北山錄 5.2.6

5.2.6

歸破而生啟母化為石也）伊尹生而母為空桑（伊尹湯相生而母化為空桑）豈則不祥耶。 故二教直辯於此生。 釋教統示於他生。 如彼二母化為桑石。 精魂何往。 聖母俯瞰日月下哀。 人世實則福履將之矣。 賓曰。 虐魏門誅於內信。 昏周不類於玄侶（魏太武拓跋燾。 太延五年滅法。 有藏沙門者死。 周武宇文邕。 建德二年滅佛教玄僧也類享）使統宇嗷嗷王澤竭焉。 始若有逞終則遄害（二王初滅法。 似協于志。 尋亦終於惡疾也）彼何至於此哉。 主人曰。 沴氣蒸而五義敗矣。 姦邪作而萬靈怒矣（五行既敗。 百神是怒）故天之所助者順也。 人之所助者信也。 匪信匪順。 人天合誅焉。 得不亡乎（書云。 天作孽猶可逃。 自作孽不可逭）初魏太祖太宗（太祖拓跋珪。 太宗拓跋嗣。 號明帝。 太祖武帝長子）篤於因緣之教。 沙門法果。 戒行精純。 開演法籍。 太祖詔為沙門統。 太宗彌加崇敬。 授以輔國宜城子忠信侯安城公盡辭焉。 帝幸其居。 以門狹不容輿輦。 詔廣之。 八十而卒。 帝親臨其喪。 贈老壽將軍（皆旌帝之寵也）趙靈公世祖即位（太武皇帝）初遵行之。 每引高德沙門。 與之譚論。 四月八日輿像於廣衢。 帝御門臨檻。 散花稽顙致敬。 但以八歲在極。 訪國政於司徒崔皓。 皓極言莊老。 深蠧釋宗。 帝雅信重求方術士。 及得天師𡨥謙。 詔諸州鎮立道壇。 會蓋吳反於杏城。 關中騷擾。 太延五年己卯。 帝西伐長安（後魏時都平城）時沙門有種麥於寺中者御騶牧。 帝入寺觀馬。 從官窺便。 室有財產弓矢牧守。 富豪所寄藏物萬計。 時帝年二十四。 春秋方富。 寡於理學。 覩其事符於崔皓之言。 由是下詔。 焚破經像。 惟留臺下四寺如長安。 太平真君五年。 又下詔。 王公已下至於庶人。 有私養沙門者。 限其年二月十五日。 過期不出。 沙門身死。 容者誅一門。 時宗恭奉太子監國表諫。 刑殺沙門濫酷。 又非圖像之罪。 今宜罷其道。 杜諸寺門。 世不修奉。 土木丹青自然毀滅。 奏不行。 是歲太子晃師沙門玄高皓譖皆死（與太子皆也）七年春三月。 詔佛法一切蕩除。 沙門無少長悉坑之。 宗恭言雖不用猶緩宣詔命令。 遠近各得祕藏。 逃匿為計。 皓死於十一年間。 武帝彌留。 為閹人宗愛所害（後魏初都平城。 姓拓跋。 至孝文皇帝乃遷都洛陽。 方改姓元氏。 西魏依宇文泰都長安。 東魏撤洛陽宮闕都鄴城也）初崔寇同從駕。 寇爭而崔不從。 寇曰。 卿今促年壽滅門戶矣（竟臨誅仍令溲其口小便也）周高祖以沙門應黑讖。 初太祖黑泰挾魏西奔。 衣物旗幟盡尚黑。 於後沙門並著黃衣。 齊民尤忌。 而周人以為莫黑匪烏誅烏姓也。 莫黑匪豆誅竇姓也。 有衛元嵩反服（蜀新繁縣人。 反服上狀沙汰）黃冠張賓相耦耕（耦對耕以墾於宗教春秋二五耦晉國）帝躬受符籙。 天和四年己丑春三月。 大集三教有嘉聞者。 并文武二千餘人。 僉議興廢不克定。 夏四月詔司隷甄鸞詳較之。 五年鸞上笑道論（在藏）。 帝以彰露道法訛醜甚矣俾燎之。 道安獻二教論。 帝謀稍寢。 至建德三年夏五月。 資二教相毀其計復行。 釋李同棄於芻狗（芻狗草作狗也。 老子道經以萬物為芻狗也）坑像誅人不可聞也。 六年春周師克齊。 自以為滅教之祐（建德六年正月十九日平北齊。 得秦制傳玉璽。 方四寸。 文曰。 受命于天既壽永昌。 得州五十五。 郡一百六十一。 縣三百八十五。 戶三百萬二千五百二十八。 口三千萬二千八百八十六。 二月師還）七年改元曰宣政。 是歲不及甞。 而崩於雲陽也（甞秋祭也。 六月帝崩。 太子贇立日宣帝改元宣政。 又改大成大象年。 荒淫酒色入市人稅各一錢。 尋立太子為帝。 自稱天元皇帝）夫貪夫重利。 何顧於君親。

[when Qi was born,] she tore [her body] open as she returned, and Qi's mother transformed into stone); and when Yi Yin was born, his mother became a hollow mulberry tree (Yi Yin was minister to Tang; when he was born, his mother transformed into a hollow mulberry tree). Could this be considered inauspicious? Thus the two teachings [of Confucianism and Daoism] deliberate solely on this present life, whereas the Buddhist teaching comprehensively reveals other lives. In the case of those two mothers who turned into a mulberry tree and a stone, where did their conscious spirits go? The Holy Mother looks down on the sun and moon and pities the human world below; in truth, happiness and good fortune shall accompany them!" The guest said: "Cruel Wei executed households for their inner convictions, and dim-witted Zhou showed no kindness to the dark-clad companions (Emperor Taiwu of the Wei, Tuoba Tao, abolished the Dharma in the fifth year of Taiyan [439]; whoever harboured a śramaṇa was put to death. Emperor Wu of the Zhou, Yuwen Yong, abolished the Buddhist teaching in the second year of Jiande [573]; 'dark' refers to the monks, who were subjected to [suppression]). They caused the entire realm to cry out in anguish and the royal beneficence to be exhausted. At first, they seemed to triumph, but in the end swift disasters struck them (when the two monarchs first abolished the Dharma, it seemed to accord with their aims, but soon they both died of foul diseases). Why did they ever come to this?" The host said: "When noxious vapors steam forth, the five moral duties fall to ruin; when treachery and evil arise, the myriad spirits are enraged (once the Five Phases are disrupted, the hundred spirits grow angry). Therefore, what Heaven assists is obedience; what man assists is trustworthiness. Devoid of trustworthiness and devoid of obedience, Heaven and humanity unite to execute them. How could they not perish? (The *Book of Documents* says: 'Calamities sent by Heaven may still be avoided; calamities brought on oneself cannot be escaped.') At first, Taizu and Taizong of the Wei (Taizu was Tuoba Gui; Taizong was Tuoba Si, styled Emperor Ming, the eldest son of Taizu, Emperor Wu) were devoted to the teachings of causes and conditions. The śramaṇa Faguo was pure and meticulous in his precepts and conduct, and widely expounded the Dharma texts. Taizu decreed that he be appointed Director of Monks. Taizong revered him even more, offering him the titles of Supporter of the State, Viscount of Yicheng, Marquis of Zhongxin, and Duke of Ancheng, all of which he declined. When the emperor visited his residence, the carriage could not enter because the gate was too narrow, so he decreed that it be widened. Faguo died at eighty. The emperor attended his funeral in person and posthumously conferred upon him the title of General of Old Age and Longevity (all marking the emperor's favour). When Duke Ling of Zhao, Shizu, ascended the throne (Emperor Taiwu), he initially followed these practices as well. He frequently summoned eminent śramaṇas of high virtue to converse with them. On the eighth day of the fourth month, statues were paraded through the broad avenues; the emperor went to the tower gate, leaned over the railing, scattered flowers, and bowed his head to pay homage. However, having ascended the pinnacle of power at the age of eight, he consulted Situ Cui Hao on matters of state governance. Hao spoke endlessly of Zhuangzi and Laozi, and deeply subverted the Buddhist school. The emperor had long placed deep trust in seeking magicians and masters of arts; when he obtained the Celestial Master Kou Qianzhi, he decreed that Daoist altars be established in all prefectures and garrisons. It happened that Gai Wu rebelled at Xingcheng, throwing Guanzhong into turmoil. In the fifth year of Taiyan, a *yimao* year [439], the emperor campaigned west against Chang'an (the Northern Wei had its capital at Pingcheng at the time). At that time, there were śramaṇas who planted barley in the monastery where the imperial grooms grazed horses. The emperor entered the monastery to inspect the horses, and his attendants took the opportunity to peer inside: the rooms contained private property, bows and arrows, and tens of thousands of items deposited and hidden by local governors and wealthy magnates. At that time, the emperor was twenty-four years of age; in the full vigor of his years, he was deficient in philosophical learning. Seeing that these matters matched Cui Hao's words, he thereupon issued a decree to burn and destroy scriptures and images, preserving only four monasteries under the Terrace, as in Chang'an. In the fifth year of Taiping Zhenjun [444], he issued another decree: 'From princes and dukes down to the commoners, anyone who privately shelters a śramaṇa must deliver him by the fifteenth day of the second month of this year; if the deadline passes and they are not surrendered, the śramaṇa shall be put to death, and the harbourer's entire household executed.' At that time, Prince Zonggong [Tuoba Huang], supervising state affairs as crown prince, presented a remonstrance stating that the execution of śramaṇas was excessively cruel, and that the statues and paintings were not at fault: 'It would now be appropriate merely to disband their way and close the gates of the monasteries; if the world ceases to worship and maintain them, the works of clay, wood, cinnabar, and verdigris will naturally fall into ruin.' His memorial was not adopted. That year, Crown Prince Huang's master, the śramaṇa Xuangao, was slandered by Hao and executed (as was the crown prince). In the third month, the spring of the seventh year [446], he decreed that the Buddha's Dharma be entirely purged, and that all śramaṇas, young and old alike, be buried alive. Although Zonggong's advice was not heeded, he delayed the proclamation of the imperial decree, enabling those far and near to make secret provisions to hide and flee. Hao died within eleven years. When Emperor Wu was critically ill, he was assassinated by the eunuch Zong Ai (the Northern Wei initially had its capital at Pingcheng with the surname Tuoba. Only when Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang did they change their surname to the Yuan clan. The Western Wei relied on Yuwen Tai and had its capital at Chang'an. The Eastern Wei dismantled the palaces of Luoyang and made Ye its capital). Previously, when Cui and Kou both accompanied the imperial retinue, Kou remonstrated with him, but Cui would not listen. Kou said: 'You will cut short your own years and bring ruin to your household!' (in the end, just before his execution, he was made to have urine poured into his mouth). Emperor Gaozu of the Zhou [Emperor Wu] believed that the śramaṇas matched a prophecy concerning blackness. Formerly, when Taizu Heitai [Yuwen Tai] held the Wei emperor hostage and fled west, all clothing and banners were made black. Later, the śramaṇas all wore yellow robes, which the common people particularly disliked. Yet the people of Zhou thought that 'none is blacker than a crow,' leading to the execution of those surnamed Wu; and 'none is blacker than a bean,' leading to the execution of those surnamed Dou. There was Wei Yuansong, who returned to lay attire (a man of Xinfan county in Shu, who cast off his robes and presented a memorial demanding a purge), and the yellow-capped Daoist Zhang Bin, who joined together to plow the fields (pairing up to plow so as to eradicate the teaching of the Buddhist religion; the *Spring and Autumn Annals* mentions 'two fives paired together' in the State of Jin). The emperor received the registers and tallies in person. In the spring, the third month of the fourth year of Tianhe, a *yichou* year [469], he convened a grand assembly of eminent figures of the three teachings, along with more than two thousand civil and military officials, to jointly debate their rise and decline, but no conclusion could be reached. In the summer, the fourth month, he ordered the Director of Retainers Zhen Luan to examine and compare them in detail. In the fifth year [470], Luan submitted the *Treatise Laughing at the Dao* (preserved in the Canon). Because it exposed the gross distortions and ugliness of the Daoist teachings, the emperor had it burned. Dao'an presented the *Treatise on the Two Teachings*, and the emperor's plan was temporarily shelved. By the summer, the fifth month of the third year of Jiande [574], relying on the two teachings' mutual vilification, his plan was enacted once more. The followers of Śākya and Li [Laozi] were both discarded like straw dogs (straw dogs are dogs made of grass; the *Dao De Jing* of Laozi says that all things are treated as straw dogs). The burying of images and slaughter of people was unspeakable. In the spring of the sixth year [577], the Zhou army conquered the Qi, and the emperor considered this to be the blessing of having abolished the teachings (on the nineteenth day of the first month of the sixth year of Jiande, they conquered the Northern Qi, obtaining the imperial transmission jade seal crafted under the Qin. It measured four inches square, bearing the inscription: 'Having received the Mandate from Heaven, may he have longevity and everlasting prosperity.' They acquired fifty-five prefectures, one hundred and sixty-one commanderies, three hundred and eighty-five counties, 3,002,528 households, and 30,002,886 individuals. In the second month, the army returned). In the seventh year [578], the reign era was changed to Xuanzheng. That year, before the autumn sacrifice could take place, the emperor collapsed at Yunyang (the *chang* is the autumn sacrifice. In the sixth month the emperor collapsed. Crown Prince Yun ascended the throne as Emperor Xuan, changing the reign era to Xuanzheng, and subsequently changed it to Dacheng and Daxiang. Dissolute in wine and women, he levied a tax of one coin on each merchant entering the market. Soon after, he enthroned his crown prince as emperor and styled himself Heavenly Origin Emperor). When greedy men value profit, how could they care for their sovereign or parents?