佛祖歷代通載 8.91

8.91

The commentary says: Since the 'Account of the Western Regions' in the *Book of the Later Han*, Fan Ye discussed the general contours of the Śākya clan, while Chen Shou's *Records of the Three Kingdoms* passed over it in silence. Emperor Taizong of Tang's *Book of Jin* clearly recorded the marvelous and wondrous traces of the śramaṇas without ever uttering a single word of slander against the Buddha. Furthermore, the transformation of Buddhism only began to flourish greatly throughout the realm from the Jin dynasty down to the Northern and Southern dynasties. How worthy were the works of Wei Shou and Li Yanshou! When the emperors, princes, dukes, and ministers of those ages engaged with our Buddha, they never concealed it from their records; nor, when recording it, did they ever criticize the Buddha from the perspective of human affairs. Coming to the biography of Gu Huan, it utilized various worthies of that time to evaluate the two teachings and condemned Huan, saying: 'Although Huan equated the two traditions, his intent was biased toward Daoism.' Ah, they may indeed be called excellent historians! How base were the treatises of Huan and Jingyi—just like those in ancient times who treasured the stones of Yan: how could they believe that genuine jade truly exists?