唐護法沙門法琳別傳 1.5

1.5

法師諱法琳。俗姓陳氏。頴川郡人。仲弓之後也。遠祖隨宦徙寓襄陽。幼齒抽簪。情敦博物。遂乃金陵楚郢負帙問津。孔肆釋筵橫經訪道。於是該九部洞百家。究金言殫玉牒。每而歎曰。為大丈夫。不能立正摧邪綱維至理。豈直遠慚龍樹。抑亦遙愧馬鳴。未若隱遯巖阿栖心丘壑。遂以隋開皇十四年夏五月。隱於青溪山鬼谷洞焉。閱覽玄儒。寸陰無棄。逈搆巖廬。則蔽虧於日月。空飛戶牖。則吐納於風雲因撰青溪山記。可八千餘言。理趣鏗鏘文詞婉麗。見傳于代。故闕錄焉。然法師韞德潛形。訥言敏行誓維頹紐。觀化上京。是歲仁壽元年春三月也。於是背楚塞涉秦川。步三陽遊八水。每以李門仙術濩落虛陳。服皂披尋何能究委。因以義寧初歲。假衣黃巾冀罄宗源。從其居館。然法師素閑莊老。談吐清奇。而道士等。競契金蘭慕申膠漆。故使三清祕典洞鑒玄津。九府幽微窮諸要道。遂得葛妄張虛之旨。韜韞襟懷。李氏奉釋之謨。記諸心目。武德年首。還蒞釋宗。備踐法筵。周遊講肆。意以神州帝壤易可箴規。因住濟法道場。栖心定慧。後四年秋九月。有前道士太史令傅弈。先是黃巾黨其所習。遂上廢佛法事十有一條。大略云。釋經誕妄。言妖事隱。損國破家。未聞益世。請胡佛邪教。退還天竺。凡是沙門放歸桑梓。則我家國昌泰。李孔之教行焉。高祖納弈獻書。乃下詔問諸沙門曰。棄父母之鬚髮。去君臣之華服。利在何門之中。益在何情之內。損益二宜請動妙釋。而法師伏檻既久。思騁長衢。幸承斯。

The Dharma Master was named Falin. His secular surname was Chen. He was a person of Yingchuan Commandery, a descendant of Zhonggong. His distant ancestors moved with their official postings and resided in Xiangyang. In his youth, he took off his hairpin; his disposition was devoted to extensive learning. Thereupon, he carried his book satchel to seek knowledge in Jinling and Ying in Chu, crossing texts to inquire about the Dao in the halls of Confucius and on the mats of Śākya. He thereby encompassed the nine divisions [of canonical scriptures] and thoroughly mastered the hundred schools; he plumbed the golden words and exhausted the jade tablets. He often sighed and said: 'If a great man cannot establish orthodoxy, destroy heterodoxy, and uphold the ultimate principle, how could he merely feel ashamed from afar before Nāgārjuna? He would also feel distant remorse before Aśvaghoṣa! It would be better to retreat into the rocky crags and rest the mind among the hills and valleys.' Thus, in the fifth month, the summer of the fourteenth year of the Kaihuang era of the Sui, he secluded himself in the Guigu Cave on Mount Qingxi. Perusing Daoist and Confucian writings, he did not waste an inch of time. His lodge constructed high among the crags blocked the sun and moon; its open, flying doors and windows inhaled and exhaled the wind and clouds. In connection with this, he composed the *Record of Mount Qingxi*, of about eight thousand words; its principles resonate clearly, and its literary style is graceful and elegant. As it is circulated in the world, it is omitted from recording here. / However, the Dharma Master harbored virtue and concealed his person; cautious in speech yet swift in action, he vowed to uphold the declining bonds [of Dharma]. He observed transformation in the upper capital in the third month, the spring of the first year of the Renshou era. Thereupon, turning his back on the Chu passes and crossing the Qin rivers, he strode along the Three Yangs and traveled the Eight Rivers. Considering that the arts of immortality of the Li lineage were empty and baseless assertions, how could one investigate them thoroughly while wearing the black robe? Therefore, in the first year of the Yining era, he borrowed the attire of the Yellow Turbans in the hope of fully fathoming their ancestral origins, following them in their lodges. Now, the Dharma Master had long been conversant with Zhuangzi and Laozi, and his conversation was pure and extraordinary. The Daoist masters vied to pledge bonds of gold and orchids, aspiring to express affinity like glue and lacquer. Thus he was enabled to gain a penetrating insight into the profound fords of the secret scriptures of the Three Purities, and completely plumb the essential ways of the subtleties of the Nine Bureaus. He thereupon grasped the essence of Ge [Chaofu]'s fabrications and Zhang [Daoling]'s falsities, concealing them in his bosom; and he kept in his mind and vision the plans of the Li family revering the Śākya [faith]. / At the beginning of the Wude era, he returned to the Buddhist school, fully attending the Dharma assemblies and traveling around the lecture halls. Thinking that in the imperial soil of the divine land it would be easy to offer admonitions and corrections, he resided at Jifa Bodhimaṇḍa, resting his mind in concentration and wisdom. In the ninth month, the autumn of the fourth year thereafter, the Grand Astrologer Fu Yi, a former Daoist, being originally a Yellow Turban who was partisan toward what he had practiced, presented eleven articles on the abolition of the Buddha's Dharma. In summary he stated: 'The Buddhist scriptures are boastful and false, their words are uncanny and their matters obscure. They damage the state and ruin families; no benefit to the world has ever been heard of them. We request that the heterodox teaching of the barbarian Buddha be turned back to India, and that all śramaṇas be released back to their native villages. Then our family and state will be prosperous and peaceful, and the teachings of Li [Laozi] and Confucius will prevail.' Gaozu accepted the memorial presented by Yi, and thereupon issued an imperial edict questioning the śramaṇas, saying: 'Abandoning the hair and beard given by father and mother, shedding the splendid robes of lords and ministers—within which gate does the benefit lie, and inside what feelings does the gain reside? Regarding the two matters of loss and gain, please expound an exquisite explanation.' The Dharma Master, having long remained pent up within the railing, had wished to gallop on the broad avenue, and fortunately received this