歷代三寶紀 1.2

1.2

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?)