廣弘明集 7.53

7.53

三明請減寺塔。則民安國治者。由妖胡虛說造寺之福。庸人信之角營寺塔。小寺百僧。大寺二百。以兵率之五寺強成一旅。總計諸寺。兵多六軍。侵食生民國家大患。請三萬戶州且留一寺。又引自古已來僧反十餘。自餘兇黨至今猶在。請必除盪用消胡氣。浹旬之間宇宙廓清。奕奏如此。妄述兵多。于時二眾不滿七萬。半為尼女。豈等大國之六軍乎。又云。反僧兇黨猶在者。僧之從逆為俗所拘。一身獨立如何動眾。虛引飾詐亂俗惘君。天地不容。故早磨滅。又統詳之。賊臣酷吏何代不無。濁濫當官何時不有。堯放四兇非由事佛。舜既絕嗣豈是僧風。不可以一臣逆節舉朝同誅。一僧為過全宗族滅。奕奏狀日望即依行。明明作辟固絕其議。

Third, he argued: 'I request the reduction of temples and pagodas so that the people will be at peace and the state well-governed. This is because deceitful barbarians falsely speak of the blessings of building temples; mediocre people believe them and vie to construct temples and pagodas. A small temple has one hundred monks; a large temple has two hundred. Counting by military divisions, every five temples make more than a brigade. Calculating all the temples together, their soldiers outnumber the Six Armies, encroaching upon and consuming the common people, which is a great peril to the state. I request that for every prefecture of thirty thousand households, only one temple be kept.' He also cited that since antiquity, more than ten rebellions have been initiated by monks, and the remaining vicious cliques still exist today, requesting: 'They must be eliminated and wiped out to dispel the barbarian influence, so that within ten days, the cosmos will be cleared and purified.' Such was Fu Yi's memorial, falsely claiming an abundance of troops. At that time, the two assemblies did not reach seventy thousand, and half of them were nuns and women; how could they equal the Six Armies of a great state? He also said that the vicious cliques of rebellious monks still exist; yet when monks engaged in rebellion, they were coerced by laymen. How could a single isolated person mobilize a crowd? Falsely citing and fabricating falsehoods to disorder customs and deceive the sovereign cannot be tolerated by heaven and earth, which is why he was swiftly wiped out. Moreover, considering it comprehensively: what dynasty lacked traitorous ministers and cruel officials? What era lacked corrupt and venal officeholders? Yao’s banishment of the Four Evils was not due to serving the Buddha; Shun’s line coming to an end was hardly a monk's doing. One cannot, because of one minister's treason, execute the entire court, nor, because of one monk's transgression, annihilate the entire monastic lineage. When Fu Yi submitted his memorial, he hoped it would be implemented immediately; but the brilliant sovereign, acting as ruler, firmly rejected his proposal.