佛祖統紀 38.24

38.24

興安元年。詔曰。夫為帝王者。必祗奉明靈顯彰仁道。其能惠著生民濟益群品。雖在往古猶序風烈。況釋迦如來功濟大千惠流塵境。尋生死者歎其達觀。覽文義者貴其妙門。助王政之禁律。益仁智之善性。排撥群邪開演正覺。故前代已來莫不崇尚。亦我國家常所尊事。世祖太武德澤遐被。沙門道士往往成林。而寺舍之中致有凶黨。先朝案治戮其有罪而已。所司失旨一切禁斷（切音竊漢書如刀一切）朕承鴻緒志隆聖道。其令天下郡縣各建浮圖一區。欲為沙門者聽。初罽賓沙門師賢五人來京。值罷佛法。假醫術以守道。復教之曰。帝親為五人下髮。以師賢為沙門統。

In the first year of the Xing'an reign era, an edict stated: 'He who is an emperor or king must revere the luminous spirits and make manifest the benevolent way. If one can bestow benefits upon the people and succour the host of living things, even in remote antiquity their exemplary style was chronicled. How much more so for Śākyamuni Tathāgata, whose meritorious deeds aid the great chiliocosm, and whose benefits flow through the mundane realms! Those who examine life and death praise his penetrating insight; those who inspect the texts and doctrines value his wondrous portal. It aids the prohibitions and laws of royal governance, and augments the good nature of benevolence and wisdom. It rejects all heterodoxies and expounds sambodhi. Therefore, from former eras onward, there is none that did not venerate it, and it is likewise what our dynasty has constantly honored. The virtue and beneficence of Ancestor Shizu, Emperor Taiwu, extended far and wide; monks and Daoist masters often formed forests of people. Yet within the monasteries there came to be treacherous factions; the previous reign merely investigated, prosecuted, and executed the guilty among them. The officials misunderstood the imperial intention and banned everything completely (qie is phonetic qie; in the Hanshu, it means cutting all like a knife). We inherit the vast legacy and resolve to promote the sage way. Let each commandery and county under heaven erect a stūpa precinct, and let those who wish to become monks be permitted to do so.' Earlier, the Kaśmīri monk Shixian and four others came to the capital. Encountering the abolition of the Buddhist Dharma, they feigned the medical arts to maintain their path. On the day Buddhism was restored, the emperor personally cut the hair of the five men, and appointed Shixian as Saṅgha Supervisor.