集古今佛道論衡 1.38

1.38

昔金陵道士陸修靜者。道門之望。在宋齊兩代。祖述三張弘衍二葛。郗張之士封門受錄。遂妄加穿鑿。廣制齋儀糜費極繁。意在王者遵奉。會梁祖啟運。下詔捨道。修靜不勝其憤。遂與門人及邊境亡命。叛入北齊。又傾散金玉贈諸貴遊。託以襟期冀興道法。帝惑之也。於天保六年九月。乃下勅召諸沙門與道士學達者十人。親自對校。于時道士祝諸沙門衣𭽽或飛或轉。祝諸梁木或橫或竪。沙門曾不學方術。默無一對。士女擁閙貴賤移心。並以靜徒為勝也。諸道士等雀躍騰倚魚睨雲漢。高談自矜誇衒道術仍又唱言曰。神通權設抑挫強禦。沙門現一我當現二。今薄示小術並辭退屈。事亦可見。帝命上統法師與靜角試。上曰。方術小伎俗儒恥之。況出家人也。雖然天命令拒。豈得無言。可令最下坐僧對之。即往尋覓有僧佛鐫一名曇顯者。不知何人。遊行無定飲噉同俗。時有放言標悟宏遠。上統知其深量。私與之交。于時名僧盛集。顯居末坐。酣酒大醉昂兀而坐。有司不敢召之。以事告於上統。上曰。道士祭酒常道所行。止是飲酒道人可共言耳可扶舉將來。於是合眾皆憚而怯上統威權。不敢有諫。乃兩人扶顯令上高座。便立而含笑曰。我飲酒大醉。耳中有所聞云。沙門現一我當現二。此言虛實。道士曰。有實。顯即翹足而立云。我已現一。卿可現二。各無對之。顯曰。向祝諸衣物飛颺者。我故開門試卿術耳。命取稠禪師衣𭽽祝之。諸道士一時奮發共祝。一無動搖。帝勅取衣。乃至十人牽舉不動。顯乃令以衣置諸梁木。又令呪之。卒無一驗。道士等相顧無賴。猶以言辯自高。乃曰。佛家自號為內。內則小也。詔我道家為外。外則大也。顯應聲曰。若然則天子處內。定小百官矣。靜與其屬緘口無言。帝目驗臧否。便下詔曰。法門不二真宗在一。求之正路寂泊為本。祭酒道者世中假妄。俗人未悟仍有祗崇。麴𮮂是味清虛焉在。瞿脯斯甜慈悲永隔。上異仁祠下乖祭典。皆宜禁絕不復遵事。頒勅遠近咸使知聞。其道士歸伏者。並付昭玄大統上法師度聽出家。未發心者。可令染剃。爾日斬首者非一。自謂神仙者。可上三爵臺。令其投身飛逝。皆碎屍塗地。偽妄斯絕。致使齊境國無兩信。迄于隋初漸開其術。至今東川此宗微末。無足抗言矣。帝諱詳即元魏丞相王歡之第二子也。嫡兄澄。怠慢為奴所害詳襲其位。代為相國。魏將曆窮。詳築壇於南郊。筮遇大橫。大吉漢文之卦也。乃鑄金像。一瀉而成。魏收為禪文。魏帝署之。即受其禪。為大齊也。凡所行履不測其愚智。委政僕射楊遵彥。帝大起佛寺。僧尼溢滿諸州。冬夏供施行道不絕。時稠禪師問箴帝曰。檀越羅剎殆臨水自見。帝從之覩群羅剎在後。於是遂不食肉。禁鷹鷂去官漁屠。辛葷悉除不得入市。帝恒坐禪竟日不出。禮佛行繞其疾如風。受戒於昭玄大統法上。面掩地令上履髮而授焉。先是帝在晉陽。使人騎駝勅曰。向寺取經函。使問所在。帝曰。任駝出城。及出奄如夢至一山。山半有佛寺。群沙彌遙曰。高詳託駝來。便引見。一老僧拜之曰。高詳作天子何如。曰聖明。曰爾來何為。曰。取經函。僧曰。詳在寺嬾讀經令北行東頭與之。使者反命。初帝至谷口木井佛寺。有捨身癡人。不解語。忽謂帝曰。我去爾後來。是夜癡人死。帝尋崩於晉陽焉。

Formerly, there was the Jinling Daoist Lu Xiujing, the leader of the Daoist community. Spanning the two dynasties of Song and Qi, he transmitted the teachings of the three Zhangs and broadened those of the two Ges. Scholars of the Xi and Zhang clans closed their doors to receive his registers. Consequently, he made arbitrary additions and forced interpretations, extensively designing fast rituals that were extraordinarily lavish and wasteful, intending for monarchs to follow and revere them. When Emperor Wu of the Liang founded his dynasty, he issued an edict renouncing Daoism. Xiujing could not contain his indignation; thereupon, together with his disciples and outlaws from the frontier, he rebelled and fled into the Northern Qi. He also distributed gold and jade as gifts to noble wanderers, revealing his heart's desires in hopes of reviving the Daoist law. The emperor was misled by him. In the ninth month of the sixth year of Tianbao, [the emperor] issued an edict summoning ten learned and accomplished śramaṇas and Daoist priests to debate and test each other in person. At that time, the Daoist priests chanted spells over the śramaṇas' robes and bowls, causing them either to fly or spin; they chanted spells over the beams and pillars, causing them either to lie horizontal or stand erect. The śramaṇas had never studied magical arts, so they kept silent without a single reply. Men and women crowded around, and noble and base alike shifted their allegiances, all considering the followers of [Lu Xiu]jing to be superior. The Daoist priests jumped about with joy and stood tall, looking askance toward the clouds and Milky Way. Boasting loudly, they showed off their Daoist arts, continuously proclaiming: "Supernatural powers are deployed as expedients to suppress and break the obstinate! If the śramaṇas manifest one, we shall manifest two! Now, having merely shown a petty trick, they have all declined, retreated, and submitted. The matter is already clear!" The emperor commanded Fashang, the Controller of the Clergy, to compete against [Lu Xiu]jing. Shang said: "Magical arts are petty tricks of which even mundane Ru scholars are ashamed, how much more so for home-renouncers! Even so, the Son of Heaven commands us to resist them; how could we remain silent? Let the monk seated at the very lowest place answer them." They immediately went looking, and found a monk named Fojuan, also known as Tanxian. No one knew who he was; his wanderings were unfixed, and his eating and drinking were like those of the mundane world. Occasionally, he let loose grand words that revealed profound understanding. The Controller of the Clergy knew his depth and secretly befriended him. At that time, eminent monks gathered in great numbers, and Xian sat in the last seat, heavily intoxicated with wine, sitting upright and unsteady. The officials did not dare call him, and reported the matter to the Controller of the Clergy. Shang said: "The Daoist libationers follow ordinary ways; only a wine-drinking man of the Way can converse with them. Support him and bring him forward!" Thereupon, the assembly, fearing the authority of the Controller of the Clergy, dared not remonstrate. Two men supported Xian and led him up to the high seat. He stood smiling and said: "I have drunk wine and am heavily intoxicated, but I heard with my own ears someone saying, 'If the śramaṇas manifest one, I shall manifest two.' Is this statement true or false?" A Daoist priest said: "It is true." Xian thereupon stood on one foot and said: "I have already manifested one; you may manifest two." None could answer him. Xian said: "Earlier, when your spells made the robes and bowls fly about, I purposefully left the door open to test your arts." He ordered Master Chou's robes and bowl to be brought and spells to be cast over them. The Daoist priests simultaneously exerted themselves and cast spells together, but [the robes and bowl] did not budge in the slightest. The emperor commanded that the robes be taken, but even ten men pulling and lifting them could not move them. Xian then ordered the robes to be placed on the beams, and again commanded them to chant spells, but in the end there was not a single sign of efficacy. The Daoist priests looked at one another in helplessness, yet still held themselves high through verbal eloquence, saying: "The Buddhists call themselves 'inner,' and what is inner is small. The imperial edict calls our Daoists 'outer,' and what is outer is great." Xian replied without hesitation: "If so, then the Son of Heaven resides inside, so he must surely be smaller than the hundred civil and military officials!" [Lu Xiu]jing and his subordinates sealed their mouths without a word. The emperor witnessed the right and wrong with his own eyes, and thereupon issued an edict: "The Dharma-gate is not two, and the true school is one. Seeking the correct path, quietude and detachment are fundamental. The libationers' Dao is a worldly falsehood; mundane people have not awakened and still revere it. Yeast and malt are their relish—where is their clarity and vacuity? Mutton and dried meat are their sweetness—they are forever alienated from loving-kindness and compassion! Above, it differs from the shrines of benevolence; below, it violates the sacrificial canons. All such practices should be banned and stopped, and no longer followed or served. Proclaim this edict near and far, making it known to all! Those Daoist priests who submit shall all be handed over to the Grand Controller of the Office for Clarifying the Profound, the Master [Fa]shang, who will administer their tonsure and permit them to enter the monastic life. Those who have not yet brought forth the mind [to convert] may be forcibly tonsured." On that day, more than one person was beheaded. Those who called themselves immortals were ordered to ascend the Sanjue Terrace and cast themselves off to fly away, but their bodies were all smashed to pieces upon the ground. Thus were falsehood and deceit brought to an end, with the result that within the borders of the Qi state there were no longer two faiths. Not until the early Sui did their arts gradually revive, and to this day in the eastern river basin this school remains slight and negligible, not worth contending against. The emperor's personal name was [Gao] Yang; he was the second son of the Prime Minister of the Northern Wei, Prince [Gao] Huan. When his legitimate elder brother Cheng was murdered by a servant for his arrogant negligence, Yang inherited his position and served as Minister of State in his place. When the Wei's astrological cycle was exhausted, Yang built an altar in the southern suburbs, and upon divining, encountered the hexagram 'Daheng', the greatly auspicious hexagram of Emperor Wen of the Han. Thereupon he cast a golden image, which was successfully formed in a single pour. Wei Shou drafted the document of abdication, the Wei emperor signed it, and he accepted the abdication to become the Great Qi. Throughout his conduct, no one could fathom whether he was foolish or wise; he entrusted governance to Vice Director Yang Zunyan. The emperor extensively built Buddhist temples, so that monks and nuns filled the provinces, and offerings and liturgical practice went on without ceasing in winter and summer. At that time, Chan Master Chou admonished the emperor, saying: "Donor, you are almost a rākṣasa; look at yourself in the water and see." The emperor followed his advice and saw a host of rākṣasas behind him. Thereupon, he ceased eating meat, banned falcons and sparrowhawks, abolished official fishing and slaughter, and eliminated all pungent roots, prohibiting them from entering the markets. The emperor constantly sat in meditation, not coming out for entire days; when prostrating to the Buddha and circumambulating, he was as swift as the wind. He received the precepts from the Grand Controller of the Office for Clarifying the Profound, Fashang, covering the ground with his face and having Shang step on his hair to confer them. Earlier, when the emperor was in Jinyang, he had a man ride a camel, ordering him: "Go to the temple and fetch the scripture cases." The envoy asked where it was. The emperor said: "Let the camel go out of the city." When he exited, suddenly as if in a dream, he reached a mountain. Halfway up the mountain was a Buddhist temple. A group of novices called out from afar: "Gao Yang has entrusted a camel to come!" They led him in for an audience. An old monk bowed to him and said: "How is Gao Yang as the Son of Heaven?" He replied: "Sage-like and brilliant." The monk asked: "Why have you come?" He replied: "To fetch the scripture cases." The monk said: "Yang was lazy at reciting scriptures while in the temple; go to the eastern end of the northern row and give them to him." The envoy returned to report the mission. Earlier, when the emperor reached the Buddhist temple at Mujing in Gukou, there was a foolish person who gave up his body, unable to speak intelligible words, who suddenly said to the emperor: "I am going; you come after!" That night the foolish person died, and soon afterward the emperor passed away in Jinyang.