集古今佛道論衡 3.29

3.29

the Son of Heaven or wishes to become the Empress may read this scripture.’ Relying on these words and upon the state's land statutes, which stated: ‘Daoist priests who master the *Sanhuang jing* shall be granted thirty *mu* of land,’ and examining the general statutes that any unsuitable statutes should be reported in a memorial, they fully recorded these differing words of the *Sanhuang jing* and submitted them to the throne. An imperial edict ordered the hundred civil officials to deliberate and decide. In accordance with this, they summoned the Daoist priest Zhang Huiyuan and asked whether such words existed. Huiyuan answered: “The *Sanhuang jing* in this place has no such words. I do not know why a distant prefecture has this. However, the single character *wei* has both level and departing tones. If read in the level tone, it is indeed as memorialized; if read in the departing tone, it means ‘for the sake of the state,’ and in principle presents no hindrance.” The ministers thought that Huiyuan's explanation did not violate the encouragement of good; however, the great characters of heavenly script, talismanic charts, and the like in this scripture were not proper seal or clerical script, so they requested they be removed while the rest be retained. Yang Zuan and others of the Ministry of Personnel deliberated: “According to our understanding of the *Sanhuang jing*, its principles and categories are not the same as Laozi's *Daode jing*; none of it should be preserved to mislead later generations.” The imperial decree stated: “Let all copies of the *Sanhuang jing* be confiscated and burned. Daoist priests who master the *Daode jing* shall be granted thirty *mu* of land, and let this be recorded in the statutes.” At that time, the ministries and departments sent orders to the various prefectures to collect the *Sanhuang jing*, and all were gathered in front of the hall of the Minister of the Ministry of Rites. Minister Yu tested them with fire, and in an instant they were reduced to ashes. Formerly, during the Song dynasty, when Bao Jing first fabricated the *Sanhuang [jing]*, he was executed. Nowadays they still revere it, changing the ‘Three Sovereigns’ (*Sanhuang*) to the ‘Three Caverns’ (*Sandong*), and falsely establishing great characters of heavenly script to deceive and mislead the benighted commoners. Its fraud is conspicuous, yet the confused fail to perceive it. Now, meeting the Sage Emperor of the Great Tang, who discerned its falsity and deceit, it was therefore burned and eradicated. Recently, such as in the late Daye era, the Daoist Fu Huixiang of the Wutong Abbey in the capital did not speak for three years; he altered the *Nirvāṇa Sūtra* into the *Chang'an jing*, intending to enter the mountain cliffs. At that time, the regulations did not permit leaving the city gates. The guards saw that he wore yellow robes beneath, and also seized the new scripture, taking him into custody to deliver him to the Regent. When the facts of his altering the scripture were verified through cross-examination, Minister Wei Wensheng reported it in a memorial, and he was executed outside the Jinguang Gate. This is something mutually witnessed by all living beings with ears and eyes. Those who perceive it are like this, while those who do not perceive it exist as well. However, they arbitrarily concoct scriptures and copy them into book-boxes; with no one to examine and check them, who can distinguish the false from the genuine? Furthermore, what they compose is shallow and vulgar in literary meaning, inappropriately plagiarizing Buddhist sutras; readers find them tasteless and unworthy of examination. As for works such as the *Nanhua [zhenjing]* or *Youqiu*, they are truly compositions of renowned masters that cannot be matched.