佛祖統紀 44.39

44.39

In the fourth month of the first year of Tianxi, an edict stated: "The teachings bequeathed by the Golden Immortal truly benefit living beings; the texts recorded on palm leaves should rely on translation. If the lineages of transmission differ, the heterodox and orthodox will inevitably become mixed. Having lost precision, errors have gradually formed. Furthermore, sacrifices of meat and blood greatly defile the True Vehicle, and words of curses and sorcery especially run counter to the wondrous principle. The newly translated four-fascicle Vināyaka Sūtra shall not be permitted to enter the canon. From now on, texts like this must not be translated." ○ In the seventh month, an edict bestowed 4,620 printed fascicles of the Master of Zhiyi's teachings from Mount Dongye in Taizhou. Benru, the abbot of the mountain, urged the people of the commandery to build a Teaching Canon Pavilion to enshrine them. ○ In the ninth month, Grand Councilor Wang Dan died. One day prior, he instructed Hanlin Academician Yang Yi, saying: "I deeply detest this weary life, and wish in a future life to become a monk, sitting peacefully in the forest and delighting in the contemplation of the mind. Please invite a monk of great virtue for me to administer the precepts, shave my beard and hair, dress me in the three robes, and cremate me; do not place gold and jewels in the coffin." Yi discussed this with the orphans, saying: "His Excellency was one of the Three Ducal Ministers; how could the conferred ducal robe bestowed for his enshrouding be placed on the body of a monk?" They merely placed the three robes in the coffin and did not inter jewels and jade (Xiangshan yelu). ○ Grand Councilor Wang Qinruo concurrently held the post of Translation and Polishing Commissioner. ○ In the eleventh month, an edict ordered the commanderies and prefectures throughout the realm to restore ponds for releasing life. In places without ponds, fishing was prohibited for five li upstream and downstream near cities along the Yangzi and Huai Rivers (Emperor Suzong of Tang established eighty-one ponds for releasing life, and Yan Zhenqing composed a stele recording his virtue). ○ Dharma Master Zhili of Yanqing in Siming assembled ten monks to cultivate the Lotus Repentance for a three-year period, intending to burn his body as an offering to the Dharma. Yang Yi, Supervisor of the Palace Library, who had always admired his virtuous demeanor, sent a letter urging him to remain in the world, stating that just as the Tiantai teachings were being revived, the transmission relied precisely on him to be a good guide for the world. He also wrote letters to the Commandery Governor Li Yigeng and Ciyun of Tianzhu, asking them to dissuade him as well. Shortly after, Imperial Son-in-law Li Zunxu also sent a letter adding his persuasion. Due to the earnest appeals from both public and private quarters, the master ultimately gave up his former resolve; he then assembled ten monks again to cultivate the Great Compassion Repentance Method for three years to fulfill his supreme vow. In the second year, an imperial decree renamed Changgan Monastery in Jiangning Prefecture (Shengzhou) as Tianxi, and its stupa was named "Sacred Response" (Shenggan), which was one of the nineteen Aśoka relic stupas preserved in the Eastern Land (the stupa was outside the city).