破邪論 1.12

1.12

Śramaṇa Falin and others submit this memorial. Lin has heard that when feelings are poignant, the voice must be mournful; when principle is upright, words must be forthright. For this reason, the impoverished child longs to express his words, and the toiling laborer desires to sing of his affairs. Why so? Privately we observe that in the final years of the Daye era, all under heaven fell into chaos and destruction. Heaven and earth were defiled and darkened; the four seas boiled over. Waves surged and dust flew; hills burned and plains blazed. The five horses severed the route of crossing the river; the seven boys sang of leveling ramparts. Beacon fires sounded alarms at all hours; feathered dispatches raced in competition. Passes and fortresses faced manifold perils; the night watch was never stilled. The Way waned and virtue fell into disarray; fortune was exhausted and the cycle reached its end. Grain transport was indeed onerous; taxes were gathered with strict precision. Piled corpses were like thickets of weeds; shed blood became rivers. The people found no joy in life; creatures were exhausted to the utmost. Having nowhere to lodge appeal, having no ground upon which to lay their bones, the common people suffered the agony of hanging upside down, and the myriad states were distressed by having no master. Who could have expected that the wheel of the Dharma would cease its resonance and the true teaching decline? His Holy Majesty gave rise to a mind of condoling the common folk and complied with the mandate of August Heaven. Thereupon he raised the righteous banner and unified the realms. At that time, religious and secular alike relied upon him; Chinese and foreigners rejoiced together. Thereupon he harmonized heaven and earth, bringing fluency to the eight winds; he fathomed yin and yang, regulating the four seasons. He harmonized states and organized human relations; his merit surpassed mending the heavens, and his spirit equaled establishing the cosmic pole. He brought down clouds and rain to nurture life; he unveiled the sun and moon to shine from above. He gave expression through culture and learning, and recorded it through literary institutions. His favor soaked even the roadside reeds; his kindness reached insects and fish. Just as he intended to expound anew the Nine Categories and spread again the Five Teachings, to revive the learning of the Shiqu Hall and disseminate the mores of schools, tracing antiquity back to Xuanyuan and Fuxi and matching the modern eras of Wen and Jing, with his meritorious enterprise ever flourishing, one could not help dancing with one's hands and stamping one's feet. Privately we have examined the memorial submitted by Fu Yi: before finishing reading it, our five viscera crumbled; once our perusal was completed, our six emotions shattered. Alas! Heterodox words confuse the correct, and demonic eloquence encroaches upon the true. They are unworthy even to be heard by the lowliest fools; how much less should they disturb the celestial hearing on high? Yet Yi holds a vital office of the times and is known to public expectation; how could he run counter to human feeling and generate malice without cause? His written words are shallow and crude, and his factual reasoning is inauspicious. He insults the statutes and canons of former kings and harms the model norms of human relations. Why so? If a person does not speak, well and good; but if he speaks, he must hit the mark. The Master said: 'If a single word accords with principle, all under heaven will submit to it; if a single deed departs from the constant, wife and children will rebel against it.' Examining the matters submitted by Yi, summarizing their general drift and tracing them from beginning to end, they indeed deceive the imperial court and in many places severely revile and insult the Sage. According to Yi's intention, he originally wished to recommend himself through this and recklessly seek advancement; he truly cannot benefit the state or profit the people, but in the end confuses and toys with court and country. Yet Your Majesty, responding to Heaven and complying with the seasons, took hold of the diagrams and received the talismans, fulfilling the aspirations of the myriad realms and embodying the blessings of the One Man. With your power to sustain the imperiled and rescue the world, and your merit in leveling bandits and quelling chaos, your majesty indeed surpasses former kings, and your fame outstrips past emperors. Thereupon you further set your mind upon the Three Jewels and turned your attention to the field of merit. Among all who have left household life, none fails to gratefully revere the imperial grace. Yet because we monks have failed to uphold the precepts and practices and repay the kindness of the state, ignorant fellows have committed transgressions and accumulated offenses, causing Fu Yi to set forth these malicious words. Beating our breasts and aching at heart, we have no place to lay our bones. If monks and nuns are guilty, they willingly accept the utmost penalty; but we lament that Yi treats the Sage with contempt and insult, using words so severe and harmful. We deeply fear that those with wrong views may commit wrongs on this account. According to the Chunqiu: 'In the seventh year of Duke Zhuang of Lu, in the fourth month of summer, the fixed stars were not seen, and the night was as bright as day.' This was precisely the auspicious response at the time of the Buddha's birth. The Buddha possesses the two bodies of tathatā and response, the two wisdoms of provisional and ultimate, the three knowledges, the eight liberations, the five eyes, and the six superknowledges. The spiritual sun is inconceivable; the Dharma is called 'the place where mental activity ceases.' As for his Way, he transports the myriad sages to nirvāṇa; as for his power, he receives the lowly ordinary beings from the sea of suffering. Since the third year of Yongping under Emperor Ming of the Later Han, when he dreamed of the golden man, the image teaching flowed east, and spiritual portents were not just one. They are detailed in the various histories of the Han and Wei, as well as the records of the Yao and Shi dynasties. As for the likes of Dao'an and Daoli, or the company of Fotudeng and Kumārajīva, they all possessed lofty practice and deep comprehension; being famous monks of their eras, they were all recognized by monarchs and revered by nobles. Over the past five hundred years and more, monasteries and stūpas have filled the nine provinces, and monks and nuns have overflowed the three capital commanderies. This was entirely due to the reverent faith of contemporary rulers and the submission of court and country. That the image teaching has flourished and continued without interruption down to the present day is truly indebted to the power of human kings. In the mundane world, between lord and minister, father and son, it is still said that grace is hard to repay and August Heaven cannot be requited; how much more so is the Buddha the transcendent compassionate father of all sentient beings and the excellent physician for ordinary beings and sages alike! To seek to suppress and thwart him, to condemn and insult him, is utterly unprincipled. When examining the Tathāgata's wisdom, it transcends being and non-being; how could the Three Sovereigns fathom it? His power envelops creation; the two cosmic forces cannot compare. Liezi states: In antiquity, Grand Minister Pi of Shang asked Kong Qiu: 'Is the Master a sage?' Confucius replied: 'Qiu has broad knowledge and a strong memory; I am not a sage.' He asked again: 'Were the Three Kings sages?' He replied: 'The Three Kings were good at employing wisdom and valor; whether they were sages is not known to Qiu.' He asked again: 'Were the Five Thearchs sages?' He replied: 'The Five Thearchs were good at employing benevolence and trust; whether they were sages is likewise not known to Qiu.' He asked again: 'Were the Three Sovereigns sages?' He replied: 'The Three Sovereigns were good at employing the seasons and rectitude; whether they were sages is likewise not known to Qiu.' The Grand Minister was greatly astonished and said: 'If so, then who is a sage?' The Master changed his expression after a pause and said: 'Among the people of the West, there is a sage. He does not govern, yet there is no disorder; he does not speak, yet he is spontaneously trusted; he does not transform, yet it is spontaneously practiced. So vast! The people cannot find a name for him.' If the Three Sovereigns and Five Thearchs were necessarily great sages, how could Kong Qiu have concealed it and not spoken of it, thereby incurring the fault of hiding a sage? Weighing it by this, the Buddha is acknowledged as the Great Sage. The Xisheng jing of Laozi states: 'My master transformed and wandered to Tianzhu, skillfully entering nirvāṇa.' The Fuzi states: 'The master of Laozi was named Śākyamuni.' Even when looking directly into the classics and books of Kong and Lao, textual evidence of their venerating the Buddha as master is by no means scarce. How could Yi alone slander him? In antiquity, Gongsun Long composed the Treatise on Hard and White, condemning the Three Sovereigns and censuring the Five Thearchs; even down to the present day, those who read it still gnash their teeth. This has already served as a prior warning—how pitiable indeed! Our Sovereign is supremely sage and profoundly bright; he is just about to release the horses and rest the oxen, pay respect to the village gates and confer honors upon graves, reviving the style of the august sovereigns and opening up the teachings of Śākya and Lao. Wild and simplistic talk should all the more be burned. If one says that when sovereigns have no Buddha, their great governance lasts long, but when there is a Buddha, tyrannical rule brings short reigns, then consider that Yao and Shun ruled alone and did not pass it to their sons; the sovereign governance of the Xia, Yin, Zhou, and Qin changed frequently, with rebellions arising within the screen walls one after another. At that time, there was no Buddha; why were their dynastic fortunes short? Lin happens to dwell in this era of Yao, using things daily without realizing it; seeing inappropriate affairs from outside, I fear that foreign lands far away will hear of it and consider Huaxia to lack understanding. The Master said: 'When speech fills all under heaven, there is no slip of the tongue; when actions fill all under heaven, there is neither resentment nor malice.' He who speaks wishes to be blameless; he who listens takes it as sufficient warning for himself. Fu Yi speaks insolently; all who hear it are shocked. It defiles the national mores and especially harms the customs of Huaxia. I respectfully record my sincere feelings and venture to submit them for your hearing. We humbly reflect that Your Royal Highness, the Prince, is endowed by Heaven with heroic spirit and was naturally precocious in childhood. Your spiritual disposition is outstanding and your capacity is vast and magnanimous. Finding joy in doing good, you surpass that King of Dongping; finding delight in gentleness and affability, you outshine the ruler of Western Chu. Moreover, as Prime Minister coordinating the hundred officials, you regulate the six administrative tracks. Your virtue has cleared away traps, and your benevolence has torn open nets. You open the mansion on the wide avenue, seating guests like Xun Qing; you build the garden of tall bamboo, banqueting refined and elegant guests. None fails to exhaust feelings in poetry or comprehensively depict things in rhapsodies; truly you can be praised in court and country, your excellence uniting the former heroes. But Lin and the others look within ourselves and find shortcomings, of little utility in square or circle. Reflecting upon Fu Yi's extreme folly, we feel ashamed of his rebuking ordinary monks as bald rascals; his malice is extreme, and no offense is greater. Since the times of Zunlu and Hexu, and after the opening of heaven and earth, there has never been one as wildly rebellious as Yi. Unable to bear the utmost heartbreak, I have respectfully recorded the harmful points made by Yi and ventured to express humble words, answering each item as set forth to the left. Defiling your august majesty, I humbly add to my dread of death. Respectfully submitted.