止觀輔行傳弘決 2.59.2

2.59.2

This means that from the times of Tang and Yu onward, there were the Quanrong, Xianyun, and Xunyu, who dwelt on the northern borders of the realm. They moved following their livestock and migrated in pursuit of water and grass. Without tilled fields, they had animal husbandry; each had their own territories without written records, having [only] verbal agreements. Children could ride sheep and draw bows to shoot birds; they practiced only archery, lacking rites and righteousness. From the sovereign down, all ate the meat of domestic animals, the young eating the fat and choice meat and the old eating the leavings, valuing the young and despising the old. When a father died, [the son] took his mother as wife; when an elder brother died, [the brother] took his sister-in-law as wife. From the Yin and Zhou onwards, their invasions and plundering of the Central Plains were continuous, like an unbroken thread. The ancestral temple and altars of the house of Zhou were nearly wiped out by their invasions; what was not wiped out was just like a thread. Later, the Western Earl attacked the Quanrong and pursued them to the north of the Luo River; they paid tribute from time to time, which was termed 'the wild domain.' From then on, the Quanrong did not arrive. Being bared to the shoulder was inherently an omen of the decline of the Zhou house; how could one emulate it? The degenerate times are like the end of the Zhou; evil teachers are like being bared to the shoulder; the correct teaching is like the knowledgeable; breaking the precepts is like losing the rites; the realm of desire is like the Quanrong; damaging correct contemplation is like invading the Central Plains; the direct cause being unbroken is like a single thread; and the gradual extinction of the conditions and the understanding is in principle like being gradually wiped out.
Next, from 'Moreover, Ruan Ji' down, this analogizes the fault of disciples falsely receiving [the teaching]. Therein, it first adduces the high officials emulating Ruan as an analogy. The 'Biographies' state: 'Ruan Ji, courtesy name Sizong, was a native of Weishi in Chenliu. His appearance was towering and eminent, his will and spirit broad and unrestrained; aloofly self-contained, he followed his natural disposition without restraint, and pleasure and anger were never manifest in his countenance. Sometimes he closed his doors to read books for days without emerging; sometimes he scaled mountains and overlooked waters, staying overnight and forgetting to return. Addicted to wine and skilled at whistling, he abruptly forgot his physical body; people of the time often called him a fool. In the age of Jin and Wei, there were still many famous scholars in the realm, but few could preserve themselves whole. Because he did not engage in worldly affairs, he made heavy drinking his normal state. When Emperor Wen assisted in governing, he was appointed Chancellor of Dongping; he went riding an ox and returned in ten days. Although filial by nature and will, he was not constrained by ritual teachings. When his mother died, he was playing weiqi with someone; his opponent asked to stop, but he insisted on staying to decide the wager. When the game ended, he drank two sheng of wine, let out a single loud wail, and vomited several sheng of blood. When Pei Kai went to offer condolences, [Ruan Ji] merely sat insolently drunk, staring straight ahead; when seeing men of ritual conventions, he looked at them with the whites of his eyes; because of this, men of ritual conventions hated him like an enemy. Sometimes he would lie down right beside a young married woman next door; or when someone else had a death and he was not related, he would go to mourn, driving [his carriage] without following roads, and turning back weeping only when the way was blocked. At clan gatherings, they no longer used cups, but sat in a circle around a basin and drank together.' How could one emulate such luxury and wildness?
As for 'This was an omen of the destruction of the Sima clan,' the dynastic name was Jin, and the surname was Sima. Li, son of Gaoyang, served as Minister of Summer; by the Zhou, the Minister of Summer was made Sima, and they took this as their surname. From [Emperors] Huai and Min down to Xiaowu, there were fifteen emperors. The fall of the Jin state in the time of Emperor Min was because the worthy and eminent did not practice military weapons and prized refinement, luxury, and wildness; later, the sons and grandsons of high officials emulated them, and consequently the five barbarian tribes invaded the country, whereupon [the court] took refuge east of the Yangtze River. Thus a children's ballad went: 'Five horses float across the river; one horse transforms into a dragon.' Because of this, Emperor Hui's third son, Rui, and others moved the capital to Jianye, designated as the Eastern Jin, and he was called Emperor Yuan. By the time of Emperor Xiaowu, there was still much wine and sensuality, and on this account the dynastic fortune collapsed. The collapse of the Jin dynastic fortune was due to the sons and grandsons of high officials mistakenly emulating Ruan Ji. At first, there was the hardship of [rulers] envying the worthy, so he avoided the world by feigning madness; later, there was no danger of jealousy towards talent, so why should one emulate his wildness? Furthermore, like Ruan Ji's nephew Xian, whose second son was Fu, serving as an adjutant during the time of Emperor Yuan: with disheveled hair he drank wine, not letting royal affairs cross his mind. He was constantly impeached by the Right Officer, but the Emperor tolerated him, later appointing him Chief Clerk of Yangzhou. The Emperor said to him: 'You are guarding the army headquarters; you ought to moderate your drinking.' He replied: 'Your Majesty did not consider your servant incompetent and entrusted him with the heavy responsibility of the military. The reason your servant dares not speak is that now that Your Majesty oversees and displays awe-inspiring authority, the transformational teachings are brilliant, the imperial favor reaches far, bandits and rebels have ceased their tracks, the baleful vapors have cleared, and the sun and moon are bright; how could the torchlight not be extinguished? One should properly fold one's hands, whistle and chant, to delight in these years.' Soon after, Su Jun caused a rebellion. This too was the fault of not training in military armor. Those who practice samādhi are also like this: only when facing difficulty and encountering obstacles does one cultivate contemplation amidst evil; when there is no difficulty, why must one abandon the good and follow the evil? Cultivating contemplation according to the teaching is like employing the civil and the military; entering evil without cause is like emulating wildness and indolence. Forgetting [caution] and conferring false teachings is like Ruan's drunken madness; disciples falsely receiving them is like the sons of high officials.
Next, from 'Yuwen' down, this clarifies Emperor Wu of the Zhou believing in prophecies, as an analogy for falsely receiving [the teaching]. His ancestor was the Flame Emperor Shennong, who was destroyed by the Yellow Emperor; his descendants avoided [the conflict] and dwelt in the northern wilderness, and the Xianbei honored them as masters. A later descendant was called Puhui, who found a seal while hunting; Puhui marveled at it and considered it a gift from Heaven. In their customs, heaven is called yu, hence they were called Yuwen. When he first ascended the throne, he also believed in the Buddhadharma; later, he believed in prophecy texts saying that one in black garments would be king, whereupon he venerated the Daoist tradition, personally receiving talismans and registers, wearing a dark cap and yellow coarse robes and always wearing them internally; in his mind he was suspicious of the Śākya tradition and wished to annihilate it completely, but was troubled that believers in Buddhism were many and did not dare act despotically. There was a Daoist, Zhang Bin, who deceitfully deceived the sovereign, secretly forwarding his strategy to covertly promote the Li tradition and expel the Śākyan lineage. Prophecies are like an evil teacher; Emperor Wu of the Zhou is like a disciple.
As for 'It was also due to the demonic deeds of Yuansong' and so on, Emperor Wu of the Zhou was already suspicious, and on top of this came Yuansong; therefore it says, 'It was also due to the demonic deeds of Yuansong.' Yuansong aided him, and the Emperor accepted his words; wishing to spy out faults and weigh the errors of Buddhism, he summoned the monks into the inner palace to practice the Path for seven nights, and the Emperor shared the arena with them; for seven nights there were no faults. He also ordered the Metropolitan Censor Zhen Luan to examine the two teachings of Buddhism and Daoism; Luan submitted the Xiaodao lun in three fascicles and thirty-six sections, using them to ridicule the thirty-six divisions. At that time there was also Dharma Master An, who was on intimate terms with the Emperor, and also composed the Erjiao lun in twelve sections, clarifying that the Daoist teaching was subsumed within the nine schools of thought and should not solely be a founder of a teaching, so there were only two teachings. Dharma Master Yuan wrote the Kangdi lun. Later, the Emperor toured the east, and Ren Daolin explained the Buddhadharma; also, because Wang Ming submitted a memorial, the Buddhadharma was clarified. That Yuansong was originally a native of Hedong; his distant ancestors were officials and settled in the river regions of Shu. At the end of the Liang, the capital was in Dongcheng, which was Xiao Cha of the Later Liang. Cha was destroyed and Kui was established; reaching the twelfth year of Tianbao, corresponding to the sixth year of Taijian of the Chen, which is the third year of Jiande of the Yuwen, the two teachings of Buddhism and Daoism were abolished. After seven years under the Yuwen, in the second year of Tianhe, [Yuan]song submitted a memorial saying: 'In the age of Tang and Yu there were no stupas yet the state was secure; in Qi and Liang there were monasteries yet their dynastic fortunes were extinguished. Only benefiting the people and profiting the state fulfills the Buddha's intention.'