sutra readings

○乙未。勅曰。如聞。此日、太宰府疫死者多。思欲救療疫気、以済民命。是以。奉幣彼部神祇。為民祷祈焉。又府大寺及別国諸寺。読金剛般若経。仍遣使賑給疫民。并加湯薬。又其長門以還諸国守、若介。専斎。或道饗祭祀。

Eighth month, twelfth day. The emperor gave an order: “I hear that many people in the Dazaifu have lately died of the epidemic. I wish to heal those struck by the epidemic qi and so save the people’s lives. Let offerings be made to the kami of that region, with prayers on the people’s behalf. Let the great temple of the Dazaifu and the temples of its other provinces read the Diamond Sutra. Send envoys to give relief to the sick, and give them medicines as well. And let the governors of the provinces from Nagato on toward the capital, or their assistants, keep themselves strictly pure by fasting, or else perform the road-feast rites.”

○五月甲戌朔。日有蝕之。請僧六百人、于宮中。令読大般若経焉。

Fifth month, first day. There was an eclipse of the sun. Six hundred monks were invited into the palace to read the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra.

○癸卯。命四畿内二監及七道諸国。僧尼清浄沐浴。一月之内二三度、令読最勝王経。又月六斎日、禁断殺生。

Second day. An order went out to the four Home Provinces, the two supervised districts, and the provinces of the Seven Circuits. Monks and nuns were to purify themselves and bathe, and to read the Golden Light Sutra two or three times a month. On the six fast days of each month, the killing of living things was forbidden.

○丙辰。為天下太平、国土安寧。於宮中一十五処。請僧七百人。令転大般若経。最勝王経。度四百人。四畿内七道諸国五百七十八人。

Fifteenth day. For the peace of the realm and the calm of the land, seven hundred monks were invited to fifteen places in the palace, where they read the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra and the Golden Light Sutra. Four hundred people were ordained, and 578 more in the Home Provinces and the provinces of the Seven Circuits.