廣弘明集 19.55

19.55

皇太子奉嚫玉經格七寶經函等。仍供養經。又施僧錢絹。直三百四十三萬。六宮所捨二百七十萬。上親臨億兆躬自菲薄。司服所職饔人所掌。若非朝廷典章。止是奉身之費。則太官一日將十萬生衣歲出千金。上並不取。別自營給。服麁浣衣器同土簋。日一蔬膳過中不餐。寒暑被襲莫非大布。所居便殿不能方丈。昔之幄座今為下床。傍無侍衛顧無玩物。左右唯經書卷軸。所對但見香鑪錫杖。昧旦坐朝日旰乃息。夜尋法寶明發不寐。所利唯人所約唯已。誠起居之恒事禁中之實錄。又宮人常格年給數千萬。悉從停省無所為留。雖漢文衣不至地。光武穀數十斛。方之蔑如矣。所造寺塔及諸齋會。不藉子來之民。不同大酺之禮。皆是採山澤之地利。為如法之淨財。量入為出資無外取。一役之勞計限傭賚。故能構製等於天宮。設飯同於香積。國朝大禮莫過三元。三元所設眾止數萬。隔歲預營僅而後舉。監督紛糺以為巨務。至於此會出自淨財。遠近百姓願為邑節。欣欣請受爭取福分。不待號令不須課率。黍稷馨香如期即至。數十萬眾饗之不盡。所以知是皇上化力之所到。百姓善根之有成。至如軍國恒度府庫常蓄固以天下為公器則秋毫無所侵也。初上造十三種無盡藏。有放生布施二科。此藏利益已為無限。而每月齋會。復於諸寺施財施食。又別勅至到張文休。日往屠肆命切鼎爼。即時救贖濟免億數。以此為常。文休者先為運吏。輒散運米與貧民。應入大辟。上愍其一分惻然不許。非唯赦其重辜。乃加以至到之目。既非憑煖之市義。又無汲黯之請罪。人微宥重過於昔時。文休既荷嘉貸。未嘗暫怠。日中或不得食。而足不得息周遍京邑。行步如飛。擊鼓揚幢負擔馳逐。家禽野獸殫四生之品無不放捨焉。是時朝臣至于民庶。並各隨喜。又錢一千一百一十四萬。上區其心迹列有十條。或捨財同今法事者。或捨財以供養者。或捨財行慈悲者。或捨財乞誦經者。或捨財入節供者。或捨財入放生者。或捨財入布施者。或捨身施大眾者。或燒指供養三寶者。或聞講啟求出家者。昔如來化道獲悟不同。故法眼無生根性非一。上並為其人同發大願別見願文。小臣陪侍講筵。謹立今序凡立義六科及答問。

The Crown Prince offered gifts of a jade sūtra stand, a seven-jeweled sūtra casket, and so forth, thereby making offerings to the scripture. He also donated coins and silk to the monks, worth 3,430,000 cash. What the Six Palaces relinquished was worth 2,700,000 cash. His Majesty personally looked over the millions of people while living frugally himself. Regarding what the Master of Robes manages and what the Chief Cook oversees, unless it pertained to state ceremonies and imperial protocols and was only for personal provision, then although the Grand Provisioner spent nearly 100,000 a day on raw cloth and annually expended a thousand catties of gold, His Majesty accepted none of it, sustaining himself separately. His clothing was coarse and washed repeatedly; his utensils were like earthen vessels. He took one vegetarian meal a day, never eating past noon. In cold and heat, his layers were all of coarse cloth. His living chamber did not exceed a zhang square. The former canopied throne was now a low couch. Beside him there were no attendants; looking around, there were no playthings. To his left and right were only scrolls of sūtras and books; what faced him were only an incense burner and a khakkhara. At dawn he held court, resting only when the sun was late. At night he searched the Dharma treasure, staying awake until morning. He benefited only others, and restrained only himself. This was truly the constant pattern of his daily life, the authentic record of the inner palace. Moreover, the regular stipends for palace ladies, annually amounting to several tens of millions, were completely suspended and abolished, with nothing retained. Even Emperor Wen of Han's robes not reaching the ground, or Emperor Guangwu's consumption of only several tens of hu of grain, were negligible by comparison. The temples, stupas, and various vegetarian assemblies he constructed did not depend on commoners coming like sons to work, nor were they like the rituals of public drinking; all were derived from the profits of the mountains and marshes, made into pure wealth that conforms with the Dharma. Weighing income to set expenditures, no resources were taken from outside. For the labor of a single corvée, wages were calculated and granted according to limits. Therefore, the edifices could be constructed equal to celestial palaces, and the meals offered were akin to those from Gandhahastin. The great ceremonies of our dynasty do not exceed the Three Primes; in what was provided for the Three Primes, the crowd was limited to several tens of thousands. Prepared a year in advance, it was executed only with difficulty, amidst tangled supervision and regarded as a colossal task. As for this assembly, it derived from pure wealth. The people from near and far wished to form religious societies for festivals, joyfully begging to receive them and competing to obtain shares of merit. Without waiting for commands, without need for taxation, fragrant millet and grains arrived as scheduled; hundreds of thousands of people feasted on them without exhausting them. Thus one knows that this was reached by the power of His Majesty's transformation, and accomplished by the good roots of the common people. As for the regular allocations for military and state affairs, and the standard reserves of the treasuries, regarding the realm as a public instrument, they were not encroached upon by even an autumn hair. Initially, His Majesty established thirteen kinds of inexhaustible treasuries, with two categories: releasing life and giving alms. The benefit of these treasuries was already boundless. Furthermore, at the monthly vegetarian assemblies, he again gave wealth and food across the various temples. He also specially commanded the Utmost Devotee Zhang Wenxiu to go daily to slaughterhouses where lives were on the verge of the cauldron and chopping block, immediately ransoming and rescuing untold millions, making this a regular practice. Wenxiu was previously a transport clerk; he arbitrarily distributed transport rice to the poor and was due for capital punishment. His Majesty, taking pity on his one redeeming motive, was sorrowful and did not permit his execution. He not only pardoned his grave offense, but also bestowed on him the title 'Utmost Devotee.' This was neither Feng Xuan buying righteousness nor Ji An asking for punishment; the person was humble yet the pardon was profound, surpassing former times. Wenxiu, having received this gracious reprieve, never slackened for a moment. At midday he sometimes did not get food, and his feet could not rest as he traveled all around the capital. Walking as if flying, beating drums and raising banners, carrying loads and racing along, from domestic fowl to wild beasts, exhausting the categories of the four kinds of birth, there were none he did not release. At that time, court officials down to commoners all rejoiced in accord. Moreover, there was 11,140,000 cash. His Majesty distinguished their intentions and actions into ten categories: some relinquished wealth to join this Dharma service; some relinquished wealth to make offerings; some relinquished wealth to practice compassion; some relinquished wealth to request the recitation of sūtras; some relinquished wealth to provide for festival meals; some relinquished wealth to release life; some relinquished wealth to give alms; some relinquished their bodies to serve the great assembly; some burned their fingers to make offerings to the triratna; some, hearing the lecture, made requests to renounce household life. In the past, when the Tathāgata transformed and guided beings, their awakenings differed; thus, the Dharma eye is unproduced, and faculties are not uniform. His Majesty made great vows alongside all these people, which are seen separately in the text of the vows. I, a petty minister, having attended the lecture mats, respectfully compose this preface, encompassing the six doctrinal theses and the questions and answers.