集古今佛道論衡 3.15

3.15

In the ninth year of Wude, the Daoists Li Zhongqing and Liu Jinxi of the Qingxu Belvederes harbored jealousy toward the Buddhadharma and constantly heaped slander upon it. Acting in concert with Fu Yi like lips and teeth, they plotted to eradicate the Buddhist tradition. Zhongqing wrote the Shiyi jiumi lun (Treatise on the Ten Aberrations and Nine Delusions), and Jinxi wrote the Xianzheng lun (Treatise Revealing the Correct). Entrusting them to Fu Yi, they presented them to the imperial hearing. In the first month of spring, an edict was issued: three temples were to be established in the capital, with the monks limited to one thousand; the rest were all dismissed back to their native places. Those with talent and utility were to be assigned to the eighth rank. The strict edict was executed, and none dared voice opposition. The five assemblies wailed in grief, and the four classes of laity were struck with shock and lamentation.
Not long after, from the eastern quarter the Emperor emerged, and the ominous vapors were cleared away. Taizong, having long heard and lightly probed the essential principles [of the Dharma], immediately declared a great amnesty, and all were set at peace. The monks returned to their original monasteries, and the Buddha-sun shone bright again. Śramaṇa Falin had previously composed the Poxie lun (Treatise on Destroying the Heterodox), which both religious and lay looked up to; but the new treatises of the Daoists had not yet been refuted by his brush. Thereupon, relying on the two treatises of Liu and Li, he composed the Bianzheng lun (Treatise on Discerning the Correct) to counter them. In one case of eight fascicles, it synthesized the past and established faith in the present, surpassing the past and illuminating the future, widely disseminated far and wide. Chen Ziliang of Yingchuan, whose talents and arts were vast and whose fame shook the realm, wrote a commentary for it together with a preface on its origins. The text is voluminous and is not recorded here.