釋氏稽古略 3.154

3.154

Life-release ponds. In the third month of the second year of Qianyuan, an edict ordered all prefectures throughout the realm to each establish a life-release pond. In the tenth month, Yan Zhenqing, Prefect of Shengzhou, was ordered by imperial decree to compose the Inscription on the Stele for the Life-Release Ponds of the Tang Empire. Its preface says: "Our Emperor took the entire realm as a pond, so that all within the borders might receive blessing; relying on the empowerment of dhāraṇīs, he drained the sea of afflictions and the ford of birth-and-death. Looking back to antiquity, has anything ever resembled this?" In the eighth month, Minister of Works Guo Ziyi was ordered to suppress An Qingxu, and the eunuch Yu Chao'en, Opener of the Office Equal in Rank to the Three Excellencies, was appointed Surveillance Commissioner for Army Demeanor, Pacification, and Management; the title of "Surveillance Commissioner for Army Demeanor" began from this. Shi Siming killed An Qingxu and set himself up as Emperor of the Great Yan. The gengzi year was the first year of Shangyuan.