辯偽錄 2.27

2.27

夫顯。明神聖至人之能。鼠竊狗偷狡兒巧倖。且聖王之立教也。自近化之然後及遠。故書敘堯之盛德。先親九族。然後平章百姓。百姓昭明。然後協和萬邦。故能光被四表格於上下。文王之德。先刑寡妻後清四海。故遠方慕義九譯而來。老君為柱史之時。周道不興。諸侯擅權。大夫執政。上陵下僭。州土日促。李耳既有神聖。即合拯頹扶弱富國安民。使君臣各位不相逾僭。何乃九州遠棄一身西遁。若能自己家鄉顯大靈異。九族光榮一門讙慶。不亦妙乎。而八十四年蔑無奇異。雇人駕車西過函谷。身死扶風（今有扶風槐里鄉有老子[塚-豖+(一/豖)]）偽云。西去纔踐羌胡。即有神通。神州中原全無一驗。無人見處便唱萬端。偷佛勝能巧說附會。佛之神異西經具載今有聖跡。老君靈變東史不書。以此驗之虛。實見矣。明眼君子試聽根由。世尊上忉利天為報母恩三月說法。李耳效之亦昇太微。世尊成佛不起道樹而昇六天。老子倣之亦遊九天。世尊菩提樹下示現降魔弓矢盡變。老君亦摧劍戟。世尊向拘尸那國路擲大石。老君亦撥大山。世尊說大集經並集諸王。老君亦會八千餘國。世尊北游降阿波羅龍王兼留其影。老君雪山亦降毒龍。世尊於本行經說九十六種外道。老君亦降九十六種外道。世尊現大神力。須彌山王涌沒低昂。老君亦山飛石裂海水逆流。世尊留下神鉢以福群生。老君亦留神鉢。世尊右脇而生。老君剖左腋而出。世尊周行七步表圓滿七聖財故。老子乃行九步。妄合陽極之數。世尊三十二相八十種好。老君七十二相八十一好。佛說真應二身顯其權實。老君亦說真身法身。佛說身有四種。謂法身報身（分自他報）化身。老君亦說虛皇元始道君老君。佛說三界。彼說三清。佛說三輪持世。彼說三氣下運。青龍白虎像彼金剛。玄中法師倚於聖者。學禪庭而建方丈。依佛宇而樹法堂。以至歌讚偈唱之文。鐘鼓雲板之飾。祭靈送死懺悔消災。九幽懺文二十四願戒（金依華嚴十地品十不善法集成）據釋有者彼便立之。此處若無彼不能制。則知凡百立事全取佛門。代代穿鑿人人妄起。金鍮相混智者難分。本欲粧點自家翻成。混沌鑿竅耳目具矣。真神喪焉。榮道德之真文。收偽說之澆薄。教門中折。誰之罪歟。且北郭先生。本侍漢武。今隨李老。愈見後增。又南渠山及毘摩城本佛聖跡。望合其事屈相附會。恐人不知。今具出之。案西域記云。于闐國王城西南二十餘里。有瞿（令改南渠）室稜伽山中有伽藍。其中佛像時燭光明。昔佛至此為諸人天略說法要。巖有右室現有羅漢。入滅盡定以待慈氏。此則非老君明矣。又曰。王城東三百餘里。有媲摩城中有彫檀立佛之像。高二丈餘。甚多靈異。時放光明。隨有疾病禱之即愈。此像本是優填王造。佛滅之後凌虛而來以福此土。釋迦法盡像入龍宮。評曰。據此記說文甚昭然。佛之聖蹤欲為老跡。汝雖巧會且宜三思。駟不及舌請君隱臆。八學士議雖號唐人。唐書列傳一無名姓。況復所議不入要策。進退兩求並無可據。設欲廣辯枉廢詞章。道士虛陳不勞煩敘。雖有員半千名傳。無化胡經。議詳此謬經。古今排擯。唐中宗禁之於前代（見劉煦舊唐書）今世宗斷之於後朝（見悟了然破化胡狀）若實真文孰敢除滅。而無識道士恒踵斯跡。使老子獲僭聖之罪。俾道人招謗佛之愆。王浮已在地獄。史志經又投圜戶老子本欲隱遁志經推出戶庭垂歸根之本心轉流浪於他土。執迷不返固妄難除。同木石之頑嚚。似藥酒之瞑眩。今之辯析要破狂心。返正道於醇源。引邪徒於坦路。知道德是賢者之語。識化胡是妖怪之談。弘老子謙靜之風。抑道士誇衒之弊。皆遵斯訓雅道長興。如曰不然。覆車及之爾。

Now, to manifest and elucidate the abilities of gods, sages, and consummate men is one thing, but petty pilfering and the artful machinations of cunning knaves are another. Moreover, when sage-kings established teachings, they transformed what was near first and only then reached what was far. Therefore, the Classic of History, in recounting Yao's abundant virtue, states that he first loved the nine branches of his kin, then brought harmony to the common people; when the common people were illustrious, only then did he harmonize the myriad states. Thus, his light was able to cover the four quarters and reach above and below. King Wen's virtue first set an example for his own wife, and only later pacified the four seas; hence, distant lands admired his righteousness and arrived after nine translations. When Lord Lao served as the Archivist, the way of Zhou was not flourishing: the feudal lords usurped power, the grandees controlled the administration, superiors were encroached upon, and inferiors overstepped their bounds; the territory of the realm shrank daily. If Li Er possessed divine sanctity, he should have rescued the falling, supported the weak, enriched the state, and pacified the people, ensuring that lords and ministers kept their proper stations and did not transgress against one another. Why then did he abandon the nine provinces from afar and flee alone to the west? If he could manifest great miraculous feats in his own homeland, bringing glory to the nine branches of his kin and boundless joy to his whole clan, would that not have been wonderful? Yet for eighty-four years he showed no extraordinary wonders at all; he hired someone to drive his cart west past Hangu Pass and died in Fufeng (there is a mound for Laozi in Huaili Township of Fufeng today). They falsely claim that as soon as he went west and set foot among the Qiang and barbarian tribes, he manifested spiritual powers. Yet in the Divine Continent and Central Plains there was not a single sign! Where no one could see him, they boast of myriad feats, pilfering the Buddha's superior powers and craftily concocting forced analogies. The Buddha's divine wonders are fully recorded in Western scriptures and his sacred traces exist today; Lord Lao's miraculous transformations are not recorded in Eastern histories. Testing them against this, the false and the true are clearly seen! Let discerning gentlemen listen to the origins of this: The Bhagavān ascended to the Trāyastriṃśa heaven to preach the Dharma for three months in order to repay his mother's kindness; Li Er imitated him and likewise ascended to the Great Tenuity. When the Bhagavān achieved Buddhahood, without rising from the Tree of Awakening, he ascended to the six heavens; Laozi copied him and likewise wandered through the nine heavens. Under the Bodhi tree, the Bhagavān manifested the subjugation of Māra, and all bows and arrows were transformed; Lord Lao likewise destroyed swords and halberds. The Bhagavān, on the road to Kuśinagara, threw aside a great boulder; Lord Lao likewise brushed aside a great mountain. When the Bhagavān preached the Great Collection Sūtra, all kings gathered together; Lord Lao likewise assembled more than eight thousand kingdoms. When the Bhagavān traveled north, he subdued the dragon king Apalāla and left his shadow; Lord Lao in the Snow Mountains likewise subdued a venomous dragon. In the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, the Bhagavān spoke of ninety-six kinds of non-Buddhist practitioners; Lord Lao likewise subdued ninety-six kinds of non-Buddhist practitioners. When the Bhagavān manifested great divine powers, Mount Sumeru submerged and rose, surging up and down; with Lord Lao too, mountains flew, rocks split, and the ocean waters flowed backward. The Bhagavān left behind a divine bowl to bring fortune to living beings; Lord Lao likewise left behind a divine bowl. The Bhagavān was born from the right flank; Lord Lao cut open the left armpit and emerged. The Bhagavān walked seven steps in every direction to symbolize the perfection of the seven noble treasures; Laozi then walked nine steps, spuriously matching the number of utmost yang. The Bhagavān had the thirty-two marks and eighty minor characteristics; Lord Lao had seventy-two marks and eighty-one minor characteristics. The Buddha spoke of the two bodies of truth and response to reveal the provisional and the real; Lord Lao likewise spoke of the true body and the dharmakāya. The Buddha said that bodies are of four kinds, namely the dharmakāya, the saṃbhogakāya (divided into self-enjoyment and enjoyment-for-others), and the nirmāṇakāya; Lord Lao likewise spoke of the Void Sovereign, the Originating Beginning, the Lord of the Dao, and Lord Lao. The Buddha spoke of the three realms; they speak of the Three Purities. The Buddha spoke of the three wheels supporting the world; they speak of the three pneumas descending and circulating. The Azure Dragon and White Tiger mimic the vajra-holders. The Dharma Master of the Mysterious Origin leans upon the holy ones: imitating the Zen hall, they construct an abbot's room; following Buddhist temples, they erect Dharma halls; down to the verses of hymns, praises, and chants, the adornments of bells, drums, and cloud-boards, the rituals for spirits, sending off the dead, repentance, and averting calamity, the Nine Netherworlds Repentance Liturgy, and the Twenty-Four Vow Precepts (now compiled based on the 'Ten Grounds Chapter' of the Avataṃsaka and the ten unwholesome dharmas)—whatever the Śākyan teachings possess, they forthwith establish. If something does not exist here, they are incapable of devising it. Thus we know that in all their undertakings, they have wholly drawn from the Buddhist gate; generation after generation they have made forced interpretations, and one person after another has made baseless fabrications. Gold and brass are mixed together, difficult for the wise to distinguish. Originally wishing to adorn their own house, they have ended up chiseling open Chaos: when ears and eyes are complete, the true spirit is lost! They should glorify the authentic text of the Daodejing and discard the frivolousness of spurious fabrications. If the gate of their teaching has been cut short midway, whose fault is it? Moreover, Master Beiguo originally served Emperor Wu of Han, yet now he is made to follow the ancient Li, which shows all the more that this was added later. Furthermore, Mount Nanqu and the city of Bhīma were originally sacred traces of the Buddha; desiring to match these events, they twisted their accounts to fabricate forced correspondences. Fearing that people do not know this, I now set it forth in detail: According to the Xiyu ji, more than twenty li southwest of the royal city of Khotan, there is Mount Gosṛṅga (now changed to Nanqu), where there is a monastery. The Buddha statues within frequently emit bright light. In the past, the Buddha came here to briefly expound the essentials of the Dharma for devas and humans. In a stone chamber on the cliff, there is currently an arhat who has entered the meditative absorption of cessation to await Maitreya. This clearly demonstrates that it was not Lord Lao! It also says: More than three hundred li east of the royal city, there is the city of Bhīma, where there is a carved sandalwood standing statue of the Buddha, over twenty feet high, possessing many miraculous signs and frequently emitting bright light; whenever someone is afflicted with illness, praying to it brings immediate recovery. This statue was originally made by King Udayana; after the Buddha's parinirvāṇa, it flew through the void to come and bring fortune to this land. When the Dharma of Śākyamuni comes to an end, the statue will enter the dragon palace. In evaluation: According to the account of this record, the text is exceedingly clear. Desiring to turn the Buddha's sacred footprints into Lao's traces, though you have made clever contrivances, you should consider this thrice: 'A team of four horses cannot overtake the tongue'; I ask you to keep your conjectures to yourself. Although the eight scholars whose deliberations are cited are called men of the Tang, the biographies in the Tang histories contain none of their names. Moreover, what they discussed was not incorporated into essential policy; seeking both back and forth, there is no evidence whatever. Even if one wished to debate extensively, it would be a waste of ink and words; these are empty assertions by Daoists not worth troublesome rehearsal. Though Yuan Banqian has a biography, it does not mention the Huahu jing. Examining this erroneous scripture in detail, it has been rejected and expelled in both ancient and modern times: Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang prohibited it in an earlier era (see Liu Xu's Jiu Tang shu), and our Shizong eliminated it in the latter dynasty (see the memorial by Wu Liaoran refuting the Huahu jing). If it were indeed an authentic text, who would dare eradicate it? Yet ignorant Daoists constantly follow these footsteps, causing Laozi to incur the sin of usurping holiness and leading Daoists to incur the fault of slandering the Buddha. Wang Fu is already in hell, and Shi Zhijing has also been thrown into prison. Laozi originally wished to live in reclusion, but Zhijing pushed him out of the courtyard; forsaking his original intention of returning to the root, he turned him into a wanderer in other lands. Obstinately clinging to delusion without returning, their entrenched falsehoods are hard to eradicate—just like the stubborn stupidity of wood and stone, or the dizziness caused by medicinal brew. The present refutation and analysis aims to shatter their frenzied minds, returning the correct Dao to its pure source and guiding heterodox followers onto a broad path; to know that the Daodejing consists of the words of a worthy, and to recognize that the conversion of the barbarians is the talk of a monster; to propagate Laozi's style of humility and quietude, and to suppress Daoists' vice of boastful ostentation. If all comply with these instructions, the refined way will prosper for long. If one says otherwise, the overturned chariot will overtake them!