廣弘明集 2.12

2.12

Shizu was naturally fond of Zhuangzi and Laozi, chanting and savoring them morning and night; being in the prime of youth, his ambitions were keenly set on military exploits. Although he took refuge in the Buddhist Dharma and respected śramaṇas, he had not yet perused the scriptural teachings to seek deeply into the principles of karmic retributions. When he obtained the Daoist teachings of Kou Qianzhi, which, with their purity, non-action (asaṃskṛta), and evidence of immortal transformation, he accordingly came to believe in and practice his arts. The Minister over the Masses Cui Hao adhered to the Way of Qianzhi and especially disbelieved in Buddhism, repeatedly slandering it in discussions with the Emperor, calling it false and extravagant waste for the world. Because of Cui's broad eloquence, the Emperor placed considerable trust in him. It happened that Gai Wu rebelled at Xingcheng, and the Guanzhong region was thrown into turmoil; the Emperor marched west on campaign and, arriving in Chang'an, entered a monastery to observe it. Śramaṇas served wine to the imperial attendants; entering their side rooms, they saw property, bows and arrows, and goods deposited and hidden by local governors and wealthy men, counting by the tens of thousands. The Emperor was already incensed by the śramaṇas' unlawful behavior; Cui Hao, who was accompanying the expedition at the time, took advantage of this to advance his arguments. An edict was issued to execute the śramaṇas of Chang'an and burn and destroy the Buddhist images; orders were sent down to the imperial chancellery that the four quarters were to act entirely in accordance with the Chang'an proceedings. Another edict stated: 'Those śramaṇas falsely use the absurd fabrications of the Western Barbarians to produce evil apparitions recklessly, which is not the means to unify governance and propagate pure virtue throughout the world. From princes and dukes down, anyone privately harboring śramaṇas must hand them over; if the deadline passes without presenting them, the śramaṇas shall be put to death, and the harbinger's entire family shall be executed.' At that time, Gongzong was Crown Prince supervising the state; having always revered the Buddhist Path, he repeatedly presented memorials stating the excessive severity of the punishments and executions, and arguing that the statues and paintings bore no guilt. After [Gongzong's] repeated appeals, the Emperor refused to grant them and issued an edict saying: 'Formerly, the dissolute ruler of the Later Han foolishly gave credence to false delusions, absurdly using a dream as a pretext, and believed in the barbarians' bewitching spirits to disrupt the constants of Heaven; since antiquity such a thing had never existed within the Nine Provinces. Their boastful and extravagant big words do not accord with human sentiments; in degenerate times, benighted rulers and rebellious lords were without exception dazzled by them. Because of this, government and moral instruction failed to operate, rites and righteousness were ruined, the way of spirits flourished wildly, and the laws of the king were treated with utter contempt. Ever since then, successive ages of disasters and chaos, extreme visitations of heavenly punishments, have wiped out the common people; the lands within the five zones of submission have been reduced to ruins, and for a thousand li all is desolate without human traces. All this is due to this [heresy]. We have received Heaven's succession in a time confronting the exhaustion of fortunes, and We desire to eliminate the false, establish the true, and restore the governance of Fuxi and Shennong. Let the barbarian gods be swept away completely, their traces eradicated, so that We may perhaps not fall short of the Feng clan! From this time forward, whoever dares to worship the barbarian gods or make their figures as clay men or bronze men shall have their whole family executed. Though they speak of barbarian gods, if one asks current barbarians whether they exist or not, they are all former generations' Han scoundrels like Liu Yuanzhen and Lü Boqiang who adopted the absurd words of begging barbarians, used the falsehoods of Laozi and Zhuangzi, added and expanded upon them—none of it is real! It has even caused the royal law to be abandoned and unenforced; they are indeed the ringleaders of great treachery! The world possesses extraordinary men who can accomplish extraordinary feats; if not for Us, who could purge these false fabrications of successive ages? Let the authorities proclaim: wherever there are Buddhist images or barbarian scriptures, all shall be smashed and burned away; śramaṇas, young and old alike, shall all be buried alive.' This was in the third month of the seventh year of the Zhenjun reign era (446 CE). Although Gongzong's words were not heeded, he nonetheless delayed the promulgation of the edict, allowing those near and far to learn of it in advance and make their plans. Many śramaṇas in the capital and the four quarters fled into hiding and escaped; precious statues and scriptures and treatises of gold and silver were largely concealed in secret. As for the clay and wooden temples and stūpas within reach of the voice of authority, all were completely eradicated and destroyed.