歷代三寶紀 1.2

1.2

帝年上者。述身毒國如來託生。當此真丹姬周時也。年代浸遠人世參差。指而言之亟迷前後。今先上編甲子紘絡古今。下纘帝年綱紀時代。庶禪讓霸主若鏡目前。遷革市朝如鑒掌內。然後考諸君王澤被撫運。適時佛法化流應機濟物。釋經孔教理契冥符。可謂靈降五天瑞通九州者也。姬昌母姒夢大人感因而生昌。龍顏虎眉身長一丈。胸有四乳。國濱西戎。政被東漸。赤雀降祉。改稱周。諡曰文王。都酆收葬枯骸。天下歸服。故夫子曰。文王之德美哉。不動而化。到其子發武王伐紂。徙都鎬京。路逢暍人下車而扇。卑輕萬乘子愛兆民。故孫卿子云。武王生則天下歌。死則四海哭。至第十九主莊王他十年即魯春秋莊公七年夏四月辛卯夜恒星不見。夜中星隕如雨。案此即是如來誕生王宮時也（先賢諸德推佛生年互有遐邇。依法顯傳推佛生時則當殷世武乙二十六年甲午。至今開皇十七年丁巳便已一千六百八十一年。依沙門法上答高句麗國問。則當前周第五主昭王瑕二十四年甲寅。至今丁巳則一千四百八十六年。引穆天子別傳為證。稱瑕子滿嗣位。穆王聞佛生迦維。遂西遊而不返。依像正記當前周第十七主平王宜臼四十八年戊午。至今丁巳則一千三百二十三年。依後周沙門釋道安用羅什年紀及石柱銘推。則當前周第十八主桓王林五年乙丑。至今丁巳則一千二百二十五年。依趙伯休梁大同元年於廬山遇弘度律師得佛滅度後眾聖點記推。則當前周第二十九主貞定王亮二年甲戌。至今丁巳殆一千六十一年。唯此最近。准三藏教及善見律云。佛何以不度女人。為敬法故。正法千年。以度女人減五百年制修八敬還滿千年。然後像法亦一千年。末法萬年。五千年來學三達智并得四果。六千年去學不得道。萬年已後經典文字自然滅盡。但現剃頭有袈裟耳。正法之世大乘味淳。至乎像代味少淡泊。若入末法則無大乘。奴婢出家污染淨行。惡王治世課稅僧尼。今則未然。緣此正像交涉未深。三寶載興大乘盛布。寧得已接於末法者哉）。

The first section of the Imperial Chronology describes the Tathāgata’s descent and birth in Shendu, which corresponded in this Cīnasthāna to the era of the Ji Zhou dynasty. As the era has receded ever further into the past and human generations have become jumbled, pointing out and recounting them leads to frequent confusion regarding what came before and after. Now, I first compile the sexagenary cycle above to weave together the ancient and the modern, and below I arrange the imperial chronologies to set in order the epochs, hoping that the abdication of thrones and the rise of hegemons will appear as clear as in a mirror before one’s eyes, and that the shifts of markets and courts will be observed as though within the palm of one's hand. Thereafter, I examine how the benevolence of the various rulers nurtured their epochs, and how the transformation of the Buddhadharma flowed at the opportune times, responding to circumstances to save beings. The Buddhist scriptures and the Confucian teachings agree in their underlying principles and secretly coincide, so that it may truly be said that the divine presence descended upon the Five Indias and the auspicious omens reached the Nine Provinces. Ji Chang's mother, Tai Si, had a dream of a great man, and being moved thereby gave birth to Chang. He had the visage of a dragon and the eyebrows of a tiger, was ten feet tall, and had four breasts on his chest. His state bordered on the Western Rong, yet his governance reached toward the east. A red sparrow descended with good fortune, and he changed [his state's] name to Zhou, being posthumously named King Wen. He made Feng his capital, buried exposed skeletons, and the whole world submitted to him. Hence Confucius said: “How magnificent was King Wen's virtue! He transformed without taking action.” When it came to his son Fa, King Wu, he launched a punitive expedition against Zhou, and moved the capital to the Hao capital. When meeting someone suffering from heatstroke on the road, he stepped down from his carriage to fan him; he humbled himself and held lightly the [pride of] ten thousand chariots, while cherishing the myriad common folk as his children. Therefore Xunzi said: “When King Wu lived, the world sang; when he died, the Four Seas wept.” When it reached the nineteenth ruler, King Zhuang (Tuo), in his tenth year—which was the seventh year of Duke Zhuang in the Lu Spring and Autumn Annals, summer, fourth month, the night of the xinmao day—the fixed stars did not appear, and in the middle of the night stars fell like rain. According to examination, this was precisely the time when the Tathāgata was born in the royal palace. (Former worthies and masters who calculated the year of the Buddha’s birth had differing long and short estimates. Calculating the Buddha's birth from the Record of Faxian, it would correspond to the twenty-sixth year, jiawu, of Wu Yi of the Yin dynasty; from then to the present seventeenth year of Kaihuang, dingsi, it has already been 1,681 years. Relying on the śramaṇa Fashang’s reply to the queries of the kingdom of Goguryeo, it would correspond to the twenty-fourth year, jiayin, of King Zhao (Xia), the fifth ruler of the Former Zhou; from then to the present dingsi year, it is 1,486 years. He cited the Alternative Biography of King Mu, the Son of Heaven, as evidence, stating that Xia's son Man succeeded to the throne, and King Mu heard that the Buddha was born in Kapilavastu, whereupon he traveled west and did not return. Relying on the Record of the Semblance and True [Dharma], it corresponds to the forty-eighth year, wuwu, of King Ping (Yijiu), the seventeenth ruler of the Former Zhou; from then to the present dingsi year, it is 1,323 years. Relying on the calculations made by the Later Zhou śramaṇa Shi Dao'an using Kumārajīva's chronology and a stone pillar inscription, it corresponds to the fifth year, yichou, of King Huan (Lin), the eighteenth ruler of the Former Zhou; from then to the present dingsi year, it is 1,225 years. Relying on the dots marked by the holy assembly after the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa, obtained by Zhao Boxiu when he met the Vinaya Master Hongdu at Mount Lu in the first year of Datong of the Liang, it would correspond to the second year, jiaxu, of King Zhending (Liang), the twenty-ninth ruler of the Former Zhou; from then to the present dingsi year, it is almost 1,061 years. Only this is the closest. According to the Tripiṭaka teachings and the Samantapāsādikā, why did the Buddha not cross over women [initially]? It was out of respect for the Dharma. The true Dharma was to last a thousand years; because women were crossed over, five hundred years were deducted, but through the establishment and observance of the eight gurudharmas, it was restored to a full thousand years. Thereafter, the semblance Dharma would also last a thousand years, and the final Dharma would last ten thousand years. For five thousand years, one may study the three knowledges and attain the four fruits. From six thousand years onward, one who studies cannot attain the Way. After ten thousand years, the scriptures and characters will vanish naturally of themselves, with only shaved heads and the wearing of kāṣāyas remaining. In the age of the true Dharma, the flavor of the Mahāyāna is pure; reaching the semblance age, its flavor becomes somewhat diluted; if one enters the final Dharma, then there is no Mahāyāna. Slaves and bondservants leave home, defiling pure conduct; evil kings govern the world and impose taxes on monks and nuns. At present, this is not yet the case. Because the transition between the true and semblance [Dharma] has not yet gone deep, the triratna is flourishing anew and the Mahāyāna is widely propagated. How could we have already entered the final Dharma?)