廣弘明集 6.18

6.18

帝姓宇文氏。諱邕。太祖魏丞相黑泰之第三子也。族本鮮卑。元魏之末太祖挾魏。平陽王西頓關中。經魏四帝二十三年薨。世子洛陽公。受魏禪稱周。當年被廢。立弟寧都公。為帝四年崩。諡明帝。兒小立弟魯國公為帝。即高祖也。改號保定元年。深謀獨斷猜忌為心。晦迹親疎以蒙智術。保定六年改元天和。前後經于一紀。大冢宰晉國公宇文護太祖之猶子也。躬受遺詔輔翼帝圖。雄略控御光時佐國。恐有廢立。便引入內殺之。并子十人。族大臣六家。改元建德。誅除雄武摧剪扜城。慮遠權衡英威自若。而能克己勵精。露懷臣下。布袍菲食勞謙自持。躬履行陣步涉山谷。故得士卒之心死而不厭。時有讖記忌於黑衣。謂沙門中次當襲運。故帝初大信佛。以事逼身遂行廢蕩。以建德三年。納道士張賓佞辯。便滅二教。更立通道觀用暢本懷。至建德五年。平齊既訖。自以為。滅法之福祐也。改元宣政。至五月因癘而崩於雲陽。子贇嗣位。殺齊王父子十人。正月一日改元大成。禪位其子衍。改元大象。自號天元皇帝。便開佛法。然則禍深福淺過奄其功。明年五月崩。諡曰文宣。後年正月改元大定。二月內禪位有隋。故奕述云。觀武帝為政。果決能斷。此其志也。既除妖邪之教。惟務強兵。五年之間大勳斯集盛矣。其有成功也。集者曰。奕云。無佛則國安祚遠。如何周祖誅除纔了凶崩忽臨。則奕為狂矣。然則武帝惟武曾不遲疑。隨心快意便行誅戮。害叔毀佛欺惘已深。祚促曆移固其宜矣。況復癘及其身呼嗟何及。殃鍾禍集又可悲涼。乃以正佛為妖邪。指偽道為師奉。闇君荒主豈待夏殷固諡法之司。魏周滅法之主俱為武者。不亦宜乎。餘有除毀相狀感於苦報。如別具述。

The Emperor's clan name was Yuwen; his taboo name was Yong. He was the third son of Taizu, the Wei Chancellor Heitai. His clan originally stemmed from the Xianbei. At the end of the Yuan Wei, Taizu took the Prince of Pingyang of Wei and settled west in the Guanzhong region. After four emperors of Wei and twenty-three years, he passed away. His heir, the Duke of Luoyang, received the abdication of Wei and took the title of Zhou; within the same year he was deposed. His younger brother, the Duke of Ningdu, was enthroned; after four years as emperor, he passed away and was posthumously titled Emperor Ming. Because his son was young, his younger brother, the Duke of Lu State, was enthroned as emperor—this was Gaozu (Emperor Wu). He changed the reign era to the first year of Baoding. Deep in plotting and autocratic in decisions, suspicion was in his heart; he concealed his traces from both near and far to obscure his cunning techniques. In the sixth year of Baoding, he changed the era to Tianhe. Before and after, this spanned twelve years. The Grand Chancellor, the Duke of Jin State, Yuwen Hu, was Taizu's nephew. Having personally received the testamentary edict, he assisted the imperial plans; with heroic strategy he maintained control, lending brilliance to the era and aiding the state. Fearing there might be a deposition or enthronement, Emperor Wu lured him into the inner quarters and killed him, along with his ten sons, exterminating the clans of six high ministers. He changed the era to Jiande. Having executed the heroic and destroyed the bulwarks of the state, he looked far ahead with calculated weight, his heroic majesty remaining composure itself. Yet he was able to restrain himself and exert diligence, opening his heart to ministers and subordinates; in cloth robes and frugal fare, he maintained himself in toil and humility, personally marching in the battle ranks and traversing mountains and ravines on foot. Hence, he won the hearts of his soldiers, who did not begrudge dying for him. At that time, there was a prophetic text fearing those in black garments, saying that within the śramaṇas the next would inherit dynastic fortune. Therefore, though the Emperor had initially placed great faith in the Buddha, because affairs pressed closely upon him, he proceeded to abolish and sweep it away. In the third year of Jiande, adopting the flattering eloquence of the Daoist Zhang Bin, he abolished both teachings and further established the Tongdao Monastery to express his original intent. By the fifth year of Jiande, after he had pacified Northern Qi, he considered this to be the blessed protection gained from destroying the Dharma. He changed the era to Xuanzheng. By the fifth month, he passed away from a virulent illness at Yunyang. His son Yun succeeded to the throne, killed the Prince of Qi and his ten sons, and on the first day of the first month changed the era to Dacheng. He abdicated the throne to his son Yan, changed the era to Daxiang, styled himself Heavenly Prime Emperor, and immediately reopened the Buddha's Dharma. Yet his misfortune was deep and his merit shallow; his transgressions eclipsed his achievements. In the fifth month of the following year, he passed away and was posthumously titled Wenxuan. In the first month of the subsequent year, the era was changed to Dading; within the second month, he abdicated the throne to the Sui. Thus Fu Yi stated: 'Observing Emperor Wu's governance, he was resolute and decisive—such was his intent. Having eliminated the demonic and heterodox teaching, he attended solely to strengthening the military; within five years, great achievements were thus assembled. How magnificent! Such was his success.' The compiler says: Fu Yi says that without the Buddha, the state would be peaceful and its fortunes long-lasting; how is it, then, that just after the ancestor of Zhou had completed his extermination, violent death suddenly arrived? Thus Fu Yi was raving mad! However, Emperor Wu was martial only and never hesitated; following his mind's desires, he carried out executions. Murdering his uncle and destroying the Buddha, his deceit and delusion were already deep; that his fortune was cut short and the dynastic calendar shifted was indeed fitting! How much more so when virulent illness struck his person—what could cries and laments avail then? That disasters gathered and calamities assembled upon him is truly sorrowful. Yet Fu Yi took the true Buddha to be demonic and heterodox, and pointed to the false Dao as a master to revere. For benighted rulers and profligate lords, why wait for the Xia and Yin dynasties? Surely the office of posthumous titles gave both the Wei and Zhou rulers who destroyed the Dharma the title 'Wu' (Martial)—is this not appropriate? As for other aspects of destruction and the bitter retribution incurred, they are fully recounted separately.