佛祖統紀 38

English (machine translation) 38

Language: English

38.1

Composed by Śramaṇa Zhipan of Donghu in Siming during the Jingding reign of the Song

38.2

Treatise on the Prosperity and Decline of the Dharma, Section Seventeen, Part Five

From the Zhou and Qin dynasties down to the Six Dynasties, the world has considered them to hold the orthodox lineage. As for the Northern Wei, Qi, and Zhou, although they did not form a single continuous succession, they resided in the Central Plains for generations and widely practiced rites and music; calling them the Northern Dynasties does not treat them with contempt as the Five Barbarians of the Jin were treated. Although the Sui received the abdication of the Zhou, it was truly capable of unifying the realm and continuing the orthodox calendar of the Chen. This is the subtle intent of those who write history. Furthermore, regarding the two teachings in northern history, the waxings and wanings, growths and declines, were connected with much indeed; therefore, they are presented side-by-side here to serve as illumination.

38.4

Northern Wei (Capital at Yunzhong)

38.5

Emperor Taizu (Tuoba Gui)

38.6

In the second year of Huangshi, an edict appointed Faguang of Zhao Commandery as Saṅgha Overseer. The emperor possessed innate knowledge and faith in Buddhism. When he initially pacified Zhongshan, wherever he passed through commanderies and kingdoms, he paid homage to any śramaṇas he met and forbade the army from violating them.

38.7

In the first year of Tianxing, an edict ordered the construction in the capital of a five-tiered pagoda, a Mount Sumeru Hall, Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa meditation rooms, and lecture halls, all striving for grandeur and magnificence.

38.8

Emperor Mingyuan (Si, son of Taizu)

38.9

In the first year of Yongxing, an edict enfeoffed Faguang as the State-Supporting Viscount of Yicheng (the beginning of monks receiving secular official titles). In the first year of Shenrui, Faguang was additionally enfeoffed as the Marquis of Loyalty and Trust.

38.10

In the second year, Lord Lao descended upon Mount Song and conferred scriptures and precepts upon the Daoist priest Kou Qianzhi, saying to him: "Since Zhang Daoling passed away, the worldly office has been left vacant. I now confer upon you the office of Celestial Master, to purify and regulate the Daoist teaching, to convert the multitude of beings, and to abolish the malpractices of the three Zhangs' grain-taxes and cash-levies as well as the arts of the union of male and female pneumas." (The three Zhangs refers to Zhang Ling, who made sick people offer grain to repent their faults; later Zhang Xiu and Zhang Jiao followed his example, and the world called it the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice.) Two years later, Lord Lao dispatched his great-great-grandson, the High Master and Perfected Person Li Puwen, to bestow one hundred and sixty fascicles of the Taiping sujing tulù to assist the Northern Taiping Zhenjun (referring to Emperor Taiwu).

38.11

In the first year of Taichang, Faguang was additionally enfeoffed as the Duke of Ancheng. He died at an age of over eighty years. The emperor attended his funeral three times and posthumously conferred on him the title Duke Ling (the beginning of bestowing posthumous titles [on monks]).

38.12

Emperor Taiwu (Tao, son of Mingyuan)

38.13

In the first year of Shiguang, an imperial decree ordered that the monasteries throughout the realm be renamed Zhaoti (translated here as 'dwelling of the ten directions'). On the eighth day of the fourth month, images from various monasteries were carried on palanquins through the wide avenues. The emperor proceeded to the gate tower to watch, scatter flowers, and pay homage. (The Sengshi lüe states: "Kings and ministers of Western India, regretting that they could not see the Buddha, carry images into the cities on palanquins to circumambulate on his birthday, making offerings throughout the night; this is called 'parading the images', and it is so in every country.") Kou Qianzhi, a Daoist priest of Mount Song, offered up the books conferred by Lord Lao. The court did not believe them, and only Minister of Education Cui Hao submitted a memorial praising the matter. The emperor gladly accepted them, dispatched envoys to build the Xuandu Altar, and erected the Heavenly Palace of the Wheel of Tranquility. He decreed that Qianzhi and his disciples should rank above all princes and dukes and need not address themselves as subjects, and selected one hundred and twenty sons of noble families to be Daoist priests.

38.14

In the second year, on the emperor's birthday, an edict ordered the establishment of bodhimaṇḍas for praying for longevity in Buddhist temples (the beginning of birthday bodhimaṇḍas). In the first year of Shenjia (jia is pronounced jia, meaning a male deer), on the emperor's birthday, an edict ordered that bodhimaṇḍas be established in all Buddhist monasteries throughout the realm.

38.15

At the beginning of the first year of Yanhe, the śramaṇa Xuangao of the Liang territory was wonderfully adept in Chan contemplation. The emperor dispatched an envoy to welcome him into Pingcheng, treated him with great reverence, and ordered Crown Prince Huang to serve him as his teacher.

38.16

In the fifth year of Taiyan, Crown Prince Huang was slandered and sought pity from the śramaṇa Xuangao, who performed the Suvarṇaprabhāsa repentance on his behalf. The emperor dreamt that his ancestors reproached him for suspecting the crown prince based on slander. When the emperor mentioned this to Cui Hao, Hao said: "The crown prince conspired with Xuangao to invoke the late emperors through sorcery merely to terrify Your Majesty." In anger, the emperor arrested Xuangao and Huichong and had them strangled to death. Gao's disciple Xuanchang was in Yunzhong; hearing that his master had been murdered, he rushed to the scene and wept, saying: "Upādhyāya, through your spiritual powers, please rise for me!" Gao opened his eyes and said: "The prosperity and decline of the Great Dharma depend solely on external traces; I only regret that your practice will be like mine. Only Xuanchang will be able to cross to the south. After you die, the Dharma will flourish once more." Fajin wailed and cried out: "The sage is gone! Why should I live?" He immediately saw Gao in the air. Jin asked: "Where will the Upādhyāya and Venerable Chong be born?" Gao said: "I go to evil destinies to deliver beings in accordance with my original vow; Venerable Chong has already returned to Sukhāvatī."

38.17

In the first year of Taipingzhenjun, Kou Qianzhi established an altar on Mount Song to pray for blessings on behalf of the emperor. Lord Lao descended again and conferred upon the emperor the title of Taiping Zhenjun (True Lord of Great Peace). Qianzhi memorialized this, and [the emperor] thereupon changed the reign era and proclaimed a general amnesty.

38.18

The commentary says: The Master did not talk about strange spirits; these words can truly serve as a method for educating the world. Now, Laozi was a sage: either acting as a sovereign in heaven, or dividing his form to descend and teach, expounding transformation according to the times—these things indeed existed. Yet Kou Qianzhi then claimed that Laozi descended at such-and-such places, bestowed upon the emperor the title of 'True Lord of Grand Peace', and entrusted him with the doctrine of assisting Grand Peace, relying on Cui Hao to present his writings, thereby deceiving the ruler of his day. How monstrous this was! Thereafter, Cui Hao, relying on the claim that Buddhist teachings are empty and fabricated, persuaded the emperor suddenly to initiate the calamity of exterminating the saṅgha. This was one of the adversities in the fortunes of the Dharma. Soon after, Cui Hao suffered the extermination of his clan, and Emperor Taiwu was assassinated, neither meeting a good end. Both ruler and minister suffered retribution in the unseen realms. How could one not hold enduring resentment against Qianzhi?

38.19

In the seventh year of the Taipingzhenjun reign era, the emperor and Cui Hao both put faith in and esteemed Kou Qianzhi. Hao repeatedly said to the emperor, 'The Buddhist Dharma is empty and fabricated; it should be entirely eradicated.' When the emperor campaigned against Gai Wu (Gai is pronounced ge) and reached Chang'an, he entered a Buddhist monastery. Monks offered wine to his retinue, and weapons were seen in their rooms. When this was reported to the emperor, he ordered the officials to investigate and execute the monks. When their property was examined, great quantities of brewing utensils were found, as well as goods deposited for safekeeping by local officials and wealthy people. Hao thereupon persuaded the emperor to execute all monks under heaven. An edict was issued to the garrison armies that wherever there were stūpas, images, or barbarian scriptures, all were to be burned and destroyed; monks, regardless of young or old, were all to be buried alive. The Crown Prince repeatedly remonstrated without being heeded; he then secretly ordered the edict to be promulgated slowly, so that those near and far might hear in advance and make their own plans. Many monks fled and hid, concealing the scriptures and images. Only the stūpas and temples were left with nothing remaining (jie is phonetic jilie, meaning single; Mencius says, 'There was not a single one left').

38.20

In the eighth year, there was great thunder and lightning from heaven; the halls and chambers were shaken and collapsed. The emperor's residence was crushed, nearly causing his death.

38.21

In the eleventh year, the white-footed monk Tanshi (his feet were whiter than his face, so he was called 'White-Foot' at the time), on the day of the New Year assembly, leaned on his monk's staff at the palace gate. The emperor ordered him to be quickly decapitated (qu is pronounced cu), but he was unhurt. In great anger, the emperor struck him himself with his personal blade, yet he did not die. He then ordered him seized and thrown into a tiger pit, but the tigers all crouched in fear. The emperor was greatly astonished, summoned him to ascend the hall, and bowed in apology. Suddenly the emperor contracted a malignant disease (li is the same as li, meaning a leprosy-like illness) with pain that was unbearable. The ministers all said that this was brought about by Cui Hao's destruction of Buddhism. The emperor was terrified. At that time, Cui Hao had carved the national history he had compiled on stone to display his upright brush. The emperor hated his public exposure of the state's evils, and so ordered Hao to be carried in an open cart, having ten men strike him, urinate into his mouth while in the cart (ni is pronounced naidiao, meaning urine), and cut him in two at the waist. The executions extended to five degrees of his clan and one hundred and twenty subordinates. The emperor then issued an edict restoring the Buddhist Dharma. Earlier, when Hao was eradicating Buddhism, whenever he traveled the roads and saw an abandoned image, he would certainly stop his cart and urinate on it. When his clan was executed, there was no one to collect his corpse; people vied to urinate on Hao's corpse until it was reduced to mush, and only then did they stop.

38.22

In the second year of the Zhengping reign era, the Palace Attendant Zong Ai assassinated the emperor in the Yong'an Palace.

38.23

Emperor Wencheng (Jun, grandson of Emperor Taiwu)

38.24

In the first year of the Xing'an reign era, an edict stated: 'He who is an emperor or king must revere the luminous spirits and make manifest the benevolent way. If one can bestow benefits upon the people and succour the host of living things, even in remote antiquity their exemplary style was chronicled. How much more so for Śākyamuni Tathāgata, whose meritorious deeds aid the great chiliocosm, and whose benefits flow through the mundane realms! Those who examine life and death praise his penetrating insight; those who inspect the texts and doctrines value his wondrous portal. It aids the prohibitions and laws of royal governance, and augments the good nature of benevolence and wisdom. It rejects all heterodoxies and expounds sambodhi. Therefore, from former eras onward, there is none that did not venerate it, and it is likewise what our dynasty has constantly honored. The virtue and beneficence of Ancestor Shizu, Emperor Taiwu, extended far and wide; monks and Daoist masters often formed forests of people. Yet within the monasteries there came to be treacherous factions; the previous reign merely investigated, prosecuted, and executed the guilty among them. The officials misunderstood the imperial intention and banned everything completely (qie is phonetic qie; in the Hanshu, it means cutting all like a knife). We inherit the vast legacy and resolve to promote the sage way. Let each commandery and county under heaven erect a stūpa precinct, and let those who wish to become monks be permitted to do so.' Earlier, the Kaśmīri monk Shixian and four others came to the capital. Encountering the abolition of the Buddhist Dharma, they feigned the medical arts to maintain their path. On the day Buddhism was restored, the emperor personally cut the hair of the five men, and appointed Shixian as Saṅgha Supervisor.

38.25

In the first year of the Heping reign era, an edict appointed the Saṅgha Supervisor Tanyao as the Chief Supervisor of Monks of the Zhaoxuan Temple, treating him with the rites accorded to a teacher (The Treatise on Official Posts in the Book of Sui notes: The Zhaoxuan Temple managed Buddhist affairs. It appointed one Grand Controller, one Controller, and three Rectors, and established meritorious secretaries and clerks to manage the monks of all commanderies).

38.26

In the sixth year, the kingdom of Kaṣgar sent an envoy to present a Buddha's kāṣāya, two zhang in length. The emperor ordered it burned to test it, so as to display its miraculous efficacy, and throughout the day it did not catch fire.

38.27

Emperor Xianwen (Hong, eldest son of Emperor Wencheng)

38.28

In the first year of the Huangxing reign era, an imperial decree ordered that at the Five-Tiered Great Monastery, five Śākyamuni Buddha statues be cast for the five emperors from Ancestor Taizu downwards, each sixteen feet tall, using two hundred and fifty thousand catties of red gold.

38.29

In the third year, the Chief Supervisor of the Zhaoxuan Temple, Tanyao, said, 'Let the households of Pingqi and among the common people who are able pay an annual tribute of grain to the monastic office, termed "Saṅgha Grain"; when a year of famine is met, it will be distributed to relieve the starving populace. Furthermore, let those commoners who commit grave crimes become "Buddha-stūpa households" to serve monasteries with sweeping and sprinkling.' The emperor granted this. Thereupon, Saṅgha Grain spread throughout the realm (Regarding Pingqi households, commentators have not explained it; some say it has the meaning of commoners, the populace. Saṅgha here means the great assembly; fotu is also Buddha, here translated as the Awakened One; "households" refers to the peasant households of Buddhist monasteries). In the fifth year, the emperor had an innate love for Buddhist studies; he often summoned court officials and monks to discuss dark principles together, possessing a mind that wished to leave the world behind. In this year, an edict abdicated the throne to the Crown Prince; he moved his residence to the Chongguang Palace, took the title of Retired Emperor, built the Luye Monastery, and practiced dhyāna with several hundred meditation monks.

38.30

Emperor Xiaowen (Hong, son of Emperor Xianwen; changed the surname to the Yuan clan; moved the capital to Luoyang)

38.31

In the second year of the Yanxing reign era, an imperial edict ordered the Tripiṭaka Master of Western India, Kiṃkārya, to translate five texts, including the Saṃyuktaratnapiṭaka Sūtra; Liu Xiaobiao served as the amanuensis. The Retired Emperor decreed that henceforth, when sacrificing to Heaven, Earth, the Ancestral Temple, and the Altars of Soil and Grain, living sacrificial victims were no longer to be used, but offerings should be made only with wine and dried meat, thereby sparing the lives of seventy-five thousand sacrificial beasts each year.

38.32

Vinaya Master Facong of the North Monastery on Mount Wutai lectured exclusively on the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya for the assembly. His disciple Daofu recorded it as an exegesis (this was the beginning of explaining the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya).

38.33

An imperial decree appointed Monk Sengxian, Abbot of the Siyuan Monastery, as Chief Supervisor of Monks.

38.34

In the seventeenth year, an edict permitted Dharma Master Yide to enter the palace hall three times a month, so that 'We may imbibe the flavor of the Way and adorn the court with luster.' The emperor visited the Wangyuan Monastery several times to discuss the Buddhist Way with monks.

38.35

In the nineteenth year, the emperor visited the Baita Monastery in Xuzhou and ordered Dharma Master Daodeng to lecture on the Tattvasiddhi Śāstra. He said to his attendants, 'Whenever We examine this treatise, it can resolve one's deepest emotions' (The Brief History of the Clergy says: This treatise has the most dharmalakṣaṇas. Kumārajīva abridged it and transmitted it to Master Song; Song transmitted it to Yuan; Yuan transmitted it to Deng; this was the beginning of explaining the treatise). Prince Xing, heir to the Prince of Jingzhao, had been ill for a long time; he prayed to the Buddha and obtained healing. He vowed to renounce his royal nobility and sought to leave household life. Only after submitting ten memorials was he permitted to do so. He was bestowed the name Sengyi, and the emperor decreed that the Crown Prince shave his head on the eighth day of the fourth month at the Songyue Monastery.

38.36

In the twentieth year, Empress Dowager Feng left the secular life to become a nun, residing in the Yaoguang Monastery.

38.37

In the twenty-first year, an edict ordered the Baode Monastery to be built for the Empress Dowager, and a three-tiered stūpa to be built for Dharma Master Kumārajīva at his former hall of residence. An edict ordered that on the eighth day of the fourth month, the Buddha images of all monasteries in the capital of Luoyang be welcomed into the Changhe Palace to receive the scattering of flowers and reverent homage from the emperor, making this an annual custom. An edict ordered the Buddhist monasteries of all commanderies to observe the long summer retreat, having pure assemblies lecture and expound in several places, supplied with Saṅgha Grain.

38.38

Emperor Xuanwu (Ke, second son of Emperor Xiaowen)

38.39

In the second year of the Jingming reign era, an edict stated that monks who commit murder should be judged according to secular laws, while other offenses were all to be handed over to the Chief Supervisor of the Zhaoxuan Temple to be adjudicated according to the internal Vinaya and monastic regulations. At that time, Cui Xian was fond of the Buddhist Dharma; considering that monks and nuns were disorderly and undisciplined, he memorialized requesting the establishment of an article of regulations, which was meticulous in matter and equitable in law. An imperial decree handed it over to Fashang, the Chief Supervisor of the Zhaoxuan Temple, to serve as restraint.

38.40

In the fourth year, the kingdom of South India sent an envoy to present a tooth of a pratyekabuddha.

38.41

In the first year of the Yongping reign era, an edict ordered Ratnamati of Central India to translate scriptures in the Taiji Hall, and Bodhiruci of North India to translate scriptures in the Ziji Hall. The emperor personally took part as amanuensis.

38.42

In the second year, the emperor presided at the Shiqian Hall to lecture on the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra. At that time, three thousand monks from the Western Regions arrived. The southern kingdom of Gerong had not communicated with the eastern land for generations; the monk Bodhibhadra came from there. An edict ordered the Yongming Monastery to be built to house foreign monks.

38.43

In the fourth year of the Yanchang reign era, Empress Dowager Gao left secular life to become a nun, residing in the Yaoguang Monastery. At the residence of Duan Hui in Luoyang, the sound of a bell was heard underground; upon excavating, one golden Buddha and two bodhisattva images were obtained. The inscription on the base read: 'Made by Xun Xu, Director of the Secretariat, in the second year of the Taishi reign era of the Jin.' Hui then donated his residence as a monastery. Later, a thief wished to steal these images, and the images called out loudly, 'Thief! Thief!' When people arrived, he was captured. The mother of Pei Zhi, Lady Xiahou, was over seventy years of age; she gave her own body as an offering to the Three Jewels to be a bondservant, serving the monastery by sweeping and sprinkling. Her three sons, Yu, Can, and Yan, all put on servant's garments and followed her weeping, each using cloth and silk to redeem her. Afterwards, she eventually left household life to become a nun, entered Mount Songgao, and only returned after many years. Zhi held the office of Minister of Revenue, and Yu and the others all reached the rank of commandery governor. When their mother approached the end, she left instructions to be buried with the rites of a monk. Can was deeply fond of Buddhist studies; whenever he ascended the seat to lecture, the listeners were convinced by his reasoning and eloquence.

38.44

Emperor Xiaoming (Xu, second son of Emperor Xuanwu)

38.45

In the first year of the Xiping reign era, Empress Dowager Hu built the Buddha hall of Yongning Monastery in Luoyang, modeling it on the Taiji Hall, with its south gate like the Duan Gate. She made a statue of pure gold, sixteen feet tall, and a nine-tiered stūpa, ninety zhang in height, with a finial pole ten zhang high. In the stillness of each night, the sound of the bells and chimes was heard for ten li.

38.46

In the first year of the Shengui reign era, an edict ordered all commanderies to erect five-tiered stūpas.

38.47

In the second year of the Zhengguang reign era, an imperial decree ordered Song Yun, the monk Fali, and others to go to Western India to seek scriptures.

38.48

In the fourth year, Song Yun and the others returned from their mission to the kingdoms of Western India, obtaining one hundred and seventy Buddhist scriptures. The emperor held his capping ceremony and ordered monks and Daoist masters to discourse on doctrine within the inner palace. The emperor asked, 'Were the Buddha and Laozi contemporaneous or not?' The Daoist master Jiang Bin said, 'The Scripture of Opening Heaven states: Laozi was born in the third year of King Ding; at the age of eighty-five, he went west to convert the barbarians, taking the Buddha as his attendant.' The monk Tanmozui said, 'Our Buddha was born in the twenty-sixth year of King Zhao and entered extinction in the fifty-second year of King Mu. From his extinction until the third year of King Ding, it was three hundred and forty-five years before Laozi was born. To claim that he converted the barbarians—is that not an utter absurdity?' The emperor ordered the ministers to deliberate and determine the true and false. The Grand Defender Xiao Zong and others impeached Jiang Bin, submitting that the Scripture of Opening Heaven was an apocryphon, and his crime was deceiving the masses. An edict exiled Bin to Mayi.

38.49

In the first year of the Wutai reign era (which was the first year of the Datong reign era of Liang), in the tenth month, Bodhidharma entered Wei from Liang. He stayed at Shaolin Monastery on Mount Songgao, sitting facing a wall. The emperor heard of the master's extraordinary traces and summoned him three times, but he did not come; the emperor then bestowed upon him a mona kāṣāya, a gold bowl, a silver water pitcher, and silk fabrics.

38.50

Emperor Xiaozhuang (Ziyou, son of Xie, Prince of Pengcheng)

38.51

In the first year of the Yong'an reign era, Empress Dowager Hu left secular life to become a nun, residing in the Yaoguang Monastery.

38.52

The monk Faqing of Jizhou was rogue in his conduct and was expelled by his fellows; he then left and practiced demonic sorcery. Li Guibo of Bohai led local people in rebellion, and the crowd elevated Qing as their leader. He called himself the Mahāyāna Buddha and appointed Guibo as the Han King Who Levels Demons and Bodhisattva of the Ten Abodes. They slaughtered monasteries, decapitated and harmed monks and nuns, and burned scriptures, declaring, 'A new Buddha has appeared in the world to eradicate all demons.' An edict ordered Yuan Yao to hold the imperial tally and campaign against them, crushing them. They captured Faqing and Guibo and sent their severed heads to the capital; all the remaining partisans were pacified.

38.53

In the third year, Master Zongxuan, Meng Zhonghui, made a dry-lacquer statue of the Buddha. Every night, the statue would circumambulate the seat practicing the Path, its footprints forming patterns. Gentry and commoners looked up to it in reverence, all marveling at the divine anomaly. Five years later, the statue suddenly vanished.

38.54

Emperor Jiemin (named Gong, son of Yu, King of Guangling).

38.55

In the first year of Putai, Lu Jingyou, Erudite of the National University, penetrated the Buddha-Dharma thoroughly, and people called him a lay practitioner (upāsaka). The Emperor also treated him without the protocol of a subject. When his paternal cousin Zhongli revolted, Lu was implicated and confined in the Jinyang prison. Jingyou chanted the scriptures with a focused mind, and his cangue and shackles came off by themselves. Hearing of this marvel, the Emperor pardoned and released him.

38.56

Emperor Xiaowu (named Xiu, son of the King of Guangping).

38.57

In the first year of Yongxi, the construction of the stupa at Pingdeng Monastery in the capital Luoyang was completed. The Emperor held a feast for ten thousand monks. A stone statue bowed its head for the entire day. The great assembly was deeply moved by this miraculous response.

38.58

In the second year, the great stupa of Yongning Monastery caught fire, which did not subside for three months. Later, the people of Donglai all saw the stupa in the midst of the sea; soon after, it was obscured by clouds and mist.

38.59

Emperor Wen (named Baoju, grandson of Xiaowen; he moved the capital to Chang'an, known as Western Wei).

38.60

In the first year of Datong, an imperial edict appointed the monk Daozhen as Supreme Controller of Monks. ○ The First Patriarch Bodhidharma had sat at Shaolin for nine years. Having first transmitted the Dharma and the kāṣāya to Huike, he went to Qiansheng Monastery at Yumen. On the fifth day of the tenth month, he sat upright and manifested extinction. His disciples reverently entombed his whole body at Dinglin Monastery on Mount Xiong'er. The next year, the envoy Song Yun returned from the Western Regions and met the Master walking along lightly, alone, holding a single shoe in his hand. When Yun returned, he spoke of this. His disciples opened the burial vault to inspect it, finding only an empty coffin and a single shoe. (Song Yun served as an envoy to the Western Regions and returned to the realm in the fourth year of Zhengguang of Emperor Xiaoming, which according to the present date was thirteen years earlier. The claim that Yun encountered Bodhidharma on his return is either because he was sent on a second mission, or it was another envoy whose name was erroneously recorded as Song Yun.) Emperor Xiaojing (named Shanjian, son of Dan, King of Qinghe; he moved the capital to Ye, known as Eastern Wei).

38.61

In the first year of Tianping, Han Xian, Inspector of Luozhou, had never had faith in the Buddha. Baima Monastery possessed a scripture case from the time of Emperor Ming of Han, which from time to time emitted bright light and was treasured and preserved by the world. Xian went to the monastery and hacked it to pieces. Soon after, Han Mulan, a native of the province, rose in rebellion. One rebel rose from among the corpses, struck Xian's shin with a blade and severed it, causing his death. People remarked that the retribution for destroying the scripture case had been so swift.

38.62

The commentary says: The emission of light from the scripture case was a manifestation of the Buddha's Path. The ignorant of the world denounce it as strange and absurd; thus, out of hatred, he hacked it to pieces, which arose solely from his own lack of initial faith. A rebel suddenly arose and struck his shin, just as he had struck the case. The speed of the response and retribution was summoned by his own mind. When worldly people see the Buddhist scriptures describe the retributions of hell, they invariably say: 'The Buddha devised such words to frighten people.' With holy wisdom penetrating the three periods of time, the Buddha saw those who committed good or evil and was able to forewarn them of calamity and fortune, merely to let people know what to pursue and what to shun. He did not deliberately devise such words to frighten people. 'Upon those who do what is not good, heaven sends down a hundred calamities'—could this also be speech intended to frighten people?

38.63

In the fourth year of Xinghe, there were thirty thousand monasteries and two million monks and nuns within the territory of Wei. ○ The 'Treatise on Buddhism and Daoism' in the Book of Wei says: 'Among all kinds of sentient beings, the conscious spirit throughout the three periods of time is constant and never perishes. Whosoever commits good or evil will certainly experience retribution. Gradually accumulating superior karma, they refine away what is coarse and base (coarse: pronounced like cang-hu, meaning unrefined), passing through countless bodily forms to cleanse and temper the divine radiance, until they attain the unproduced and achieve the Buddha's Path. At the beginning of cultivating the mind, they rely upon the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Saṅgha; these are called the Three Refuges, just as the gentleman has three awes (the Analects says: "The gentleman has three awes: he awes the mandate of Heaven, he awes great men, and he awes the words of sages"). There are also five precepts: abandoning killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and drinking liquor. Their broad purport is the same as humaneness, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness. It also expounds rebirth in the six destinies, the progressive practice of the six perfections, the true and responsive bodies of the Buddha which are unproduced and unextinguished, the stūpas and temples for relics, and the vast circulation of the teachings—the meanings of which are the most profound and esoteric.' (Compiled by Wei Shou of Northern Qi in the Book of Northern Wei).

38.64

The commentary says: Where there is a generation of ruler and ministers, there must be a history of that generation to record all their words, actions, conformity to law, and lawlessness. The virtues of Yao and Shun must be recorded; the conduct of Zhi and Qiao must be recorded. The seasons of heaven, human affairs, good, evil, approval, and censure are without exception completely documented. Containing what can be emulated and what can serve as warning, it is called a reliable history. If it is like this, it is acceptable. Since the Buddha-Dharma came to the East, the whole world has known what to venerate; true texts and secret essentials fill the realm. The path of illuminating the mind and seeing one's nature can be advanced while seated; benefiting creatures and saving the world lies precisely in humaneness and righteousness. Long after corrupt deceits arose daily, men of penetration and superior scholars admired and drank in its noble standard; the historians of successive generations never failed to set forth and narrate its matters. Thus, Fan Ye's discussion of the Western Regions states: 'The spiritual transformation of the Buddha's Path arose from Shendu (pronounced gan-du, that is Tianzhu, India); the local gazetteers of the Western Han made no mention of it. Was the Way closed in past eras, and did its destiny unfold in later times?' Yuan Hong's Record of the Han states: 'In Tianzhu there is the Buddha's Path, which can transform and penetrate the myriad things and broadly save all sentient beings.' When the Book of Jin was compiled by imperial order under Zhenguan of the Tang, Kumārajīva and Fotudeng were both included among the biographies, and were praised: 'Bequeathing writings to expound the teaching, penetrating the occult and comprehending the profound.' When Wei Shou compiled the Book of Wei, his treatise on Buddhism and Daoism stated: 'The Buddha said that the conscious spirit throughout the three periods of time is constant and never perishes. Whosoever commits good or evil will certainly experience retribution. Gradually accumulating superior karma, they reach the unproduced.' These are all clear meanings by which various histories have narrated the Buddha, knowing that the Buddha's Path can indeed benefit creatures and save the world. How strange then, when Master Ouyang compiled the Book of Tang, that wherever matters of the Śākya clan could assist state governance or open human hearts, he deleted them all! This merely served to show that the Old History was comprehensive and rich. That his lack of broad learning and clinging to narrow views should be like this—to call his a reliable history is something I cannot believe.

38.65

Northern Qi (capital Ye).

38.66

Emperor Wenxuan (named Gao Yang; accepted the abdication of Eastern Wei).

38.67

In the first year of Tianbao, an imperial decree summoned the eminent monk Fachang into the palace to lecture on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, and he was appointed State Preceptor (the title State Preceptor began here). ○ Dharma Master Tanyan was nine chi and six cun tall. The Emperor summoned him in from time to time to inquire about the Way. It happened that Zhou Hongzheng, an envoy from the Zhou, came on an embassy, and the ministers recommended the Master to receive him as a companion. Hongzheng, relying on his talent and giving free rein to his temperament, found his haughtiness effortlessly dissolve upon seeing Yan; he requested a painted portrait of the Master and his commentaries on the scriptures to take back with him. The Emperor esteemed him even more and promoted him to Senior Controller of the Office of Clerical Affairs. ○ Master Baogong of Mount Song was traveling toward Mount Bailu when he suddenly heard the sound of a bell and saw a gate inscribed 'Monastery of Lingyin.' A foreign monk arrived from outside, and Bao followed him into the monastery, sitting upon a bench in the Dharma hall. Looking up, he saw an opening in the roof like a well, from which monks flew down, numbering over sixty. Once seated, they asked one another, 'Where did you take your meal today?' Some answered Yuzhang, Chengdu, Lingnan, Jibei, or the Five Indias—distances of thousands or tens of thousands of li. The last monk arrived, and the assembly asked why he was late. He replied, 'At the lecture assembly of Dhyāna Master Jian at Pi'an Monastery in Xiangzhou, they were establishing propositions. There was a young monk whose difficult questions swarmed up like bees, which was quite a sight to behold; I did not realize night had fallen.' Bao stood up and said, 'Dhyāna Master Jian is my preceptor (upādhyāya)!' The monks stared directly at Bao, and in an instant, the monastery suddenly vanished; he was sitting alone upon an oak tree (zuo is pronounced zuo, an oak). Coming out of the mountains, he asked the Supreme Controller Fashang, who said, 'This monastery was built by Fotucheng. Worthies and sages dwell there; it appears and vanishes by turns. Even now, those walking the mountains still hear the sound of the bell.' In the second year, an imperial decree summoned Dhyāna Master Chou to the capital Ye, where Yunmen Monastery was built for him to reside. The Master sat in meditation in a single room and never saw off or greeted anyone. When the Emperor arrived, his disciples urged him to do so, but the Master said, 'Piṇḍola greeted the king by taking seven steps, which caused the king to lose his kingdom. Though my virtue cannot match his, my deportment resembles his; I do not dare deceive myself, wishing only to bring blessings upon the Emperor.' Led astray by his attendants, the Emperor thought the Master was slighting him and intended to harm him personally. At dawn, the Master went twenty li outside the monastery and stood by the roadside with folded hands. The Emperor, astonished, asked him why. The Master said, 'I feared only that blood would defile the saṅghārāma.' The Emperor at once repented and apologized, saying to Vice Director of the Right Yang Zunyan, 'How could one slander a True Person such as this?' Thereupon, they returned to the palace in the same carriage. The Emperor asked, 'Who was this disciple in a past life?' The Master said, 'You were once a rākṣasa king, and even now you still love killing.' He chanted over a basin of water and had him look into it; the Emperor saw a host of rākṣasas behind him. The Emperor developed great reverence and faith, requested to receive the Bodhisattva Precepts, vowed never to eat meat, and halted completely the use of all instruments for harming life such as falcons and hounds in the Five Quarters, as well as all butchery within his realm. ○ An imperial decree established the Senior Controller of the Office of Clerical Affairs, appointing the monk Fashang as Supreme Controller, with an administrative staff of more than fifty persons. The more than four million monks and nuns and more than forty thousand monasteries under his jurisdiction all received his guidance and discipline. The Emperor built an altar with complete ritual propriety, honored him as State Preceptor, spread his own hair upon the ground, and had the Supreme Controller walk upon it to ascend the seat. The empress, consorts, and important ministers all received the Bodhisattva Precepts. ○ When the Emperor was in Jinyang, he ordered a man to ride a camel, commanding him: 'You may go toward the monastery to fetch the scripture case.' The messenger asked where it was. The Emperor said, 'Let the camel go outside the city as it will.' When he went out, he felt drowsy as if in a dream, and reached the midpoint of a mountain where there was a monastery. A crowd of novices saw him and said, 'Gao Yang's camel has arrived!' They led him in to see an old monk. The monk asked, 'How is Gao Yang doing as Son of Heaven?' The messenger said, 'He is sagely and luminous.' The monk said, 'Why have you come?' The messenger said, 'He ordered me to fetch the scripture case.' The monk said, 'When Yang was at the monastery, he was too lazy to read scriptures, so he ordered that they be fetched from the north.' The messenger returned to report his mission.

38.68

In the sixth year, earlier, the Daoist Lu Xiujing, because Emperor Wu of Liang had abandoned the teachings of Laozi, fled into Wei. When Emperor Wenxuan served the Buddha, Xiujing and his group envied this. They went to the palace to present a memorial, requesting a contest of magic arts with the sons of the Śākya clan. The Emperor granted it. Xiujing, using incantations, caused the monks' robes and bowls to fly about, and the beams and pillars of the palace to shake. The Emperor looked back and said to Supreme Controller Fashang, 'Can it be that the Buddhist gate has no capable men?' The Supreme Controller recommended Tanxian. Xian was affected by wine at the time, but he stepped forward and said, 'How dare you lot who ask questions indulge yourselves with petty arts!' He immediately placed Dhyāna Master Chou's robe on the ground, and the Daoists, combining their strength, could not move it. Xian picked it up himself, placed it between the rafters, and had them cast their spells, but the beams and pillars did not move either. Xiujing said, 'The Buddhists label their own as the Inner Teaching. "Inner" means small.' Xian said, 'The Son of Heaven resides within the ninefold palace interior; should he also be smaller than the hundred civil and military officials?' Xiujing choked on his breath and had no reply. The ministers all leaped with joy. The Emperor then issued an edict commanding that those Daoists who claimed to have attained divine immortality could ascend the Three Que Towers to fly up and soar far away; those who could not should go to the Supreme Controller of the Office of Clerical Affairs to have their heads shaved and be ordained. When there were those who did not obey, four were executed. An edict was then issued stating: 'The libationer Daoists in the world are deceitful and false, savoring yeast and malt—where is their purity and voidness? They find dried meats delicious, forever estranged from compassion. Above, they differ from temples of humaneness; below, they violate the codes of sacrifice. They should all be prohibited and terminated, no longer observed or served.' Thereupon, throughout the realm of Qi, there were no longer any Daoists.

38.69

The commentary says: Lu Xiujing was born at the end of the Jin dynasty and roamed with Master Huiyuan. He underwent corpse-deliverance during the Taishi reign-era of the Liu Song, when he was named Master Jianji. From Taishi to the Tianjian era of Liang, forty years had already elapsed; it is not fitting that there should still have been Xiujing in this day. If it is said that because Liang abandoned Daoism he fled from Liang to Wei, it should refer to Lu Xiujing's disciples—only then can it be believed.

38.70

The lay practitioner Lu Fahe of Jingzhou under the Liang, after Emperor Yuan was defeated by the Wei, surrendered to the Qi. The Emperor made him Grand Commandant and bestowed upon him a mansion of the highest grade. Fahe requested that it be made into a Buddhist monastery. His seven hundred disciples all cultivated Dhyāna methods. One morning, after paying homage to the Buddha, he sat upon a bed and died. As they were about to enshroud him, his body shrank to merely three chi. When the enshrouding was finished, the Emperor ordered it opened again for inspection, and found only an empty coffin. He had once written on a wall: 'A ten-year Son of Heaven is still acceptable (Emperor Wenxuan reigned for ten years); a hundred-day Son of Heaven is as urgent as fire (the Deposed Emperor reigned for one hundred days); one-year Sons of Heaven sit in rapid succession (Emperor Xiaozhao reigned for less than a year).' People were frightened and painted over it to scrape it away, but in the end they could not erase it.

38.71

In the seventh year, the Emperor, using one thousand bundles of Sanskrit scriptures from the imperial palace treasury, ordered the Tripiṭaka Master Narendrayaśas to translate them at Tianping Temple. An imperial edict commanded Da Tong Fashang and the Director of the Saṅgha Fashun to supervise the translations. The Emperor personally bowed in reverence to the Sanskrit texts and said to the multitude of ministers: "These are the magnificent foundation of the Three Jewels. Propriety requires that we pay them special reverence" (pian [偏] means exclusive). Also, the monk Zuncheng, the householder Wan Tianyi, and the upāsaka Zhixi all translated sūtras in the city of Yecheng.

38.72

In the tenth year, the Emperor visited Ganlu Temple in Liaoyang to abide in dhyāna and deep contemplation. He decreed that nothing other than great matters of state and military affairs should be reported to him.

38.73

The commentary says: People say that Emperor Wenxuan was cruel, decisive in execution, to the extent of wishing to compare him to Jie and Zhou. Yet observing his translation of scriptures, cultivation of dhyāna, reception of precepts, prohibition of slaughter, veneration of national preceptors, and dismissal of Daoism, his reverence for the Buddha was extreme. This was because in a former life he had been a novice monk in a sacred monastery; by the power of his wisdom and vows, he appeared in the world, occupied the throne of a king of mortals, and performed the affairs of the Buddha's teaching. His fondness for killing in his early years was merely due to residual habits, which is not at all comparable to the likes of Jie and Zhou who never encountered the Buddha's Dharma and killed without regret.

38.74

Emperor Wucheng (Zhan, the ninth son of Gaozu).

38.75

In the second year of Heqing, an imperial edict summoned Master Huizang to lecture on the Avataṃsaka Sūtra (the sixty-fascicle version translated in the Jin) in the Taiji Hall. Earlier, Sun Jingde had made a statue of Avalokiteśvara. Later, he committed an offense punishable by death. In a dream, a monk taught him that reciting a scripture could deliver him. Once awake, he completed a thousand recitations. When he approached the execution ground, the executioner's blade broke three times. The officer in charge reported this, and an edict was issued pardoning him. Upon returning home, he saw three blade marks on the neck of the statue. This scripture was then propagated and titled the Gaowang Avalokiteśvara Sūtra.

38.76

The commentary says: This scripture consists of only ten phrases; it is indeed the text taught in a dream to Wang Xuanmo of the Liu Song dynasty. The text that Sun Jingde recited is what is now printed and circulated in the markets. Later people groundlessly added to it, rendering its text vulgar and disordered, which caused knowledgeable people to doubt its authenticity. Moreover, during the Jiayou era of our present dynasty, the wife of Academician Mei Zhi lost her sight and sent someone to pray at Upper Tianzhu. One night she dreamed of a white-robed person teaching her to recite the Ten-Phrase Avalokiteśvara Sūtra. She then recited it without ceasing, and both her eyes regained their sight. Lord Zhao Qingxian printed and propagated the account of this event. The Great Being, through this supremely concise scripture and method, rescues people from danger and hardship. Between ancient and modern times, there are three verifiable proofs that can be recorded. How could one not believe it?

38.77

Later Ruler (Wei, eldest son of Wucheng).

38.78

In the sixth year of Wuping, the monk Baoxian and ten others returned from their journey to the Western Regions in search of scriptures, having obtained two hundred and sixty Sanskrit texts.

38.79

In the first year of Longhua, an edict ordered the restoration of the pagoda built by Fotudeng at White Horse Temple in the capital of Ye, where three relics were discovered. They were placed in a jeweled vase. Prince Yong of Guangwu placed them in a crystal bowl and circumambulated while praying, whereupon the relics suddenly floated to the surface of the water and circled to the right seven times.

38.80

Northern Zhou (capital at Chang'an).

38.81

Emperor Min (Yuwen Jue, third son of Taizu; received the abdication from Western Wei).

38.82

In the first year (that is, the twenty-fourth year of the Datong era of Western Wei; having received the abdication, the reign title was now changed), an edict appointed Dhyāna Master Sengshi as the Tripiṭaka Master of the Zhou state. An edict ordered relics to be enshrined at Changnian Temple in Puzhou; they emitted a great radiant light and emerged from their vase, whereupon a pagoda was erected to commemorate the miraculous anomaly. The Emperor hunted at Mount Tan. Pointing far toward the mountain, he asked his ministers, "Do you see anything?" The Recorder Lu Guang alone said, "I see a monk." The Emperor said, "That is correct." He immediately lifted the encirclement and returned, then ordered Lu Guang to build a pagoda at the place where he had seen the monk. Digging the foundation down one zhang, they discovered a tin staff and an earthenware bowl.

38.83

Emperor Wu (Yong, fourth son of Taizu).

38.84

In the third year of Baoding, an edict stated: "The year being in Zhaoyang (the first month of spring, with the three yang lines rising), the Dragon Star gathers at Tianbing (the Dragon gathering means the Azure Dragon of the east begins the year; Tianbing means the year is in Shen), the competent officials are commanded to reverently produce a complete collection of the Buddhist Canon, beginning with the teaching on arising and ceasing and concluding with the discourse on nirvāṇa," and so forth.

38.85

In the fourth year of Tianhe, the monk Zangcheng translated scriptures in Chang'an. The monk Zhide translated the repeated verses of the Universal Gate chapter of the Lotus Sūtra. An imperial edict commanded prominent Confucians, Buddhist monks, and Daoists to present expositions on the Three Teachings. The monk Dao'an composed the Treatise on the Two Teachings, designating Confucianism, Daoism, and the nine schools as the external teachings, and Buddhism as the internal teaching. The Emperor believed the counsel of the Daoists Zhang Bin and Wei Yuansong; based on the apocryphal prophecy that "the black-robed will rule," his mind grew suspicious of Buddhism. Zhang Bin persuaded the Emperor, saying: "In the times of Tang and Yu, there were no Buddhist stupas, yet the states were tranquil; the Qi and the Liang had monasteries, yet their reigns were brief. As long as one benefits the people and enriches the state, that is in accord with the Buddha's intention! Indeed, the Buddha takes great compassion as the foundation and would never impose bitter labor on the common people just to revere mud and wood. We request the building of the Great Temple of Pingyan to embrace the populace within the four seas, not establishing temples of narrow and biased views, but everywhere settling the Mahāyāna and the five classical scriptures. By Pingyan ["Universal Extension"], we mean: regardless of monastic or lay, making no distinction between foe and kin; taking the city walls and moats as stupas and monasteries, so that the Emperor himself is the Tathāgata; using districts and cities as monastic quarters, and uniting husbands and wives as the holy assembly; selecting those of illustrious virtue to serve as the Three Directors, honoring the aged as elders (sthaviras), choosing the benevolent and wise to serve as administrators, and seeking the brave and reverent to serve as Dharma masters. In this way, there will be no mind of resentment against a tyrant throughout the six directions, and all eight quarters will sing praises of the Zhou," and so forth.

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佛祖統紀 — 志磐, Classical Chinese