廣弘明集 2.12

2.12

世祖雅好莊老。諷味晨夕。而富於春秋。銳志武功。雖歸宗佛法敬重沙門。而未覽經教深求緣報之旨。及得寇謙之道以清靜無為有仙化之證。遂信行其術。司徒崔浩奉謙之道。尤不信佛。與帝言數加誹毀。謂虛誕為世費。帝以其辯博頗信之。會蓋吳反於杏城。關中騷擾。帝西伐至長安入寺中觀焉。沙門飲從官酒。入其便室見有財產弓矢及牧守富人所寄藏物。蓋以萬計。帝先忿沙門非法。浩時從行。因進其說下詔誅長安沙門。焚破佛像。勅留臺下。四方一依長安行事。又詔曰。彼沙門者假西戎虛誕妄生妖㜸。非所以齊一政化布淳德於天下也。自王公已下有私養沙門者。皆送過期不出沙門。身死容者誅一門。時恭宗為太子監國。素敬佛道。頻表陳刑殺之濫又非圖像之罪。再三帝不許。乃下詔曰。昔後漢荒君。信惑邪偽妄假睡夢。信胡妖鬼以亂天常。自古九州無此也。誇誕大言不本人情。叔季之世。闇君亂主莫不眩焉。由是政教不行。禮義大壞。鬼道熾盛。視王者之法蔑如也。自此已來繼代禍亂天罰極行生民死盡。五服之內鞠為丘墟。千里蕭條不見人跡。皆由於此。朕承天緒屬。當窮運之弊。欲除偽定真。復羲農之政其一切蕩除胡神滅其蹤迹。庶無謝於風氏矣。自今已後敢有事胡神。及造其形像泥人銅人者門誅。雖言胡神問今胡人若有若無皆是前代漢人無賴子弟劉元真呂伯強之徒接乞胡之誕言。用老莊之虛假。附而益之。皆非真實。至使王法廢而不行。蓋大姦之魁也。世有非常之人。能行非常之事。非朕孰能去此歷代之偽物。有司宣告。在所諸有佛圖形像及胡經皆擊破焚除。沙門無少長悉坑之。是歲真君七年三月也。恭宗言雖不用。然猶緩宣詔書。遠近豫知各得為計。京邑四方沙門多亡匿而免者。其金銀寶像經論。大得祕藏。至於土木寺塔聲教所及。皆畢除毀。

Shizu was naturally fond of Zhuangzi and Laozi, chanting and savoring them morning and night; being in the prime of youth, his ambitions were keenly set on military exploits. Although he took refuge in the Buddhist Dharma and respected śramaṇas, he had not yet perused the scriptural teachings to seek deeply into the principles of karmic retributions. When he obtained the Daoist teachings of Kou Qianzhi, which, with their purity, non-action (asaṃskṛta), and evidence of immortal transformation, he accordingly came to believe in and practice his arts. The Minister over the Masses Cui Hao adhered to the Way of Qianzhi and especially disbelieved in Buddhism, repeatedly slandering it in discussions with the Emperor, calling it false and extravagant waste for the world. Because of Cui's broad eloquence, the Emperor placed considerable trust in him. It happened that Gai Wu rebelled at Xingcheng, and the Guanzhong region was thrown into turmoil; the Emperor marched west on campaign and, arriving in Chang'an, entered a monastery to observe it. Śramaṇas served wine to the imperial attendants; entering their side rooms, they saw property, bows and arrows, and goods deposited and hidden by local governors and wealthy men, counting by the tens of thousands. The Emperor was already incensed by the śramaṇas' unlawful behavior; Cui Hao, who was accompanying the expedition at the time, took advantage of this to advance his arguments. An edict was issued to execute the śramaṇas of Chang'an and burn and destroy the Buddhist images; orders were sent down to the imperial chancellery that the four quarters were to act entirely in accordance with the Chang'an proceedings. Another edict stated: 'Those śramaṇas falsely use the absurd fabrications of the Western Barbarians to produce evil apparitions recklessly, which is not the means to unify governance and propagate pure virtue throughout the world. From princes and dukes down, anyone privately harboring śramaṇas must hand them over; if the deadline passes without presenting them, the śramaṇas shall be put to death, and the harbinger's entire family shall be executed.' At that time, Gongzong was Crown Prince supervising the state; having always revered the Buddhist Path, he repeatedly presented memorials stating the excessive severity of the punishments and executions, and arguing that the statues and paintings bore no guilt. After [Gongzong's] repeated appeals, the Emperor refused to grant them and issued an edict saying: 'Formerly, the dissolute ruler of the Later Han foolishly gave credence to false delusions, absurdly using a dream as a pretext, and believed in the barbarians' bewitching spirits to disrupt the constants of Heaven; since antiquity such a thing had never existed within the Nine Provinces. Their boastful and extravagant big words do not accord with human sentiments; in degenerate times, benighted rulers and rebellious lords were without exception dazzled by them. Because of this, government and moral instruction failed to operate, rites and righteousness were ruined, the way of spirits flourished wildly, and the laws of the king were treated with utter contempt. Ever since then, successive ages of disasters and chaos, extreme visitations of heavenly punishments, have wiped out the common people; the lands within the five zones of submission have been reduced to ruins, and for a thousand li all is desolate without human traces. All this is due to this [heresy]. We have received Heaven's succession in a time confronting the exhaustion of fortunes, and We desire to eliminate the false, establish the true, and restore the governance of Fuxi and Shennong. Let the barbarian gods be swept away completely, their traces eradicated, so that We may perhaps not fall short of the Feng clan! From this time forward, whoever dares to worship the barbarian gods or make their figures as clay men or bronze men shall have their whole family executed. Though they speak of barbarian gods, if one asks current barbarians whether they exist or not, they are all former generations' Han scoundrels like Liu Yuanzhen and Lü Boqiang who adopted the absurd words of begging barbarians, used the falsehoods of Laozi and Zhuangzi, added and expanded upon them—none of it is real! It has even caused the royal law to be abandoned and unenforced; they are indeed the ringleaders of great treachery! The world possesses extraordinary men who can accomplish extraordinary feats; if not for Us, who could purge these false fabrications of successive ages? Let the authorities proclaim: wherever there are Buddhist images or barbarian scriptures, all shall be smashed and burned away; śramaṇas, young and old alike, shall all be buried alive.' This was in the third month of the seventh year of the Zhenjun reign era (446 CE). Although Gongzong's words were not heeded, he nonetheless delayed the promulgation of the edict, allowing those near and far to learn of it in advance and make their plans. Many śramaṇas in the capital and the four quarters fled into hiding and escaped; precious statues and scriptures and treatises of gold and silver were largely concealed in secret. As for the clay and wooden temples and stūpas within reach of the voice of authority, all were completely eradicated and destroyed.