佛祖統紀 36.121

36.121

三年。帝幸莊嚴寺觀三教談論○周顒遷直殿省。時帝好玄理。而遇人慘毒。不敢顯諫。輒舉佛經罪福事。帝為之遷善。顒著三宗論言空假義。西涼州道人智林。遺書以贊美之○勅尼淨秀所居為禪林院。秀有神異。感娑伽羅龍王兄弟來護。常有三十二童子功德天善女天。以任驅役（三十二童應是三十二天）所服袈裟色如熟椹。見諸尼不如法。即行摩那埵懺悔之法（秦言意喜。由懺悔故自意歡喜。亦使眾僧歡喜也）自是京師二部莫不精持。嘗遊兜率天持天波利餅。謂其師曰。可齋堂中坐禪沙門○逸士顧歡作夷夏論。以佛道二教齊乎達化而有夷夏之別。歡雖同二法。而意黨道教。司徒袁粲託沙門通公。為論以駁之。謂孔老教俗為本。釋氏出世為宗。發軫既殊其歸亦異。常侍何鎮之。亦以書詆歡言。道家經籍簡陋。如靈寶妙真之類。采撮法華制用尤拙。上清黃庭餐霞咀石。非徒法不可效。道亦難同。雖五千之文稍長。終不若三乘。共引九流俱接之為得也（出弘明集及南史顧歡傳）○沙門竺法眷等。譯無盡意經等十二部○帝聞廬山陸修靜有道。築崇虛館以禮致之。順風問道。朝野歸心。

In the third year, the Emperor visited Zhuangyan Monastery to observe a debate among the Three Teachings. Zhou Yong was promoted to duty in the Palace Department. At the time, the Emperor took pleasure in dark learning (xuanli) but treated people with cruel malice. Zhou Yong did not dare remonstrate openly, but whenever occasion arose he cited the Buddhist scriptures regarding sins and blessings, and the Emperor reformed himself because of this. Yong composed the *San Zong Lun* (Treatise on the Three Tenets), discussing the meanings of emptiness and provisionality. The śramaṇa Zhilin of Western Liangzhou sent him a letter praising it. An imperial edict converted the dwelling of the nun Jingxiu into the Chanlin Convent. Xiu possessed supernatural wonders; she moved the brothers of the Nāga King Sāgara to come and protect her, and constantly had the thirty-two youths, Śrīmahādevī (Gongdetian), and the Virtuous Maiden Deity (Shannütian) at her disposal for service. (The thirty-two youths must have been the Thirty-Three Devas.) The kāṣāya she wore was the color of ripe mulberries. Whenever she saw nuns who did not act according to the Dharma, she immediately performed the mānāpya rite of repentance. (In the Qin language, this means 'joy of mind'; through repentance, one's own mind rejoices, and it also causes the Saṅgha to rejoice.) From then on, both assemblies [of monks and nuns] in the capital strictly maintained [the precepts]. Once, traveling to the Tuṣita Heaven, she brought back heavenly parpaṭa cakes (poli bing) and said to her master, 'These may serve as the meal for the śramaṇas sitting in dhyāna in the hall.' The retired scholar Gu Huan composed the *Yi Xia Lun* (Treatise on the Barbarians and the Chinese), holding that the two teachings of Buddhism and Daoism were equal in achieving transformation, but differed as barbarian and Chinese. Although Huan equated the two teachings, his sympathies favored Daoism. Minister over the Masses Yuan Can entrusted the śramaṇa Master Tong to write a treatise refuting him, arguing that Confucius and Laozi took worldly instruction as fundamental, whereas the Śākya clan took world-transcendence as its core aim; since their starting points were distinct, their ultimate ends were also different. Regular Mounted Attendant He Zhenzhi also wrote a letter criticizing Huan, saying: 'The scriptures of the Daoists are crude and shallow, such as the *Lingbao* and *Miaozhen*; they pluck from the *Lotus Sūtra* yet adapt it with extreme clumsiness. As for the *Shangqing* and *Huangting*, with their swallowing mists and chewing stones, not only can such practices not be emulated, but their Dao is also hard to identify with. Although the five-thousand-character text [of Laozi] has slight merit, in the end it is not equal to the Three Vehicles, which together guide the nine schools and embrace all of them—that is indeed the supreme attainment.' (Derived from the *Hongming Ji* and the 'Biography of Gu Huan' in the *History of the Southern Dynasties*.) The śramaṇa Zhu Fajuan and others translated twelve scriptures, including the *Akṣayamati Sūtra*. Hearing that Lu Xiujing of Mount Lu possessed the Dao, the Emperor built the Chongxu Abbey to welcome him with courtesy; he followed the wind to inquire of the Dao, and court and commons turned their hearts to him.