破邪論 1.19

1.19

The Zhoushu yiji states: 'On the eighth day of the fourth month in the twenty-fourth year of King Zhao of Zhou's reign, the year Jiayin, rivers, streams, springs, and pools suddenly flooded, and the waters of wells all overflowed. The palaces, human dwellings, mountains, rivers, and the great earth all shook. That night, a vapor of five-colored light penetrated through the Supreme Subtlety (Taiwei), and everywhere in the west it turned entirely blue and red. King Zhao of Zhou asked Grand Astrologer Su You: "What omen is this?" Su You replied: "A great sage has been born in the west; hence this auspicious omen has appeared." King Zhao asked: "What will become of All-under-Heaven?" Su You said: "At present there is nothing; a thousand years hence, the sound of his teaching will reach this land." King Zhao then sent men to engrave a stone to record it, burying it in front of the heavenly shrine in the southern suburbs. At this time, the Buddha had just been born in the royal palace. In the thirty-second year of King Mu's reign, he saw that there was frequently illuminated vapor in the west. Having previously heard of Su You's record, he knew that a sage was dwelling in the west. King Mu did not grasp its principle, and fearing it was unsuited to the Zhou way, he immediately went west with Chancellor Lord Lü, meeting the feudal lords at Mount Tu to ward off the anomalous light. At this time, the Buddha had already been dwelling in the world for a long time. In the fifty-second year of King Mu, the year Renshen, at dawn on the fifteenth day of the second month, a violent wind suddenly arose, tearing off and damaging human dwellings and snapping trees; mountains, rivers, and the great earth all shook. After noon, the sky clouded over black, and in the west there were twelve white rainbows extending from north to south, which did not fade through the night. King Mu asked Grand Astrologer Hu Duo: "What sign is this?" Hu Duo replied: "A sage in the west has passed into extinction; the signs of decline have merely manifested." King Mu was greatly pleased and said: "I have always feared him; now that he is about to pass into extinction, what worry do I have?" At this time, the Buddha entered nirvāṇa.' The Shilu states: 'Grand Chancellor Pi of Shang asked Confucius: "Who is a sage?" Confucius replied: "Among the people of the west there is a sage. He does not govern, yet there is no disorder; he does not speak, yet is naturally trusted; he does not transform, yet [the way] moves on its own. Vast and boundless! The people can find no name for him!"'