辯正論 5

English (machine translation) 5

Language: English

5.1

Composed by Śramaṇa Shi Falin of the Tang

5.2

Annotated by Chen Ziliang, Scholar of the Crown Prince's Palace

5.3

Chapter 3: The Priority of Buddhism and Daoism

After a long while, the Confucian scholar argued again, saying: “If one traces Buddhism's [arrival] in China, it has been fewer than six hundred years; only since the Jin and Song dynasties has its influence begun to flourish. Yet people still say its merit is peerless and the world cannot name it. How much more so for the teaching of Laozi in China, whose eras are so remote! The classics and histories record it fully, and it can be known in outline. According to the Daoist scripture Yuanhuang li (Calendar of the Primal Sovereign): ‘In the first year of the Pure and Turbid, the first month, on the day jiazi, I descended to be the teacher of Fuxi; when the state was ruled in Great Peace, [he] ascended to heaven in broad daylight.’ It also says: ‘In the first year of the Undivided, the eighth month, on the day jiachen, I descended to be the teacher of Shennong. In the first year of Taiyuan, I descended to be the teacher of Yu (one edition reads Songrong). In total passing through twelve dynasties, transforming into seventeen bodies, beginning with Xuanlao and ending with Fangshuo.’ The Yinzhen lun (Treatise on Concealing the True) says: ‘Existing prior to heaven and earth, he did not consider it elder; living after myriad antiquities, he did not consider it long. Responding and changing with the times, he transformed together with all things.’ Examining his wandering the world and assisting the state, the eras and seasons can be known. As for guiding the common folk and fashioning all things, how could they ever be chronicled? In a rough calculation, it has already passed more than two million seven hundred thousand years!” (A critique says: At the time of Great Simplicity, qi and forms only began to be complete, and the pure and turbid were not yet separated; this is named Chaos. When the two poles were not yet divided, the Three Powers were also faint and unseen. Beyond the six eras that ordered destiny, Fuxi was just then born among the four surnames; at the end of Suiren's era, Shennong was first born. How could the two sovereigns Fuxi and Shennong emerge in the world of the pure and turbid, and how could Ni, Rong, and the six jia arise before the undivided? Books of the alleys and lanes are not worthy of belief!) “Therefore it is said: ‘The constant Dao is not the Dao that can be spoken; the nameless is not the name that can be named.’ Having been described as silent and void, it is called elusive and vague. Entrusting himself to the Zhou dynasty, he served as the Archivist; residing in the Han dynasty, he became a high minister. Playing in the water, he rode a fish; wandering through the void, he mounted a snow goose. In the jade well moist with richness, delicious is the subterranean springing fountain; from the golden furnace rising with smoke, blazing are the earthly flames of fire. In curtains of white pearls across the Three Palaces, he sometimes ingested sweet mushrooms; upon steps of green lattice carved with nine flowers, he constantly consumed refined marrow. Trees of rose-gem and amber radiate light without the sun; branches of lapis lazuli and agate ring of themselves without the wind. A skull was able to speak, once answering Zhuang Zhou's questions; white bones returned to life—how could the matter of Xu Jia be empty talk? The jade-patterned dates of the Queen Mother of the West were borne forth by sacred maidens; the golden pears of the Eastern Sea were offered up by immortals. His form had no fixed place, manifesting various appearances; his feelings had disparate ways, opening countless traces. Leaping across rivers and striding over seas, how could he rely on boats and rudders? Entering markets and climbing mountains, he was at ease according to his mind. Continuous and unfathomable, remote and hard to track, none failed to benefit devas and humans, serving as a model for past and present. The transformations of the Śākya clan have not lasted many suns and moons; how can they be compared with the Dao?” The Bodhisattva rebuked him, saying: “Your learning lacks investigation into antiquity, and you are hindered by relying solely on your own mind. Unable to choose the good and return from delusion, you guard the tree-stump and put faith in [false] measures. I have heard that when wisdom leaves nothing unencompassed, one is called a sage; when transformations cannot be measured, one is called divine. Being difficult to track near or far, with beginning and end beyond investigation—does it not lie precisely here? Why seek to fix your mind upon it? Since your doubts are still obstructed, I shall explain it again. Why is this so?

5.5

“Now, when the world was first formed, there were not yet the sun and the moon. Two great bodhisattvas descended to save the common people; thereupon they arrayed the three luminaries and brought forth the eight trigrams. The sovereign Fuxi was the Mahāsattva Response-Voice (The Spring and Autumn Inner Affairs says: ‘Fuxi gathered and arrayed the three luminaries, established the eight seasonal divisions, and with patterns responded to the twenty-four qi, waxing and waning fortune and misfortune so as to govern good and ill luck. Hence the Xi and He clans served generation after generation as officials in charge of the sun and moon, all being descendants of Fuxi. Therefore he was named Xihe, which was probably the original title of Sovereign Xi.’), and the sovereign consort Nüwa was Bodhisattva Auspiciousness. How is this known? In investigating this kalpa, one thousand Buddhas appear in the world; the fourth Buddha is none other than Śākyamuni, and the rest will arise in succession until the end of the kalpa. In this way, kalpa follows kalpa in sequence, so the Buddhas are limitless (The Vasumitra Treatise on Establishing the World says: ‘In the Bhadrakalpa there are altogether one thousand Buddhas who appear in succession in the world; because the transformation through the Dharma does not end, it is called the Wise Kalpa [Bhadrakalpa]. In one Bhadrakalpa there are the four great intermediate kalpas of formation, abiding, destruction, and emptiness. As when moving up and down like a well-pulley from ten years to eighty thousand years and back from eighty thousand down to ten years, passing through twenty turns makes one small kalpa. Twenty small kalpas make one kalpa of formation. Passing through eighty myriad myriad koṭis of hundreds of thousands of eighty-eight myriad years makes one small kalpa. The Abhidharmakośa also says: ‘Seven fire disasters and one water disaster; seven water disasters and one wind disaster. When the seven fire disasters have passed, then the wind disaster arises. Passing through eight times eight, sixty-four great kalpas, surpassing four incalculables, only then is it one Bhadrakalpa.’ Only in the kalpa of abiding do Buddhas appear, one thousand in succession. The Tathāgata Śākya occupies the fourth position; there remain nine hundred and ninety-six. The world is the dependent reward of the Buddha; sentient beings are the causal conditions of the Buddha. As long as there are sentient beings, there are Buddhas. According to the Mount Sumeru Diagram Mountain Sūtra and the Twelve Travel Sūtra, both say: ‘The kalpa of formation having passed and having entered the kalpa of abiding, seven small kalpas have elapsed.’ Devas of the Ābhāsvara Heaven and others descended and ate the fat of the earth. The devas naturally had radiance from behind their necks and backs, shining upon each other far and near. Because of eating the fat of the earth, lustful thoughts gradually arose, and they subsequently lost their radiance. The people wailed and lamented. At that time, Amitābha Buddha of the West told the two great bodhisattvas Jewel Response-Voice and Jewel Auspiciousness: ‘You may go there and make the sun and moon for them, open their eyes, and create the laws and standards.’ Jewel Response-Voice manifested as Fuxi, and Jewel Auspiciousness transformed into Nüwa. Later, manifesting the end of their lives, they returned to the West.’). The Classic of Mountains and Seas says: ‘The land of Shendu—the Xuan Yuan clan dwelt there’ (Guo Pu’s commentary says: ‘That is the country of Tianzhu’). We surely know that the roots of the Three Sovereigns arose there. Those who revere the Buddha’s emissaries therefore do not doubt it. Taking examples and investigating the texts, one can grasp this in mind. The Imperial Genealogies says: ‘At the beginning of the opening and dividing, the human disposition was dark and obstinate; they knew only sleep and food, and understood neither contrariness nor compliance. Beginning with Taihao, the supreme sovereign created models according to the seasons, compared images and drew trigrams, and the positions of high and low were established. They first knew to respect in order to serve superiors and to show loving-kindness in order to nurture inferiors, subtly using consciousness and gradually opening the path of wisdom.’ Were it not for boundless great compassion and profound, wondrous liberation, who could condescend in substance to be the same as the foolish, dissipate ignorance, and transform the world? The arrival and response of the two sages is trustworthy and has proof. Their propagation of the Way cannot be exhausted by kalpas like dust-particles; their benefiting of creatures cannot be calculated by skilful reckoners. The past doubles the sands of the Ganges; the future exceeds the supreme numbers. Your ‘years of the Primal Sovereign’ are merely like a single dust-particle at the start of the great earth; the ‘years of the opening and dividing’ are comparable to a single drop in the discussion of the vast ocean. They are not in the same category; they cannot stand abreast. Now, an insect that eats wood does not even know the taste beyond the bark; how could it know the breadth of the universe? Consulting the standard texts of the Three Histories and the canonical records of the Five Classics, all say that Laozi was a man of the late Zhou. Next are the Seven Records of Master Ruan and the Four Sections of the Wang Clan; the Comprehensive Summary of the Hualin [Garden], the Imperial Overview of Literary Flourishing, the writings of Tao the Recluse [Hongjing], the records of Master Liu, the catalogues of Wang Yin and Wei Shou, and the books of Yang Bin and Fei Jie. All compile annual chronicles, all make dynastic calendars, and none fail to conform to the standard histories together, never having any divergent claim. In the Sui dynasty there was Yao Changqian (named Gongqi, who served as General for Crossing the Liao, and in the Sui was Erudite of Calendar-Making), whose learning encompassed both the internal and external and who was thoroughly skilled in mathematical arts (the master under whom the present Grand Astrologer Chengchuan Renjun studied). Because the Spring and Autumn annals recorded no more than seventy-odd states, and Qiuming made a commentary only narrating two hundred-odd years, while genealogies like the Shiben especially lost their root threads, and the Imperial Ages was also exceedingly disordered, later scholars became increasingly confused. In the fifth year of Kaihuang, the yisi year [585 CE], he was summoned together with the Libationer of the National University, Duke of the Founding of the State He Tuo, and others to revise the calendar. Those who examined and checked numbered over thirty persons, all of whom were the fine timber of the age and thoroughly conversant with the classics and books. Basing themselves on the San统 [Triple Concordance] Calendar, they compiled the era-names, extending upward to the opening of fortunes and down to Jing of the Wei. Beginning with the jiazi year and arraying the various states to the side, they cited the Nine Eras and Three Primes (Nine Heads, Five Dragons, Kuoti, Hexiong, Liantong, Xuming, Xiufei, Yinti, Shantong, etc., are called the Nine Eras), the Heavenly Emperors, Human Thearchs, Five Classics, Ten Apocrypha, Six Arts, Five Elements, the Chart of Opening the Mountains, the Earth-Encompassing Images, the Examination of Ancient History, the Sprout of the Primal Mandate, the Key to Assisting the Spirits, the Genealogies of Imperial Lineages, the Decisive Seal of the Mandate, the Primer of Beginning Study, the Grand Scribe’s Treatise on Pitch-Pipes and Calendar, the Dianlüe and the Shiji, the Zhilin and the Long Calendar, the edicts and announcements of the hundred kings, the official rites of the six dynasties, the Geographical Books, the Record of Balances, the Three and Five Calendars, the Twelve Chapters, and dozens of books by Fang Shuji, Tao Hongjing, and others, compiling them in sequence into forty scrolls titled Chronological Calendars and Imperial Annals. It is quite complete in detail and its textual sense can be relied upon. From the Shangyuan gengxu year of the Supreme Ultimate up to the fifth year of Kaihuang, the yisi year, there have accumulated 143,780 years. The Liang Annals say: ‘From the opening and dividing to the second year of Dabao of Taizong of the Liang, there were altogether 283 generations and 761,045 years.’ Examining the records of these various texts, nowhere is Laozi seen as the master of Fuxi. When this one matter is verified to be false, then a hundred matters are devoid of truth. Changqian’s Chronicle says: ‘The Buddha was born in the twenty-sixth year of King Zhao, the jiayin year, and only in the fifty-third year of King Mu, the renshen year, did the Buddha enter extinction’ (reaching the fifth year of Kaihuang, this makes 1,576 years). This does not differ from what was recorded in the Diverse Records of the Book of Zhou, together with the Han Internal Tradition on the Origin of the Dharma, the Basic Record of the Dharma King, and by Kan Ze, Minister of the Secretariat of the Wu, and Dharma Master Tanmözui of the Wei. Calculating Laozi, he served the Zhou in the sixth year of King Huan, the dingmao year, and in the thirty-second year of King Jing, the guichou year, on the renyu day in the fifth month, he went west across the pass (reaching the fifth year of Kaihuang, this makes 1,037 years). Consulting Immortal Lord Ge’s Preface, it says: ‘Laozi serving as master of the Zhou on the bingwu day of the twelfth month in the dingmao year of the first year of Shanghuang’—that was the dingmao year of King Huan. It also says: ‘Leaving the Zhou to travel west across the pass on the renyu day in the fifth month of the guichou year of the first year of Wuji’—that was the guichou year of King Jing. Examining the basic annals below the Three Sovereigns, there was also no establishment of era-names; only down to the time of Emperor Wu of the Han did era-names begin. Their claims of ‘Shanghuang,’ ‘Wuji,’ and the like are all spurious statements completely without basis. Furthermore, the King of Goryeo submitted a memorial inquiring of the Empress of Qi: ‘May we hear of the eras when the Buddhas were born in the world?’ Emperor Wenxuan summoned the Supreme Controller Dharma Master to draft a text providing a full reply. At that time he cited the Biography of King Mu of the Zhou (presumably a separate biography of King Mu) in response; the envoy’s findings did not differ from what Yao Changqian cited. Liu Xiang’s Biographies of Arrayed Immortals says: ‘Dan and Yin Xi went together to the west of the Moving Sands to consume the seeds of sesame.’ Thus we know that both Confucius and Laozi, these two Ru scholars, were born in the late Zhou; Laozi was twelve kings after the Buddha. The Discourses of the States says: ‘In the second year of King You, the Three Rivers shook and Mount Qi collapsed; Boyangfu said, “The Zhou is about to perish.”’ This was a different elderly man, not Laozi. Consulting Emperor Yuan of the Liang’s Explanation of Zhuangzi and Laozi, he says: ‘Laozi passed away at the beginning of King Jing’s reign, and Zhuangzi died at the end of King Jing’s reign.’ General Yao said that when Confucius and Laozi met and inquired about rites, it was also in the tenth year of King Jing, the bingyin year; his explaining of the scripture for Yin was also at the time of King Jing. This makes it clearly certain that the Buddha came before and the Dao came after. When you say that in the year of clarity and turbidness he was the National Preceptor, it is exceedingly wide of the mark and goes against human reason. To trace it to the root: when clarity and turbidness first showed omens and yin and yang were not yet divided, since yin and yang were not yet divided, the two forms [heaven and earth] were still chaotic. Since the two forms were still chaotic, the Three Powers were not yet shaped. Therefore, being profound and dim, it cannot be named. The sexagenary cycle began with Da Nao; years and months were fixed in the Canon of Yao. Not only had Sovereign Xi not yet appeared, but heaven and earth had firmly not yet unfolded. Testing this, we know that heaven and earth joined essences, and men and women were transformed and born; were Xi and Lao not human beings? They must have been within the two forms, not outside the Three Powers. How can one listen by the road and talk on the way, deceiving oneself? Furthermore, to say that Fangshuo was also a manifestation of Dan is even more impossible. The traditions say: ‘Dongfang Shuo was the essence of the Year Star.’ How is this known? In investigating Dongfang Manqian’s remaining at court for twenty-odd years, the Year Star was also not seen for twenty-odd years; only when Shuo passed away did the great star first appear. As recorded by discerning men, the verification can be known. The Baopuzi’s Biographies of Divine Immortals says: ‘Sages do not stand alone; they must respond to things to complete their transformation. How could the national preceptors of all under heaven depend on Li Er alone?’ How extraordinary are these words! They truly exhaust the highest beauty. If across many generations there were only a single Lao Dan acting as master, then across many dynasties there would also be only a single Sovereign Xi acting as lord. Since there are many administrations, one must rely on many rulers; surely one master can only rectify one governance. (If across successive dynasties they were all Dan’s body, whence did this stubborn claim derive its support? Ge Zhichuan says: ‘These are all ignorant Daoist masters falsely inventing divine marvels.’ How could it be otherwise?) The Ru scholar asked: ‘Huangfu Mi says: “Laozi went out of the pass, entered the land of Tianzhu, and taught the barbarian king to become a Buddha.” This means that Laozi and the Buddha were men of the same time. Why make groundless talk of before and after to mislead worldly customs?’ The Bodhisattva explained: ‘In investigating the perfected person, his profound stillness is akin to the valley spirit responding to changes without fixed orientation; his actions are like a mountain echo, not hasty yet swift. How could he be partitioned by Chinese or barbarians? Those fellows in the bottom of a well are fond of cleaving to one-sided views; like [the monkeys with] ‘three in the morning and four in the evening,’ they give rise to joy and anger in vain. Therefore, he who empties himself to respond to things must possess a thousand transforming appearances; how could one of narrow sentiments who clings to particulars know the marvel of ten thousand differences? Consulting the Western Regions Tradition, it says: ‘When Laozi reached the country of Jibin, he saw the Buddha; lamenting his own lateness, he spoke verses in offering. Facing the image, he stated his feelings, saying: “Why was I born so late? (New editions alter this to: ‘Why was the Buddha born so late?’) / Why did the Buddha appear so early? (New editions alter this to: ‘Why was nirvāṇa entered so early?’) / Not seeing Śākya, / My heart is constantly anguished.” (This means that because he did not personally witness the Buddha, feelings of yearning and longing intertwined in his mind. The Weilüe’s Western Regions Tradition says: ‘The king of the country of Lin’er had no son. Through worshipping the Buddha, his consort Moye dreamed of a white elephant and became pregnant. When the crown prince was born, he also emerged from the right flank, naturally had a topknot, and upon touching the ground could walk seven steps; his form resembled the Buddha. Because they obtained a child by sacrificing to the Buddha, they named the prince Buddha. In the country there was a divine person named Shalü, old in years with white hair, resembling Laozi, who constantly taught the people to become Buddhists. Yellow Turbans of recent times, seeing his white head, altered that Shalü to write this Lao Dan, deceitfully setting it at ease to confuse and delude the world. In the time of Emperor Ai of the Former Han, Qin Jing went to the Yuezhi country; its king ordered the crown prince to orally transmit the Buddha Sūtra. Returning to the Han, what the Buddha [Sūtras] recorded roughly corresponded with Daoist scriptures.’ Huangfu’s words did not investigate their source. The Huahu jing says: ‘The king of Jibin suspected Laozi of being a demon and burned him with fire, but he was at peace and did not die. The king knew he was a divine person and the whole country repented of their errors. Laozi said: “My master is named Buddha; if you can leave the household, you shall be spared your guilt.” That country received his teaching and all became śramaṇas.’ If the Buddha had not existed before, how would Lao Dan know to transform his body into a Buddha? It was truly because Jibin had previously had faith in the Buddha that Laozi based himself on promoting the Buddha to transform them; it was not that only after Yin and Dan did the Buddha first come into being. When the Sui Minister of the Left Yang Su accompanied the imperial entourage to the Bamboo Grove Palace, he passed Louguan and saw a Laozi shrine. On the wall was painted the scene of Laozi transforming the country of Jibin and saving people by shaving their hair to leave the household. He asked the Daoist masters: ‘If the Dao is greater than the Buddha, when Laozi converted the barbarians he should have made them Daoist masters; why did he make them śramaṇas? We must know that the Buddha’s power is great, able to transform the barbarians, while the Dao’s power is small, unable to transform the barbarians. This is the Buddha transforming the barbarians; what has it to do with the Dao transforming the barbarians?’ At that time, the Daoist masters had no words to reply). The Miscellaneous Records of the Jin Dynasty says: ‘The Daoist master Wang Fu frequently engaged in debates with the śramaṇa Bai Yuan; Wang Fu was repeatedly bested. Thereupon he altered the Western Regions Tradition to make the Huahu jing, claiming that Yin Xi and Lao Dan converted the barbarians to make the Buddha, and that the Buddha originated from this.’ (Pei Ziye’s Biographies of Eminent Monks says: ‘In the time of Emperor Hui of the Jin, the śramaṇa Bai Yuan, courtesy name Fazu, frequently contested the correct and the deviant with Libationer Wang Fu—another source says Daoist master Jigong. Fu was repeatedly bested. Unable to contain his anger, he falsely took the Western Regions Tradition to make the Huahu jing so as to disparage the Buddha-Dharma, which then circulated in the world. People did not know this, but calamity had its destination, causing suffering for years on end. The Youming lu says: ‘Li Tong of Pucheng died, and returning, said that he saw the śramaṇa Fazu expounding the Śūraṅgama Sūtra for King Yama, and also saw the Daoist master Wang Fu, his body bound in chains and shackles, begging Fazu for repentance, but Fazu was unwilling to go to him. Having betrayed the sage, only upon death did he think of repenting.’) In the Wei dynasty, the Daoist master Jiang Bin falsely cited the Kaitian jing before Emperor Ming of the Wei, asserting that Laozi was born in the time of King Ding; this evidence is fully cited in the Treatise on Refuting Errors. Zhuangzi says: ‘Lao Dan died, and Qin Yi went to mourn him.’ The Records of Guanzhong says: ‘Laozi was buried in Huaili’ (now south of Shiping in ancient Fufeng there is a Huaili township). Now, the clerk of Qiyuan personally studied Dan’s Dao; though the states of Song and Lu were different, their times of appearing in the world were the same, so the texts he spoke are sufficient to be relied upon with faith. That he did not go to Tianzhu is distinct and beyond doubt. Huangfu Shi’an refuted these deceptive statements and exposed those erroneous discussions; that the account of Laozi going to the Moving Sands has no authentic record is fully detailed in his Biographies of Lofty Scholars. How could this be dismissed as deception? That the Buddha came before and the Dao came after—have no doubts on this!”

5.6

Chapter 4: Elucidating the Masters and Disciples [of the Clan of] Li

5.7

A Confucian scholar asked: "The great Tang arose to fortune, and it is indeed the holy lineage of the Most High Lord Lao, the Zhou dynasty master Li Er. They initiated the transformation of wuwei and propagated the writings of the Daode [jing]; they examine the sons of noble families in the teachings of the Six Classics, and command the Minister of Education to spread the five teachings. Guiding [the people] by virtue and regulating them by propriety, benevolence is spread through the nine provinces; penalizing evil and encouraging good, their majesty is brought to bear across the four seas. Heaven is perfected and the earth is leveled, the distant are pacified and the near are solemnized; brilliantly occupying the realm, it has now been eight years. In the year of Xieqia (weiyin), during the month of the Jiazhong pitch-pipe (the second month), the Son of Heaven personally graced the Biyong Academy and attended the Shidian sacrifice in person. Both śramaṇas and Daoist masters participated in the ceremonial banquet. By verbal imperial decree, it was stated: 'The Daoist master Pan Dan submitted a memorial stating: "Prince Siddhārtha was unable to attain Buddhahood [on his own]; after seeking the Dao for six years, only then was he able to achieve Buddhahood. Thus, the Dao can give birth to the Buddha, and the Buddha is accomplished through the Dao. The Dao is the Buddha's father and master; the Buddha is the Dao's son and disciple. Therefore, the Buddhist sūtras state: 'Seek the supreme, correct, and true Dao.' They also state: 'Understand the Great Dao and produce the supreme aspiration.' The foreign tongue says: 'Anu[ttara]bodhi'; translated into the Jin pronunciation, this means 'the supreme Great Dao.' If one examines it on this basis, it can be known in fact that the Dao is great and the Buddha is small. How could one recklessly judge their precedence and their relationship as master and disciple?"'

5.8

The Bodhisattva demurred, saying: “I have heard that the five hegemons would not deign to read the canons of Yao and Shun, and the Ji and Meng families could not study the texts of Confucius and Mozi. Summer insects cannot be spoken to of ice because they are bound by their season; parochial scholars cannot converse on the Dao because they are restricted by their doctrines. Now I shall briefly clarify this principle for you.

“The marvelous form is formless, its principle coalescing in the ultimate reality. The great sound has no utterance, its substance quiescent within the void principle. It cannot be fathomed through speech or image; it cannot be sought through seeing or hearing. Investigating it through the three temporal divisions, nothing is found; measuring it by the two truths, it remains unknowable. Its subtle nature does not alter—who could cause it to exist? Its supreme efficacy never fails—who could cause it to be non-existent? Thus, internally and externally it remains serene beyond the hundred negations; appellations and designations dissolve within the four extremes. Yet when its formless form manifests, its response pervades the Dharma realm; when its unuttered utterance speaks, its conversion saturates the source of sentient minds. Therefore it wields great compassion to stir them, and unfolds great loving-kindness to gather them in.

“Thereupon, donning soiled garments, he manifested birth in the five turbidities; concealing true wisdom, he provisionally drove the three carts. When we examine his subsisting on a single grain of rice, it was originally to subdue the non-Buddhists; his six years beneath the tree were solely to refute and shatter false teachers (as the ‘Chapter on Ascetic Practices’ of the Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra states: ‘The non-Buddhists would eat once a day, or once every seven days; eat one meal a day, or one meal every seven days; or eat the dung of cattle and sheep; or eat lotus roots and grass stalks; or perpetually stand on one foot, or perpetually raise both arms; or support the ground with four limbs; or scorch their bodies with five fires, starve themselves, cast themselves down amid graves and onto brambles, or lie in ashes and dust, serving heavenly deities to seek liberation. The Bodhisattva, observing their errant quests, undertook terrifying and extreme ascetic practices, dwelling with a tranquil mind, unmoving in a single sitting. For six years, he ate daily only a single sesame seed, or ate non-glutinous rice, small beans, soybeans, mung beans, red beans, barley, wheat, and so forth, merely a single grain each day, hoping thereby to sustain life. His body grew emaciated and feeble, his breathing faint; devoid of all strength, his hands and feet became unresponsive, like an eighty- or ninety-year-old decrepit elder. The Buddha then spoke a verse: ‘When the Bodhisattva arrived at the Nairañjanā River, with a pure mind he sat by the bank; because those seeking the path were not true, he wished to undertake great austerity to convert those errant ones.’). Pitying the futile toil of asceticism and lamenting the uselessness of self-starvation (he sorrowed over the non-Buddhists’ useless asceticism and futile self-starvation), he thereafter partook of the ninefold-churned milk (the scriptures and histories state: At that time, the two daughters of the village headman Sujāta, having heard the announcement of the gods, gathered a thousand cows and milked them for fine milk, progressively feeding it until fifteen cows remained. The milk was cooked with a portion of pure, fine non-glutinous rice into supreme milk-rice for the Bodhisattva. While cooking the gruel, various signs appeared—either the svastika sign, or the forms of Śakra and Brahmā. The milk boiled and surged upwards to half a tāla tree or a full tāla tree in height, then returned downward without a single drop leaving the vessel or spilling elsewhere. On the morning of the twenty-third day of the second month, he received the bowl of milk-rice from the two cowherdesses; having eaten it, his body was restored as before, and receiving auspicious grass, he sat beneath the Bodhi tree) and realized supreme enlightenment (saṃbodhi).

“At that time, every follower among the retinues of the six masters had their topknots shaved (the birth-hair on top of the head), and the Demon King with his thousand sons all turned their minds and surrendered (at that time, the Demon King of the desire realm, leading his thousand sons, three errant daughters, and eight hundred million spirit troops—some with a thousand eyes in their navels, eight arms behind their crowns, thunder roaring from their mouths and lightning issuing from their hands, or snakes coiling about their left waists and dragons wrapping their right flanks—beset the Bodhisattva with various supernatural transformations; the Bodhisattva radiated vast light, displaying rare signs, and the Demon King’s retinue all gave rise to wholesome minds and simultaneously bowed their heads). The blades of error dropped instantly, and the sun of wisdom blazed, radiating light. Such was his guiding and drawing forth; such was his majestic spiritual power!

“The Dao of which you speak (the paths of the ninety-five schools)—is it that Dao (asking whether it is the ninety-five schools or not), or is it distinct from that? If it is the same as that, it belongs to the cohort of the two gods and three sages (before the Buddha appeared, there were the two gods Maheśvara and Viṣṇu, and the three sages Kapila, Ulūka, and Ṛṣabha, who practiced the false three jewels to convert the world; when the Tathāgata appeared in the world, they all became his disciples, and the remaining branches were later refuted by Āryadeva Bodhisattva, as seen in the Mahāprajñāpāramitopadeśa and Śataśāstra), the descendants of the ninety-five schools. Pūraṇa and his cohort are your teachers; wherever those teachers fall, you too will fall. If it is distinct from that, then it is that of a disciple of the Buddha; how could one falsely claim, ‘Because he sought my Dao, he was then able to become a Buddha’?

“The culpability of Pan Dan’s words could not be greater! Wildly submitting memorials to the imperial court and flippantly offending celestial majesty, it is proper that he be disciplined by law: this is his first crime. Blinding the eyes of the court, confusing faithful minds, and turning the correct into the perverse: this is his second crime. Making the unsurpassable great teacher seek a minor local path, defying the scriptures and teachings: this is his third crime. Abetting future slander and factionalizing with present heterodox cohorts, deceiving himself and deceiving others: this is his fourth crime. Having committed the sin of deceiving the holy, he must fall into the Avīci hell, suffering torment for dust-speck kalpas: this is his fifth crime.

“Furthermore, China compared to India is like the surrounding sea compared to Linzhou. Laozi only arose at the end of the Zhou, whereas the Buddha appeared before the beginning of the Zhou. Calculating their interval, it spans some thirty kings; reckoned in years, it exceeds three hundred. How could the Buddha of King Zhao’s reign regressively seek the Dao of King Jing’s era? By eliminating falsehood and verifying facts, this is readily known (the Annals record: ‘In the thirty-second year of King Jing of the Zhou, a guichou year, Laozi crossed the Hangu Pass, entering the land of Qin to the west.’ The Book of Wei states: ‘Dan and Yin Xi exited the San Pass together during King Jing's reign; down to the fifth year of the Kaihuang era [585 CE], a yisi year, it has been 1,037 years.’).

“The Confucian scholar petitioned: ‘The Lingbao and other scriptures state that the Great Highest Dao was born before heaven and earth, surging amid the cavernous void, resplendent atop the Jade Clarity; it is the Buddha’s teacher, capable of giving birth to the Buddha, and does not refer to Lao Dan of the Zhou period. Is this definitively so? I wish to hear your explanation.’

“The Bodhisattva instructed: ‘Before the Five Thearchs, no “Dao” had been heard of; only at the end of the Three Kings did Dan’s name first appear. From the reign of Emperor Jing of Han onward did Daoist studies begin to flourish. Exhausting the present and investigating antiquity, who is this Dao? (Yu Jiuxing of Danyang composed nineteen chapters of the Treatise on Illuminating Truth to refute Daoism, stating: ‘Supreme illumination is not an illumination opposed to darkness, hence it cannot be called supreme. Ultimate stillness is not a stillness opposed to movement, hence it cannot be termed the Dao. Looking up and down to examine the opening statement of the Daoist scriptures: when the Dao speaks, what is its surname and personal name? Furthermore, whom does the Dao speak to? If the Dao has a mouth, it possesses the five aggregates; being constituted of them, it resides within the Three Powers, cannot escape impermanence, is ultimately constrained by portioned rebirth, and reverts to being subsumed under the path of immortals.’)

“Examining the Six Scripts, Seven Classics, Three Commentaries, and Nine Streams, although they serve as canons and models for governing the state, there is none that does not take the Zhouyi as its ancestral source. The Yijing states: ‘The five cosmic movements generate one another, gradually distinguishing the clear and the turbid; once the two principles are opened, yin and yang are separated’ (the Liyun says: ‘The Great One divided into heaven and earth, revolved into yin and yang, and transformed into the four seasons’). Therefore, the Qian origin supplies the beginning, and the Kun way supplies generation. The three luminaries displaying forms in heaven is the way of Qian; the myriad things receiving physical form on earth is the way of Kun (the Qianzuodu says: ‘Qian emulates heaven; Kun models after earth.’ The Tuan of Li says: ‘The sun and moon cling to heaven; the hundred grains cling to the earth.’). Hence it is said: ‘One yin and one yang are called the Dao’ (the Shuogua says: ‘Establishing the way of heaven is called yin and yang; establishing the way of earth is called soft and hard; establishing the way of man is called benevolence and righteousness. Combining the Three Powers and doubling them, therefore three strokes form a hexagram.’). ‘That which is unfathomable in yin and yang is called the spirit.’

“The Dao is principle; it is permeability, harmony, and congruence. It means that yin and yang revolve and permeate, and the Three Powers assume their positions. When the upper and lower interact harmoniously, the myriad things are born. With the principle of the Dao of yin and yang, it can permeatingly generate persons and things. When heaven harmonizes and earth concurs, the sprouts and diverse species stir (the ‘Monthly Ordinances’ of the Liji states: ‘The heavenly qi descends, the earthly qi ascends; heaven and earth harmonize, and the myriad things sprout and stir.’). Stirred by thunder, the yang moves; moistened by wind and rain, the yin follows. Thus we know that if there were no heaven and earth, from whence would the Dao arise? If there were no yin and yang, how could the Dao possess efficacy? How could the Dao have emerged prior to creation? Even supposing a Dao exists, it does not transcend heaven, earth, yin, and yang (the Soushen qi says: ‘Sages do not surpass heaven and earth; spirits do not surpass yin and yang.’)

“Heaven and earth are clearly verifiable in affairs; yin and yang are proven in life—this is the natural necessity of principle and number. It does not state that there is a Dao born before heaven and earth. Since the Dao has no prior origin, how could it give birth to the Buddha? Formerly, Che Yin explained virtue and Dao: ‘In man it is virtue; extending to things it is Dao.’ Yin Zhongwen stated: ‘Virtue (de) means attainment (de); Dao means that by which things proceed (you). This means that having attained filial piety in the heart is called virtue; proceeding according to it to completion is called Dao.’ Thus filial piety is the root of virtue; its completion is called Dao. Efficacy and virtue being manifest is a designation established of itself; Dao has the reputation of benefiting all. Internally, action is achieved through virtue; externally, transformation is accomplished through the Dao. Giving birth to and nurturing them is the essential of the Dao; completing and maturing them is the perfection of virtue. Therefore the Lunheng states: ‘Establishing oneself is called virtue; accomplishing one's reputation is called the Dao.’ Virtue and Dao are like this. Is the Dao you speak of different from this? If it differs, it is not worthy of belief.

“Could there really be one wearing a golden crown on his head, draped in yellow coarse wool on his body, with white hair hanging at his temples and holding a jade tablet in hand, separately titled Celestial Worthy, dwelling atop Great Daluo, singularly named the Great Dao, governing within the Jade Capital? The Shanhai jing does not detail it, and scriptures and histories do not record it. Great Daluo is merely an unfounded claim, and the Jade Capital is fundamentally a fictitious tale (examining the Shanhai jing: ‘The world’s famous mountains number 5,370, spanning 54,500 li. Mount Kunlun is the highest and greatest; atop it is the Xuanpu, presumably the dwelling of immortals, with golden walls, stone parapets, jasper branches, jade trees, precious leaves, and golden flowers; the sun, moon, and three luminaries are ranged beneath it; cloud chariots, feathered pennants, phoenix carriages, dragon conveyances, jade maidens, and immortal youths are countless. Next are the three mountains in the sea: Penglai and Fangzhang.’ Sun Xinggong’s ‘Rhapsody on Famous Mountains’ states: ‘Crossing the sea there are Fanghu and Penglai; climbing peaks there are Siming and Tiantai.’ The Erya’s explanation of mountains discusses only the Five Sacred Peaks. Since the Jade Capital is said to be the supreme famous mountain and the seat governed by the Celestial Worthy, why is it unrecorded in the Mountain Scripture and absent from the Guangya?).

“As for your addressing the Highest One as the Buddha’s teacher: when examining the former scholars of past dynasties and Liang Emperor Yuandong’s commentary on the five-thousand-word text, there has long been a clear explanation. It states that there are four kinds of ‘Highest’: the first is ‘those below only knew they existed,’ which refers to the era from the Three Sovereigns down to the Five Dragons; the second is ‘next, they loved and praised them,’ which refers to Fuxi and Shennong; the third is ‘next, they feared them,’ which refers to Xuanyuan and Diku; the fourth is ‘next, they reviled them,’ which refers to those from Yao and Shun downward. The Liji states: ‘The highest valued virtue; next, they exerted themselves in bestowing and requiting,’ meaning the Heavenly Sovereign and Human Sovereign were the ‘highest.’ There is no separate Dao spirit. Comprehensively examining their teachings, they merely instruct rulers and subjects, guiding mundane customs; never have we heard of them practicing the myriad deeds to advance toward nirvāṇa, or traversing the four floods to transcend saṃsāra.

“Examining the Daoist scripture Yuanhuang li: ‘I have heard that the Great Dao, the Highest True One, emerges from spontaneity; he is called the Buddha, the Lord of Wuwei.’ Checking through the Daoist scriptures, wherever they call someone the Great Dao, the Highest One, Spontaneity, the Truly Real, the Supreme Ultimate, or the Unsurpassable, all refer to the Buddha. It also says: ‘In the country of Tianzhu there was the Ancient Sovereign Master (meaning the Buddha is the master of the most ancient Yuanhuang), skilled in entering nirvāṇa. The Ancient Sovereign Master is my teacher; he traveled and transformed Tianzhu, and is now about to return his spirit to the Nameless, severing the physical and extinguishing existence, neither dying nor ending, continuously and eternally abiding. I shall now depart.’ (Laojun knew the Buddha was entering nirvāṇa, so he stated his departure, the conditions for transformation being finished; he then announced his return. His disciples did not yet know, so he had to relate himself: ‘My teacher was originally in the west.’ For this reason he ascended westward to express his longing; the text clearly cites evidence for this.)

“The Sandong jing states: ‘The Buddha is the father of the Dao.’ The Xisheng jing further says: ‘Among the great arts under heaven, the Buddha is supreme’ (meaning his supernatural powers and transformations are limitless). The Huahu jing states: ‘Laozi, knowing the Buddha wished to enter nirvāṇa, returned to the world under the name Kāśyapa, asking questions for the assembly in the Śāla grove.’ The Zhuanshen ruzding jing says: ‘Contemplating all.’ The Guanling zhuan says: ‘Laozi stated: “My teacher is named Buddha, who awakens all people.” Eating vegetables and reciting scriptures, he praised the unsurpassable, true, and authentic Dao, relied on the Buddha’s majestic spirit, and addressed the Buddha as the World-Honoured One. His physical form roamed with his spirit; receiving the exalted, great sage, the most true of the ten directions, he had already attained the Buddha-way.’ Examining Daoist scriptures, everywhere they address the Buddha as their master! I now explain this to you right here; you should keep it in mind right here, receive it upon your crown, and practice it.

“The Buddha is the great ancestor transcending designations, the profound abode of supreme marvel. He cannot be grasped through non-existence, nor sought through existence. Having that whereby he does not exist, he cannot be grasped as existing; possessing that whereby he is not non-existent, he cannot be grasped as non-existing. Why so? If based on the realm of existence, great calamity is forever extinguished; if traced to the source of non-existence, great compassion is never exhausted. His constant principle cannot be fully plumbed: this is the substance of spontaneity. Transforming without contrivance: this is the ancestor of the Great Dao. The Three and the Five could not begin him: this is the elder of the Ancient Sovereigns. Governing customs without severity: this is the Lord of Wuwei. Indiscernible and unfathomable: this is the Master of the Nameless. Continuous as if abiding: this is the root of myriad wonders. In descending his spirit, he is the teacher of the Great Dao; in opening conversion, he is the father of the Highest One. How could one shut one's eyes to observe heaven and earth, or stop one’s ears to hear thunder? Therefore the Buddha is called the Dharma King, the Tamer of the World, relied upon by ordinary beings below and exalted sages above. How could one who claims the spirits of the Five Elders and wears the tallies of the Three Sovereigns serve as the teacher of Śākya? (Examining the Chuguan yi: ‘The Unsurpassable Three Heavens, the Primal Primordial Qi, the Highest Lord Lao, the Highest Man of Letters, the Unsurpassable Primordial Elder.’ The Ritual for Morning and Evening Audiences states: ‘The Highest Primordial Five Spirits Lord Lao shall summon the Merit Officers, the Left and Right Dragon and Tiger Lords, the courier dragon-riding clerks, the incense-attendant jade youths, the incense-attendant jade maidens, and the Jade Emperor’s duty officers.’ ‘Old’ means elder and revered, meaning the Five Old Lords dwell as the most revered among the immortals, the chiefs of the myriad gods. The Five Spirits are the Five Thearchs, namely the spirit Lingwei’yang. The Three Sovereigns are Heaven, Earth, and Man. Yan Junping’s Shixue pian says: ‘When heaven and earth were first established, there was the Heavenly Sovereign, with thirteen heads, who reigned for 18,000 years.’ The Kuodi xiang says: ‘The Heavenly Sovereign had nine wings and flew back and forth.’ The Three Sovereigns, Five Sacred Peaks, and Liujia talismans served by Laozi were all instituted by sovereign spirits; Laozi wore them to protect his person. The Three Sovereigns’ tallies and registers and the Five Elders’ true texts are all written in vermilion and five colors with celestial characters of fire, claiming that wearing them grants longevity without death, elevating one to an immortal. The official retinues, generals, and troops described are no different from the secular world. Minister Yan Guanglu and Wang Bin stated: ‘Daoists refine the physical form, their method residing in immortal transformation; Buddhists discipline the mind, their teaching residing in delivering beings. Discussing what the Dao reveres, it is the Three Sovereigns and the Five Dragons.’)

“Therefore the Nirvāṇa Sūtra states: ‘That which is the teacher of all Buddhas is the Dharma. Because the Dharma is eternal, the Buddhas are also eternal.’ I shall further clarify this meaning for you: examining the Kongji suo wen jing and the Tiandi jing spoken by the Buddha, both say: ‘I dispatched Kāśyapa to that place to be Laozi, named the Unsurpassable Dao; and the Youth of Confucianism to be Kong Qiu, gradually converting them and making them filial and obedient.’ The Xuna jing states: ‘A thousand years after me, my Dharma will flow eastward; kings and peoples will uphold the precepts and cultivate good.’ (The Ancient Catalog says: ‘During the reign of King Hui of the Zhou, Buddhism was already gradually spreading; over a hundred years later, Laozi only then spoke the five-thousand-word text.’ Liu Xiang’s preface states: ‘Whenever I examined the palace archives, I always saw Buddhist scriptures; from this, know that the Buddha’s conversion flowed here long ago.’)

“I observe that when the Three Dynasties drew to a close and the Six States were rising, itinerant persuaders aimed solely at opportunistic gains, unconcerned with grandiose fabrications or the slaughter of people. Brandishing tongues to gallop bizarre plots, fluttering lips to discuss vast profits: Cao Gui thereby requested battle, and Qu Wan thereby marshaled troops. The weeping of disheveled hair stirred sorrow, and the congestion of destitute carts at the Yi River brought grief. The Ji River and Three Rivers dried up in tremor; the four barbarian tribes invaded one another; swarming locusts darkened the sky, and dancing hares romped across Hao. Pengsheng manifested the monstrosity of a crying boar; Du Bo showed the omen of a broken back. Even if one held office as a Prime Minister or sat as a Grand Chancellor, they invariably fanned the violence of gale winds and freezing rain, unleashing a ferocity that shook heaven and turned the sun. Thus the maiden of Bao was presented to the king, inviting the banditry of beacon fires; the men of Chu questioned the cauldrons, gradually mounting a treason that flooded heaven. In those days, heaven and earth were in upheaval; rites and music decayed and collapsed. With names disgraced and bodies mutilated, they felt no shame; overthrowing families and destroying states, they were callous and unreflective. How could they know the innocence of the world, or care for the misery of the common folk?

“Therefore the Buddha dispatched the three sages to provisionally transform that region, laying out rites for governing the state and describing arts for cultivating the person, hoping to replace punishment with ritual and transform shallowness back to simplicity. These were all accommodations to the fundamental dispositions of worldly beings, not the great Dao for escaping saṃsāra. But if one lets the mind roam within the realm of the three masteries, and stills contemplation in the sphere of the four virtues, with merit benefiting living beings and grace equally bestowed on self and other: then great beings from other realms outnumber the sands of the Ganges, and those giving rise to the aspiration in this land are countless as specks of dust, truly beyond the praise of written words! The biographies briefly cite six persons to inspire admiration: Mañjuśrī accommodated himself to that age; Maitreya will take the succession in the future; Avalokiteśvara universally manifests his physical body, his grace extending to distant kalpas; Kṣitigarbha protects China, his conversion pervading boundlessly; Aśvaghoṣa spanned three directions in the eastern summer land, like the morning sun unfolding its dawn brilliance to illuminate all six directions; Nāgārjuna strode ten thousand li across the divine continent, like the bright moon illuminating the dark night, causing the eight quarters to shine together. Beyond these, whether elderly in propagating the Dao, or youthful in expounding the Dharma, appearing in different forms as male or female, Hu or Han, all adapted to conditions to dispense conversion, guiding the common folk wherever they went. Their profound efficacy benefited a hundred kings; their supreme teaching flowed across the nine realms. The name and words reside right here; their authentic origin resides right here! Do not let Zi Xia steal the name of Zhongni, or compare the horns of a snail to the greatness of Mount Kunlun!’

“The Confucian scholar bared his shoulder, knocked his head on the ground, raised his hands, licked his feet, and said: ‘I beg pardon for my fault! I beg pardon for my fault!’”

First 8 of 10 passages. Read on

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辯正論 — Classical Chinese