廣弘明集 6.23

6.23

The edict to purge the two traditions of Śākya and Li. Because many monks in the late Wude era were deviant, the Emperor issued an edict to clarify, select, and purify the bequeathed Dharma; it by no means meant destruction, so Fu Yi's interpretation completely lost the purport. Thus the edict stated: 'We, having responded to the cyclical mandate to govern the universe, deeply ponder the benefits of flourishing the teachings and Dharma, our sentiments lying in protecting and maintaining them, so that jade and stone may be distinguished and the fragrant and foul differentiated, preserving the wondrous Way forever and making the field of merit perpetually firm. To rectify the origin and clarify the source, a purge should be undertaken.' This was the true edict. Yet for Fu Yi to describe it as destroying the Dharma is to slander the sovereign and commit a grave offense; encountering generous and lenient governance, where the net allows a ship-swallowing fish to slip through, his head was spared. The rest is recounted below.