弘明集 6.28

6.28

The correction says: 'Princes and kings attained the One, and all under Heaven became upright'—here there is no discussion of immortal transformation. 'To die but not perish is longevity'—here there is no talk of deathlessness. Countless explanations are deceptive and excessive, their words false yet embellished. 'When the Great Dao fell into obscurity, minor attainments arose everywhere.' How true are these words! Those various fraudulent and insolent claims seek merely to give cover to their transgressions; examining them against the words of the sages, they certainly do not brook criticism. The teachings of the Daoists today take longevity alone as their principal doctrine and deathlessness as their main goal. Their refining of cinnabar, ingesting of vapor, swallowing of jade, ascending as spirits, shedding like feathers, corpse-liberation, and bodily transformation are methods on which they rely; yet in the end, no one has ever witnessed this to be so. They also claim that those who do not ascend as immortals become ghosts at death, or are summoned to fill posts in the heavenly bureaus according to their original merit. Although this greatly diverges from the original principles of the teachings of Laozi and Zhuangzi, it still might not violate secular teachings: diminishing desires, tending toward goodness, riding transformation, according with passing away, and forgetting about life so that life may be preserved—such an intent, while in actual principle reduced to delusion, does not yet throw regular human relations into chaos. As for the followers of Zhang [Daoling] and Ge [Xuan], they have thoroughly mixed this with transformations of spirits, vulgarizations, and bizarre absurdities to delude the world. Their tallies, incantations, and petitional efficacies are all alleged to have been transmitted by Lord Lao, and have been gradually amplified over time. They then went on to cite Buddhist teachings from afar to corroborate their fabrications, creating utterances that are chaotic and contradictory, relying on teachings without canonical authority. Examining them against the canonical doctrines, their falsehood can be known. This causes truth and falsehood to mingle in the same stream, so that those who hope for awakening are perpetually deluded and none can distinguish them. The deception and disorder are already extreme.