破邪論 1.34

1.34

In the time of Emperor Taiwu of the Wei, Cui Hao served as Minister over the Masses and was particularly unbelieving in Buddhism. Whenever he spoke with the Emperor, he constantly disparaged and defamed it. Because Gai Wu rebelled in Guanzhong, Hao then persuaded [the Emperor] to abolish the Buddhist Dharma accordingly. The Daoist Celestial Master Kou Qianzhi bitterly disputed with Hao, but Hao was unwilling to comply. Qianzhi said to him, 'From this year on, you will suffer execution and the extermination of your clan!' Later, Taiwu developed sores all over his body, suffering agonizing pain. The ministers deliberated, saying, 'Cui Hao was heterodox and flattering, destroying the Buddha images; that which Your Majesty suffers must surely originate from this.' Hao was indeed subsequently executed, subjected to all five punishments. How could this not be a most pitiable accumulation of evil receiving calamity? Yet during the Yuan-Wei's reign over the realm, spanning seventeen emperors and one hundred and seventy-nine years, it was only for seven or eight years that the Buddhist Dharma sank into ruin; during the rest, its glorious manifestation cannot be fully related. In the first year of the Xinguang era, at the Great Five-Story Monastery, five images each sixteen feet in height were cast for the five emperors from Taizu downwards, using two hundred and fifty thousand catties of bronze. In the first year of the Taihe era, the Siyuan Monastery was established at the encampment of Taizu on Mount Fang. In the seventh month of the first year of the Zhengguang era, a gengzi year, Emperor Ming donned the imperial court robes and granted a great amnesty to the realm. On the twenty-third day, he invited monks, nuns, Daoist priests, and Daoist priestesses to hold a vegetarian feast before the front hall. When the feast ended, the Emperor dispatched Attendant-in-Ordinary Liu Teng to proclaim an imperial edict, requesting the Dharma masters and the Daoists to debate so as to untie the web of doubts of his disciples. At that time, the Daoist Jiang Bin of the Qingtong Daoist Abbey engaged in debate with Dharma Master Tanmozui of Rongjue Monastery. The Emperor asked, 'Were the Buddha and Laozi contemporaneous or not?' Jiang Bin replied, 'Laozi went west to convert the barbarians, and the Buddha served as his attendant at that time. Clearly, they were contemporaneous.' The Dharma Master asked, 'How do you know this?' Jiang Bin said, 'Examining the Laozi kaitian jing, I know it thereby.' The Dharma Master asked, 'Under which king of the Zhou, in what year, was Laozi born? Under which king of the Zhou, in what year, did he go west?' Jiang Bin said, 'In the third year after King Ding of the Zhou ascended the throne, a yimao year, he was born on the fourteenth day of the ninth month at the midnight hour, in Quren Hamlet, Li Village, Ku County, Chen Commandery of the State of Chu. In the fourth year after King Jian of the Zhou ascended the throne, a dingchou year, he served the Zhou as Keeper of the Archives. In the thirteenth year after King Jian of the Zhou ascended the throne, a bingxu year, he was promoted to Grand Astrologer. In the first year after King Jing of the Zhou ascended the throne, a gengchen year, at the age of eighty-five, seeing that the virtue of the Zhou was declining, he then went west with Yin Xi, the magistrate of San Pass, to convert the barbarians. This is sufficiently clear.' The Dharma Master replied, 'The Buddha was born on the eighth day of the fourth month in the twenty-fourth year of King Zhao of the Zhou, and entered extinction on the fifteenth day of the second month in the fifty-second year of King Mu. Calculating by the entry into nirvāṇa, it was three hundred and forty-five years before one reaches the third year of King Ding, when Laozi was only then born. Having been born, by the time he was eighty-five, in the first year of King Jing, four hundred and twenty-five years in all had passed before he first fled west with Yin Xi. This shows that the years and months are vastly disparate, and what you say does not agree. Is this not an error?' Jiang Bin said, 'If the Buddha was born during the time of King Zhao of the Zhou, from what text or record does this come?' The Dharma Master replied, 'It comes from the Zhoushu yiji and the Han faben neizhuan; both have clear texts.' Bin said, 'Since Confucius was a sage who established models, why was there no text or record whatsoever concerning the Buddha at that time?' The Dharma Master replied, 'Your knowledge, benevolent one, is like peeping through a tube, not surveying broadly. Confucius possessed the Three Provisions and the Ten Classics, referring to Heaven, Earth, and Man. The Buddha's texts and statements appear in the Middle Provision. If you, benevolent one, carefully examine it yourself, you will fully gain understanding.' Jiang Bin said, 'Confucius was a sage who knew without speaking. What need did he have for divination?' The Dharma Master replied, 'Only the Buddha is the King of all sages and foremost among the four modes of birth. Reaching both ends—past and future—of all sentient beings, he requires no divination regarding good fortune, misfortune, beginnings, or ends. As for other sages, though they understand the principles of what has not yet occurred, they must rely on yarrow stalks and tortoise shells to access the divine hexagrams.' Emperor Ming immediately dispatched Attendant-in-Ordinary and Prefect of the Masters of Writing Yuan Cha to proclaim an edict telling the Daoist, 'Jiang Bin's argument lacks principle and purpose.' He asked Bin, 'Where did you get the Kaitian jing? Who spoke it?' He then dispatched Vice-Director of the Palace Secretariat Wei Shou, Secretary of the Masters of Writing Zu Ying, and others to go to the abbey to fetch the scripture. The Emperor ordered officials to deliberate on it. One hundred and seventy people, including Grand Defender Prince of Danyang Xiao Zong, Grand Tutor Li Shi, Minister of the Guards Xu Botao, Minister of Personnel Xing Luan, and Sanqi Changshi Wen Zisheng, having finished reading it, reported to the throne: 'Laozi composed only five thousand words, and spoke nothing beyond that. We have deliberated, and Jiang Bin's crime warrants [execution for] misleading the masses.' The Emperor was about to subject Bin to the ultimate penalty when Tripiṭaka Master Bodhiruci bitterly admonished him, and he desisted, exiling him to Mayi. From the Xinguang era onward, within the capital and the four directions, old and new monasteries numbered 6,478, with 77,258 monks and nuns; the Falconry Office was turned into the Baode Monastery. Considering the Wei from their holding of the realm until their abdication, the circulation of Buddhist sūtras was vastly assembled in China, amounting to 415 works, totaling 1,919 fascicles. Roughly estimated, there were two million monks and nuns, and over thirty thousand monasteries. The times were prosperous and peaceful, the people flourishing and joyous; though monks and nuns were numerous, there was never a rebel among them. From the southward flight during the Yongjia era down to the Chen dynasty, spanning some three hundred years, the eastern flourishing of the image teaching had never been so grand. Eminent and virtuous figures emerged in great numbers, and their benefits were multiplied, illuminating and praising the rulers of the day, with scarcely any villainous cliques.