佛祖統紀 39.53

39.53

In the first month of the third year, an edict ordered the śramaṇas of the capital to practice the Way and recite the Benevolent Kings Sūtra on the twenty-seventh day of each month, praying for blessings for the state, with the government providing the vegetarian offerings. In the third month, Chan Master Shijing of Mizhou was summoned to the capital by edict to pray for rain. The master observed a vegetarian retreat and sat in meditation; this moved a white rainbow to appear in the northwestern sky by day, and heavy rain brought complete relief. In the eighth month, the śramaṇa Xuanzang submitted a memorial requesting permission to go to India to seek sūtras. In the twelfth month, an edict stated: 'The Sui lost the Way, and the nine regions boiled over. We personally commanded the main armies and executed this bright punishment. Wherever armies engaged in battle since the righteous uprising, for all righteous soldiers and ferocious rebels who perished in battle array, let monasteries be built in each place to invite and accommodate superior companions, establishing fields of merit to save their souls (Laozi says 'carrying the bodily soul'; the commentary says 'hun and po'. The Mount Lu Collection says 'the dharma of the mind is the bodily soul of the divine spirit') in order to fulfill Our intent of pity and compassion.' (All the above appears in the Old Tang History; Ouyang [Xiu's] New History deleted and omitted them). In the first month of the fourth year, a sixteen-foot embroidered statue of Śākyamuni Buddha from the upper palace was rescued, enshrined in Shengguang Monastery, and a vegetarian feast for a thousand monks was provided. In the fifth month, the monasteries built on the battlefields were completed. Ministers were commanded to compose the stele inscriptions: for defeating Liu Wuzhou at Fenzhou, Hongji Monastery was established, composed by Li Baiyao; for defeating Song Laosheng at Juzhou, Puji Monastery was established, composed by Xu Jingzong; for defeating Xue Ju at Binzhou, Zhaoren Monastery was established, composed by Zhu Zishe; for defeating Song Jingang at Jinzhou, Ciyun Monastery was established, composed by Chu Suiliang; for defeating Wang Shichong at Mount Mang, Zhaojue Monastery was established, composed by Yu Shinan; for defeating Dou Jiande at Fanshui, Dengci Monastery was established, composed by Yan Shigu; for defeating Liu Heita at Luozhou, Zhaofu Monastery was established, composed by Cen Wenben. In that year there was a great bumper harvest under heaven; a dou of rice cost three cash; outside doors were not locked; travelers did not carry provisions; and only twenty-nine people were sentenced to death. All under heaven was in great order. The Emperor said to the ministers, 'This is Wei Zheng advising Us to practice benevolence and righteousness; its efficacy is now realized.' Recalling that when he first pacified the realm he had slain more than a thousand persons with his own hand and that they had not met this era of great peace, he immediately donated imperial garments to the monasteries and ordered the monks to perform repentance. (These matters appear in the Old History; Ouyang [Xiu's] New History deleted them all).