釋鑑稽古略續集 2.41

2.41

The Dharma Assembly for Grand Transference of Merits: At that time, there was no anxiety throughout the realm, and profound peace prevailed. The civil and military officials were at ease, and rain and wind were timely and favorable. The Emperor, in reverent silence, reflected upon the Way and dwelt uprightly. In the august serenity, he reflected again: during the rise of warfare at the end of the Yuan dynasty, heroes contended across the realm; living beings could not meet their natural end, numbering hundreds of billions, and their spirit-vapors swirled and entangled, filling the realms above and below, with no offerings or sacrifices reaching them, solitary and without support. On overcast and wet rainy nights, their weeping could sometimes be heard. The imperial heart was deeply grieved, as though suffering an illness within himself. He considered that to cleanse the dark gloom and ascend into bright yang, only the teaching of the Great Hero could do so, and so on. Song the Civil and Pure Duke wrote a record and a poem, which are fully preserved in the *Record of Protecting the Dharma*. Chan Master Pu'an Laifu had a compilation of drafts from Mount Zhong, which recorded the details from beginning to end, especially the auspicious anomalies, with great thoroughness. The Central Buddhist and Daoist Registries were ordered to create comprehensive registers and promulgate them to monasteries and temples throughout the empire. Wherever Buddhist or Daoist monastics arrived, they were checked against the registers. If their parents' household registrations and the month and day of their application for ordination did not match the register, they were deemed false monastics.