北山錄 3.2.4

3.2.4

所告必符矣）石勒死虎襲偽號。 將謹慢俗。 聖敬日躋（謹嚴也。 虎既繼位。 欲嚴謹於慢侮之俗。 因自加勤敬於圖澄也）下書曰。 和尚國之大寶。 榮爵不加。 高祿不受。 爵祿匪尚。 何以旌德。 從此已往。 宜衣以綾錦。 乘以雕輦。 朝會之日。 和尚昇殿。 常侍已下悉舉輿。 太子諸公扶翼。 而上主者唱大和尚。 眾坐皆起。 以彰其尊。 又勅司空李農。 旦夕親問。 太子諸王五日一朝。 表朕敬焉。 晉師出淮淝（淮水出桐柏山。 淝水在廬江時晉都金陵。 石虎都洛陽也）虎竊怒曰。 吾心奉佛。 更致外寇。 佛無神矣。 澄知之夜過詣虎曰。 王過去為大商主。 罽賓寺中常供養。 大會中有六十羅漢。 吾此微身亦預斯會。 時有得道者。 謂余曰。 此主人命盡。 當更雞身。 後王晉地。 今主為王。 豈非福耶。 疆場軍𡨥（疆場邊地也）國之常事耳。 何為怨謗三寶夜興毒念乎。 虎驚𧹞而謝。 甞一日與虎坐。 忽而作（作起也）曰。 變幽州災。 遽命酒遙灑之。 虎遣驗其日。 火從四門起。 黑雲從西南來。 遇驟雨滅之雨。 頗有酒氣也。 澄將終。 謂虎曰。 出入生死道之常也。 脩短分定非所能延。 天道重行全德重無怠（道德不可以缺怠而獲也）苟業操無虧。 雖亡若存。 違而獲延。 非其所願。 念意未盡者。 以國家心存佛理。 奉法無差。 興起寺廟崇顯壯麗。 稱斯懷也。 宜享休祉。 而布政猛烈。 淫刑酷濫。 顯違聖典。 幽背法戒。 不自懲革。 終無福祐（懲戒也。 革改也。 雖建寺廟嚴奉佛法。 若刑法酷濫終無益也）若降心易慮惠此下人。 則國祚延長。 道俗慶賴。 畢命就盡。 歿無遺恨。 君子以澄言實社稷之忠也。 普門之慈也。 有國者何莫志之（君子者當時君子也。 或實言以褒德）詩云。 人之云亡邦國殄瘁（詩大雅瞻仰之章也。 殄滅也。 瘁病也。 言君不善朝廷賢人奔亡。 則天下邦國將盡病矣）而澄亡彼群胡屍於冉閔矣（世說云。 圖澄亡。 石虎開棺無屍。 唯袈裟在冉閔。 石虎養孫謀勇絕倫。 殺石鑑而自立。 旌旗鍾鼓綿亘百里。 唯事殺戮。 為慕容悋擒而殺之。 左右七里草木悉枯）夫有奇質必有奇智。 有奇智則必有奇行。 有奇行必有奇言。 言則乃經。 古者鱗膚牛首虎鼻鳥喙（伏犧龍鱗。 大準隆鼻。 神農牛首。 女蝸蛇身。 黃帝龍顏。 帝嚳駢齒。 堯眉八彩。 舜目重瞳。 皐陶鳥喙。 武王目羊。 周公背僂也）皆稟不測之靈氣。 蘊不窮之聖德。 而澄左乳傍有穴圍四五寸。 徹於腹內。 時有光從中出。 以纊塞之（纊綿也）夜或抽纊。 則洞照一室。 齊日至水滸（滸水涯也）引腸而洗之。 此實至奇之表也（並出古高僧傳）永嘉之亂晉室東遷（晉自惠帝即位。 朝網紊亂。 骨肉相殘。 趙王倫永康初亂。 至永嘉江都等作亂。 前趙後趙後蜀競起。 晉元帝鎮楊州。 遂過金陵號東晉也）竺法潛（晉高僧。 姓王。 名潛。 字法深。 蘊當年之譽）王敦之弟也。 先事忠州劉元真。 崇德務學。 譽滿西朝（劉元真早有才能之譽。 深為孫綽所重）元明二帝丞相王茂弘太尉庾元規（即王導庾亮也）皆友而敬焉。 建武太寧中。 潛恒著屐至殿內時。 謂方外之士以德重故也。 後隱剡山。 請益者以方等老莊內外霑洽（以內外經書而教導）哀帝徵就御筵開講（晉哀帝。 成帝子。 名丕。 字千齡。 穆帝崩無子而立之）司空何次道宗以為師。 後啟還剡山。 既卒。 孝武詔曰。 潛法師理悟虛遠。 風鑒清貴。 弃宰相之榮。 襲染衣之素。 山居物外。 篤勤匪懈。 方賴宣道。 以濟蒼生。 奄然遷化。 用痛于懷。 可賻錢十萬（贈死曰賻。 孝武名曜。 字昌明。 則海西王第三子也。 桓溫輔政。 帝幻而聰悟。 十歲即位）穆帝世（晉穆皇帝。

what [Sengcheng] declared invariably proved true.) When Shi Le died, [Shi] Hu usurped the illicit title. Intending to discipline the disrespectful customs, his holy reverence increased day by day. (Jin means strict. After Hu succeeded to the throne, wishing to make strict the disrespectful and insulting customs, he consequently added his own earnest respect towards Fotudeng.) He issued an edict saying: “The Upādhyāya is the great treasure of the state. He does not accept honorable ranks; he does not receive high stipends. Since rank and stipend are not what he esteems, how can his virtue be made manifest? From this time forward, he should be clothed in fine damask and silks, and ride in an engraved carriage. On the days of imperial assemblies, when the Upādhyāya ascends the hall, all attendants from the regular palace attendants down shall lift his carriage, and the crown prince and dukes shall support him. As he ascends, the master of ceremonies shall announce ‘The Great Upādhyāya!’, and all present shall rise, thereby demonstrating his reverence.” He also ordered Minister of Works Li Nong to personally inquire after him morning and evening, and the crown prince and the various princes to pay court to him once every five days, to express Our respect. When the Jin army advanced to the Huai and Fei Rivers (the Huai River emerges from Mount Tongbai; the Fei River is in Lujiang. At that time Jin had its capital at Jinling, while Shi Hu had his capital at Luoyang), Hu secretly became enraged and said: “I devoted my heart to venerating the Buddha, yet this has provoked foreign invaders instead. The Buddha has no spiritual efficacy!” Fotudeng knew of this, and going by night to visit Hu, said: “In a past life, your majesty was a great merchant chief who constantly made offerings in a temple in Jibin. In a great gathering, there were sixty arhats, and this humble body of mine also took part in that gathering. At that time, a person who had attained the Way told me: ‘When the life of this host ends, he will be reborn as a chicken, and later will be a king in the land of Jin.’ Now you have become a king; is this not due to that blessing? Frontier military invasions (jiangchang means the border lands) are merely the ordinary affairs of a state. Why harbor resentment and slanders against the Three Jewels and give rise to venomous thoughts by night?” Hu was startled, humbled, and apologized. Once, sitting with Hu, Fotudeng suddenly rose (zuo means to rise up) and said: “A strange disaster has struck Youzhou!” He hurried to call for wine and cast it from afar. Hu sent men to investigate that day; a fire had broken out from all four gates, and black clouds had come from the southwest, meeting a sudden shower of rain that extinguished it, and the rain smelled distinctly of wine. When Fotudeng was about to pass away, he told Hu: “Entering and exiting birth and death is the ordinary course of the Way. Long and short life spans are fixed by lot and cannot be extended. The heavenly Way emphasizes practice; perfecting virtue values being free of laxity. (Virtue cannot be attained through deficiency or negligence.) If one's conduct and integrity have no deficiency, though one dies, it is as though one lives. To transgress and obtain extension is not what one desires. What remains unfulfilled in my thoughts is that the state has harbored the Buddhist principles in heart and served the Dharma without flaw, raising monasteries and temples that are lofty, magnificent, and splendid; fulfilling this sentiment, you ought to enjoy auspicious blessings. Yet governance is executed with ferocity, and excessive punishments are harsh and uncontrolled. You visibly violate the sacred scriptures and darkly contravene the Dharma's precepts. If you do not admonish and reform yourself, in the end there will be no blessings and protection. (Cheng means to admonish; ge means to reform. Even if one builds monasteries and strictly reveres the Buddhist Dharma, if penal laws are harsh and uncontrolled, there will ultimately be no benefit.) If you lower your heart and alter your thoughts to bestow favor on the lower people, then the state's mandate will endure, and both monks and laity will rejoice and rely upon it. When I finish my span and approach my end, I shall pass away without remaining regret.” The noble men considered Fotudeng's words to truly be loyalty to the altars of soil and grain, and the compassion of the Universal Gate. How could rulers of states not take note of it? (The “noble men” refers to the noble men of that era. Some say they are true words that praise his virtue.) The Classic of Poetry says: “When the people perish, the state is devastated and exhausted.” (This is from the “Zhan'yang” chapter of the Daya in the Classic of Poetry. Tian means to destroy; cui means to fall ill. It means that when the ruler is unvirtuous, the worthy men of the court flee, and the states throughout the realm will all be afflicted.) And after Fotudeng died, that host of barbarians had their corpses left to Ran Min. (The Shishuo says: When Fotudeng passed away, Shi Hu opened the coffin and found no corpse, only his kāṣāya remained. Ran Min was Shi Hu's adopted grandson, peerless in stratagem and valor. He killed Shi Jian and established himself. His banners, bells, and drums stretched continuously for a hundred li. He engaged purely in slaughter, and was captured and killed by Murong Lin. Within seven li to the left and right, all grasses and trees withered.) Now, one who possesses extraordinary nature inevitably possesses extraordinary wisdom; possessing extraordinary wisdom, one inevitably possesses extraordinary deeds; possessing extraordinary deeds, one inevitably possesses extraordinary words; and their words become standard guidelines. In ancient times, there were those with scaly skin, ox heads, tiger noses, and bird beaks (Fuxi had dragon scales and a large, prominent nose; Shennong had an ox head; Nüwa had a serpent body; Huangdi had a dragon face; Diku had double rows of teeth; Yao's eyebrows had eight colors; Shun's eyes had double pupils; Gaoyao had a bird beak; King Wu had sheep-like eyes; and the Duke of Zhou was hunchbacked); all were endowed with unfathomable spiritual qi and harbored inexhaustible holy virtue. As for Sengcheng, beside his left breast he had an opening four or five inches around that penetrated into his belly. At times, light would emerge from within it, and he would plug it with silk floss (kuang means silk floss). At night, he might pull out the floss, and it would illuminate the entire room. On fast days, he would go to the water's edge (hu means the edge of water) and pull out his intestines to wash them. This was truly the manifestation of the utmost extraordinary! (All of this comes from the ancient Gaoseng zhuan.) During the disaster of Yongjia, the Jin imperial house moved to the east. (Since Jin Emperor Hui took the throne, the imperial court became chaotic and kin turned against kin. Zhao King Lun caused turmoil at the beginning of Yongkang, down to Yongjia and Jiangdu when rebellions broke out, and Former Zhao, Later Zhao, and Later Shu arose in competition. Emperor Yuan of Jin garrisoned Yangzhou and subsequently moved to Jinling, known as the Eastern Jin.) Zhu Faqian (an eminent monk of the Jin, whose secular surname was Wang, personal name Qian, and style name Fashen; he enjoyed renown in his day) was the younger brother of Wang Dun. He previously served Liu Yuanzhen of Zhongzhou, esteemed virtue, and applied himself to learning, with his fame filling the Western Court. (Liu Yuanzhen had early on earned renown for his talent, and was deeply valued by Sun Chuo.) Both Chancellor Wang Maohong and Grand Defender Yu Yuangui under Emperors Yuan and Ming (namely Wang Dao and Yu Liang) befriended and respected him. During the Jianwu and Taining eras, Faqian would always wear clogs into the palace; at that time, he was regarded as a gentleman beyond worldly bounds because of the weight of his virtue. Later, he secluded himself in the Shan Mountains; those who came to ask for instruction were steeped in both the inner and outer [teachings] of the Vaipulya scriptures, Laozi, and Zhuangzi. (He taught and guided them using both the inner and outer scriptures.) Emperor Ai summoned him to the imperial table to deliver lectures. (Emperor Ai of Jin was the son of Emperor Cheng, named Pi, with the style name Qianling. When Emperor Mu died without an heir, he was enthroned.) Minister of Works He Cidao took him as his master. Later, he submitted a memorial requesting to return to the Shan Mountains. After he passed away, Xiaowu issued an edict saying: “Master of the Dharma Qian had an understanding of principle that was profound and far-reaching, and his discernment of character was pure and noble. He abandoned the glory of a chancellor to don the plain dyed robes. Residing in the mountains beyond worldly affairs, he was earnest and diligent without remiss. Just when we relied on him to propagate the Way to rescue the multitude of people, he suddenly passed away, which brings grief to Our heart. He may be conferred a funeral gift of one hundred thousand cash.” (A gift sent on death is called fu. Xiaowu was named Yao, with the style name Changming; he was the third son of the Prince of Haixi. Huan Wen assisted in governance; the emperor was clever and discerning from childhood, ascending the throne at the age of ten.) During the reign of Emperor Mu (Emperor Mu of Jin.