辯偽錄 1.10

1.10

辯曰。蓋聞龍圖鳥篆之文。龜書科斗之典。玉版玉諜之記。金縢金匱之書。秦漢魏晉之章。宋齊梁陳之簡。記事記史直筆直言。靡覩虛皇之名。不聞元始之號。安有手執玉圭。身掛黃褐。頂垂皓髮。頭戴金冠。別號天尊。高拱三清之上。獨稱教主。統御九華之宮。縱有天尊之名。並是偷竊佛語。古經稱佛名為天尊。不關道君之事。竊他美稱妄自尊嚴。取信通人斯言謬矣。案列子及易鉤命訣皆云。天地未生之前有太易。有太初。有太始。有太素。有太極。說者咸云。太易者未見氣也。太初者氣之始也。太始者形之始也。太素者質之始也。太極者質形已具混沌未分也。太極之後乃生兩儀。謂之天地。夫名從實生。實從名起。名實既著。其道乃行。太易之前杳然空洞。溟溟漠漠本絕音容。何得謾張。九氣妄生四人。虛上生虛。似敲空而求響。偽中起偽。如趁影之尋蹤。豈不思。既立其名須有其體。既立其體須有氏族。且道虛皇元始誰人所生。氏族何起居在何處。若有源系出在何書。若無來由即是虛設。又空洞之前本無歲數。今標歲數愈見虛張。蓋數目起於伏犧。甲子唱乎黃帝。將今記古顛倒何多。且上之三尊為有形耶為無形耶。若是有形。不在太易之上。爰從父母而生。須有年代時處姓氏名字。前云三氣共德而生。則是以氣生氣。與氣不殊。何有形名。若是無形。本無名位下第七化乃云。老君以上皇元年九月二日出遊西河。遇元始天尊乘八景玉輿駕九色玄龍。群仙導從手把華旛。獅子白鶴嘯歌嗈嗈。同會西河之上。授老君洞玄玉符。此是誰耶。進退兩求並無準的。則知海棗虛談有名無實。彫氷鏤雪枉廢詞章。山海之所不收。大荒之所不載。庸愚巧飾何足信哉。老君衰周之柱史。誑云混沌之祖宗。避周亂而過函關。妄云天地之父母。既自語之相戾。何函矢之相攻。掩耳偷鈴欲隱彌露。道德章云。吾有三寶。寶而持之。一曰慈。二曰儉。三曰不敢為天下先。老君獻胡王妻子與胡兵格戰。何有慈乎。乘玉衡之輿坐金闕之內。披九色離羅之衣。廕九光偃鶴之蓋。何有儉乎。生於無始起於無因。為萬道之先。作元氣之祖。觀混沌之未判視清濁之未分。為帝王之師。作天地之母。何有不敢為天下先乎。遼陽高憲字仲常。遊東京白鶴觀。見三清像。指其右曰。此何像也。觀主對曰。老君像。曰何代人。曰周定王時。又指左曰。此何像也。主曰。道君像。曰此何代人。主倉惶未答。憲指中尊曰。且饒這元始天尊。聞者傳以為笑。

Refutation: I have heard that in the texts of dragon charts and bird script, the classics of turtle writings and tadpole characters, the records of jade tablets and jade registers, the writings of golden cords and golden caskets, the compositions of the Qin, Han, Wei, and Jin, and the bamboo slips of the Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen, which chronicle events and record history with straightforward brushes and upright words, one never sees the name of the 'Emperor of the Void' (Xuhuang), nor does one hear the title of 'Primal Beginning' (Yuanshi). How could there be one holding a jade tablet, wearing a yellow robe, with white hair flowing from his crown, wearing a golden cap on his head, uniquely titled Heavenly Worthy, who with hands clasped in reverence perches high above the Three Clarities (Sanqing), solely claiming to be the Lord of the Teachings and presiding over the Palaces of the Nine Floras? Even if there is the name 'Heavenly Worthy' (tianzhun), it is entirely stolen from Buddhist scriptures. Ancient scriptures refer to the Buddha by the title of 'Heavenly Worthy'; it has nothing to do with the Daoist Lords. Stealing another's glorious epithet and arrogantly venerating oneself to win credibility among the learned—such claims are utter nonsense! Examining Liezi and the Yi gouming jue, both say: Before heaven and earth were born, there was the Supreme Change (taiyi), the Supreme Beginning (taichu), the Supreme Origin (taishi), the Supreme Pristine (taisu), and the Supreme Ultimate (taiji). Commentators all say: The Supreme Change is when pneumatic vapor (qi) has not yet appeared. The Supreme Beginning is the origin of pneumatic vapor. The Supreme Origin is the origin of physical form. The Supreme Pristine is the origin of substance. The Supreme Ultimate is when substance and form are already complete, but chaos is not yet divided. After the Supreme Ultimate, the two modes are born, which are called Heaven and Earth. Now, names arise from actualities, and actualities are made manifest by names. Once name and actuality are clear, their way operates. Before the Supreme Change, it was profoundly empty and cavernous, murky and indistinct, originally devoid of sound and form. How could they recklessly claim that nine breaths falsely gave birth to four people? Generating the void upon the void is like knocking on emptiness to seek an echo; raising falsehood out of falsehood is like chasing a shadow to find footprints. Have they not considered: once a name is established, it must have a substance; once a substance is established, it must have a clan and lineage? And tell me: by whom were the Emperor of the Void and Primal Beginning born? Where did their clan and lineage arise, and where did they dwell? If there is an ancestral lineage, in what book does it appear? If there is no origin, then it is a fabricated fiction. Furthermore, before the great cavernous void there were originally no year-counts; now marking years only further reveals its utter fabrication. For numbers originated with Fuxi, and the sexagenary cycle was initiated by the Yellow Emperor. Conflating the present to chronicle antiquity—how inverted can it be? Furthermore, do the three venerables above have form or are they formless? If they have form, they cannot be prior to the Supreme Change; born from parents, they must have dates, times, places, surnames, clans, and personal names. The preceding text said they were born from the conjoined virtues of three breaths; then that is using breath to generate breath, not different from breath—how could they have form and name? If they are formless, originally having no name or rank, then why does the seventh transformation below state: 'On the second day of the ninth month of the first year of Shanghuang, Lord Lao went out to travel the Western River, and met the Heavenly Worthy of Primal Beginning riding an eight-scenery jade carriage drawn by nine-colored dark dragons, guided and followed by a host of immortals holding floral banners, with lions and white cranes calling and singing harmoniously, meeting together above the Western River to bestow upon Lord Lao the Jade Talisman of the Cavern-Mystery'? Who is this? Seeking through both alternatives of form and formlessness yields no standard whatever; hence one knows that these empty tales of the sea-dates have names but no reality, and carving ice and chiseling snow are a waste of literary words. They are not contained in the Shanhai jing, nor recorded in the Dahuang jing; how could the clever embellishments of the foolish and ignorant be worthy of belief? Lord Lao was an archivist of the declining Zhou, yet they mendaciously claim he was the ancestor of Chaos; he fled the disorder of the Zhou and passed through Hangu Pass, yet they falsely claim he was the father and mother of Heaven and Earth. Since their own words contradict themselves, why do the cuirass-maker and arrow-maker attack each other? Covering one's ears to steal a bell only makes it more exposed the more one tries to conceal it. The chapter of the Daodejing says: 'I have three treasures; I treasure and maintain them. The first is compassion, the second is frugality, the third is not daring to take the lead in the world.' Lord Lao presented the barbarian king with his wife and children and engaged in fierce combat with barbarian soldiers—where is the compassion in that? Riding a jade-balance carriage and seated within golden gates, draped in garments of nine-colored pattern and shaded by canopies of nine-radiance perched cranes—where is the frugality in that? Born in the beginningless and arising without cause, being the vanguard of all Dao and the ancestor of primordial breath, observing Chaos before it was divided and discerning the pure and turbid before they separated, acting as the teacher of emperors and kings and the mother of Heaven and Earth—where is there 'not daring to take the lead in the world'? Gao Xian of Liaoyang, styled Zhongchang, visited the Baihe Guan in Dongjing. Seeing the statues of the Three Clarities, he pointed to the right and asked, 'Whose statue is this?' The abbey master replied, 'The statue of Lord Lao.' He asked, 'A person of which dynasty?' The master said, 'The time of King Ding of Zhou.' He pointed to the left again and asked, 'Whose statue is this?' The master said, 'The statue of the Daoist Lord.' He asked, 'A person of which dynasty?' The master was flustered and could not answer. Xian pointed to the central venerable and said, 'Let us let this Heavenly Worthy of Primal Beginning off the hook for now!' Those who heard it passed it on as a laughingstock.