廣弘明集 19.55

19.55

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.