Petition offered at the rite for the great gathering of the host of spirits, held on behalf of the Ministers' Office to turn away the Khitan troops爲相府禳丹兵大集神衆道場踈
我佛在大寶坊庭。始演雄詮之微妙。諸神護恒沙國土。盖因善囑之丁寧。尊閣苟勤。靈庥卽邇。伏念某等。叨荷官榮之越分。略無智識之防微。火將焚家。不早受徙薪之計。虎已入室。方欲施固檻之謀。故令胡羯以乘間。垂逼京師而肆毒。或據食公倉而燒其遺積。或掠娶人女而磔爲僵屍。州郡之丘墟者自西而東。寺宇之灰燼者在十則九。地不拒足。雖暫容山野之狂馳。天固臨頭。必不赦雷霆之顯擊。何假須臾之喘息。尙揚遐邇之腥膻。無可奈何。所難忍視。擧朝廷而同憤。微計策之可施。唯我妙門。超於諸法。若奉寶幃之神藏。宣暢眞音。卽令上界之天兵。摧伏強敵。方開熏席。未及且朝。果增士氣之飛揚。快見寇兵之奔遁。自聞捷報。大快衆心。益加歸仰之誠。申敞熏勤之範。伏願神威所助。我虎益張。類三箭之定天山。官軍速捷。無隻輪之返秦國。虜種悉殲。
Our Buddha, dwelling in the court of the Great Jeweled Hall, first unfolded the subtlety of his mighty teaching; and that the many spirits guard lands as numberless as the sands of the Ganges is for the most part because of the words with which he earnestly charged them. If reverence is paid diligently, numinous help comes near at once.
Prostrate, we consider that we, So-and-so, have presumptuously received an office and a glory beyond our station, and yet have had not the least knowledge by which to stop the first signs. When fire was about to burn the house, we did not take in time the counsel to move the brushwood away; and only after the tiger had already entered the room do we think to use the plan of making the cage firm. And so we have let the barbarians take their chance, draw near the capital, and work their venom.
Now they seize the public granaries, eat, and burn what is left; now they carry off other men's daughters and take them to wife, then tear them apart and make them corpses. Districts laid waste reach from the west to the east, and of monasteries turned to ashes there are nine in ten.
The earth cannot bar their feet, and so for a while it suffers their mad racing over mountain and field; but heaven truly presides overhead and will surely send down a thunderbolt to strike them openly. How is it that, borrowing a moment's breath, they still spread their stench far and near? There is nothing to be done, and yet it is hard to bear the sight. The whole court is indignant together, but there is no plan to put into effect.
Only our mysterious gate of the Law surpasses all other methods. If we uphold the numinous teaching of the jeweled canopy and spread the true sound far and wide, then the heavenly troops of the world above are made to break the stubborn enemy and lay him prostrate. Scarcely a day had passed since the incense seat was opened when indeed we saw with relief that the spirit of our soldiers rose higher and that the robbers' troops fled. Since the news of victory was heard, all hearts have been greatly relieved. Adding the more to our sincerity of refuge and reverence, we open again an assembly of incense.
Prostrate, we pray that the majesty of the spirits may help, so that our tiger-like soldiers stretch out the further; that the royal army win swiftly, as the Tianshan were pacified with three arrows; and that the barbarian host be cut down to the last, as not one chariot returned to Qin (秦).