佛祖統紀 44.12

44.12

The commentary states: Emperor Zhenzong may well be called a benevolent and sagacious ruler. When he first ascended the throne, he composed a preface to the Sacred Teaching (the newly translated canon is called the "Sacred Teaching"; composing prefaces to the Sacred Teaching began in the Tang dynasty) and authored the Treatise on Exalting Buddhism. When Chen Shu argued for abolishing sutra translation, he did not permit it; when Sun Shi requested a reduction in monk ordinations, he did not listen. Furthermore, he was able to issue an edict that those who sell wine and meat to monks and Daoists should be prosecuted for their crimes; this was out of the intention that such impure activities ought not defile sacred precincts. Later, the monk Juecheng arrived from Tianzhu and said to Academician Yang Yi: "Entering this realm, I see the slaughter of pigs and sheep and meat hanging in the markets, which is so painful I cannot bear to watch. In Tianzhu, those who eat meat and the five pungent roots are driven outside the city, and therefore none sell it." Thus we know that the prefectures and cities of the Eastern Splendor are accustomed to eating meat, so those who see it feel no aversion; can they alone feel no shame before Juecheng? Once, discussing this matter with peers, I wished to petition for a clear and enlightened ruler to extend the laws of the dynastic ancestors, prohibiting the slaughter of beasts inside the city and forbidding the hanging of meat in the markets and streets (all butchers should only reside outside the city in remote, deserted places where no people pass; peddlers should use bamboo vessels to cover it and enter the city, pay taxes, and only then patrol the streets to sell), so that people's dwellings may be pure and clean, and their eyes not accustomed to seeing it. This would dispel the aura of killing to nourish benevolent hearts, and alter bad habits to turn toward the good path—how could this fail to benefit the state's governance and transformation?