廣弘明集 1.20

1.20

The account says: On the first day of the first month in the fourteenth year of the Yongping era, when the Daoists of the various mountains of the Five Sacred Peaks paid their New Year court audience, they said to one another: “The Son of Heaven has abandoned our Daoist teachings and gone afar to seek foreign doctrines. Now, taking advantage of the court assembly, we can present a memorial of protest.” Their memorial said in brief: “Chu Shanxin and others, disciples of the Great Supreme Three Caverns from the temples of the eighteen mountains of the Five Peaks, six hundred and ninety men, speak under penalty of death. Your subjects have heard that the Great Supreme has neither form nor name, is without limit and without superior, empty, non-existent, and spontaneous. The Great Dao arose before the creation of things; in remote antiquity it was revered by all, and across a hundred kings it has remained unchanged. Now Your Majesty's virtue surpasses the August Fuxi and rises above Yao and Shun. We have stealthily heard that Your Majesty has abandoned the root to chase the branches, seeking teachings from the Western Regions. What is served is a foreign spirit, and what is spoken does not accord with China. We hope Your Majesty will pardon our crime and allow us a contest of verification. Among us, the Daoists of the mountains, many possess clairvoyance and clairaudience and are broadly versed in the scriptures. From the time of the Primordial Emperor onward, in the Great Supreme’s records and the talismans and incantations of the Great Void, there are none we have not mastered to their utmost bounds. Some can command ghosts and spirits; some can swallow mist and drink pneumatic vapor; some enter fire without being burned; some tread water without sinking; some ascend to heaven in broad daylight; some conceal their forms beyond fathom. As for magical techniques, there is nothing we cannot do. We wish to compete against them. First, it will bring ease to the sage sovereign’s mind; second, it will discern the true from the false; third, the Great Dao will find its proper place; fourth, it will not bring disorder to Chinese customs. If our comparison is inferior, we submit to whatever severe verdict is determined; if we prevail, we beg that the vain and false be eliminated.” An imperial decree ordered Director of the Chancellery Song Xiang to usher them into the Changle Palace, [announcing that] on the fifteenth day of this month they could assemble at Baima Temple. The Daoists then set up three altars, each altar opening twenty-four gates. Chu Shanxin, Daoist of the Southern Peak; Liu Zhengnian, Daoist of the Western Peak; Huan Wendu, Daoist of the Northern Peak; Jiao Dexin, Daoist of the Eastern Peak; Lü Huitong, Daoist of the Central Peak; and Qi Wenxin and others, Daoists of the eighteen mountains including Mount Huoshan, Tianmu, Wutai, and Bailu, each brought 509 fascicles of the Numinous Treasure True Scriptures, the Great Supreme Jade Instructions, and the Three Primes Talismans and Registers, placing them upon the western altar. Two hundred and thirty-five fascicles from the masters of the twenty-seven schools, including Mao Chengzi, Xu Chengzi, Huangzi, and Laozi, were placed upon the middle altar. Food offerings and sacrificial rites for the hundred spirits were placed upon the eastern altar. The emperor’s travelling palace was stationed at the south gate of the temple. The Buddha’s relics, scriptures, and images were placed to the west of the path. On the fifteenth day, when the fast concluded, the Daoists used firewood and reeds mixed with sandalwood and aloeswood as torches, and weeping as they circled the scriptures, said: “Your subjects report on high to the Great Ultimate, the Great Dao, the Heavenly Worthy of the Primordial Beginning, all the immortals, and the hundred spirits: Today a foreign spirit brings disorder to China, and the ruler of men believes in the deviant. The orthodox teaching loses its tracks, and the mysterious wind lets fall its lineage. Your subjects dare to place the scriptures upon the altar to test them by fire, desiring to enlighten benighted minds and discern the true from the false.” They then set fire to burn the scriptures. Consumed by fire, the scriptures were completely reduced to ashes and cinders. Looking at one another, the Daoists lost countenance and were seized with great terror. Those who had wished to ascend to heaven or conceal their forms had no power to do so; those who had bound ghosts and spirits called and commanded them without response, each harboring shame and humiliation. Daoist Fei Shucai of the Southern Peak died of bitter regret. Grand Tutor Zhang Yan said to Chu Shanxin: “Your test had no efficacy, which shows it to be false. You ought to turn to the true Dharma coming from the West.” Chu Shanxin said: “Mao Chengzi said: ‘The Great Supreme is the Heavenly Worthy of Numinous Treasure. The creation of things is called Grand Simplicity.’ How could this be false?” Zhang Yan said: “Grand Simplicity has the name of valuing virtue, but no title of verbal teaching. Now, your saying that there is a verbal teaching is precisely what is false.” Shanxin fell silent. At that time, the Buddha relics emitted five-colored light, shooting straight up into the air and whirling like a canopy, everywhere covering the great assembly and outshining the sun's light. Dharma Master Mātaṅga leaped high and flew, sitting and reclining in mid-air, displaying extensive supernatural transformations. At that moment, heavenly jewel-flowers rained down upon the Buddha and the Saṅgha, and heavenly music was heard, moving people's hearts. The great assembly all rejoiced, praising it as unprecedented. All circled Dharmaratna to hear the essentials of the Dharma spoken, while he uttered Sanskrit sounds praising the Buddha's virtues, and caused the great assembly to acclaim the Triratna, explaining that good and bad karma all have retribution, and that the various marks of the six realms and the three vehicles are diverse. He also explained that the merit of renouncing the household life yields the highest blessing, and that founding a Buddhist temple is equal in measure to the blessings of Brahmā. Minister of Works and Marquis of Yangcheng Liu Jun, along with more than a thousand officials, scholars, and commoners, renounced the household life. Lü Huitong and other Daoists of the Four Sacred Peaks and various mountains, six hundred and twenty men, renounced the household life. Lady Yin, Handsome Lady Wang, and other palace attendants and women, two hundred and thirty persons, renounced the household life. Ten monasteries were then established: seven outside the city to house monks, and three within the city to house nuns. From this time onward, it spread widely. The account has five fascicles, and is here abridged without being fully recorded. Some suspect that this account is of recent origin and that there was originally no matter of a contest of powers; but examining the Book of Wu, it clearly states that Fei Shucai died of regret, and thus the account is a true record.