廣弘明集 2.39

2.39

Kou Qianzhi memorialised, saying: "Your Majesty governs the world as the True Lord (Zhenjun) and should build the Jinglun Heavenly Palace, initiating what has never existed since ancient times. You ought to ascend and receive the talismanic scriptures to make manifest your sagely virtue." Shizu followed his advice. He went to the Daoist altar to receive the talismanic registers; the ceremonial cortege was fully prepared, and the banners and pennants were all azure, so as to accord with the Daoist colour. From then on, every emperor who ascended the throne did likewise. Seeing that Kou Qianzhi memorialised requesting the construction of the Jinglun Heavenly Palace and insisted that it be built so high that neither the crowing of roosters nor the barking of dogs could be heard, enabling direct intercourse with heavenly spirits, and seeing that the labourers were numbered in tens of thousands yet it remained uncompleted after years, Gongzong spoke to Shizu, saying: "The ways of humanity and heaven are distinct; high and low are predetermined by allotment. Now Kou Qianzhi wishes to make an appointment based on an impossible date and speaks of things that cannot be. Spending wealth and resources exhausts the common people—how could this be permissible? Even if it must be done as he says, it would still be easier to use the cliffs of the Eastern Mountains, which are tens of thousands of fathoms high, to lighten the labour." The Emperor fully agreed with him, but because Cui Hao had supported it, it was difficult to go against his wishes. After brooding in hesitation for a long time, he said: "I also know this cannot be accomplished. But that being so, why begrudge five or three hundred labourers' efforts?" In the ninth year of the Zhenjun era, Kou Qianzhi died. He was buried with the rites of a Daoist master. His disciples believed that he underwent corpse deliverance and transformation and departed. The Jinglun Heavenly Palace was never completed in the end and was abandoned.