[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Buddhist Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha) › [Taishō Tripiṭaka (Chinese Buddhist canon)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho) › [註四十二章經](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1794) › 1.299 # 註四十二章經 1.299 註四十二章經 1.299 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [1.299](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1794.1.299) 此臺在洛陽。臺者，壇也。考此燒經比論之壇，乃後漢明帝築也。元此《四十二章經》皆有來因，是永平七年，明帝夜夢一人，體有金色，項有日光，飛空而至殿前。明旦宣問群臣，有通人傅毅占夢，奏曰：「臣聞西域有得道者，號曰佛。經舉能飛，具六神通。今應此夢。」帝悟大悅，即遣羽林郎蔡愔、博士秦景、王遵等十二人，望葱嶺而往尋西土，求迎佛法。行至中路月氏國，眾乃駭然，得瞻迦葉摩騰共竺法蘭二梵僧，圓頂方袍之異相，乘白馬，携釋迦真像、白㲲之圖，并此《四十二章》一卷回朝，時永平十年也。帝喜躬親迎，奉宣委鴻臚以陳國禮。勅令彩畵釋迦頂相於清涼臺，因建立白馬寺。請此二尊者住院，於帝說法至冬。值歲旦，五岳道士賀正之次，道士褚善信、費叔才等，共六百九十人互相語曰：「帝棄我道教，遠求胡教。」乃自率眾，各將所持道經共上表，願與胡佛教比試其真偽。帝遂降勅尚書令宋庠，引入長樂宮前，宣曰：「道士與僧就元宵日駢集白馬寺南門外，立兩壇，至期試之。」西壇燒道經六百餘卷，頃刻燒盡，唯取得《老子道經》一卷是真，其餘是杜光庭撰，今云杜撰也。帝觀東壇佛像，并此《四十二章》，燒不能壞，但見五色神光，天雨寶花，天樂自振，歎未曾有。帝共群臣稱悅。太傅張衍語諸道士曰：「既試無驗，可就佛法。」其道士褚費等深有愧恧，皆氣盛自死。餘有呂惠通等六百二十人，皆棄冠帔，投佛出家。因此流通佛教，州縣建寺敬僧。始從《四十二章》，自後人續去，取五千餘卷，至今益顯于世間、三界之中，含識之類蒙恩受賴，綿綿不絕也。 > This platform is in Luoyang. A platform (tai) is an altar. Upon examination, this altar for burning scriptures to debate and assess \[their truth\] was built by Emperor Ming of the Later Han. Originally, this Sūtra in Forty-two Sections had an origin: in the seventh year of Yongping, Emperor Ming dreamed at night of a person whose body was golden in color, with a halo of sunlight behind his neck, flying through the air and arriving before the palace hall. The next morning he proclaimed an inquiry to the assembled ministers, and the erudite Fu Yi, interpreting the dream, memorialized: "Your servant has heard that in the Western Regions there is one who attained the Way, named Buddha. By scriptures' account, he is able to fly and is endowed with the six supernormal knowledges. This now corresponds to the dream." The emperor understood and was greatly pleased; he immediately dispatched the Imperial Guard Officer Cai Yin, the Erudites Qin Jing and Wang Zun, and others, twelve persons in all, gazing toward the Congling Mountains and setting out to search the Western Regions and seek to welcome the Buddhadharma. When they reached midway to the kingdom of the Yuezhi, the crowd was astonished to behold the two Indian monks Kāśyapa Mātanga and Dharmaratna, possessing the extraordinary features of shaved heads and square robes, riding a white horse, bringing a genuine image of Śākyamuni, a painting on white fine cotton, together with this Sūtra in Forty-two Sections in one scroll, returning to the court; it was then the tenth year of Yongping. The emperor rejoiced and went in person to welcome them, issuing an edict entrusting the Court of State Ceremonial to present state honors. He ordered that a portrait of Śākyamuni's uṣṇīṣa be painted at the Qingliang Terrace, and thereupon established the Baima Temple. He invited these two venerables to take up residence, preaching the Dharma to the emperor until winter. It happened at New Year's Day, when the Daoists of the Five Sacred Peaks were offering New Year greetings, that the Daoists Chu Shanxin, Fei Shucai, and others, totaling six hundred and ninety persons, said to one another: "The emperor has abandoned our Daoist teachings to seek the barbarian teachings from afar." They then led their assembly and, each bearing the Daoist scriptures they held, jointly submitted a memorial wishing to test the truth and falsehood \[of their teachings\] against the barbarian Buddhist teachings. The emperor thereupon issued an edict to the Director of the Department of State Affairs, Song Xiang, to lead them before the Changle Palace, and proclaimed: "Daoists and monks shall assemble together on the day of the Lantern Festival outside the south gate of Baima Temple, where two altars will be erected to test them when the time comes." At the western altar, over six hundred scrolls of Daoist scriptures were burned, and in an instant they were reduced to ashes; only one scroll of the Laozi Daodejing was retrieved intact as authentic, while the rest were composed by Du Guangting, which today is called "duzhuan" (fabricated). The emperor observed at the eastern altar that the Buddha statue and this Sūtra in Forty-two Sections could not be destroyed by fire, but instead five-colored divine light was seen, jewel flowers rained from the sky, heavenly music played of itself, and all praised it as unprecedented. The emperor and his ministers rejoiced. Grand Tutor Zhang Yan addressed the Daoists, saying: "Since the test yielded no proof, you may take refuge in the Buddhadharma." The Daoists Chu, Fei, and the others were deeply mortified and died from bursts of fury. Of the remainder, Lü Huitong and six hundred and twenty others all cast off their caps and robes and took refuge in the Buddha to leave household life. Because of this, the Buddhist teachings spread widely, and prefectures and counties established temples and honored the monastic community. Beginning from the Sūtra in Forty-two Sections, later people successively went on to fetch over five thousand scrolls, and up to the present day it has shone with ever greater prominence in the world and throughout the three realms, so that all sentient beings receive its grace and rely upon it continuously without end. > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 1.298](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1794.1.298) - [Up: 1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1794.1) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1794~en-mt.1.299) — English, machine translation ## Linked texts (1) - [འཕགས་པ་དུམ་བུ་ཞེ་གཉིས་པ་ཞེས་བྱ་བའི་མདོ](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.tibet.kangyur.mdo_sde.359a.1) — Classical Tibetan --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1794.1.299](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.1794.1.299) · Pramāṇa