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The Three Officials Great Emperors and Liu Tianjun of the Thunder Department composed the "Instructions on Cherishing Written Characters," stating that when seeking salary, fame, or offspring, cherishing written characters is the foremost merit. In the past, the Wenchang Emperor's deeds served as a model; I have nothing more to add.

However, seeing people bustling and confused, with poverty and hardship often before them, this is mostly not due to other faults or evils, but rather the sins accumulated from defiling written characters. Although many admonitory articles have been widely circulated, ultimately no one has firmly resolved to practice them. The young are frivolous and unrestrained, while the elderly are accustomed to ease and leisure; they have heard little or nothing about reverent observance, yet acts of destroying and damaging written characters number in the thousands. Some use them to paste windows as lining, some to wrap items for convenience, some discard broken chapters at will, some let scattered characters sink and drown, some use them as desks for practicing writing, some carry them on their belts or place them near toilets, some use them temporarily to wipe filth, some use them to line silkworm trays. Such deep sins and accumulated guilt are reported one by one before the Heavenly Emperor, punishing these individuals with retribution, where illness and disaster are linked with confinement. Farmers and merchants remain lowly without reduction, while scholars and officials find it difficult to extend their glory and official rank. The greater consequence is destruction of body and lineage, the lesser is deprivation of lifespan and years. Now, out of compassion for the ignorant, I specially descend this parallel-prose text to universally advise the scholars of the world: follow and practice with utmost piety. Regardless of classics and histories, wild histories and minor works, fine book boxes and silk bindings, broken slips and fragmented volumes, long essays or short phrases, ensure all are carefully protected and cherished. Do not avoid suspicion due to secular opinions; initially burn them in fire, then send the ashes to flowing springs. Do not be negligent and seek to evade responsibility, do not delay time. Urgently practice for one month, and your heart will regain its former brightness; urgently practice for one year, and your scholarly success will follow in succession; urgently practice for a lifetime, and your name will be listed among the High Immortals. Indeed, such is the retribution, not my empty words for flattery. If there are foolish and barbaric subjects who dare to slander and detest, I have received orders to specifically handle this matter, subjecting them immediately to roasting by thunder and fire. Now I specially disseminate this widely, asking you to proclaim on my behalf: collect written characters and burn them wherever found, which certainly belongs to reverent cherishing. But the precepts of cherishing characters state: do not burn them into ash in the stove, do not still discard the ash on the ground. Few have read this precept and not committed this error. Considering that things gather according to one's preferences, one person collecting is limited; it seems better to persuade others. This method is quite good. For relatives and friends who vow to repay deities by staging operas, why not simply allow them to burn hundreds or thousands of jin of written characters, according to their ability and wish. This method can be posted as a notice in an empty shop, purchasing at one or two cents per jin; market vendors knowing the price will surely bring them. Whether in cities or countryside, this can be implemented. Divine operas originally intended to widely admonish the ignorant and stubborn, but who would expect that recent operas are not orthodox, instead teaching what is bad, inevitably incurring hidden condemnation, let alone hoping for blessings. If one can follow this method to fulfill vows, prayers will surely be answered. When buying to burn, fear flying ash being discarded on the ground. If there is no dedicated character furnace, dig a pit in the ground, leave a hole on the side for smoke to escape, cover with a broken pot, and insert written characters through the break in the pot to burn properly. After burning, sprinkle with clean water, then store the ash in fine cattail bags or oil paper. Place a stone or brick in each bag, tie the rope well, and send to the rapid waters of great rivers, letting it flow away. With bricks inside, the bags will not drift to the shore. Shop signs and papers often have flowers and characters intermixed; children naturally love playing with flowered paper, tearing and discarding it, which creates sin. When needed, separate the flowers and characters, or position them top, bottom, left, right, so that adults can cut off the characters upon seeing them, preventing waste. Temple banners vowed for wishes are often sold by monks and Taoists to others, dyed into tea sheds or wind screens, or even changed into quilts, where characters are profaned, incurring great sin. From now on, when hanging them, only request cutting the characters and sewing them onto the banner, which fulfills the vow. If there are those who contribute funds to buy and burn them, to prevent future abuses, the merit is immeasurable. Written characters discarded on roads should be collected when seen. Those pasted on walls, or on the bottoms of bowls, umbrella handles, pen stems, and fan surfaces with broken characters, should all be collected and cherished. All kinds of character books must not be used by women as needlework pads, nor allowed for children to play with.

The "Wan" (卍) character, i.e., the ancient ten-thousand character, according to research ("Zihui"): The "Wan" character is an auspicious mark on the chest of the ancient Buddha, unknown to people. It is embroidered or painted, mixed in filthy places, or even woven/embroidered on silk and satin, made into shirts and trousers, or quilts. Is this not disrespectful? People rarely examine this closely. I specially disseminate this widely:

When performing Buddhist rites, prepare two small vats: one for burning ingots and underworld currency, one for burning documents and paper horses. Although characters are burned, their traces do not disappear; paper ash sticking to the ground incurs serious sin. If encountering monks or Taoists, also advise them.

We propose distributing character baskets, with one or two key rules printed on the basket tags, or carving another sheet to distribute alongside books to widely admonish. Any benevolent gentlemen may also follow this procedure.