北山錄 3.2.8

3.2.8

Later, [Tanshi] returned to the Sanfu region (Sanfu is Xianyang county; in the past, the Qin emperor established halls and towers here), and the people of Sanfu venerated him. When Emperor Wu of Song destroyed Yao Hong, he left his son Yizhen to guard Chang'an. Helian Qugai (that is, Helian Bobo) pursued and defeated him. Monastics and laypeople, young and old, were all pit-buried and slaughtered. When the blades first touched [Tanshi], they did not harm him. Qugai personally struck him with his belt-sword, but could not injure him; he was terrified and apologized. Coming to Emperor Shizu of the [Northern] Wei, who captured Helian Chang (the son of Helian Bobo, who was destroyed by the Later Wei), he captured Tanshi and treated him with exceptional respect. After the suppression of the Dharma, the mysterious wind was cut off, and those in ochre robes were exterminated (ochre refers to red garments, probably the gandha color). Tanshi then concealed his form in secluded and obstructed [places], where the tyrannical decree could not reach him (he hid his traces in the mountain valleys). Indeed, when a wild swan flies into the dark void, gazing high at the bounds of heaven, it cannot be caught by a snare (a wei is a net). Later, knowing that the Great Dharma was about to prosper, on the first day of the first month, when the Son of Heaven stepped onto the threshold [of the calendar] (this refers to the dawn of the first month; "stepping onto the threshold at the start, establishing correctness in the middle, and returning the surplus at the end"—calendar-makers, taking the beginning of the steps, call it the monthly node, and establishing correctness obtains the mid-climate, which makes for that month two hundred and fifty-four days, the remaining eleven days and twenty-five fen, accumulating thirty-two days to make an intercalary month), when the courtyard offerings were arrayed in hundreds (shi means full; lü means many; this refers to the tribute goods presented on New Year's Day filling the courtyard), he carried his monk's staff to the capital gates, intending to bring about change. The Wei sovereign heard of it and grew angry, ordering the authorities to execute him swiftly. The blade could not penetrate his flesh; when struck by hand with a sword, his wound was merely like a line. When cast into a tiger's cage, the tiger shrank back and crouched down (nai means "you"; pi means "punishment"; bi means "to cause"). Finding no way to harm him, [the sovereign] summoned him to the palace hall to inquire in detail into the rise and fall [of dynasties] (taking this occasion to ask about the duration of the state's mandate). Tanshi then locked the gates of heterodoxy and cleared away the thorny path. Tuo sorrowfully awoke (Tuowen was the taboo name of Emperor Taiwu of the Later Wei; initially he did not believe in the Śākya teachings, pit-buried śramaṇas, destroyed Buddha images, etc.; upon meeting Tanshi and being transformed, he repented of his errors; he campaigned south against the Song, slaughtering innocents, and reigned for twenty-nine years). Senglang of Mount Tai was a man beyond being categorized as common or sage. Six Sons of Heaven of the Jin, Wei, Yan, and Qin sent decrees inquiring after him and offered tributes, all of which were the utmost rare and precious treasures of the world. Although pearls and jewels have no legs and the consummate person has no desire [for them], because his virtue summoned them, there was no distance they did not reach (the consummate person originally has no mind to seek pearls and jade; pearls and jade also have no feet to walk on; but as the illumination of moral power moves them, they arrive from no matter how far). Thus virtue becomes manifest through renown, and renown is solidified through virtue; when renown and virtue match each other, the reality endures for generations. Therefore, even now in Jinyu Valley, the numinous footprints remain clear (Shentong Monastery at Mount Tai in Qizhou was founded by Murong De of the Southern Yan for Dhyāna Master Senglang; three counties of people were assigned to support it; the long corridors extended for more than [blank] bays; three times when monasteries were abolished and destroyed, none could violate it; whenever Lang manifested his form and waved his tin staff, the perpetrators were left near death, and only regained their former state after begging for mercy; there was a well which, if a woman approached it, would instantly dry up, but if incense was burned in repentance and prayer, it would return to normal; standing for four hundred years, down to the present day the Buddha images are vivid as new, and the congregation remains untrampled and majestic even now). Western Qin and Northern Liang were both small states (Western Qin's Qifu Guoren occupied Hexi; Northern Liang's Juqu Mengxun occupied Guzang). Observing their sages and worthies—Dharmakṣema, Fajin, and Daolang, along with the translations and writings they produced—their states were by no means small! Therefore, the Book of Chu says, "The state of Chu considers nothing a treasure; goodness alone it considers a treasure." Otherwise, how could they have, without passing through the five cyclical turns, cast aside the remote wilderness and suddenly established the altars of soil and grain, constructing for themselves the grand enterprise of an entire realm? When Huiyue of the Liang had just passed the age of fifteen, he already showed the air of an elder. The people of Shan sang: "The young Master Lou, who reaches the subtle principle." After entering the Path, his mysterious virtue was celebrated far and wide, and he was elevated to National Preceptor; an imperial decree converted his former residence into the Bensheng Monastery and named his neighborhood the Ward of the Wise. Fashang of the Northern Qi (Gao Huan received the abdication of the Eastern Wei, made Ye his capital, named the state Northern Qi, and was destroyed by the Later Zhou), as soon as he shaved his two topknots, stood out as an accomplished vessel; he set his mind on lofty conduct and deeply probed the mysterious and subtle; the people of the time regarded him as a sage novice. Because his appearance was not handsome, the proverb went: "The village novice; / if he ascends the high seat, calamity will come." Emperor Wenxuan requested him to be his precept master, covering his face and spreading his hair for him to tread upon, fully according him the reverence due when a ruler humbles himself (the pronunciation of jiang is the reverse of gu and xie; it refers to humbling the majesty of ruler and father to show reverence between master and disciple; Wenxuan, whose taboo name was Yang and style Zijin, was the third son of Gao Huan; at the time of the rebellion of Erzhu Rong, they feared cold and starvation together; when the emperor had been born just a few months, he suddenly said cheerfully, "Did we survive?"; upon ascending the throne, his divine valor was peerless, but in his final years his cruelty and slaughter were unspeakable; he died at age thirty-six). In the Tianbao era, ten directors were established throughout the empire, with Fashang as Great Director. Lingzang of the Sui was an old friend of Gaozu from before his rise to power (Emperor Gaozu of the Sui, whose surname was Yang and taboo name Jian, was born in the seventh year of the Datong era of the Zhou, when purple qi filled the courtyard of Prajñā Monastery in Fengyi; he inherited the title of Duke of Sui; Emperor Wu of the Zhou engaged the emperor's eldest daughter to the crown prince; when Emperor Xuan died, Liu Fang and others made the emperor regent, and the emperor became Prime Minister; when the emperor died, he received the abdication of the Zhou and reigned for twelve years; while a hidden dragon, he was close friends with Zang). After ascending the supreme throne, his former familiarity became even deeper; he decreed to the palace gatekeepers, "When he enters, do not stop him for my sake, and do nothing different when he leaves." When seated, they shared the same couch; when traveling, they shared the same carriage. He said, "This disciple is the Son of Heaven of laypeople; the Vinaya Master is the Son of Heaven of men of the Path." Now, to call this the speech of an emperor or king is an overstatement; what a sovereign says is recorded, so how can he jest? (Whatever the sovereign's attendants bring up must be recorded; the Scribe of the Left records speech, and the Scribe of the Right records deeds.) If one loves a person without straying from righteousness, then that love will be far-reaching. One year, the state suffered a bitter drought; rain-prayers were offered, but no rain fell, and the people were agitated by the lack of a harvest. The Emperor considered that "hearkening to the spirits is not as good as hearkening to a sage." He then invited Tanyan to the Daxing Hall to mount the imperial throne, facing south to transmit the precepts. The Emperor commanded the court ministers to kneel facing north on mats to receive them. Before the morning was over, it rained. His robes and food all came from the imperial palace and were presented by the Emperor's own hands. Soon he was promoted to Equal Śramaṇa; when offenses occurred, only after both parties were fully present would he weep and punish them, lamenting and revering the penal code and magnifying the sorrowful punishments of the Great Yu (Tanyan, of the Wang clan, was a person from Sangquan in Puzhou; he was clever from his youth; when he was a novice, a Layman Xue wrote four characters—'square', 'round', 'motion', and 'stillness'—and showed them to him, telling him to embody them; Yan replied immediately: