廣弘明集 8.8

8.8

Emperor Gaozu of the Northern Zhou was suspicious and jealous by nature, calmly tolerating friction. Yuwen Hu, the Grand Prime Minister and Duke of the State of Jin, weighed all the administrative affairs and made decisions on the myriad matters of governance. The emperor secretly envied him, fearing that he would usurp power. He summoned Hu into the inner palace and personally slew him, while the families of six ministers were exterminated along with their clans. Having fulfilled his ambitions throughout the realm, the emperor had nothing left to fear. However, he placed his trust in the prophetic apocrypha and became obsessively inclined toward them. From ancient times it had been passed down that 'the black shall attain [power]', meaning that someone with the black sign would gain the realm—just as at the end of the Han there were circulating rumors that 'those in yellow clothing shall rule', replacing red with yellow as an omen of succeeding to the cycle of virtues; the saying regarding black was similar. Therefore, when Emperor Taizu of the Zhou escorted the Wei ruler in fleeing west, his clothing and banners were all changed to black to align with the deceptive prophetic words; this, too, was the lingering destiny of Emperor Guangwu of the Han. Formerly, when Gao Yang established the destiny of the Northern Qi, the common folk also had this ditty. Yang said that the 'black one' was Meditation Master Chou, the 'black-robed Son of Heaven', and was about to execute him. It happened that Chou had farsighted wisdom; he realized this and managed to escape, as recounted fully elsewhere. Therefore, the Zhou progenitor initially revered the Buddhist Dharma and humbled himself in bowing before monks, and they were all made to wear yellow clothing to prohibit black. There was a Daoist named Zhang Bin who was deceitful and misled the sovereign to privately advance his faction. He held the black-clad Buddhists to be an omen of misfortune for the state and Huang-Lao to be an auspicious omen for the state. The emperor accepted his words, believing in Daoism and disparaging Buddhism; he personally received talismans and registers and donned Daoist robes and caps. There was a former monk, Wei Yuansong, who worked hand in glove with Bin to agitate and sway the emperor's feelings, saying, 'The monks are mostly indolent and greedily chase after wealth and food; they are not worthy of reverence.' The emperor summoned a hundred monks into the inner palace to practice the Dao for seven nights. Aware of the secret intention, they practiced with added sincerity. The emperor also slept and lodged together with the monks to observe their faults and merits; sometimes he read and recited with the monks, or praised, chanted hymns, worshipped, and repented. The monks were all solemn and disciplined, and none failed to marvel at the emperor's incognito movements. When the period was completed, it ended without any fault being found. By the fifteenth day of the third month in the fourth year of the Tianhe era, the year being yichou, an imperial decree summoned more than two thousand virtuous monks, celebrated Confucians, Daoists, and civil and military officials. The emperor presided over the main hall to evaluate and discuss the three teachings, placing the Confucian teaching first, the Buddhist teaching last, and the Daoist teaching as supreme, on the grounds that it emerged prior to the nameless and transcends the realm beyond heaven and earth. The debaters at the time offered chaotic arguments, and their opinions and views diverged sharply; they dispersed without reaching a decision. On the twentieth day of that month, they assembled to debate again as before; the points of dispute grew even broader, none pleasing the emperor's mind. The emperor said, 'The Confucian and Daoist teachings have always been honored in this state. The Buddhist teaching arrived later; it is my intention not to maintain it. What does the general consensus say?' The debaters at the time set forth principles showing that there was no reason to eliminate it. The emperor said, 'The three teachings encompass the worldly; logically they cannot all coexist.' In the beginning of the fourth month, they gathered again as before, under orders that they must exhaustively present principles and not merely feign compliance to his face.