佛祖統紀 36.96

36.96

In the seventh year, the state of Kalāda offered tribute. Its memorial said, 'We prostrate and hear that Your Sagely Majesty faithfully reveres the Three Jewels, raising stūpas and monasteries that fill the world. We now specially dispatch an envoy to express this slight intention.'
Also, earlier, the Emperor heard of the renown of the Kaśmīra Tripiṭaka Guṇavarman (which means 'Armor of Merit'). An imperial edict ordered Jiaozhou to dispatch the monk Daomin to cross the sea and invite him. Varman was delighted, boarded a ship, and arrived in Guangzhou. The Emperor sent an envoy to welcome him to Jinling, ordering him to reside at Jiyuan Monastery. Vice Director of the Right He Shangzhi and others all served him as their master, requesting him to lecture on the Avataṃsaka Sūtra (the sixty-fascicle version translated earlier by Buddhabhadra). Because he was not yet fluent in Chinese, he prayed to Avalokiteśvara. At night he dreamed of a strongman replacing his head; when he woke up in the morning he still felt a slight ache, but then he fully understood the eastern language. The Emperor once asked, 'I wish to observe the fast and refrain from killing, but constrained by worldly duties, I cannot attain my desire.' He replied, 'The practices of an emperor and a commoner are each different. A commoner's person is lowly and his reputation slight, his words and orders carry no awe; if he does not overcome himself, how can he succeed? An emperor takes the four seas as his home and the myriad people as his children. If he utters one good word, scholars and commoners are all delighted; if he institutes one good policy, humanity and the spirits harmonize. Then wind and rain come in season, and the hundred grains flourish. Upholding the fast in this way, its virtue is also great! Why must one discontinue half a day's meal or preserve the life of a single bird before it counts as vast succor?' The Emperor sighed, saying, 'Commoners are confused about the distant principle, while monks are stuck in the proximate teaching. As for the Dharma Master's words, they can be said to exhaust the bounds of heaven and humanity.' While the Master was lecturing on the Ten Grounds chapter of the Avataṃsaka at Jiyuan, the Emperor led the dukes and ministers to assemble daily beneath his seat; the Dharma gate was acclaimed for its glory.