佛祖歷代通載 22.2

22.2

The False Ninth Transformation: Being the Archivist under the Pillar in the Time of King Wen of Zhou (The nineteenth transformation says: In the time of King Wen of Zhou, Lord Lao became Xieyizi. At that time King Zhou was licentious and tyrannical, and the realm was plunged into misery. Thereupon he rode a chariot of whirlwind, with the Earl of the Wind clearing the way and Pengzu riding on the right, descending to the south of Boshan. The Earl of the West bowed to him and appointed him Keeper of the Archives. When King Wu conquered Shang, he was promoted to Archivist under the Pillar. He composed the Chijing jing to teach King Wen the way of benevolence and righteousness, and composed the Xuanji jing to bestow upon the Duke of Zhou. Through the reigns of King Cheng and King Kang, his lineage served as Archivists under the Pillar. In the time of King Zhao, there was the omen of black qi; Lord Lao bestowed the esoteric text of the Eight Heavens upon King Zhao, but the king did not use it, which later led to the calamity of the glued boat.) The refutation states: We have heard of the records of the Nine Heads and the Five Dragons, the writings on double pupils and four breasts, the texts of the metal Qin and the fire Han, and the canons of the yellow Wei and the white Jin; but we have never heard that King Wen took Laozi as his teacher, or that the Xuanji was used to instruct the Duke of Zhou. It is only recorded that King Wen took Taigong as his teacher and King Wu took Ji Dan as his teacher. The various books fully record this, and former Confucians have spoken of it at length. Why run counter to the Hundred Schools to put forth another absurd list, singing blindly with dishevelled minds to delude living beings? One who would emulate the sages must devote himself to reality; unfounded talk merely brings about the world's ridicule. According to the Shiji and separate biographies, Laozi was born in the reign of King Ding and interacted with Confucius; why falsely place him in the time of the Earl of the West? Since he was a sage, seeing King Zhou's licentiousness he should have exerted all his strength to admonish him and rectify his shortcomings; yet he instead rode high in a flying chariot and fled far away. Is this how a loyal minister should behave? In former days when crossing the pass, he hired Xu Jia as his driver and rode in a frail cart; now he rides a chariot of whirlwind, preceded by the Earl of the Wind, with Pengzu riding on the right. How could his self-aggrandisement be so wildly absurd? Moreover, Pengzu was already dead by this time, and the Earl of the Wind would not clear the way for him. From Gong Liu onwards, King Wen's ancestors accumulated benevolence and filial piety for generations; his transformative virtue prevailed across the Jiang and Han rivers, and his compassion extended even to the wayside rushes: why would he wait for the teachings of the Chijing jing? The Duke of Zhou instituted rites and composed music, reigning on behalf of the monarch over the realm; he established the Golden Casket to make his oath and instituted the Rites of Zhou to pass down regulations: what need had he of the teachings of the Xuanji? King Zhao was called an enlightened ruler; the histories record no disaster of black qi, yet they falsely alter the omen of the white rainbow into a talk of black qi. Bestowing him with esoteric writing is yet another reckless claim. Previously they said that Lord Lao was the Religious Master of the Nine Heavens, the Sovereign Lord of the Golden Gate, wearing the crown of the seven luminaries, draped in a nine-coloured mantle, riding a jade carriage of the eight scenes, driving five-coloured divine dragons; within the golden palace he sat inside a jade canopy, attended by immortal boys on the left and jade maidens on the right, accompanied by ten thousand sages and flanked by a thousand spirits. Since Laozi possessed such an exalted status, why would he refuse to dwell in it and instead return to the petty post of Keeper of the Archives, bending his body to serve as a minister, standing beside his sovereign beneath the pillars, rushing to morning audience and bowing in the evening, holding the tablet upright and tucking in his sash? Forsaking his high flight to the tall trees to cast himself into the low ground of a dark valley—what absurd confusion of high and low! The title 'Xieyi' is not recorded in the Book of Zhou, and 'Sovereign Lord of the Golden Gate' was concocted from nothing by Daoists: having only a name without reality, who would believe and transmit it? Chasing the wind to find a shadow, planting lightning to seek its root—is this not what it means? If it was because King Zhao did not believe that he suffered the disaster of the glued boat, then the First Emperor of Qin sought immortals and personally visited the seashore, braving the waves and treading danger in hope of meeting deities; yet in vain he dreamt of Anqi's name, never seeing Xianmen's face, dying on the road at Shaqiu, stinking with the stench of salted fish. Emperor Wu of Han loved immortality: his body wore the clothes of winged men, his mouth drank dew from the celestial poles, indulging Luan Da's deceptive words and believing Li Shaojun's fraudulent arts, yet his body entered Maoling without the slightest benefit. Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei trusted Kou Qianzhi's claims, building the celestial palace of the Jinglun, exhausting wealth and wearing out his people, only to contract a virulent pestilence. Emperor Wudi of Northern Zhou orally ingested cinnabar elixirs and clothed his body in yellow robes; fever erupted at Jinyang, and he died having lost his voice. Emperor Wuzong of Tang took Zhao Guizhen as his master and ingested golden elixirs; before the Huichang era ended, he suffered an untimely demise. In recent times, the Retired Emperor of Song trusted Lin Lingsu to roam the Moon Palace, reciting the stanzas of the Supreme Ultimate and wearing swords to expel evil, yet his state was ruined, his house destroyed, and he died in Eastern Korea. All these several sovereigns devoted their sincere hearts to one aspiration, hoping to enjoy a thousand years; yet they met with lingering afflictions, without a single miraculous result. To mock King Zhao over the disaster of the glued boat—is that not seeking out another's faults without basis? Taking joy in another's misfortune is something a gentleman does not do.