釋氏稽古略 3

English (machine translation) 3

Language: English

3.1

Compiled and re-edited by the bhikṣu of Baoxiang in Zhili, Wucheng, Śākya Jue'an Baozhou.

3.3

Surnamed Li. Ruling by virtue of Earth. Capital at Chang'an. Emperor Xuanzong renamed Chang'an as Jingzhao Prefecture. Down to Emperor Suzong, it was renamed Shangdu.

Gaozu
Taizong
Gaozong
Zetian
Zhongzong
Ruizong
Xuanzong
Suzong
Daizong
Dezong
Shunzong
Xianzong
Muzong
Jingzong
Wenzong
Wuzong
Xuanzong
Yizong
Xizong
Zhaozong
Jingzong, called Aizong
Zhu Quanzhong, Prince of Pu, enthroned him, and then poisoned him. He reigned for one year, styled the first year of Tianshou. The Basic Annals do not record the one-year affair of the Prince of Pu.

3.5

Gaozu

3.6

Taboo name Yuan, style name Shude. A man of Chengji in Longxi. His grandfather, Hu, along with Li Bi and eight others, assisted the Western Wei; all were Pillars of the State. When Emperor Min of the Zhou received the abdication of Western Wei, he posthumously enfeoffed Hu as Duke of the State of Tang. Hu fathered Bing, and Bing fathered Yuan; both successively inherited the title of Duke of Tang. Yuan served the Sui. In the ninth year of the Daye era of Emperor Yang [613 CE], the Emperor appointed Li Yuan, Junior Minister of the Court of the Imperial Insignia, as retaining defense officer of Honghua Commandery, with the thirteen commanderies of Guanxi all subject to his mobilization. In the twelfth year [616 CE], in the first month, an edict appointed Li Yuan, General of the Right Valiant Guard and Duke of Tang, as retaining defense officer of Taiyuan. In the thirteenth year [617 CE], in the eleventh month, Li Yuan captured Chang'an and enthroned Emperor Gong. In the wuyin year [618 CE], in the third month, Emperor Gong of the Sui ordered the King of Tang to establish officials from the Chancellor down, and added the Nine Bestowals. The report of Sui Emperor Yang's demise at Jiangdu reached Chang'an. In the fifth month, Emperor Gong abdicated to the Tang; the King of Tang ascended the imperial throne. He reigned for nine years, living to the age of seventy. Era: Wude (nine years).

3.7

Wuyin, the first year of Wude [618 CE]. In the fifth month, the reign era was changed. Commanderies were abolished and prefectures established; commandery governors were made regional inspectors.

3.8

In the fifth month, the Emperor established a bodhimaṇḍa on the southern thoroughfare of the Zhuque Gate and held a pañcavārṣika assembly. In the sixth month, he commanded sixty-nine monks and sixty-nine Daoists each to practice the Way for seven days in the Taiji Hall. On the concluding day, a thousand-monk vegetarian feast was offered (Bianzheng lun).

3.9

In the eighth month, Xue Ju of Jincheng died, and his heir apparent, Rengao, succeeded him. The Tang Prince of Qin, Shimin, besieged him with troops. Rengao came out and surrendered, and the Xue clan was extinguished.

3.10

In the ninth month, Li Mi surrendered to the Tang. Formerly, Mi had occupied the lands of Shandong, styling his state Wei. By the twelfth month, he rebelled again and departed. Sheng Yanshi, Area Commander of the Expeditionary Army of Xiongzhou, intercepted and attacked him, beheading Mi and Wang Bodang.

3.11

Jimao, the second year of Wude [619 CE].

3.12

Gengchen, the third year of Wude [620 CE].

3.13

The Emperor built Lingxian Monastery and ordered the Mentor to the Heir Apparent, Li Baiyao, to compose the stele inscription. By edict, he built the four great nunneries of Jixian—Qianchang, Shengye, Cibei, and Zhengguo—and had scriptures copied and images fashioned. He donated his old residence in Jinyang to become Xingsheng Monastery, and built Yixing Monastery in Bingzhou. He had three sandalwood statues made for the Great Ancestor Emperor Yuan and Empress Dowager Yuanzhen. At Cibei Monastery, he instituted Ten Great Bhadantas to govern and supervise the monks and nuns (Bianzheng lun).

3.14

Xinsi, the fourth year of Wude [621 CE]. The Kaiyuan Tongbao coins were put into circulation. The Academician Ouyang Xun composed the text and wrote the calligraphy. Its inscription can be read in a circle.

3.15

In the sixth month, Fu Yi, Grand Astrologer, submitted a memorial presenting eleven points on abolishing the Buddha-dharma. Dharma Master Falin responded to the imperial summons and argued against it. Yi's petition was thereupon shelved (Bianzheng lun).

3.16

Renwu, the fifth year of Wude [622 CE].

3.17

Guiwei, the sixth year of Wude [623 CE].

3.18

Jiashen, the seventh year of Wude [624 CE].

3.19

In the seventh year of Wude, in the second month, the Offices of the Grand Area Commander were changed to Offices of the Area Commander-in-Chief. In the third month, statutes were first established: the Grand Preceptor, Minister of Education, and Minister of Works were made the Three Excellencies. Next were the Department of State Affairs, the Chancellery, the Secretariat, the Palace Library, the Palace Domestic Service, and the Palace Eunuch Service, making Six Departments. Next was the Censorate, and next were the Court of Imperial Sacrifices down to the Court of the National Granaries, making Nine Courts. Next were the Directorate for the Palace Buildings, next the Directorate of Education, next the Office of the Heavenly Strategy Senior General, next the Left and Right Militant Guards down to the Left and Right Leading Guards, making Fourteen Guards. In the Heir Apparent's Palace were established the Three Preceptors, the Three Junior Mentors, the Supervisorate of the Household, and the two secretariats, three courts, and ten brigade offices. For princes and dukes, princely staff and state officers were instituted; for princesses, town administrative offices were established. These were all central administrative posts. Those in prefectures, counties, garrisons, and outposts were regional administrative posts. From Specially Promoted with Equal Status to the Three Excellencies down to Gentleman for Rendering Service, there were twenty-eight grades of civil prestige titles. From Grand General of Agile Cavalry down to Vice Commandant of the Attendant Garrison, there were thirty-one grades of military prestige titles. From Senior Pillar of State down to Commandant of Martial Cavalry, there were twelve classes of merit titles. In the fourth month, on the gengzi new moon, the new penal code and administrative statutes were promulgated; compared with the old system of the Kaihuang era of Sui, fifty-three new regulations were added. The equal-field system and the tax-in-grain, corvée, and textile-tribute statutes were first established. The wealth and property of all commoners were divided into nine grades. One hundred households formed a hamlet (li); five hamlets formed a township (xiang). Four families formed a neighborhood (lin); four neighborhoods formed a precinct (bao). Those in cities and towns were wards (fang); those in the fields and countryside were villages (cun). Families receiving official stipends were not permitted to compete for profit with the common people. Craftsmen, merchants, and miscellaneous classes were not included in the ranks of the literati and gentry. Males and females at birth were called infants (huang); at four years of age, minor (xiao); at sixteen, intermediate (zhong); at twenty, adult (ding); at sixty, elder (lao). Household budget books were compiled annually, and population registers were compiled every three years (Tangshu).

3.20

Yiyou, the eighth year of Wude [625 CE], in the second month. The Emperor performed the libation sacrifice at the National University. He set up three seats, intending to rank the three lineages. He summoned scholars of the three teachings to gather like clouds. Śākya Huicheng loftily unfolded the web of meaning and debated, so that the prince and ministers joyfully submitted, and the entire court fixed their eyes upon him.

3.21

Bingxu, the ninth year of Wude [626 CE], in the second month. Fu Yi, Grand Astrologer, instigated the Daoist Li Zhongqing to submit the Treatise on Ten Differences and Nine Delusions to disparage and evaluate the Buddhist sage. In total, Yi had submitted memorials seven times to subvert the teaching. Chancellor Xiao Yu rebuked Fu Yi in open court. In the fourth month, the Emperor distributed Yi's memorial to show it to the monks. There was the Dharma Master Śākya Minggai, who wrote Eight Points Resolving and Refuting Fu Yi's Slander of the Buddha and Destruction of the Sangha. Dharma Master Falin wrote Ten Analogies and Nine Admonitions to refute Li Zhongqing's discourse on the ten differences and nine delusions. Li Shizheng, Ritual Officer of the Chancellery, wrote the three-chapter Treatise on Internal Virtue, profusely setting forth the benefits of the Buddhist transformation. In the fifth month, an edict was issued to simultaneously purge the corrupt elements of both teachings (Old History of the Tang).

3.22

On the fourth day of the sixth month, the Prince of Qin, Shimin, pacified internal strife with the princely guard troops. The Emperor appointed the Prince of Qin as Crown Prince and declared a great amnesty, halting the previous edict to purge the two teachings. In the eighth month, the Emperor abdicated the throne to the Crown Prince; the Crown Prince ascended the imperial throne at the Xiande Hall of the Eastern Palace. Gaozu was titled the Retired Emperor (Basic Annals).

3.23

Emperor Taizong Wen

3.24

Taboo name Shimin. Second son of Gaozu. He reigned for twenty-three years, living to the age of fifty-two. Era: Zhenguan (twenty-three years).

3.25

Dinghai, the first year of Zhenguan [627 CE], in the spring, the first month. The Emperor commanded the monks and nuns of the capital all to practice the Way for seven days in their respective monasteries. The supplies needed for the vegetarian feast were provided by the relevant offices according to regulation. On the concluding day of the fast, all assembled at Daxingshan Monastery for offerings (Bianzheng lun).

3.26

The Emperor said to Fu Yi, "The Way of the Buddha is profound and subtle, and the traces of its sageliness can serve as a guide. Moreover, its retribution is manifest, its signs and verifications repeatedly demonstrated. Why is it that you alone do not awaken to its principle?" Yi's reply offended the imperial will; the Emperor despised him, and from then on regarded him as unworthy of notice for the rest of his life (Old History of the Tang).

3.27

Prohibition of slaughter and establishment of monasteries: In this year, the Emperor gave up the old Taihe Palace on Mount Zhongnan to establish Longtian Monastery for Gaozu, which later became Cuiwei Monastery. Because Śākya Mingzhan was skilled in understanding methods of governance, the Emperor summoned him to the inner hall and bestowed a vegetarian meal. In response to the imperial audience, Mingzhan broadly expounded the arts of imperial rulership and stated that the Śākya teaching takes compassionate deliverance as its essential principle. The Emperor was greatly delighted; he thereupon issued an edict on the sixth day of the third month universally prohibiting slaughter, and ordered Buddhist monasteries to be established at all sites of battle (Bianzheng lun).

3.28

In the second year, wuzi (628), in the third month, the Emperor recalled that in originally pacifying the realm, many people had been slaughtered; he therefore gave his imperial robes as dāna to monks of various monasteries to perform repentances and rites of deliverance. An edict declared: "Ever since righteousness was first raised at the end of the Sui, our mind has been set on rescuing the drowning. In our northern campaigns and eastern expeditions, all those wounded and slain can scarcely be recounted. Those cut down by our own hand approach nearly one thousand. Considering that the sagely teachings of the Tathāgata deeply prize benevolence and compassion, and among the articles of the monastic precepts killing is the gravest, let the authorities be ordered to have the monasteries in the capital establish vegetarian feasts and practice the Way for seven days and seven nights, exhausting their sincerity in rites of repentance. All our clothing shall be given in dāna. We hope that through this, the hardships of the three wretched paths may be liberated, and the sufferings of myriad kalpas broadly relieved by these means" (Tang shi). In the ninth month, the Emperor decreed: "Now the hundred grains flourish, and the myriad treasures are about to ripen. We still fear that wind and rain may lose their season, leaving the people's sustenance without support. Daring to rely on the spiritual intelligence [of the deities] and the abounding blessings of extraneous compassion, on behalf of the myriad millions under heaven we humbly pray for divine protection. Let the monks, nuns, Daoist priests, and female Daoists of the monasteries and abbeys in the capital and throughout the prefectures of the realm turn scriptures and practice the Way for seven days and seven nights. Every year in the first and seventh months, let this be the standard without exception" (Bianzheng lu).

3.29

Monastic Discipline. In this year, the Emperor summoned Dharma Master Xuanwan into the palace to administer the bodhisattva precepts to the imperial concubines, the Crown Prince, the various princes, and others. Wan entered nirvāṇa in the twelfth month of the tenth year of Zhenguan (636). In his farewell memorial he wrote: "Sagely emperors and enlightened kings revere the Three Jewels. Should a śramaṇa happen to break the law, he ought not to receive the same statutory punishment as commoners; I beg that he be remanded to his monastic authority to be dealt with under monastic discipline." He also submitted the Anyang lun (Treatise on Peaceful Nourishment) and the Sande lun (Treatise on the Three Virtues). The Emperor commended and accepted it. He issued an edict grieving his demise, dispatched the Crown Prince to pay condolences, and ordered the authorities to provide the funeral paraphernalia. An imperial order for a śramaṇa's funeral in the Tang began with Wan. Moreover, a Buddhist stupa was built at his burial site, and the Emperor ordered the Junior Mentor of the Crown Prince Li Boyao to compose the stele inscription (Gaoseng zhuan).

3.30

In the third year, yichou (629), in the first month, the Emperor ordered the monks and nuns in the capital to practice the Way in their respective monasteries on the fourteenth day of every month, turning scriptures such as the Renwang jing and Dayun jing as a permanent standard (Bianzheng lu). In the third month, an edict ordered the Daxingshan Monastery to inaugurate translation work. Śramaṇa Xuanmo and others translated the languages. Vinaya Master Guptā verified the translation. Falin, Huiyue, and others took up the brush and received the imperial command. Huicheng and others verified the meanings. An edict ordered Vice-Director of the Department of State Affairs Fang Xuanling, Supervising Secretary Du Zhenglun, and Minister of State Affairs Li Xiaogong to assist in the final collation and verification. Imperial Grandee and Chamberlain for the National Treasury Xiao Jing had general charge and supervision, and the various bureaus made provisions (Shijiao lu). In the sixth month, Chan Master Mingjing of Mizhou was summoned to the capital to pray for rain; an imperial order ordained three hundred monks (Tongji). An edict decreed that the Tongyi Palace, an old residence of the imperial family, should be made a nunnery, named Xingsheng (Hongming ji). In the eleventh month, an imperial edict instructed the abbot of Shengguang Monastery, Sengzhen, to go to the palace and welcome embroidered icons of Śākyamuni Buddha, bodhisattvas, holy monks, and vajras to be venerated at Shengguang Monastery. In the first month of the sixth year, forty-nine bhadantas from various monasteries were ordered to practice the Way for three weeks of seven days. On the concluding day of rejoicing in the embroidered icons, a vegetarian feast was offered to a thousand monks, and princes and dukes offered incense (Bianzheng lu).

3.31

Building Monasteries. In the intercalary twelfth month, the Emperor, remembering the wandering and stranded souls since the Sui dynasty, issued an edict: "The Sui lost the Way, and the nine divisions of the empire seethed with chaos. We personally took command of the great forces and applied these manifest punishments. We deeply fear that beneath the nine springs [the dead] are still plunged into cauldrons, and amid the eight difficulties are forever entangled in ice and coals. Therefore, we establish fields of merit to deliver their spirits. Wherever battles were fought since the inception of the righteous cause, let monasteries be built for the righteous warriors and evil rebels who lost their lives and perished on the battlefield, inviting and retaining superior companions of the Way. We hope that where the Dharma drum resounds, blazing fires will turn into blue lotuses, and where the clear chanting is heard, the sea of suffering will transform into ambrosia. Let the authorities determine the locations and erect the monastery structures, reporting all specific regulations so as to manifest our sense of sorrow and pity" (Jiu shi). In the following year, saṅghārāmas were built at all the fortifications: at Binzhou, where Xue Ju was crushed, Zhaoren Monastery was established; at Luozhou, where Wang Shichong was crushed, Zhaojue Monastery was established; at Fenzhou, where Liu Wuzhou was crushed, Hongji Monastery was established; at Jinzhou, where Song Jingang was crushed, Ciyun Monastery was established; at Lüzhou, where Huo Laosheng was crushed, Puji Monastery was established; at Zhengzhou, where Dou Jiande was crushed, Dengci Monastery was established; at Luozhou, where Liu Heita was crushed, Zhaofu Monastery was established. An edict ordered Yu Shinan, Li Boyao, Chu Suiliang, Yan Shigu, Cen Wenben, Xu Jingzong, and Zhu Zishe to compose the stele records for each of the new monasteries. In the twentieth year of Zhenguan, when the Emperor returned from the expedition against the Liaodong region, he founded Minzhong Pavilion Monastery in Youzhou to deliver those who had died in battle (Dadian lu). In the gengyin year, the Emperor considered that ordinary clothing lacked grades of distinction; in the eighth month, an edict decreed that henceforth those of the third rank and above wear purple, the fourth and fifth ranks wear scarlet, the sixth and seventh ranks wear green, and the eighth rank wear dark cyan; wives were to follow the colors of their husbands (Tang shu).

3.32

Tripiṭaka Dharma Master Xuanzang went to the Western Regions in the winter of the third year of Zhenguan to retrieve Buddhist scriptures that had not yet arrived. He went to the palace and presented a memorial, but the Emperor did not grant permission. The Master secretly slipped away, departing from Yuanzhou through Yumen Pass, and proceeded via Gaochang, the Yabghu, and other kingdoms. In the seventh year of Zhenguan, he reached Central India, met a Great Vehicle lay practitioner, and received the Yogācārabhūmi. Entering Rājagṛha, he stayed at Nālandā Monastery and received the doctrines of Yogācāra and Vijñaptimātra from Master Śīlabhadra on the terrace. He remained for ten years and returned from Rājagṛha. In the nineteenth year of Zhenguan, on the bingzi day of the first month, he arrived at the capital. Fang Xuanling, Regent of Chang'an, reported this in a memorial. On the renchen day, the Dharma Master went to Luoyang (the Eastern Capital). In the third month, on the jihai day, he was granted an audience at the Yiluan Hall. The Emperor asked: "When the Master departed, why did you not report it?" He replied: "When I was about to depart, I submitted memorials three times, but not receiving your gracious permission, I took it upon myself to travel secretly." The Emperor said: "That the Master was able to risk your life to seek the Dharma and bring benefit and advantage to the multitude of living beings—we commend you exceedingly!" The Dharma Master then reported the six hundred and fifty-seven Sanskrit texts of sutras and treatises he had brought from the Western Regions, begging to declare and translate them for the realm at the Shaolin Monastery on Mount Song in Luoyang. The Emperor said: "We have recently founded Hongfu Monastery for the Empress Dowager Mu; you may translate them there." An edict ordered Fang Xuanling, Chancellor of the Realm, to take exclusive charge of supervision, and all supplies and necessities were to come from the imperial treasury. In the twenty-second year of Zhenguan, in the sixth month, the Emperor composed the "Preface to the Sagely Teaching of the Tang Tripiṭaka" for the Dharma Master's newly translated scriptures. At that time, Crown Prince Zhi, seeing the sagely preface, accordingly composed the sagely record. An edict ordered the Crown Prince to compose the postface to the Bodhisattvapiṭaka Sūtra. In the eighth month, the Emperor bestowed on the Dharma Master a precious robe worth a hundred pieces of gold and a jeweled razor. The Dharma Master presented a memorial of thanks, which said in brief: "The robes of forbearance match their colors with floating rosiness; the knife of wisdom is sharper than one that carves jade. I shall reverently wear it to subdue the Māra of afflictions, and gird it to sever the web of worldly defilements." In the third year of Yonghui under Gaozong, the Dharma Master was about to build a great stupa at Ci'en Monastery to enshrine the Sanskrit texts of sutras and treatises retrieved from the west; he presented a memorial. An imperial edict bestowed clothing and goods from the deceased of the seven palaces, including the Great Interior and the Eastern Palace inner courts, to aid the Master in the endeavor. The Dharma Master directed the design according to the system of the Western Regions. When completed, the stupa was two hundred feet high. In the fourth month of the tenth year of Xianqing, an imperial edict designated the Yuhua Palace as a monastery; to venerate the late Emperor, an edict summoned the Dharma Master to reside there. In the following year, the Master translated the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra at Yuhua. In the second month of the first year of Linde, the Dharma Master ordered his disciple Mahāyānaprabha to copy a record of the translated sutras and treatises, in all seventy-five works and one thousand three hundred and thirty-five fascicles. He also summoned his disciples to create images, hold a vegetarian feast, and take leave of the assembly. He had his attendants recite the name of Maitreya Tathāgata. In the middle of the night on the fifth day, lying peacefully on his right side, he passed away at the age of sixty-five. The Emperor suspended court for three days and ordered that he be encoffined in a gold inner coffin and silver outer coffin. In the fourth month, he was entombed in a stupa on the eastern plain of Chan. His disciples Shentai, Qiyuan, Huiyin, Huili, Mingjun, Yibao, and Mahāyānaprabha were all dragons and elephants of the Dharma gate. The doctrines of Yogācārabhūmi and Vijñaptimātra which the Dharma Master had received from Master Śīlabhadra in the Western Regions were transmitted to Kuiji (Ben zhuan).

3.33

Mount Niutou. Chan Master Farong was a man from Yanling in Runzhou, with the surname Wei. At the age of nineteen, his learning encompassed the classics and histories. Soon after, he read the Great Prajñā and thoroughly understood ultimate emptiness. Suddenly one day he sighed, saying: "The worldly texts of Confucianism and Daoism are not the ultimate teaching; the correct contemplation of Prajñā is the boat to leave the world." Thereupon he went into seclusion on Mount Mao, submitted to a master, and shaved his hair. Later he went to Mount Niutou in Jiankang and sat in quiet contemplation observing the mind in the stone cave on the northern cliff of Youqi Monastery. There was the anomaly of a hundred birds presenting flowers, and tigers and wolves surrounding his dwelling. The Fourth Patriarch gathered and delivered him (Chuandeng lu).

3.34

In the fifth year, xinmao (631), the Emperor built Cide Monastery at Qingshan Palace and Yaotai Monastery at Zhaoling for Empress Dowager Mu. An edict instructed Dharma Master Xuanwan to copy the Buddhist Canon for the Empress at Deye Monastery within the imperial park, and further to produce another canon at Yanxing Monastery, placing both under Wan's supervision. In the sixth year, renchen (632), an edict turned an old residence in Taiyuan into Tiangong Monastery in honor of Empress Dowager Mu. West of the Palace City, within Zhen'an City, he also built a monastery for Empress Dowager Mu, which was likewise named Hongfu (Bianzheng lu). In the seventh year, guisi (633), an imperial edict prohibited catching fish with weirs and dams, and ended all butchering and slaughter. Three thousand monks and nuns were ordained (Bianzheng lu).

3.35

In the fourth month of the ninth year of Zhenguan, the Retired Emperor passed away. In the eleventh month, an edict declared: "The three vehicles join their tracks, prioritizing deliverance; the eightfold correct path is taken as refuge, with compassion as paramount. It pours out the ocean of wisdom to enrich all living beings; it cuts down the forest of afflictions to bridge the myriad things. Entrusting to truth and realizing the principle, its doctrine accords with utmost benevolence; wondrous fruits and superior causes match in the accumulation of goodness. We revere the Golden Wheel and respectfully receive the precious mandate. In the teachings of supreme virtue, there is nothing distant we do not ponder; in the regulations of the Great Sage, there is nothing obscure we do not examine. We wish to cause people to be free from hindrances and bonds, and families to attain benevolence and longevity. Recently, due to disruptions and chaos, the monastic assembly has dwindled; before flowered terraces and jeweled stupas, no one gazes through the doors. Dark hair and blue lotuses are combed by the wind and bathed in the rain. Reflecting on this decline and ruin, we are truly dejected. Let the prefectures throughout the realm that possess monasteries ordain monks and nuns up to the limit of three thousand. Since prefectures are large or small and lands are Chinese or frontier, the authorities shall deliberate and determine the numbers to be ordained in each place, striving to select those of pure and illustrious virtuous practice. Those who in the past returned to lay life due to monastic reductions, as well as laymen who were privately ordained—if their conduct and practice are commendable, they may all be included within the quota. If there are indeed no qualified people to select, let their quota remain vacant. Recently, we have heard that many monks are drowned in vulgar habits: some falsely invoking ghosts and spirits to fabricate and spread strange portents; some erroneously claiming to be medical shamans and following heterodox paths to pursue gain; some scorching or piercing their flesh to shock the common folk and frighten the ignorant; some frequenting government offices to solicit bribes. All such kinds gravely undermine the sagely teachings. Our heart lies in protecting and sustaining [the Dharma], and there shall be no leniency. From now on, let the authorities be ordered to rely upon the internal monastic rules and cross-reference the golden statutes to establish clear regulations" (Tang shu, Jiu shi).

3.36

In the tenth year of Zhenguan, bing[shen] (636), Crown Prince Chengqian asked Zhang Shiheng: "What is the retribution of serving the Buddha and seeking merit?" He replied: "Serving the Buddha lies in purity, benevolence, and forbearance. If one is greedy, arrogant, and cruel, even if one exhausts one's wealth to serve him, it will not diminish calamity. Moreover, good and evil must bring retribution, just as a shadow follows the form. The words of the sages are complete on this. If a ruler is enlightened, a minister loyal, and a son filial, then fortune and prosperity will endure. If one goes against this, then calamity arrives." Shiheng used these words to correct the Prince's mind. Prince Chengqian ultimately lost his virtue. In the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, Chengqian was deposed as a commoner, and Prince of Jin Zhi was established as Crown Prince.

3.37

The Compendium of Clans (Shizu zhi). In the first month of the twelfth year of Zhenguan, Minister of Personnel Gao Shilian, Deputy Director of the Chancellery Wei Ting, Vice Minister of Rites Linghu Defen, and Deputy Director of the Secretariat Cen Wenben completed the compilation of the Shizu zhi. They ranked Deputy Director of the Chancellery Cui Min'gan first. The Emperor did not approve, and therefore ordered further revisions, strictly using the official ranks and grades of the present dynasty to determine precedence. Thereupon, the imperial clan was placed first, the imperial in-laws second, and Cui Min'gan was demoted to third. In all, two hundred and ninety-three surnames and one thousand six hundred and fifty-one families were included, and it was promulgated throughout the realm (Tang shu).

3.38

Upādhyāya Dushun: His personal name was Fashun, born into the Du clan of Yongzhou. In his youth, Emperor Wen of the Sui revered him and provided him with a monthly stipend. By this time, the Emperor had long revered him, frequently ushering him into the palace and revering him like a Buddha. Shun compiled the Contemplation of the Huayan Dharmadhātu (Huayan fajie guan). His disciple Zhiyan transmitted his teaching. In the fifth month of the fourteenth year of the Zhenguan era, Shun manifested his decease (Original Biography).

3.39

In the ren-yin year, the sixteenth year of the Zhenguan era, in the fifth month, the Emperor pursued posthumous merit for Empress Taimu at Hongfu Monastery. He personally wrote the text of his vow, stating: "What the sages and wise esteem is filial piety; what the benevolent cherish is their parents. From my youth I was favored with the kindness of nurturing care; grown, I received teachings and instruction. How could I ever forget the reflections of the 'Liao'e' ode? The boundless feeling [toward my parents] cannot be repaid, even as vast heaven. Voicing my perpetual longing, I only feel deep grief. Desiring to repay them yet lacking a way, I rely solely upon unseen assistance. Reverently, with two hundred bolts of silk, I make an offering to the great compassionate teaching. If utmost sincerity may find resonance, I hope it will eliminate past faults so that making good may bear its cause, and in the hope of attaining the bliss of future conditions" (Hongming ji). An imperial decree was also issued to copy the Great Buddhist Canon for Empress Mu, and ten Dharma masters were chosen by imperial order to collate it.

3.40

In the gui-mao year, the seventeenth year of the Zhenguan era, in the second month, the Emperor asked the Grand Councillor of the Chancellery Chu Suiliang: "When Shun manufactured lacquerware, more than ten people remonstrated with him. How was this worthy of remonstrance?" Chu replied: "Extravagance is the root of peril and ruin. If lacquerware does not stop, one will proceed to make vessels of gold and jade. A loyal minister loving his lord must check it at its incipient stage. If disaster and disorder have already formed, there will be nothing left to remonstrate." The Emperor said: "Indeed, when I make an error, you must also remonstrate at its incipient stage." The Emperor said: "The sovereign of men has but a single mind, yet those who attack it are very numerous. Some use courage and strength, some use glib tongues, some use flattery, some use deceit, and some use sensual desires. Converging like the spokes of a wheel, they attack it, each seeking to sell themselves to gain favor and emolument. If the sovereign of men is slightly remiss and yields to one of them, then peril and ruin follow upon it. This is why it is difficult" (Imperial Annals).

3.41

Lingyan Pavilion: The Emperor ordered portraits of meritorious officials to be painted in the Lingyan Pavilion: Duke of Zhao, Zhangsun Wuji; Prince Yuan of Zhaojun, Li Xiaogong; Duke of Laicheng, Du Ruhui; Duke Wenzheng of Zheng, Wei Zheng; Duke of Liang, Fang Xuanling; Duke of Shen, Gao Shilian; Duke of E, Yuchi Jingde; Duke of Wei, Li Jing; Duke of Song, Xiao Yu; Duke Zhongzhuang of Bao, Duan Zhixuan; Duke of Kui, Liu Hongji; Duke Zhong of Jiang, Qutu Tong; Duke Jie of Yun, Yin Kaishan; Duke Xiang of Qiao, Chai Shao; Duke Xiang of Pi, Zhangsun Shunde; Duke of Yun, Zhang Liang; Duke of Chen, Hou Junji; Duke Xiang of Tan, Zhang Gongjin; Cheng Zhijie of Lu; Duke Wenyi of Yongxing, Yu Shinan; Duke Xiang of Yu, Liu Zhenghui; Duke of Ju, Tang Jian; Duke of Ying, Li Shiji; and Duke Zhuang of Hu, Qin Shubao (Biographies of the Loyal and Righteous).

3.42

Chan Master Fenggan, Hanshan, and Shide: Fenggan manifested his traces at Guoqing Monastery on Mount Tiantai, building a hermitage in the northwest corner of the Scripture Hall. Riding a tiger, he roamed the pine-lined paths. He saw a boy about ten years old; upon asking him, the boy had no home and no surname. The master led him back to the monastery and raised him in the kitchen, giving him the name Shide ("The Foundling"). There was a poor scholar who came from Cold Cliff, named Hanshanzi ("The Cold Mountain Master"). The three took great delight in each other's company. In this year, Fenggan was wandering afar when it happened that Lüqiu Yin came to govern Taizhou. Soon he suffered from a chronic headache. Fenggan arrived at his house, declaring he was skilled at treating his illness. Lüqiu saw him; the master held pure water, sprinkled it, and he was immediately cured. Lüqiu asked where he had come from, and he said, "Guoqing on Mount Tiantai." He asked, "Are there any worthy and eminent figures there?" Gan said, "Hanshan is Mañjuśrī; Shide is Samantabhadra. You ought to go and see them." Three days after seeing him, Lüqiu arrived at the monastery to seek Fenggan's relics and pay homage to the two Great Beings. Lüqiu bowed to them. The two Great Beings ran away, saying: "Fenggan is a loose-tongued Amitābha! If you do not recognize him, why are you bowing to us?" They vanished into a rock cavern, and the cavern closed itself. Hanshan and Shide wrote poems scattered throughout the mountains and woods; the monastery monks gathered them into volumes and printed them for the world (Inscribed Stele Record of Guoqing Monastery).

3.43

The Sūtra of the Buddha's Bequeathed Teaching: In the eighteenth year of the Zhenguan era, the Emperor decreed: "When the Tathāgata entered extinction, seeing the frivolity and decadence of the latter ages, he entrusted kings and ministers to protect and maintain the Buddha-Dharma. However, when monks and nuns leave home, their moral discipline and conduct must be fully prepared. If they give rein to desires and laxity, they encounter afflictions at every turn; getting involved in worldly affairs, their actions run counter to the sūtras and vinaya. This not only loses the profound and wondrous intent of the Tathāgata, but also falls short of the sovereign's duty of receiving the entrustment. The Sūtra of the Buddha's Bequeathed Teaching was preached by the Buddha at his parinirvāṇa; its admonitions to his disciples are extremely detailed and essential. The monks and laity of these degenerate times do not revere it at all; the Great Way is about to be obscured, and the subtle words are on the verge of vanishing. Ever cherishing the holy teaching, we ponder its propagation. Let the relevant authorities appoint ten copyists to extensively transcribe copies of this sūtra and ensure their complete implementation. Give one copy each to officials in the capital of the fifth rank and above, and to the regional inspectors of the various prefectures. If they observe the deeds and conduct of monks and nuns to be at variance with the text of the sūtra, they should publicly and privately encourage and urge them, ensuring they strictly comply with it" (Seen in the Old Tang History and the Literary Garden of Words).

3.44

In the nineteenth year, in the second month, the Emperor personally commanded the campaign against Koguryŏ but was unsuccessful; in the ninth month he withdrew the army. In the third month of the twentieth year, the imperial carriage arrived at Chang'an. The śramaṇa Zhize stayed at Biancai Monastery. His room was utterly bare, and the assembly called him a madman. Zhize said: "Those who call others mad do not know they are mad themselves. Leaving home and abandoning the world, they are only greedy for food and clothing; whether walking or resting they create barriers, locking doors and cupboards, amassing all sorts of goods and toiling restlessly. If this is not madness, there is no madman anywhere!" Thereupon he clapped his hands, laughed heartily, and abruptly departed (Biographies of Monks).

3.45

Lord Gao of Fengjing: Śramaṇa Facong was preaching the Dharma in the counties of Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Jiaxing in western Zhejiang. There was a deity named Lord Gao, who descended upon his spirit medium, saying: "Invite Dharma Master Cong here for me to receive the bodhisattva precepts." The local residents acted on his words and invited him; the precepts having been administered, the deity again descended upon the medium, saying: "From this day forward, wine, meat, and the five pungent roots are all completely severed. In the future, if you pray for blessings, you may invite the monastic assembly to host a vegetarian feast and practice the Way in my temple." Two years passed. A deity of Haiyan County in Xiuzhou, named the Prefectural Lord of Poyang, descended upon a medium during a regular sacrifice, saying: "Invite Dharma Master Cong for me to lecture on the Nirvāṇa Sūtra." The assembly then welcomed the master to give the lecture. The deity again descended upon the medium, saying: "The karmic hindrances of the divine path bring many afflictions. Since listening to the Dharma, the tiny insects gnawing beneath my scales have already ceased to afflict me. I request you to ask the master to lecture further on the Large Prajñāpāramitā for me." The master lectured on it again for him, and the deity descended upon the medium to give thanks (Biographies of Eminent Monks).

3.46

In the twenty-second year of the Zhenguan era, after the Emperor returned from the campaign against Liao, his energy and strength were failing, so he turned his attention to the Great Teaching. In the eighth month, he asked Dharma Master Xuanzang: "If one wishes to plant benefits in the Dharma gate, what should be prioritized?" Xuanzang said: "Sentient beings sleep in delusion; without wisdom they cannot be awakened. When the sprouts of wisdom shoot up and grow, the Dharma serves as their nourishment. Propagating the Dharma requires people; ordaining monks is paramount." The Emperor said: "I bestow upon Xuanzang a patched robe and Baoli [monastery]." Xuanzang submitted a memorial of gratitude, detailed below in his previous original biography. In the ninth month, on the yi-mao day, an imperial edict stated: "At the close of the Sui, rule was lost; the realm fell into disarray. The four seas were plunged into misery; the eight directions were in turmoil. We happened to confront the task of quelling the rebellion and personally braved the edge of weapons, repeatedly enduring wind and frost and sleeping on horseback. Recently, though treated with medicines, We had not yet fully recovered. Only recently have We finally regained health. How could this not be brought about by merit and goodness? In the capital and all prefectures across the realm, let five monks be ordained in each monastery." At that time, there were more than 3,700 monasteries in the realm, and in total over 17,000 monks were ordained (Old Tang History).

3.47

The Crown Prince Zhi resided in the Eastern Palace. It happened that the weather was overcast and gloomy, and he felt weary, sad, and moved. Looking back to his mother's demeanor, it was boundless as vast heaven, her compassionate grace limitless. He thereupon gathered materials, selected a site, and founded Dacien Monastery to posthumously honor Empress Wende and cultivate unseen blessings for her. By this twelfth month it was completed, and a stupa was also erected. An edict ordered fifty senior and venerable bhadantas of the capital to be selected, each ordaining six attendants, to reside in the new monastery. In this month, on the bing-chen day, the Crown Prince prepared fifty jeweled carriages to welcome the bhadantas, together with hundreds of colored pavilions and precious banners, reverently escorting the newly acquired Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscripts of various sūtras, auspicious images, relics, and the like. By imperial order, the Nine Sections of Music of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, the musicians of Chang'an and Wannian, and flower banners from the various monasteries in the capital guided them into the monastery. The Emperor stood in the tower of the Anfu Gate holding an incense burner to pay homage, stopping only when the sūtras and images had completely passed. The imperial heart was exceedingly pleased. After Gaozong ascended the throne, he personally composed the stele for Dacien Monastery (Tang dian).

3.48

In the ji-you year, the twenty-third year of the Zhenguan era, in the summer, the fourth month, the Emperor was ill. In the fifth month, he passed away. In the sixth month, the Crown Prince ascended the throne. In the eighth month, Emperor Wen was buried at Zhao Mausoleum, with the temple name Taizong (Basic Annals).

3.49

Gaozong

3.50

Zhi, styled Weishan, was the ninth son of Taizong. He was initially enfeoffed as Prince of Jin. He was on the throne for thirty-four years, living to the age of fifty-six. Reign eras: Yonghui (6), Xianqing (5), Longshuo (3), Linde (2), Qianfeng (2), Zongzhang (2), Xianheng (4), Shangyuan (2), Yifeng (3), Tiaolu (1), Yonglong (1), Kaiyao (1), Yongchun (1), Hongdao (1).

3.51

Geng-xu, first year of the Yonghui era; xin-hai, second year.

3.52

The Fourth Patriarch, Venerable Master Daoxin: His surname was Sima. His family had lived in Henei for generations, later moving to Guangji County in Qizhou, which is modern Huaxi. He was extraordinary from birth. In his youth, he admired the Emptiness school and its various gates of liberation, as if by past habit. After succeeding to the patriarchal throne, his ribs did not touch the mat for nearly sixty years. In the seventh year of the Wude era of Tang Gaozu, he resided at Potou Mountain in Qi, which is now Shuangfeng Mountain. During the Zhenguan era, Taizong heard of his fame and summoned him three times, but the Venerable did not rise to go. The Emperor summoned him again, telling his envoy: "If he still does not obey my command, bring me his head." The envoy conveyed the sovereign's intention; the master extended his neck to await the blade. The envoy returned and reported this; the Emperor sighed in admiration and consoled him very generously. By this time, the Venerable had dwelt in the mountain for twenty years. One day, he went to Huangmei County and met a small child on the road, about seven years old. He asked him: "What is your surname (xing)?" The child said: "A nature (xing) I do have, but it is no ordinary surname." The Patriarch said: "What nature is it?" The child said: "It is the Buddha-nature." The Patriarch said: "Do you have no surname?" The child said: "Because nature is empty, therefore I have none." The Patriarch silently recognized him as a Dharma vessel and sent an attendant to his mother's place to beg for him to leave home. Because of past affinity, the mother gave him up. The Patriarch tonsured him, naming him Hongren. Later, he instructed him, saying: "Long ago, the Tathāgata transmitted the correct Dharma eye, which has passed down to me. I now confer it upon you along with the robe and bowl. Listen to my verse." The verse said:
"Flower seeds possess the nature of arising;
Because of the ground, the flowers arise and live.
When great conditions merge with faith,
That which ought to arise lives without arising."
By this time, on the fourth day of the intercalary ninth month in the second year of the Yonghui era, he admonished his disciples, saying: "All phenomena are completely liberated. Each of you must protect and keep them in mind, to flow and transform into the future." Having finished speaking, he sat peacefully and passed away at the age of seventy-two. A stupa was erected on his native mountain. In the fourth month on the eighth day of the following year, the stupa door opened of itself, and his appearance was as if alive. In the Dali era of Emperor Daizong, he was posthumously granted the title Chan Master Dayi, and the stupa was called Ciyun (Zhengzong ji). The Venerable once went to Mount Niutou in Jiankang, where he took in Chan Master Rong, listing his lineage as a collateral branch.

3.53

In the jiayin year, the fifth year of Yonghui, the emperor issued a special decree ordaining the novice Kuiji as a fully ordained monk, to enter Da Cien Monastery and participate in translating the orthodox meaning of the scriptures. Ji was the nephew of Yuchi Jingde, Duke Zhongwu of E. He resided in Chang'an. Earlier, Dharma Master Xuanzang went to his father to seek him for renunciation. Whenever Ji looked at a commentary, he memorized it with a single glance; he also understood their meanings suddenly and was skilled in both the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna. He received the essential tenets of Yogācāra Vijñaptimātra from Master Xuanzang and composed about a hundred treatises, being known at the time as the Master of a Hundred Treatises. By nature he was luxurious and grand; whenever he went out, he inevitably prepared three carts for scriptures, books, and fine foods, so the people of the time called him the "Three-Cart Dharma Master." In the first year of Yongchun, he entered cessation at the age of fifty-one. An edict expressed grief and mourning, and an imperial panegyric was composed for his portrait. By imperial decree, he was buried at the northern canal of Fanchuan, near the tomb of Master Xuanzang. Vinaya Master Daoxuan of Mount Zhongnan in the capital upheld the monastic discipline with exquisite rigor and moved the heavenly kitchen to make offerings to him. He often disdained Ji's ostentation of the three carts. When Ji visited the Vinaya Master, past midday the heavenly food did not arrive. After Ji took his leave, the heavenly being finally came. The Vinaya Master reproached him for being late, and the heavenly being said: "Just now a Mahāyāna bodhisattva was present here. His guard was extremely strict, so there was no way for me to enter." The Vinaya Master was greatly astonished upon hearing this. Thereupon, reverence for Ji increased far and wide. Master Ji founded the school known as Cien (from his fundamental biography).

3.54

The Cien Teaching: In the beginning, the Great Being Asaṅga of India frequently ascended to the Tuṣita Heaven palace to inquire about and receive the essential tenets of Maitreya's Vijñaptimātra. When his younger brother, Bodhisattva Vasubandhu, was born in the western regions at Rājagṛha, he elucidated the Mahāyāna, and they subsequently composed treatises together. In India, sages and worthies appeared across generations to propagate this teaching. It came down to the Treatise Master Śīlabhadra, the Treasury of the True Dharma, who was a native of Central India in the Western Heavens. At the age of one hundred and three, he resided at Nālandā Monastery in the kingdom of Rājagṛha. Just then, Tripiṭaka Master Xuanzang arrived, and Śīlabhadra bestowed upon him the tenets of the Yogācārabhūmi and Vijñaptimātra. Xuanzang returned to the east and transmitted them to Kuiji. Ji then gathered the old explanations and broadly composed commentaries and treatises. Scholars took him as their authority, calling it the Three-Cart Dharma-Character school that reveals the principle, the Cien Teaching.

3.55

In the yimao year, the sixth year of Yonghui, in the tenth month, the emperor ordered Sikong Li Ji to carry the imperial seal and ribbons to invest Imperial Consort Wu as empress, deposing Empress Wang. Earlier, in the second year of Zhenguan, Emperor Taizong summoned the daughter of Wu Shihuo (pronounced yufu), Area Commander of Jingzhou, to enter the imperial harem as a Talented Lady (Cairen) at the age of fourteen. The Grand Astrologer memorialized that there was an omen of a female ruler, so she was sent out to become a nun at Ganye Monastery. In the fifth year of Yonghui, the emperor summoned her to enter the palace as Bright Concubine (Zhaoyi). Now she was invested as empress.

3.56

In the bingchen year, the first year of Xianqing, in the fifth month, it was decreed that monks and nuns throughout the realm who violated state laws should be disciplined according to the monastic vinaya and must not be punished under the same statutes as the common people. In the eleventh month, the Heavenly Empress gave birth to a son, who was named Prince Foguang; this was Emperor Zhongzong. On the fifth day of the twelfth month, seven monks were ordained for Prince Foguang, and Dharma Master Xuanzang was requested to shave Prince Foguang's hair so that he might renounce the household life (from the Old History of the Book of Tang).

3.57

The Thousand-Year Upādhyāya Baozhang: A native of Central India in the Western Heavens. At birth his left hand was clenched in a fist; only when his hair was shaved at age seven did it open, hence his name Baozhang ('Precious Palm'). In the twenty-fourth year of the Jian'an reign of Emperor Xian of the Eastern Han, he came to this land. During the Wei and Jin dynasties he journeyed east. Traveling west, he entered Shu to pay homage to Samantabhadra, staying at Daci Monastery where he daily recited scriptures such as the Prajñāpāramitā. Someone composed a verse praising him: 'Ceaselessly his jade teeth grow cold, / As if a cold spring bursts forth in haste; / Sometimes, sitting at midnight, / Ghosts and spirits weep before his steps.' One day he said to the assembly: 'I have a vow to abide in the world for a thousand years,' hence people called him 'Thousand Years.' Next he traveled to Mount Wutai, then moved to live at Huayan on Zhurong Peak, Shuangfeng in Huangmei, and Donglin on Mount Lu. Soon he reached Jiankang just as Bodhidharma entered the Liang dynasty. Baozhang went to inquire into his tenets and attained awakening. Emperor Wu esteemed his monastic seniority and invited him to the inner court. Shortly thereafter he went to Wu. He had a verse that went: 'Meeting the Guide in the city of Liang, / I practiced Chan and understood the mind-ground; / Wandering through the two Zhe regions, / I have exhausted all the fine mountains and waters.' Drifting east with the current, from Qianqing he reached Tianzhu, went to Mao Peak, climbed Mount Taibai, traversed Mount Yandang, and rested among the seventy-two hermitages of Cui Peak. He ascended Chicheng, and rested at Yunmen, Fahua, Zhuji, Yupu, and Chifu Dayan. In the fifteenth year of the Zhenguan reign of Emperor Taizong, he returned to Hangzhou to settle at Feilai Peak; this is now Zhong Tianzhu Monastery. He had the lines: 'Having traveled across all four hundred prefectures of China, / This place is especially suited for a practitioner's wanderings.' Later he lived at Baoyan in Pujiang. By this time, on New Year's Day in the dingren year, the second year of Xianqing, he sculpted an image with his own hands; after nine days the image was complete. He asked his disciple Huiyun: 'Whom does it resemble?' Yun said: 'It is no different from the Upādhyāya.' He then bathed, sat cross-legged, and said to Yun: 'I have dwelled in the world for […] thousand and seventy-two years. Now I depart from the world. Listen to my verse: / Originally there is no birth or death; / Now I merely manifest birth and death. / Having attained the mind that can leave or stay, / In another life I shall return here again.' When he finished speaking, he passed away. Fifty-four years later, Elder Cifu came from Yunmen to the stupa site and bowed, saying: 'I hope the stupa doors will open.' After a short while, the stupa doors indeed opened; his bones were linked like chains, looking like yellow gold. Fu then carried them to Mount Qinwang to erect a stupa. During the Kaiyuan reign of Emperor Xuanzong, Huiyun's disciple Zongyi engraved a stone tablet recording his deeds (from the Record of the Transmission of the Lamp).

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釋氏稽古略 — Classical Chinese