佛祖統紀 37.23

37.23

In the first year of the Zhongdatong reign era, a great epidemic struck the capital. The Emperor held a vegetarian feast for relieving suffering in the Chongyun Hall on behalf of the common people, praying with his own body. He visited Tongtai Monastery again and held a great, unrestricted assembly (mahā-pañcavārṣika) for the fourfold community. Wearing Dharma robes, he practiced the great renunciation of purity, using a plain couch and earthenware vessels, riding in a small carriage. He personally ascended the Dharma throne to explain the title of the *Nirvāṇa Sūtra* for the assembly. The ministers ransomed him with one hundred million coins. The Emperor held a great vegetarian feast for fifty thousand monastics and laypeople.