廣弘明集 11.5

11.5

Your subject [Fu] Yi states: I have heard that the governance of Fuxi, Shennong, Xuanyuan, and Zhuanxu harmonized with the ways of Li Lao (Critique: The *Classic of Poetry* says: "Superiors use moral influence to transform those below; those below use satirical criticism to remonstrate superiors." Laozi was a keeper of the archives under the Zhou, like the present-day secretarial officials. He was fundamentally not a Son of Heaven; what moral influence did he have that the sovereign rulers Fuxi and Shennong should unite with him in governance?), and that the administration of Yu, Xia, Tang, and the Ji family conformed to the teachings of the Duke of Zhou and Confucius (Critique: The Duke of Zhou and Confucius were both ministers of the state. They expounded the teachings of Yu and Xia to those above, and transformed the frivolous populace below. Neither was a king of men, nor could they make themselves heads of a teaching. How could the four rulers of Yu and Xia conform in reverse to the teachings of Zhou and Confucius?). Although sages appear earlier and later, their Way and virtue do not differ; rulers undergo dynastic changes, but their methods of governance remain the same. I have heard that an eighty-year-old elder clapped the soil and sang, and fifteen-year-old youths patted their bellies in joy. In plowing, people yielded field borders; on the roads, dropped items were not picked up. Filial sons maintained their families, and loyal ministers filled the state. If the sovereign faced peril, they gave their lives to avenge him (Critique: Since the state was entirely filled with loyal ministers, how could there be perils? The faction of Tian Chang and the Six Ministers should not have risen in rebellion), and if their parents were ill, they attended by their side for their whole lives. Was it not that the peers of Zeng Can and Minzi filled the schools like a forest, and the likes of Mo Di and Geng Gong came in succession to support and defend [the ruler]? (Critique: Across twenty-nine dynasties there was only one Zeng Can; before Emperor Gao of Han, only Minzi was praised. The claim that they 'filled schools like a forest' has no basis in fact; the memorial's assertion of 'support and defense' is utterly empty. This exaggerates matters excessively!) There were those who preserved the Way, harbored virtue, and had neither desire nor seeking (Critique: Zhouyu and Shuduan could not preserve the Way; Jie of Xia and Zhou of Yin engaged solely in greed and pursuit), who were 'apprehensive alike in favor and disgrace' while serving in the court ranks (Critique: Pan Chong, Yi, and Zhuo were never willing to be apprehensive; the Ji clan and Yang Huo also sat in the ranks of the court). Atop the cauldron of Mount Jing, they clutched the dragon and ascended; beside the altar of Goushi, they followed in riding the crane. The emissaries of the Queen Mother of the Jade Pool arrived at court bearing all rituals, and the deities of the Blue Sea and the Wuyi traversed the realm to visit the emperor. Why was this so? It was because at that time, all jointly revered the teachings of Li [Lao] and Confucius (Critique: The Yellow Emperor's ascension on the dragon occurred in the era of the Three Sovereigns. The Queen Mother of the Jade Pool was also in the time of King Mu of Zhou. Calculating this, it was before Li Lao had appeared and when Kong Qiu had made no name. They should not instead have revered Lao[zi]'s teaching and studied Confucius's books), and because there was no barbarian Buddha! (Critique: Since you claim there is no Buddha, neither can there be the Dao.) Since Han Emperor Ming slept at night and a golden man entered his dream, and Fu Yi replied to the edict defining him as a barbarian deity (Critique: If he had not come in the Zhou era, how would Fu Yi have known there was a Buddha? It was precisely because he had existed earlier that the Fu clan was able to know of him. Your ancestor spoke of the Buddha, yet you claim the opposite, that he does not exist. The heavy calamity of the five heinous sins will bring you eternal kalpas of suffering!), the Central Plains in the Later Han did not yet believe in him (Critique: These empty words are excessive), and among the barbarian captives of the Wei and Jin, only a small fraction believed (Critique: Rituals, music, robes, and caps were first perfected in the Jin dynasty. Since you slanderously call them 'barbarian captives', then who was in the Central Xia?). Fu Rong relied on a Buddhist vegetarian feast to raise a rebellion and fled to the east of the river; Lü Guang feigned an expedition against the barbarians to rebel against his sovereign and established himself in the western lands (Critique: People of that time envied Fu Rong and slandered him, claiming he was gathering crowds. When Lü Guang returned from his expedition, ruler Fu's state had fallen, so he settled west of the river and established hegemony in Liangzhou. This was in no way due to monks rebelling and settling in the western lands). From that time onward, the bewitching barbarians flourished ever more, and more than half the population became a mixture [of Chinese and barbarians]. (Admonition: Permeated by compassion, it appears in the evil world of the final kalpa; that those with the karmic affinity achieve liberation is precisely through this.) Within the gates of official families, they instead receive the perverse precepts of shaven-headed men; in the studies of Confucian scholars, they inversely preach the wild words of bewitching barbarians. (Admonition: Officials don the robes of forbearance; Confucian scholars value the discourse of the Golden Mouth.) Their melodies resemble vulgar ditties, hearing which makes one lose one's foundation; their stench is like an abalone market, passing which makes one lose all fragrance. (Critique: It is you who utter vulgar sounds and exude your abalone stench! Those who listen to them will surely know they lose their foundation, and can those who pass by not lose their fragrance? Spitting at heaven with an upturned face, you merely bring disgrace upon yourself. Truly, this saying is confirmed!) Moreover, they extensively erect saṅghārāmas, magnificent in more ways than one, (Admonition: They create karmic causes for rebirth in heaven and plant the roots for liberation from suffering) toiling artisans so that a clay barbarian can sit alone. (Admonition: They vie to use their hands to fashion the images of the Holy Honoured One.) They strike the great bells of China to summon false assemblies of foreign monks, (Admonition: They ring divine bells refined a hundred times to assemble the holy multitude of three thousand) agitating the ears and eyes of simple folk and soliciting wealth for private gain. (Admonition: They inspire the ears and eyes of faithful hearts and dispel the wealth of greed and delusion.) The silk gauze of needlewomen is cut to make banners for illicit sacrifices, and the gold and silver of skilled craftsmen are squandered to carve reliquary mounds for śarīra. (Admonition: The silk gauze of needlewomen is made into life-prolonging banners, and the gold and silver of skilled craftsmen erects stūpas for the dispersed relics.) Fine grains, flour, and rice are lavishly laid out for assemblies of monks and nuns; fragrant oil and wax candles uselessly illuminate the halls of barbarian spirits. (Admonition: Fine grains, rice, and flour are eagerly presented at assemblies of the field of merit; fragrant oil and wax candles seek to illuminate the halls of compassion.) Stripping the people's wealth and carving away the state's reserves, the noble ministers of the court have not had a single realization. How truly lamentable! (Critique: The court examines antiquity, renounces the worldly, and returns to the true; revering the lineage of the Śākya, it does not share perverse views.) Humbly I consider that