廣弘明集 28.119

28.119

From the Chancellery: Using punishments in the hope of doing away with punishments is an illustrious canon of sovereign kings; stopping war by means of war is the universal rule of successive sages. Thus Tang and Wu took up shields and spears to rescue their age and quell disorder; how could it be that they did not cherish the black-haired people and gave free rein to slaughter? Checking violence and putting away weapons was truly out of necessity. Since raising the righteous cause at the end of the Sui, Our aim has been to rescue the drowning; marching north and campaigning east, wherever We faced was pacified and annihilated. Yet beneath the yellow battle-axe and at the tips of metal arrows, those wounded and slain can hardly be counted. Although they opposed the mandate and disturbed constancy, bringing ruin upon themselves, Our heart of commiseration is filled with grief and sorrow; regarding the weight of living beings, how could We not feel pity? With a sorrowful and aching heart, We never forget this whether rising or sleeping. Moreover, the teaching of the Śākya deeply values loving-kindness and benevolence, and among its disciplinary precepts, killing is the gravest offence. Upholding these words and principles, Our repentance and dread increase all the more. Now, for the nearly one thousand persons personally executed and slain by Us since the campaigns began, let a vegetarian feast be held and the Way be practised for all of them, exhausting Our sincerity in bowing and repenting. The robes and articles worn by Us are all to be donated as alms. We hope that the perils of the three paths may be escaped through this, the suffering of ten thousand kalpas broadly relieved by this, minds of enmity and hindrance extinguished, and the path of bodhi attained.