two hu of frankincense, a Dharma feast for a thousand monks, the ordination of forty-nine persons into the monastic order, and the repair of the monastery buildings. We immediately gathered the assembly, burned incense, and proclaimed it aloud. We reverently reflect that Your Sage Rule harmonizes in virtue with Heaven and Earth, nurturing the myriad states as your children and pacifying the four seas, aiding the Buddha's teachings and delivering sentient beings; such glorious and great benevolence and admonitions are beyond compare. Although Zhiyue and the others wear the Dharma robes, our practice does not match our appearance; while attending upon our late master, we often went astray from his fundamental standard. Day and night we reprove ourselves, finding no place of refuge. Bowing, we receive the imperial decree and uphold it with our heads. Yet, as ordinary and inferior men, we did not comprehend the bodhisattva's great wisdom. Formerly, in the time of the Chen dynasty, we personally heard our master say: 'When the three states become one, a person of great might will build a monastery for us. If the monastery is established, the realm will become pure; it will surely be Guoqing Monastery.' At that time, tracks of carriages and scripts were not yet unified, and we did not understand what he meant. Since then, we have harbored doubts without comprehending. Now, receiving the imperial edict bestowing the monastery, the name Guoqing accords precisely with that original omen; both the mountain monks and the mountain folk rejoice with great joy. We now understand that bodhisattvas of diverse vows inspire one another, either practicing the five grades or presiding over the myriad affairs of state, illuminating the Three Honored Ones and benefiting the realm. Rejoicing in this, sentient beings are fortunate to hear of this splendid omen; gazing up at the monastery's name plaque is just like attaining awakening. While your compassionate kindness extends everywhere under the sun, the single region of Tiantai has uniquely received your vast bounty: famous robes and superior vestments have successively arrived in splendor, and wonderful goods and nonglutinous rice have descended time and again. Zhiyue and the others have achieved nothing in the three trainings; even a single meal is hard for us to accept. How much more so when rice and goods accumulate in abundance—how could we dare to receive them with reverence? We deeply fear our inadequacy and worry it will incur fault. We hope that relying on your compassionate forbearance, we may exhaust our foolish sincerity in requiting Your Imperial Majesty. Mount Tiantai is remote and distant; from antiquity, practitioners have walked in solitary simplicity. Now, peaceful governance is in motion, Guoqing Monastery is established, and forty-nine persons have renounced household life in a single day; with their hair falling, obstacles are dissolved—truly a rare event! We hope their mental resolve will progress, their learning and practice renew daily, and their merit from thought to thought will assist the imperial realm. Furthermore, at the feast for a thousand monks, ordinary and noble gathered like clouds, the sunlight was bright and clear, and the monastic disciples were filled with joy. Reverently we reflect that our late master's wondrous virtue was inconceivable; his spiritual resonances and powers must surely have looked down and descended. In the afternoon, before the envoy, we opened the sacred reliquary, and rare sacred wonders were witnessed together by the envoy and others, both official and private, monastic and lay. Zhiyue and the others were overcome with mingled sorrow and joy, and respectfully present this memorial to inform you. Respectfully submitted. First year of Daye, eleventh month, twenty-fourth day. Submitted by the monk Zhiyue and others of Guoqing Monastery in Kuazhou.