廣弘明集 6.40

6.40

A native of Changshan. He was well-versed in the teachings of the hundred schools. During the Taihe era, he was promoted to Grand Master of Remonstrance. When Emperor Xiaoming ascended the throne, he did not attend court in person and excessively revered the Buddhist teachings. The affairs of the suburban sacrifices and ancestral temples were mostly entrusted to officials, while the construction of temples and images knew practically no rest. Thereupon he submitted a remonstrance, summarily stating: 'I humbly hope Your Majesty will be prudent and decorous in deportment to serve as a model for the ten thousand states; personally perform reverence at the suburban sacrifices and ancestral temples, and personally conduct the rites of the new and full moons. Then the One Man will have blessings and the myriad commoners will rely on him. Thereafter, zealously cultivate the triratna and place faithful trust in the Tathāgata. Since the Way is deepened through transformation, all taints may be extinguished; since the Dharma is accumulated following ritual, the other shore may be attained.' The memorial was submitted without response. Such was [Zhang] Ji's remonstrance; yet [Fu] Yi wielded his pen to add reckless fabrications, [claiming that] wild and filthy lecherous monks wandered in the inner palace, arbitrarily committing illicit acts, and that among the concubines and princesses none did not engage in licentiousness with them; that the commoners suffered from it while the sovereign remained oblivious. Such words are treasonous and wanton—how could they be recklessly made? Palace precincts have limits, and defenses have regulations. Arbitrarily speaking of lecherous deviancy and giving free rein to his pen to make reckless assertions, [Fu Yi] occupied the office of the Grand Astrologer and presided over functions that demand purity and prudence, yet he exclusively nurtured personal resentment and openly engaged in slight and slander. An owl eating its mother is something a gentleman is ashamed to hear. The postal station was named Bairen, and the Han Emperor fled by night; neither mad nor drunk, these words are hard to defile. But Yi himself practiced lust and filth, and his clique routinely had wives and children. Thus Li Er and Li Siwang were registered households, and Zhang Heng and Zhang Lu were descendants of the Heavenly Master; their lineage was manifest, and it was entirely fitting that they had them. I know not why Daoist priests today imitate monks by distancing themselves from wealth, severing sensual desire, going aloofly and singularly, untrammeled by worldly encumbrances; it is truly bizarre! Hence Yi, valuing his own wealth and sensual desires, reviled monks to be the same as himself. As the *Laozi huahu jing* states: 'After converting the King of the Barbarians, he ordered Yin Xi to become a Buddha. Those of violent nature had their forms disfigured and ornaments severed, their marriage cut off so as not to allow succession, hence they were named śramaṇas; the rest who were soft and good were allowed to follow their natural state, thus their wives and children were not severed.' Judging from this, the Daoist priests in the abbeys do not differ in robes, caps, or demeanor from commoners; having wives and children to maintain succession is properly in accord with the Daoist rules, and is not to be wondered at. Therefore, immortal boys and jade maidens wait at the side of Lord Lao, and the *Yellow Court* and cinnabar doors describe the matters of the gate of destiny. Intensely wishing to emulate monks, their footprints are nevertheless difficult to efface, whereupon they spread floating slander; how could it be otherwise?