廣弘明集 2.29

2.29

During the Xiping reign era of Emperor Suzong, Yongning Temple was built inside the city. The Empress Dowager Ling personally led the civil and military officials to lay the foundations and erect the mast. The pagoda had nine tiers and was over four hundred feet high, with expenditures beyond calculation. The pagoda of Jingming Temple was second only to it. Thereafter, official and private temples and pagodas grew exceedingly numerous. In the first year of the Shengui reign era, the Minister of Works and Director of the Department of State Affairs, King Cheng of Rencheng, submitted a memorial regarding the issue of temples and pagodas gradually multiplying and impeding the dwellings of commoners. In brief, it stated: "When the Tathāgata expounded his teachings, he mostly stayed in mountains and forests. Now these crowds of monks cling to cities and towns. How could cramped and foul alleys be suitable for walking meditation, and noisy bustle be a place for resting in dhyāna? This must arise because worldly gain entices their minds and they cannot restrain themselves. Furthermore, those who dwell there have lost their truth, and those who build them may diminish their blessings. They are indeed the dregs of the Śākya clan and the rats in the shrine of the Dharma-gate, intolerable to the inner precepts and fit to be cast aside by royal statutes." The memorial was approved. Soon after, the empire fell into turmoil and ruin; in addition, with the catastrophe of Heyin, court officials who died again gave up their residences to make temples, so the prohibitions were no longer enforced. In the second year of the Xinghe reign era, an edict designated the old palace in the city of Ye as Tianping Temple. From the reign of Emperor Shizong down to the end of the Wuding reign era, the celebrated monks included Huimeng, Huibian, Huishen, Sengxian, Daoyin, Sengxian, Daoxi, Sengshen, Huiguang, Huiyong, Farong, and Daozhang, all of whom were esteemed by monastics and laity alike. From the time the Wei possessed the empire down to the abdication, Buddhist scriptures circulated and gathered in great numbers in China, totaling four hundred and fifteen works in one thousand nine hundred and nineteen rolls. After the Zhengguang reign era, the world was full of anxieties and corvée labor was particularly severe. Thereupon, registered households everywhere followed one another in entering the religious life, feigning admiration for śramaṇas while actually evading taxes and labor. The excess and disorder reached an extreme never seen since the Buddhadharma came to China. An approximate estimate reckoned over two million monks and nuns and more than thirty thousand temples. That the corrupt practices could drift unchecked to such a point was the reason discerning people sighed with deep regret.