[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) › [佛祖統紀](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2035) › 35.22 # 佛祖統紀 35.22 佛祖統紀 35.22 - **Language:** Classical Chinese ### [35.22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2035.35.22) 十四年正月十一日。五嶽八山道士褚善信六百九十人上表。請與西域佛道角試優劣。勅尚書令宋庠。以十五日大集白馬寺。帝設行殿於寺南門立三壇。道士於東壇置經子符籙。摩騰於道西置壇安經像舍利。中壇奉饌食奠祀百神。道士遶壇泣曰。主上信邪玄風失緒。敢延經義於壇以火取驗。即縱火焚經。悉成灰燼。道士相顧愧赧。所試呪術入火履水皆不得行。及焚佛經。光明五色上徹天表。烈火既息經像儼然。摩騰踊身飛空現諸神變。法蘭出大梵音宣明佛法。天雨寶華。大眾欣說。太傅張衍謂道士曰。卿等無驗宜從佛教。道士費叔才自感而死。司空劉峻等二百六十人京師士庶張子尚等三百九十人。後宮陰夫人王倢伃宮人等一百九十人。五嶽道士呂惠通等六百二十人。並求出家。帝可之。勅於雒陽創十寺。七寺城外安僧。三寺城內安尼。並給供物。帝嘗幸白馬寺。摩騰進曰。寺東何館也。帝曰。昔有阜。夷之復起。有光怪。民呼聖冢。騰曰。昔阿育王藏佛舍利八萬四千塔。震旦之境有十九處。此其一也（震旦。又真丹。又支那。此云漢地。東方文物之國也）。帝大驚。即與俱往禮拜。見圓光涌冢上光中有三佛。侍衛驩呼皆稱萬歲。帝大說曰。不有二大士。焉知大聖遺祐哉。乃詔造塔其上。高九層二百尺。明年有光見於塔。有金色手出塔頂。天香郁然。帝駕幸瞻禮。光隨步武（法本內傳。塔婆。此云高顯處。又云方墳）。 > On the eleventh day of the first month of the fourteenth year, six hundred and ninety Daoists of the Five Peaks and Eight Mountains, including Chu Shanxin, submitted a memorial requesting a contest of superiority with the Buddhist way of the Western Regions. An imperial edict ordered the Director of the Department of State Affairs, Song Xiang, to hold a grand assembly at the Baima Temple on the fifteenth day. The Emperor established a temporary palace at the south gate of the temple and erected three altars. The Daoists placed their classics, philosophical treatises, talismans, and registers on the eastern altar. Mātanga placed an altar on the west of the path, arranging sūtras, images, and relics. On the central altar were offered foods and libations to sacrifice to the hundred deities. The Daoists circled their altar weeping and saying: "The Sovereign believes in heresy, and the mysterious wind has lost its continuity. We dare to present the sacred scriptures upon the altar to test them by fire!" Thereupon they set fire to burn the scriptures, and all were reduced to ashes. The Daoists looked at one another in shame and embarrassment; the incantations and techniques they attempted—entering fire and walking on water—none could be performed. When it came to burning the Buddhist sūtras, a five-coloured radiance penetrated upward to the realm of the heavens. When the blazing fire subsided, the scriptures and images remained completely intact. Mātanga leapt into the air and manifested various miraculous transformations. Dharmaratna uttered a great Brahmā-sound, proclaiming and clarifying the Buddha's Dharma. The heavens rained down precious flowers, and the great assembly was filled with joy. The Grand Tutor Zhang Yan addressed the Daoists, saying: "You have had no verification; you ought to follow the Buddhist teachings." The Daoist Fei Shucai died of self-reproach. The Minister of Works Liu Jun and two hundred and sixty others, the capital's gentry and commoners Zhang Zishang and three hundred and ninety others, Lady Yin of the inner palace, the Handsome Lady Wang, and other palace women numbering one hundred and ninety, and the Daoists of the Five Peaks, Lü Huitong and six hundred and twenty others, all sought to leave household life. The Emperor granted it. He decreed the founding of ten temples in Luoyang: seven temples outside the city to lodge monks, and three temples inside the city to lodge nuns, all supplied with offerings. Once the Emperor visited Baima Temple. Mātanga stepped forward and asked: "What building is that to the east of the temple?" The Emperor said: "Formerly there was a mound; when leveled it rose again, and there were strange lights. The people call it the Holy Tomb." Mātanga said: "Formerly King Aśoka enshrined the Buddha's relics in eighty-four thousand pagodas; there are nineteen sites in the territory of Cīnasthāna, and this is one of them" (Cīnasthāna: also Zhendan, also Zhina; here translated as 'the land of the Han', the eastern country of culture and letters). The Emperor was greatly astonished and immediately went with him to pay homage. He saw a circular halo surging above the mound, within which were three Buddhas. The attendants cheered, all shouting "Ten thousand years!" The Emperor was greatly delighted, saying: "Were it not for these two Great Beings, how could we have known of the Great Sage's bequeathed blessings?" Thereupon he ordered a pagoda built above it, nine storeys and two hundred feet high. In the following year, a light appeared on the pagoda, and a golden hand emerged from its top, with heavenly fragrance pervading. The Emperor traveled there in his carriage to gaze and pay homage, and the light followed his footsteps (Faben neichuan: thūpa \[stūpa\]; here translated as 'high and prominent place', or 'square tumulus'). > — English (machine translation) (machine translation) - [Previous: 35.21](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2035.35.21) - [Next: 35.23](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2035.35.23) - [Up: 35](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2035.35) ## Translations (1) - [English (machine translation)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2035~en-mt.35.22) — English, machine translation --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2035.35.22](https://indike.org/pramana/in.bauddha.taisho.2035.35.22) · Pramāṇa