廣弘明集 6.42

6.42

A native of Zhao. Toward the end of the Yanchang era of the Wei, he served as Companion to the Prince of Gaoyang. At that time, many people extinguished their households to become śramaṇas. Yang submitted a memorial stating: 'Ritual is used to instruct the worldly; the Dharma guides what is to come. Their traces and functions are different, and their streams are distinct. Therefore, among the three thousand offenses, none is greater than unfilial piety; and the greatest form of unfilial piety is none other than severing ancestral sacrifices. Thus, among crimes, none is greater than severing ancestral sacrifices. How can one lightly indulge the sentiment of turning one's back on ritual and unleash one's mind toward the Dharma? How could one abandon magnificent governance to follow the teachings of ghosts?' Empress Dowager Ling rebuked him for slandering and vilifying the Buddhist Dharma by calling it the 'teachings of ghosts'. Yang replied: 'I secretly wished to purify the Buddhist Dharma so that the religious and the secular might both be accommodated; I did not dare reject true learning or recklessly make slander. Furthermore, the titles of ghosts and spirits are all general designations for communicating with the numinous. The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors were all termed ghosts. The *Yijing* says: "Understand the conditions of ghosts and spirits." The Duke of Zhou praised himself, also saying: "I am able to serve ghosts and spirits." The *Liji* states: "In the manifest there are rites and music; in the obscure there are ghosts and spirits." The Buddha is neither heaven nor earth; he originally emerged from human beings. Responding to the world to guide the secular, his way is hidden and obscure. Calling him a ghost was, in my foolish view, not slander.' Empress Dowager Ling did not punish him. Later he was killed at Heyin. When examining Yang's memorial, he merely wished to purge deviance and error; it was not intended as faultfinding and slander.