廣弘明集 12.20

12.20

The treatise says: I have observed that marking a tree serves as a local shrine, and setting up a brick or stone is called a lord; piling earth makes an altar, and bundling reeds serves as decoration. When in urgent distress one prays, they possess a slight numinous efficacy; when beseeching with sincerity for rain or against drought, they confer a modicum of gracious blessing. How much more so is the Buddha’s divine demeanor towering and his numinous countenance dignified? Can one then wish to slight and destroy them? How could that be permissible? Since Emperor Ming of the Han was moved by a dream, the monastery took the name 'White Horse'; since Sun Quan verified an auspicious omen, the stupa was first designated 'Jianchu'. From then onward, they arose continuously one after another. If the divine Way were completely non-existent, how could emperors and kings revere and serve it? If numinous power were extinct, would rulers of states still follow and honour it? They all personally witnessed it with their own eyes and approached it in person, which caused them to take refuge and turn toward it. It is not like the Daoists, who have no grounding or authority whatsoever: in the days when Laozi served the Zhou, there was no mysterious altar; only on the morning when Zhang Ling schemed against the Han did Daoist abbeys begin to arise. Thus during the reign of Emperor Shun of the Later Han, there was Zhang Ling, a man of Pei, who traveled as a guest to the land of Shu. He heard an old tradition saying: 'In the past, Gaozu of the Han responded to the twenty-four solar terms and offered sacrifices to the twenty-four mountains, whereupon he came to rule the realm as king.' Ling, not measuring his own virtue, subsequently hatched this plot: he slaughtered oxen to sacrifice at twenty-four places, erected earthen altars, topped them with thatched roofs, and called them the 'twenty-four parishes' (zhi). The origin of parish abbeys began with this. Twenty-three places were located in the land of Shu, and Yin Xi's single place was in Xianyang. Thereupon he deceived and seduced the foolish populace, gathered evil cliques, collected taxes and rice, and plotted to use this as a ladder to rebellion. At that time, swallowed by a serpent, his treacherous offence was not realized. Down to his grandson Zhang Lu, disaster and rebellion then arose in Hanzhong, but he was exterminated by Cao Cao. From then until now, flocks of petty figures have succeeded one another, relying on the parish abbeys to constantly perform strange and sinister arts. Thus in the first year of the Zhongping era of Emperor Shun of the Han, Zhang Jiao, a man of Julu, proclaimed himself Master of the Yellow Sky Department, having thirty-six generals who all wore yellow cloth kerchiefs; from afar he coordinated with Zhang Lu. His multitude reached one hundred thousand, and they burned the city of Ye. The Han dispatched the Intendant of Henan, He Jin, who led troops and exterminated them. Again, in the second year of the Xianning era of Emperor Wu of the Jin, the Daoist Chen Rui deluded the masses with heterodox ways, styling himself Celestial Master; his followers numbered several thousand, and after years had accumulated, he was exterminated by Wang Jun, Regional Inspector of Yizhou. Again, in the first year of the Taihe era of Emperor Wen of the Jin, the Daoist Lu Song of Pengcheng styled himself Libationer of the Great Way; he deluded the masses with heterodox arts, gathered his clique, and toward dawn attacked the Guanghan Gate, declaring that they were welcoming the Duke of Haixi into the palace. Huan Mi and others realized this, joined battle with them, and soon executed and decapitated them all. Again, in the fifth year of the Datong era of Emperor Wu of the Liang, the Daoist Yuan Jin deluded the masses with strange words and practiced binding paces on the ridges; the government troops trapped them, and they were soon slaughtered and destroyed. In the tenth year of the Kaihuang era of the Sui, the Daoists Pu Tong and Zuo Tong of Changlong County in Mianzhou were at the Bengxi Abbey. They falsely claimed to have attained holiness and deceived the people, stacking couches up to the roof and sitting atop them, saying that only fifteen maidens were fit to receive the teachings. They made the maidens climb the couches, surrounded them with curtains, and then secretly committed illicit acts with them. This went on for months; the maidens violated were calculated to exceed several hundred. Later, the matter was exposed, and they consequently fled. Again, in the eighteenth year of the Kaihuang era, the Daoist Han Lang of Yizhou and the Daoist Huang Rulin of Mianzhou incited and deluded the Prince of Shu to commit treachery, saying: 'If you wish to establish a great undertaking, you must rely on superior conditions.' They then taught the Prince of Shu to empty the granaries and exhaust the treasuries, construct a thousand-foot Daoist statue, and hold a grand retreat of a thousand days. They painted the image of the late emperor with head and hands bound backward, uttering incantations to curse him. Zhao Zhongqing, Duke of Hebei, investigated and found the truth, sending them under escort to the imperial ministry in the capital. Upon interrogation they confessed their crimes and were executed in the public marketplace. Now, under the great Tang's mandate, such demonic delusions still arise. In the past third year of the Wude era, Li Wang, a commoner of Changlong County in Mianzhou, had previously served the Yellow Emperor and Laozi and constantly practiced demonic sorcery. In the late years of Daye, there was a Daoist named Pu Zizhen who was slightly versed in Daoist arts; he was sent to the Eastern Capital, and having reached Liang and Han, he died and was buried there. Li Wang falsely claimed: 'Zizhen has recently returned.' Moreover, by the mountain of that county was a stone chamber, dark and secluded in a cliff cave, where no one dared to peer. Wang thereupon relied on this to perpetrate his demonic frauds: in the light, he would stretch his throat and speak in a loud voice to receive and pass on communications; upon entering the dark, he would choke his breath and speak in a small voice, falsely discoursing on misfortune and fortune. He thus led upright dānapatis almost to turn their minds, while crooked and foolish folk naturally believed him implicitly. Daoists spread the report, reaching the county and coming to the hearing of the prefecture. When the officials initially investigated, they all believed and accepted it. Later, Regional Inspector Li Dali said: 'This matter is not light; it must be memorialized to the throne. One must personally verify it before determining truth from falsehood.' Thereupon, together with over a hundred mounted riders consisting of prefectural officials and Daoists, riding saddles and horses together and vying to adorn their clothing and kerchiefs, with abundant supplies on sacrificial trays and doubled allotments of jiao offerings—wine, dried meats, and assorted flavors, whichever was required—they went together to the front of the cave and bowed twice in prayer. At that time Wang gave deceitful replies, and those who heard him were captivated. Only the Magistrate of Baxi County, Yue Shizhi, deeply grasped the human temperament; knowing his deception, he secretly waited inside the dark, and seeing Wang choking his voice, Shizhi immediately rebuked him. Wang forthwith confessed his guilt and was confined in the prefectural prison. Just as they were about to determine his punishment, before a few days had passed, he swallowed poison and died. Looking back into histories and charts, and broadly examining past and present, throughout recorded accounts of what has been heard and witnessed with one’s own eyes, there have always been people in the world who threw the government into disorder with heterodox arts. I have briefly brought forth a few cases as a mirror and warning, hoping you will deign to examine them and properly eliminate such practices. In my humble view, if they practice the pure and vacuous Way of Laozi, rely on it and preserve it; if they practice the impure and defiled arts of Zhang Ling, investigate and abolish them. This will sweep away those demonic heresies and remove those noxious bandits; it can truly be called stopping violence and quelling chaos—how is this not governing the state and pacifying the people?