佛祖統紀 48.11

48.11

In the third month of the tenth year of Chunyou, officials memorialised: 'The state extends courteous favour to meritorious founding ministers, intimates, nobles, and imperial relatives by permitting them to petition for temple plaques for tomb-guarding temples. This was meant for those who built their own buildings and acquired their own lands to support and offer memorial services for their ancestors; thus they were granted a plaque. Therefore, an edict was issued in the Daguan era prohibiting close ministers from earmarking temples that already held an imperial plaque to serve as meritorious tomb-guarding shrines; and in the New Statutes of the Shaoxing Era, it was registered in the prime statutes that earmarking temples with plaques was forbidden. When meritorious ministers and imperial relatives have merit-cloister shrines, it only means the conferral of a plaque and exemption from requisition levies and the like, permitting them to invite monks from their own families to act as abbots; it was never intended that the state's temples with plaques be handed over to them. In recent years, as soon as scholar-officials enter the administration, they harbor greedy designs, earmarking renowned monasteries and converting them into merit-cloisters to usurp their agricultural estates, just like establishing an estate of their own. Their unruly sons and younger brothers often accept bribes from incompetent monks to appoint them as abbots. Rice, salt, firewood, and charcoal are constantly supplied and delivered; a single temple is made to support an entire family, bringing profound disgrace upon their ancestors! Furthermore, the households of the grand councilors and ministers are numerous everywhere; if one person occupies several temples, then few of the state's renowned monasteries will remain. As soon as the government makes a levy, it must inevitably be apportioned evenly across civilian households—how could this not cause great harm to the people? Your foolish servant hopes that an enlightened decree will strictly reaffirm the old regulations: all temples with imperial plaques that have been earmarked and occupied should be recovered and corrected, and monks should still be appointed through official offices, so as to cut off the abuses of private families colluding with temples and taking bribes.' An imperial decree granted approval.