廣弘明集 7

English (machine translation) 7

Language: English

7.1

Compiled by the Śramaṇa Shi Daoxuan of Ximing Temple in the Great Tang

7.2

Part Two of the Section on Disputing Delusions, Number Three

7.3

Resolving the Obstructed Delusions of Kings and Ministers Across the Dynasties, Lower Part

7.4

Xun Ji of Liang
Zhangchou Zituo of Qi
Wei Yuansong of Zhou
Liu of Song
Huilin
Gu Huan of Qi
Xing Zicai of Wei
Gao Daorang of Liang
Li Gongxu of Qi
Lu Sidao of Sui
Fu Yi of Tang

A native of Yingchuan. Later he resided in Jiangzuo. He read widely across various books and had an unconventional temperament that defied vulgar conventions. Originally, he and Emperor Wu of the Liang were commoner acquaintances. When the emperor ascended the throne, [Ji's] official career did not match his ambitions. Bearing resentment, Ji said: 'One day I will grind ink on his eyebrows and nose to write an檄 [indictment]!' The emperor was deeply displeased with him. When Yin Zichun, the Inspector of Liangzhou, was demoted, Ji wrote a great poem and presented it to him, the text of which circulated widely among contemporaries. Someone praised it to the emperor, but the emperor said: 'Although this person has talent, he confuses customs and loves rebellion; he cannot be employed.' Because Ji could not fulfill his ambitions, he constantly harbored sullen depression for over twenty years. Seeing that the emperor trusted and revered the Buddhist lineage, and that temples and images flourished, he thereupon submitted a memorial arguing that Buddhism was greedy, lewd, extravagant, and deceitful. He also criticized the construction of Tongtai Temple, saying that its excessive expenditures would surely bring about disasters. His memorial stated in summary: 'The Three Fen and Five Dian are the paramount texts of emperors and monarchs; the Four Cardinal Virtues and Six Principles are the perpetual models from ancient times. Coming to Emperor Wu of Han sacrificing to the golden men, Wang Mang's Xin dynasty was established; when Huan and Ling sacrificed to the Buddha, eunuchs seized power. From this, the Three Kingdoms stood like a tripod, and the Five Barbarians successively encroached. The capped and robed nobility fled east of the Yangtze, and the barbarian religion arose in the Central Plains. It has caused the affection between father and son to be severed, the righteousness between ruler and minister to be perverted, the harmony between husband and wife to be neglected, and the trust between friends to be cut off; the realm within the seas has been chaotic for three hundred years.' The accusations raised by Ji merely describe the deviant; as for chaste integrity transcending the world, he certainly did not relate it. This is bias. Stating that the initial descent of the golden man brought about the usurpation of the Xin dynasty and the like are all arbitrary analogies. As for the Zhou executing King Zhou, did they ever see Buddhist sutras? The Qin burying Confucian scholars had nothing to do with Buddhist transformation. When rites collapsed and music decayed, they had not seen the Buddha. When the Warring States lacked a sovereign, what had that to do with the deceit of monks? He claims that the social order was disrupted, but how could [Buddhism] disrupt it? As for husbands and wives, fathers and sons, who is not like that? These are merely reckless words, not worth recounting. However, that Ji went to extremes in defaming monks and deeply vilifying the Buddha was because he thoroughly knew his memorial would not accord with the imperial will, and also knew he could not eradicate the Buddhist Dharma; he was simply resentful that the emperor did not raise him from obscurity or grant him an honored office at court. Therefore, using vulgar words to curse monks and deep phrasing to vilify the Buddha was actually to lodge his intent to insult the emperor on high. Subsequent scurrilous writings all imitated this.

7.7

Ji's memorial stated: 'Among edicts examining antiquity, I have never heard of repeated commands honoring heterodoxy. At the seasonal dī and xiá sacrifices, Your Majesty has never personally partaken of the offerings; bamboo dried meat and dough animals shamelessly deceive the ancestral temple. Discarding the honor of the yellow canopy, you attend to the menial work of a bonded servant. Morning and night, you revere the deceitful barbarian ghosts; bending your body, you make offerings to greedy and lecherous bald thieves. Indulging in belief in heterodox barbarians, flattery-offerings, and improper sacrifices—I fear this is not the intelligent and upright that can bring blessings and protection to Your Majesty.' When Ji uttered these words, it was deliberately to incite anger. The Liang progenitor made offerings at the new and dark moons, and throughout the four seasons attended to heating and cooling; his shedding of tears moved his ministers, and his poetic expressions arose from filial thoughts. Thus, in the Jingyang Terrace and the Hall of Utmost Reverence, offerings to Ancestor Wen and Empress Xian were all laid out; how could one say he never personally partook? Hence [Ji] inverted previous affairs and gave free rein to his emotions to revile him. Bamboo dried meat and dough animals replaced sacrificial animals; were algae and spring sacrifices only practiced during the Liang? For the exalted to humble himself is a rarity in ten thousand generations; discarding the throne like cast-off sandals—could that be an empty fabrication among a hundred kings? Were it not that his practice encompassed the eight constants and his status bordered on supreme patience, how could he practice compassion and sever desire in his prime years, and observe perpetual fasting with exhaustive sincerity unto his very end?

7.8

[Xun Ji] also said: 'Your subject begs to discuss gain and loss and investigate right and wrong. When examining the origin of the Śākya clan, they were originally those expelled by the Central Realm, banished to the desolate borders to ward off demonic spirits. Thus, in the time of Shun, Taowu was banished to Sanwei; this is what the Zuo zhuan refers to when it says that the treacherous among the Yun clan dwelt in Guazhou. Du Yu regarded the Yun clan as a separate ancestral branch of the Yin Rong, who were cast out to Sanwei together with the Sanmiao. The Han shu's "Treatise on the Western Regions" states: "The Sakas were originally Rong of the Yun clan. For generations they lived in Dunhuang; pressed and expelled by the Yuezhi, they moved to the Congling and fled south." It is also called Xuandu, Xiandou, Shendu, or Tiandu, and through phonological drift "Saka clan" was corrupted into "Śākya clan"; in truth they are one and the same. The Yun clan and the Sanmiao lived side by side and their teachings were harmonious. Among this Śākya clan, those who did not practice loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness, and who were exceptionally greedy and deceitful, were called "Buddhas." "Fo" means obstinate (li); or they are named "Bo," and "bo" means disorderly. Yet Your Majesty, with the flourishing lineage of the Chinese realm, is now revering the tracks of the Qiang and Hu of Yao and Shi. This is the first reason why I, in my humble view, do not accept [this teaching].'

[Daoxuan's rebuttal:] We observe that the Yun clan dwelling in Dunhuang were Western Rong, whereas Xuandu, Xiandou, and the like are Southern Brahmans. The Western Rong are indeed what was recorded in the Tribute of Yu, whereas from Xuandu onwards it is Xun Ji who added slanders. If one has not read the Three Histories, how could one determine this? If we look into Xuandu, it is a perilous place in Northern India, crossed by ropes. Xiandou is Tianzhu, where the benevolent breeze prevails; the four seasons are harmonious as if tuned by the Jade Candlestick, and the soil is completely free of drifting frost. The seven assemblies shine like golden mirrors, their spiritual faculties sharp and keen. The people transmit heavenly speech, and their script originates from celestial patterns. From antiquity to the present, there has been no mutual usurpation. This is the center of the earth, called the Central Realm! How could one say that the people do not practice loyalty and filial piety? What Ji said is just like Tian Ba condemning the Three Sovereigns and censuring the Five Thearchs—how could it be listened to?

7.9

[Ji] also remarked: 'Moreover, examining Śākya's emergence among the Rong, he was born from the splitting of the flank, and Māyā thereupon perished. This affair accords with the owl and the jing-beast. When he grew older he contended for succession, feeling internally insecure; he turned his back on his father and rebelled against his sovereign, his treasonous insolence becoming ever greater. Devadatta threw rocks at him and Nanda drew his bow against him. He changed and subverted the constant way, starving his own physical frame—how could he save living beings? Gathering together villainous followers, he altered their garments and shaved their hair, setting forth empty falsehoods unworthy of obedience. Among the ninety-six paths, this path is the most avaricious, matching their lewdness and stupidity, so that the masses revere and believe it. As for when King Virūḍhaka slaughtered the Śākyas, Gautama stood by the roadside and merely watched; while alive he did not even preserve his kin, so how could he save those distant [from him] after death? This indeed is failing to practice loyalty and filial piety. If all under Heaven emulate this, Your Majesty will have nowhere to establish yourself. This is the second reason why I do not accept it.'

[Daoxuan's rebuttal:] We examine the scriptures: being born from the splitting of the flank is a meaning that appears in earlier scriptures. Because carrying the Heavenly Teacher possesses great merit, it is not something that human offerings can sustain. Furthermore, knowing that his mother's lifespan was nearing its end, after seven days he was born, and later reported back to the heavens to repay her. Thus, birth from the flank or incision of the back did indeed occur; it is not the same as the owl and jing-beast. Why slanderously conflate them? The matters of drawing the bow and throwing rocks arose from expedient conduct; how slanderous to call it rebelling against one's sovereign and treasonous insolence! He starved himself to convert the non-Buddhists, and altered customs to quiet the gate of greed. Yet to say that among all paths the Buddhist path is the most avaricious is entirely defamatory. The state was punished without his defending it so as to demonstrate that karma is difficult to escape. The various scriptures expound this broadly; the path of principle is never obscured. Ji was skillful at stitching together fragments to compose his essay; this shows that being talented does not preclude being unprincipled.

7.10

Ji also said: 'Nowadays monks and nuns do not plow and do not marry, all severing reproduction, showing haughtiness to the sovereign and slighting their parents, violating propriety and damaging transformation. This is the first unprincipled thing.'

[Daoxuan's rebuttal:] Examining Ji's intention here, he aimed it exclusively at the Emperor's own person. He knew deeply that when monks and nuns sever desire, through this practice they transcend rebirth; this principle is acceptable and certainly not to be opposed. Yet he denounced the Emperor's practice under the guise of not marrying and severing reproduction, and since he could not discuss it openly, he used the monks to revile the superior.

[Ji] also said: 'All living beings have husbands and wives uniting to produce sons and daughters; the Hu teaching reverses this. They extensively construct mud and wood [images] and exclusively seek alms—how is this not perverse to a subject? This is the second unprincipled thing.'

[Daoxuan's rebuttal:] The unprincipled nature of Ji's argument is manifest here. If the Hu teaching does not engage in lewdness, whence could the Hu have come? Mud, wood, and alms-seeking are brought up to mock them. However, the Buddha was not a Hu, but of heavenly lineage; the Hu are of the Rong kind, originally distinct from the Brahman realm. It is just like calling the Divine Land the land of Han: if we examine the Han today, it could only match Liang. Although the Han had its initial enfeoffment, its imperial capital lay in Jing and Luo; the rest, Wu and Chu, were not yet called China. When the Luhun Rong were reviewed, the Rong again transformed into the Xia. Only the single teaching of the Buddha brings about an end to form and mind; whereas both the Hu and the Brahmans constantly practice rebirth upon rebirth.

7.11

Ji said: 'The treacherous Hu are deceitful and falsely call [themselves] the Great Enlightened One. Yet the factions of monks engage in lust and kill children; this is so for all monks and nuns. They harm ants to erect stupas and squander wealth and labor to construct halls. If the Muni could perceive this and intentionally tolerated lust and killing, then he falsely claimed compassion. If he merely could perceive it but could not save them, then the Great Enlightened One is of no benefit to living beings; yet the world remains unaware. This is the third unprincipled thing.'

[Daoxuan's rebuttal:] This is again an immense slander and a great monstrosity! How could a man of universal understanding and discernment speak such words? How could vulgar and ugly deeds be illuminated by this [wisdom]? When a great bandit seizes a state, he is a criminal to the whole world; one who engages in lust and kills children is naturally a thief of the Buddhadharma. In the defiled present he is expelled to the four states, and in the future he sinks into the three evil paths. Yet to say that monks and nuns are all like this is to heap on excessive slander! Moreover, to say that the Great Enlightened One lacks compassion and is of no benefit to living beings is to measure wisdom by stupidity and equate the sage with the commoner, resisting the completed transformation of the Great Enlightened One and forfeiting the broad goodness of the genuine person. This can be called having the courage of a praying mantis defying a carriage wheel, or the mind of a frog confined to an abandoned well!

7.12

Ji said: 'The Hu teaching is stingy and greedy, caring only for wealth. It directly practices the three poisons and harms myriad quarters; we have never seen it cultivate the six perfections to elevate the triratna. This is the fourth unprincipled thing.'

[Daoxuan's rebuttal:] Now, wealth and food sustain life, and in them greedy men are submerged; but to accumulate and be able to disperse them is the constant disposition of a pure and honest gentleman. Among the six perfections, the giving of dāna comes first; it is only by relying on the Buddha that its status is established. As for the triratna, the Buddha is the master of the teaching, the flowing compassion of the Correctly Enlightened One. Without the Buddhadharma, how could one know the efficacy of the six perfections? Cut off from the breeze of compassion, how could one recognize the triratna as the correct transformation? Because Ji did not attain his ambition, to the end of his days he sought to entrap it; he merely increased his greed and rivalry to blame others, without ever revealing any weariness of the body to cast off clinging. Even ordinary gentlemen among the vulgar do not speak empty words, yet Ji was truly a vulgar fellow who let his talented brush run recklessly. Has he alone not heard that when Gu Yong was enfeoffed with ten thousand households his family did not even know, that when Zhuge Liang received the reward of three commanderies his storehouse contained not a foot of silk, that when Xie An pacified a million rebels he was somber with a solemn expression, and that the Capable and Benevolent One renounced the four truths of conditioned existence, casting them away like spit and phlegm? These are true records. How much more so for those who relinquish the body and receive no body, contemplating the triple world as a prison, regarding wealth and food truly as poisonous serpents of the eight phenomena, carrying their robes and bowls along with them like birds wandering through the empty sky, without hindrance in leaving or staying like mallards floating upon a long river! Those of this sort are called śramaṇas. Thus the scripture says: "Among the Saṅgha, there are none who break the precepts or are unpurified. If one acts contrary to this, he is not called a monk." How can one equate treacherous ministers and cruel rulers with Houji, Xie, Tang, and Yu, or compare weeds and briers with fine sprouts and splendid trees? In formulating words and establishing admonitions, the clear and the turbid must be bifurcated; to obscure everything with darkness and wickedness and completely cover over all eminent talents is contrary to principle. At that time, when Liang governed, benevolent nurturing was paramount: the Emperor himself severed desires and ate vegetarian food, while the monks formed forests of literary talent and caves of doctrinal meaning. Even if there were transgressions like fly specks, they could well be thrown to the jackals and tigers! For universal scholars, their discussions are governed by principle; to remove blemishes and veil faults is the constant duty of a gentleman. Thus among the Confucian conduct of Lu, only Confucius was the sole person; playing the reed pipe improperly and stealing the robes brought down the state at the time. The authenticity and falsity, the expedient and the real among monks are difficult to discern; only the Buddha can know it, while others merely rely on what they see and hear. Therefore, because Ji lacked understanding, he is unworthy of burdensome debate. What is regrettable is that he was so soon covered in fire and ashes to present his memorial in person—how could he not know how to turn back?

7.13

Ji said: 'The bequeathed teaching of the Buddha's house prescribes: do not plow or cultivate fields; do not store wealth or grain; beg for food, wear patched robes, and make dhūta practices one's duty. Nowadays this is not so. Several hundred thousand followers have no mind for the araṇya. If many follow the teaching of not plowing, the world will suffer the anxiety of hunger and lack. If they violate the teaching to set up laws, then since they do not practice it, what need is there for this teaching? Neither retreating nor advancing is fully reasonable. This is the fifth unprincipled thing.'

[Daoxuan's rebuttal:] Now, if Ji knew there was a bequeathed teaching, then he should know there are followers of the araṇya. He did not know that the teaching has relaxation and tightening; how could he understand the foundation of the triratna? The Buddha's virtue is vast and great; heavenly offerings still descend upon the field of the Saṅgha, and because the blessed field is broad, the spirits of the earth rightfully surge forth from below. The teaching has open and closed aspects, regulated according to capacity; it cannot be narrowly limited to grain and provisions, but uses the Way to bring comprehensive benefit to beings. Thus the scripture says: "If my disciples cultivate in accordance with the Dharma, then even if they take only one part out of hundreds, thousands, or myriads of parts of the immeasurable merit within the Tathāgata's white curl mark between the brows, my disciples will receive and use it endlessly." Therefore we know that one leaves home for the sake of the Way, raises offerings for the sake of the Way, receives them for the sake of the Way, and magnifies blessings for the sake of the Way. The Way is originally empty and pervasive, not something for worldly estimation. Hence receiving the four requisites traces back to the Buddha's virtue. The scripture says: "If offerings are received according to the Dharma, one may accept even a thousand pieces of gold; if it must go against the Buddha's transformation, not even a cup of water is permitted." How can he falsely say that they are only greedy for wealth and food? Furthermore, the scripture says: "Those who abide in my giving and receiving enter darkness and have no vision; those who act contrary to this are inexhaustible like space"—this is it. From this we know that outside the mind there is no realm, and seeing a realm is just the mind; therefore, causing offerings to follow the mind, accumulating and dispersing are not external. The scripture says: "The six perfections reside in the mind and do not reside in external matters." This is a correct statement; quoting it as evidence makes this clear.

7.14

Ji said: 'In the Nirvāṇa [Sūtra] a question is raised: after the World-Honoured One enters extinction, how can the scriptures and teachings be distinguished from the scriptures of Pāpīyān? Looking at this question, even when Gautama was alive, his disciples could not discern the true from the false; how much less can those deceitful companions in China who evade corvée labor not be deluded?'

[Daoxuan's rebuttal:] Examining these words of Ji's, they are completely lacking in discernment. The text clearly speaks of after extinction, when Māra and Buddha are difficult to distinguish; how could it describe the Buddha's lifetime? That the disciples could not discern the three kinds and four reliances in the scriptures to verify and determine Māra or Buddha, heterodox or orthodox, was not known to Ji, nor did he explain it. Furthermore, he says: 'how can those deceitful companions in China who evade corvée labor not be deluded?' These are straightforward words, yet truly not understood [by him]; those who are not evading labor are well able to discern it. Why did you not discuss this, but made it your sole business to obscure the good and publicize the bad? The Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: 'Those who leave home to evade corvée labor and have no aspiration for the Way—I shall dismiss them and make them return to lay life to be employed by the king.' This is a correct statement; why did he not record it to submit to the sovereign?

7.15

Ji also cited the Nirvāṇa [Sūtra] where King Ajātaśatru harmed his father and Jīvaka described the situation; the Buddha resolved it through principle to dispel his delusion, whereas worldly people only bind themselves to external affairs and sink ever deeper into the net of delusion. Therefore, searching for a father among the aggregates, elements, and sense bases, he could not be found; originally it was merely a deluded thought that regarded the father as a real person, arbitrarily giving rise to plans to harm him and seize his exalted throne. If he had previously attained understanding and known that a father is fundamentally empty, why would he have committed treason? The kingdom also does not exist. Through the Buddha's instruction, he realized the deluded mind, repented with remorse and apology, and obtained rootless faith. Ji did not understand this, and sought to judge principle by external events, rebuking the Son of Heaven for annotating the scriptures and mocking ministers and subjects for treason and disorder, saying that the Buddha taught there is no father, and having no father, he should be eliminated. Grasping at traces to defame the teaching, his stupidity and darkness are not surprising. His remaining trivial and superficial points, like his prolix comparisons, are all of this kind. Furthermore, he cited the "Three Destructions" treatises of Zhang Rong and Fan Zhen; these are detailed fully in the previous collection. Words refuting Rong and Zhen will be seen in subsequent accounts. To say that when Rong and Zhen established their arguments none could refute them is an empty falsehood.

7.16

Ji said: 'Since antiquity, imperial preceptors and guests or friends of the feudal lords have met [their monarchs] once in a thousand years, [fleeting] as morning and dusk; their virtuous sagacity was rare in the world, standing unique throughout the universe. Yet nowadays shaven-headed [monks] in their thousands do not act as subjects, and multitudes in their ten thousands are styled imperial preceptors. This cannot be permitted. The Yao and Shi [clans] offered delicacies of jade to three thousand Buddhist monasteries and built eight hundred jasper palaces, their offerings and veneration being lavish indeed; yet in the end their lineages were slaughtered and annihilated. From the Song and Qi onwards, none have taken warning from past failures. As for his other vile words reviling the saṅgha, they are sufficient to make one stop one's ears; to the last, his words lodged curses against the emperor, like the parables of Zhuang Meng. He further said: 'The monks arise from humble origins, scheming to evade taxes and corvée labor. Having no ambition to attain the Way, their intent lies in greed and lust. They covertly usurp Chinese institutions and subvert imperial authority. In all, there are ten kinds [of abuses]: First, constructing vast halls to usurp the likeness of the imperial palace. Second, erecting great chambers and adorning barbarian images to usurp the likeness of the Mingtang and the ancestral temples. Third, extensively translating bewitching words to encourage their spread, trampling upon the imperial edicts and decrees. Fourth, gathering money and coins to sell the false fruition of the five blessings of heaven, usurping the sovereign's rewards of virtue. Fifth, collecting ransoms in advance to exempt people from the spurious calamities of the six extremities of hell, usurping the ruler's punishments. Sixth, styling themselves as the triratna and falsely relying on the four dependencies to sit arrogantly before the sovereign, which is an artifice for assuming majesty. Seventh, building many temples and images to ordain monks and nuns extensively, which is the foundation for establishing hegemony. Eighth, holding the three-long, six-discipline, and four-great Dharma assemblies, which is establishing a separate calendar and secretly conducting levies. Ninth, performing music to entice the foolish and small, and staging comedic theatricals to summon distant assemblies, proclaiming the peace and joy of the Buddha-land while reviling the perils and hardships of imperial rule, which is altering customs and habits to collect taxes. Tenth, convening assemblies for Dharma seats to hatch evil plots and illicit shifts, rewarding those who please them with gold and slandering those who ruin or censure them, which is the secret strategy of Lü Shang's Six Secret Teachings. Among these ten matters, not a single one can be tolerated; at the slightest emergence of a portent, they should immediately be executed and exterminated. Yet now they are allowed to circulate freely, ousting our imperial culture. Furthermore, striking great bells upon high terraces rivals the water clocks of the imperial palace; hanging banners and canopies on tall spires imitates the imperial insignia filling the courtyard; levying jade delicacies for vegetarian banquets mixes with the feasts of princes and dukes; chanting high and transcendent hymns of praise resembles the songs sung while ascending the hall for the presentation of imperial food; praising merit and virtue rivals the sacrificial invocations of the ritual officers; receiving donations matches the gradations of bundles of silk; establishing solemn deportment emulates the flags, banners, and ceremonial accoutrements. In all their undertakings, they secretly imitate court ritual, and so forth. Your Majesty now empties the storehouses to make offerings to the monasteries; the lord of ten thousand chariots adopts the ritual of a dependent vassal, and reverently bows to monks and nuns, while the Three Excellencies observe the etiquette of subordinate ministers. The favoritism is already excessive, and the humiliation is also extreme. This is the fourth reason why your servant does not accept [this].'

7.17

Looking at the ten articles listed by Ji, they all return to a single falsehood: stringing together fabrications to further agitate the emperor's mind. He had long understood the emperor's acute intelligence and deeply resented that the emperor held him in contempt. Having no means of advancement, he harbored resentment and relied on slander to vent his face-to-face derision. Although his words seemed like those of a subject, his intention was truly slight and disdainful. Why so? The false charges against monks listed above left no evil unproclaimed; by saying the emperor valued them, he made it clear that the emperor lacked discernment. Thus, [depicting the emperor as] a solitary tyrant and an ignorant ruler was naturally revealed without being explicitly spoken. Though he embellished his words to conceal his deceit, his traces were manifestly exposed. Therefore it is said: 'Knowing people is difficult indeed; people are truly hard to know. Those who know this difficulty are only one in a thousand years.' Emperor Wu of Liang deeply knew that Ji's character made him unfit to govern, hence he said: 'He has talent, but is fond of rebellion'—how could that have been mere talk? Thus, as for the memorials presented by later figures, all took Ji's talent and eloquence as their model, yet they fell far short, and so merely showed their clumsiness.

7.18

Ji said: 'Your Majesty believes that cause and effect have a definite term, and that retribution has no delayed karma; therefore, you revere the semblance Dharma and make offerings and alms ever more lavishly. You exhaust the people and fell timber, burning and digging up mole crickets and ants, and harming the harmonious qi—how is this mindful of the Great Enlightened One's compassion? If barbarian ghosts can indeed bring blessings, we might abolish Confucianism and Daoism; if shaven-headed Śākyan disciples can truly avert calamity, we might cast aside weapons of war. Yet now [the realm] doubles the guards to prepare for unforeseen events and beats the clappers to contest empty territory. To kill mole crickets and ants to build merit already contravenes the Buddhist scriptures; to revere bewitching evils and practice flattering sacrifices further blemishes the moral teachings. Even a five-foot herdsboy knows not to doubt [this]; the sovereign of the four seas by principle should not have second or third thoughts about his virtue. For Your Majesty's sake, this is the fifth reason your servant does not accept [it].'

7.19

Examining Ji's approach, he sought to contest principle through worldly facts; now, we shall penetrate worldly facts by means of principle. Cause, effect, and retribution are like form and shadow: if one does not believe that cause precedes and effect follows, then one would not believe that when the form moves, the shadow follows. The principle of things is obvious; how could it give rise to doubt? Felling trees and excavating earth are customary rules of nature; building monasteries and establishing offerings are the profound respect of human relations. Exhausting the people and harming ants—what emperor is without this? Therefore, since blessings are not for self-enrichment, the four classes of commoners do not shrink from labor and service; since guilt does not extend to others, the deaths of hundreds of insects are not sins. To call the true Dharma a bewitching book and to regard pure vegetarian fasting as a flattering sacrifice—these are matters that make both the unseen and seen worlds gnash their teeth, and that the virtuous and sagely deplore. Ji did not know that the great spirits of the sacred mountains and rivers worship the Buddha to pray for blessings, and that the numinous divinities of heaven and earth bow their heads to request the profound teachings. Thus, [the Buddha] can stand towering in the universe and attain the four fearlessnesses, dwelling alone in the realm of emptiness and existence endowed with the four unobstructed analytical skills. This is not something Ji could know; or perhaps he knew it and deliberately slandered it to agitate the emperor's feelings.

7.20

Ji said: 'Zheng of Qin was deceived by the Three Mountains; Che of Han was tricked by the Five Profits. To believe and submit to bewitching falsehoods has gone to such lengths as this! If one does not scrutinize truth and falsehood, how can one take warning from past failures?' He further cited five matters to show that during the Song and Qi dynasties, when they revered the Buddha and honored monks, the dynasties were overthrown and the ancestral temples were replaced; this was merely because the Buddha was bewitching and the monks false, harbouring treachery in their hearts, aborting fetuses and killing children, in murky licentiousness corrupting the Way, thus causing the Song and Qi to be wiped out. Now, the Song and Qi

7.21

temples and images still exist. If Your Majesty inherits and serves them, then the disasters of the Song and Qi will become manifest without needing to be spoken. Now, when monks and nuns observe the summer retreat and do not kill mole crickets and ants, they cherish the lives of sentient beings; yet they are arrogant toward their sovereign and father, forgetting benevolence toward insects. They abort fetuses and kill children, yet conversely nurture mosquitoes and gnats. Now, the Changes speaks of sovereign and subject, husband and wife, father and son as the three bonds and six disciplines. Nowadays, among the Śākyan disciples, the sovereign does not act as a sovereign, and so on up to the son not acting as a son; the bonds and disciplines are thrown into chaos.' Ji cited the Song and Qi believing in Buddhism and perishing early—this is deceiving the emperor! How does it slander only the Buddha? It also slanders the spirits and deities. The rise and fall of karmic cycles are the constant numbers of Heaven; abdication and punitive banishment are the necessary adaptations of states. If previous kings could personally enjoy [rule for] ten thousand years, it would not be proper for later emperors to assume the throne. This is the constant principle of succession and the great period of arising and perishing; how can one cling to the permanent existence of a single dynasty and be confused about the changing fortunes of a hundred kings? This is entirely impermissible. The reason why the emperors of the Qi and Song revered the Buddha and honored monks was that they knew the imperial position had its cause, and thus they harbored gratitude to repay that profound virtue; they also knew that the imperial position could not be preserved forever, and thus they practiced causes to look up to enduring fruitions. Since the past causes were short, they could not be extended to ten thousand years; hence there was the Liang's receipt of the abdication. Since present causes are not yet complete, one cannot immediately reap the fruition from the cause; hence one receives retribution in the future. Thus, as karma and cycles follow one another, the four seasons do not fail; how could one disparage the Buddha as having no retribution? If one disparages it as having no retribution, then all the spirits of the suburban ancestral temples, the Vast Heaven of the Circular Mound, the Earthly Deity of the Square Marsh, and the mountains and rivers of the rank-order sacrifices should all be eliminated! How could it be that only the Buddha and the monks falsely suffer slander and deceit? He even said: 'They abort fetuses and kill children, preserving their cherished lovers.' You yourself are also a cherished lover; why do you meddle in state affairs while failing to see yourself?

7.22

When the memorial was presented, Emperor Wu of Liang was furious and assembled his courtiers, intending to execute him publicly. Ji secretly fled to Wei, wishing to assist Emperor Jing; when the matter was exposed, he was burned to death by Wenxiang of Qi, at the age of over eighty. What Ji practiced went against principle; he recklessly displayed his talent and artifice, meddling in state affairs to covet glory, and relying on his cleverness, he brought about his own destruction. The ancients said: 'When not in that office, do not plan its policies.' Ji was a commoner in plain clothes, yet he meddled in the affairs of the court, which was an overstepping of bounds. The Buddha practiced benevolent transformation, doing no harm to the ruler and ministers; keeping precepts and purifying the mind, he eliminated evil and extinguished confusion—this is the Buddha's teaching. Therefore, the three trainings and eightfold right path are used to guide those who have left the household, while the six perfections and four great vows are used to enlighten scholar-gentlemen and the common people. Among these, whether broad or narrow, adapting to transform beings according to conditions and taking awakened realization as the core—anything other than this is not the Buddha's intent. Yet Ji did not speak of men of proper practice, but exclusively recounted men of disordered karma, using falsehood to dismiss the true, using evil to overstep the correct, using the few to attack the many, and using the perverted to disrupt the complete. Not planning for his own safety from calamity, he secretly presented [attacks against] the unsurpassed teachings; his remaining misfortune was not exhausted, and in the end he met the retribution of being burned alive. This is deeply lamentable!

7.23

Chapter 16: Qiu Zituo

7.24

A man of Wei Commandery, during the Wuping era of Northern Qi he served as an Erudite of the Forest of Scholars. At that time, the Buddhist Dharma was revered and honored, and the construction [of temples] was taken to the utmost limit; practically all fertile lands belonged to monks, and the state treasuries were emptied to supply the Buddha's field of merit. Lay scholars could not compare. Zituo held a petty office and was naturally not among the favored. Thereupon he submitted a memorial stating: 'The emperor above serves the Sovereign of Heaven, and below nurtures the common people; sovereign and subject, husband and wife—the bonds and disciplines have their foundation. Since the Wei and Jin dynasties, barbarian demons have brought chaos to China, turning their backs on their lords and rebelling against their fathers, not taking wives and not taking husbands; yet in licentious extravagance they command authority and blessings, sitting back to receive heightened respect and holding scholars and commoners in contempt. Consorts and princesses enter monks' quarters by day, while sons and younger brothers lodge in nuns' cells by night.' He also said: 'Your servant is not terrified, nor afraid, nor avoids the cauldron of boiling water; I have straightway bathed, carried a coffin, and presented this memorial to be heard.' It comprised more than ten sheets of paper. When the memorial was submitted, the emperor was enraged and wished to kill him. Gao Na'gong said: 'This fellow seeks fame and wants to die. If Your Majesty chops off his head, you will fall into the fellow's trap. You should imprison him permanently and let him die on his own.' [The emperor] followed this advice. After two years, Emperor Wu of Zhou conquered Qi and released him. At the beginning of the Sui he was still alive, and his end is unknown. Now, reading Zituo's memorial, it merely recounts the demons, lust, and accumulation of wealth among monks, possessing no other distinct merit. His phrasing is redundant and heavy, expanding broadly on every incident. The undiscriminating might think his memorial raised a great many matters, but the discerning see that it comes down to only two tracks—namely, wealth and sex. It largely resembles Xun Ji's words, yet in talent and principle they are as far apart as clouds and mud, and he could not compare. In the two dynasties of Wei and Qi, eminent monks were like a forest: they appointed the Ten Directors to oversee them and established the Bureau of the Clarification of the Mysterious to manage them; the pure assembly was brilliant and could not be dragged down. Zituo's family was inherently poor and distressed, with no one to turn to for shelter; the support for his physical form was nothing more than clothing and food. Trapped in perpetual destitution and long afflicted by hunger and cold, he envied the monks' lavish offerings and consequently presented his confrontational memorial, only to be suppressed and rejected in the end, failing to achieve his ambition. He can be called a sluggish Han erudite whose words were wasteful and lacked refinement and restraint. Fu Yi added yet more embellishment, but his words became increasingly superficial and petty, mocked even by the most foolish—how much more so by the thoroughly enlightened!

7.25

17. Wei Yuansong

7.26

Originally a man of Hedong, whose distant ancestor followed official service and subsequently settled in Shu. At the end of the Liang, he became a monk, feigning madness and drifting about unbound. When the Zhou pacified Shu, he consequently entered the Pass. In the second year of Tianhe he submitted a memorial, which roughly said: 'Under the transformative governance of Tang and Yu, there were no stupas for ruling the state, yet the state achieved peace. In the era of Qi and Liang, there were monasteries to educate the people, yet the people were not established because they did not accord with the Way. If it is said that the ruin of the people does not stem from monasteries, how could the governance of the state depend on stupas? It is solely a matter of instructing the people's minds to accord with the Way. When the people accord with the Way, there is peace; when the Way enriches the people, good governance is established. For this reason, Qi and Liang competed in the semblance dharma and erected nine-tiered pagodas that touched the clouds, while Tang and Yu were concerned for the common folk and built earthen steps that touched the ground. Yet it was not that Qi and Liang lacked merit regarding monasteries, yet their dynasties were not prolonged; how could Tang and Yu have had deeds concerning stupas, yet their reigns endured long? It is simply that benefiting the people and profiting the state conforms to the mind of the Buddha. Now, the mind of the Buddha takes great compassion as its root, bringing peace and happiness to living beings, never harshly labouring the multitude, reverently honouring mud and wood while harming the conscious, or shielding and profiting the insentient. And the Great Zhou has initiated its cosmic cycle, succeeded to the dynastic reckoning, received the mandate charts, and unified the six directions under a single mind, matching the dual illumination of the sun and moon, nurturing the four kinds of birth as the thick earth, and sheltering the myriad clans as the dark heavens—verily the resurgence of the Three Sovereigns! One marvels that the myriad people have only now met this, bringing about the new establishment of the Five Thearchs, and celebrates that the common masses have encountered such a time. How could one not admire the surpassing ethos of Tang and Yu and discard the final dharma of Qi and Liang? Song requests the construction of the Great Pingyan Monastery, to house the myriad clans of the four seas; he does not urge the erection of crooked-view saṅghārāmas that narrowly settle the two vehicles and five divisions. Now, as for the Pingyan Monastery: without distinguishing clergy and laity, without choosing between kin and stranger, loving and moistening the multitude, treating equally those who uphold and those who break [the precepts]. Let the city walls and moats serve as the monasteries and pagodas, so that the Zhou sovereign himself is the Tathāgata; let the outer walls and settlements serve as the monastic quarters, harmonising husbands and wives into the noble saṅgha. Diligently employ sericulture to fulfil the household tax quotas, and supply government taxes to repay the state's kindness. Promote those of commanding virtue to serve as the Three Rectors, and honour the elders as the theras. Select the benevolent and wise to fill the offices of administrators, and seek the brave and strategic to serve as masters of the Dharma. Practice the ten virtues to subdue the unsettled, and demonstrate non-greed to cut off theft and robbery. Thereupon clothe those shivering in the cold, raise orphans, match widowers and wed widows, pity the aged and sick and relieve the impoverished; reward families of loyalty and filial piety, and chastise factions of treachery and rebellion; advance pure and simple scholars, and dismiss flattering and treacherous ministers; so that within the six directions there is no murmur of resentment like that against Zhou of Shang, and across the eight wildernesses there resound songs praising Zhou; flying and diving creatures dwell safely in their nests and caves, and those on water and land are granted their natural longevity (and so forth).' Song's words above had their source: he had once read the Da zhidu lun and seen the administrative decrees of the Deva-King Buddha; hence he established 'Pingyan'. Yet while his account of the Buddha's great compassion bringing about peace and happiness hits upon the principle, in actual practice it is not so. Though husbands and wives are harmonious, they have not yet severed desire; for city walls and moats to serve as monasteries is not a sacred foundation. Therefore it cannot be done. That form itself is emptiness cannot be comprehended except by correct wisdom; that ordinary beings themselves are sages—how could base ordinary beings master this? Therefore both truths must proceed together, and the two wheels must turn in unison. By using the Way to penetrate the mundane, the essential path to liberation may be anticipated.

7.27

When Song said that he did not urge the erection of crooked-view saṅghārāmas, it was because they injure humans and beasts. If they are built, this goes contrary to the great compassion of all Buddhas. In antiquity King Aśoka built pagodas, employing myriad spirits in a single day. Today, building stupas exhausts wealth and lives over successive years. Moreover, blending earth into mud and firing bricks and tiles to completion creates a kalpa-ending fire for insects in the grass and brings about a flood disaster upon ants. Looking up to measure benevolence and compassion, this should never be permitted. This is truly an admonition. Therefore, when bhikṣus construct dwellings, they first eliminate obstacles and dangers; if it would harm life, it must by no means be done. Treasuring living things and giving rise to compassion is itself the pagoda of benevolence. The principle is extremely correct, yet in practice it is rarely carried out.

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He also stated: 'I request that virtuous poor people be exempted from corvée and pay taxes, and that conductless wealthy monks pay taxes and be exempted from corvée. If wealthy monks pay taxes and are exempted from corvée, then all monks will surely hope to halt taxes and strive to sever stinginess and greed. If poor people are exempted from corvée, then the multitudes will surely hope to be exempted from corvée and compete to cultivate loyalty and filial piety. This would cause the Buddha-Dharma to flourish and bring peace to the state, and is truly not abolishing the triratna and imperiling the common people.' There were fifteen articles, all of this import, urging the practice of equality and not the abolition of the Buddha-Dharma; urging inequality would be the abolition of the Buddha-Dharma:

7.29

Urging the practice of the Mahāyāna; urging mindfulness of the poor and destitute; urging the renunciation of stinginess and greed; urging people to confess and reveal faults; urging benefit to the state and people; urging the Liao barbarians to become civilized subjects; urging people to live in harmony; urging the reunion of loved ones; urging the establishment of commercial markets; urging the practice of reverence and support; urging that monasteries have no soldiers; urging the establishment of a Tripiṭaka devoid of greed; urging the establishment of fewer Tripiṭakas; urging the appointment of monks to discipline monks; urging reverence for the Mahāyāna precepts.

7.30

The articles listed above: opposing them destroys the Dharma, while following them causes the teaching to flourish. He also presented memorials and petitions, as well as two treatises on Buddhism and Daoism, establishing host and guest to debate the lesser and the greater. Because Song held that 'in penetrating the principle, I serve neither of the two traditions, but solely serve the ancestor of the Zhou; for both traditions establish empty words, whereas the Zhou emperor personally enacts the matters. Therefore I serve the emperor and do not serve Buddhism or Daoism.' His phrasing was elaborate and expansive, covering more than thirty sheets of paper. In broad outline it took compassionate deliverance as primary, censuring monks for luxury and extravagance and for not honouring the laws and regulations; it did not utter words slandering the Buddha, but was in accord with the true Way. Therefore the Mingbao ji by Tang Lin of the Tang Ministry of Personnel states such and such.

7.31

18. Liu Huilin

7.32

A man of Qin commandery. He left home and resided at Zhicheng Monastery in the capital of Yang. Having talent and learning, he was appreciated by the Prince of Luling of the Song dynasty. He composed the Treatise on Equalising the Good (also called the Treatise on White and Black). Its argumentation is difficult to exhaust thoroughly; it is fully recorded in the subsequent chapter on doctrinal meanings. Its general import states: one need only know that the six perfections and the five teachings proceed side by side, and that trustworthiness and obedience stand equal with loving-kindness and compassion; though their paths differ, they converge on the same goal, and one must not cling stubbornly to the tracks from which one first set out.

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19. Fan Zhen

7.34

A man of Nanjun, orphaned and poor in his youth. He studied under Liu Huan of the state of Pei and was outstanding and unexcelled. He spent years among his disciples, wearing straw sandals and cloth garments, walking on foot, yet giving lofty discourses and bold arguments, vigorously declaring that there is no Buddha and that existence comes from nature. His writings are also fully recorded in the subsequent chapter on doctrinal meanings. Shen Xiuwen refuted him, so I will not trouble to record it here.

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廣弘明集 — Classical Chinese