辯偽錄 4.2.3

4.2.3

近聞隨處道觀妄傳化胡偽書并餘傳記。 屬詞鄙陋殆不可聞。 出惡語若梟鷹。 肆慘毒如蠆尾。 述妖妄惑人心。 傳淫書亂物性。 為善寡為惡深。 玷辱先賢之典謨。 敗傷人倫之風化。 如聖旨到日拘刷前來於燕京稠人廣眾之前並皆焚毀杜絕邪源若私畜者準制科罪。 從此葉墜柯摧雲收霧卷。 狀洪鑪之焚纖羽。 猶炎景之爍輕氷。 負勝之流於斯可見。 暫歸慈定已破魔軍。 聊奮慧刀即除邪教。 可謂廓清寰宇大振玄風。 佛日由是增輝。 法雲所以大布。 蒙皇家闢正覺之路。 使黎民出邪見之杜。 正當今日既然滿載。 將來好與一時燒却。 且道燒却後成得箇甚邊事。 諸人還委悉麼。 西風也解嫌狼藉。 吹却當年道教灰（已未年九月初七日。 於中都憫忠寺前築臺。 集在城僧道官僚及士庶人。 焚燒諸路應有道藏經傳記。 并刊行印板並皆除毀掃其邪蹤仍仰墮處道觀不得私畜。 如違治罪）今築上臺用記其處。 其天下占了寺院亦即改正。 所有星冠袍服普散西蕃。 回回大理國咸使聞。 見其落髮道士遍散諸寺無一逃失。 若去了者與賊同罪。 當時論畢有一道士。 潛隱名性不勝憤怒。 乃上言。 三百八十歲。 駕言壽永以傾僧人。 上召問曰。 儞既多年。 當初宋上皇時。 僧有何過使戴冠耶。 道士曰。 山中住來不知此事。 上曰。 既言三百。 何言不知。 既不能知此是說謊人也。 使寮佐張仲謙元學士窮考年數。 乃三十餘歲。 本刑州人也。 上怒其不實。 始則配塗役夫。 終竟喂了豹子。 嗚呼作德心逸日休。 作偽心勞日拙。 桀紂殊世而齊惡。 姦人異代而等偽。 斯言信乎。 初丘公西行。 壬年年中見太祖時。 有七十四五至於遷化纔近八十。 而劉溫誑詐太祖言。 丘公有三百餘歲。 及太祖問以年甲。 偽云不知。 故湛然居士編此語在西遊錄中。 標其誷主。 今此道人又踵前蹤。 既一言之出口。 終駟馬之難追。 恣倔強而狂言。 竟葬身於豹腹。 疾在膏肓而莫療。 心同頑石以難迴。 前車已覆其轅。 後車又不改轍。 邪妖偽妄歷代恒興。 略敘二三以彰奸匿。 初後漢沛人張道陵。 客遊蜀上住鵠鳴山。 造作道書創置條儀。 縻鶴山頂誑誘獠民。 奉其道者出米五斗。 時號米賊。 後為大蛇所吞。 身葬蟒腹。 弟子詐云。 全身上昇。 後魏寇謙之字輔真。 自號天師。 佞惑太武於嵩高山上。 建淨輪天宮。 太武親受符籙。 旗幟尚青以合道家之色顗覦長壽。 而太武身感癘疾。 寇謙身亦早卒。 勞擾萬民竟無一補。 金陵道士陸脩靜。 辯口利語增制符章。 妄陳三籙救世禳凶。 會梁武捨事李老詔行天下道不能興。 乃率門弟子北投高齊。 廣贈金帛遍散王公。 冀行道法。 專倚淺術。 欲振佳聲。 文宣試之一無可驗。 昇空者墜於臺下。 入火者燎却眉毛。 唐之葉靜妖術亂主。 夜引玄宗遊於月宮。 而祿山搆禍幾於亡國。 道士趙歸真巧言取譽。 惑亂武宗。 行合氣穢術服金石毒藥。 長生未驗藥燥先亡。 宋林靈素衒騁小伎。 要君取榮。 夜引上皇夢遊神霄。 傾惑耳目號為天師。 既而汴水泛溢陷沒齊民。 上俾林氏治之。 了無一效。 洪波湧沸上起天津。 朝野驚惶控告無所。 上皇焚香禱佛謝過責躬。 感泗州僧伽大聖現身。 雲濤自弭萬民歡慶。 林氏逃亡。 金朝末代有烏骨崙先生。 常披麻被徒遊里巷。 咄空罵眾詐號神仙。 下愚庸徒亦有信者。 哀帝惑之頗信鄙術。 任道士狡獪之情。 行世間㛱媟之法。 道士身罹於憲網。 哀帝命盡於蔡州。 如此姦凶隨代常有。 始禍延於閭里。 終傾覆於家邦。 若㜸狐之為祥。 猶蛇虺之洩毒。 以怪生怪將虛揑虛。 聽之則滿耳洋洋。 求之則捕風繫影。 散道德之醇粹。 扇澆漓之邪風。 污辱人倫敗傷王化。 而更賜頑瞽不懼朝章無上善。

"Recently, we have heard that Daoist abbeys everywhere have falsely circulated the apocryphal books on the Conversion of the Barbarians along with other chronicles. Their phrasing is base and vulgar, hardly bearable to hear. They utter malicious speech like owls and hawks, and vent bitter venom like scorpion stings. They narrate bewitching falsehoods to mislead people's minds, and spread licentious books to disrupt natural dispositions. They do little good and immense evil, dishonouring the canonical codes of the ancient worthies and corrupting the moral influence of human relations. When the imperial decree arrives, [these texts] shall be seized and brought forward, and in the presence of the gathered crowds in Yanjing, they shall all be incinerated to block the source of heterodoxy. If anyone privately conceals them, they shall be sentenced according to the regulations."
From this moment, leaves fell and branches snapped; clouds dispersed and mists cleared away. It resembled a great furnace consuming fine feathers, or a blazing sun melting thin ice; the side of defeat and victory could be seen here. Temporarily abiding in the samādhi of loving-kindness, the demonic hordes were already vanquished; lightly brandishing the sword of wisdom, the heterodox teaching was instantly eliminated. One may say this swept clean the realm and greatly promoted the profound tradition. The sun of the Buddha thereby increased its brilliance, and the clouds of Dharma therefore spread widely. Thanks to the imperial court opening the path of correct awakening, the common people were delivered from the confinement of heterodox views. Precisely on this day, since [the cart] is fully laden, let them all be promptly burned together! But tell me, after they are burned, what kind of matter will be accomplished? Do all of you understand yet? "The west wind also knows to detest the scattered mess / and blows away the Daoist ashes of that year." (On the seventh day of the ninth month of the jiwei year, a platform was built in front of Minzhong Temple in Zhongdu. Monks, Daoists, officials, and gentry and commoners in the city were assembled to burn all Daoist canonical scriptures and chronicles from every circuit, and the printing blocks for their publication were all destroyed and eradicated, sweeping away their heterodox traces. It was further decreed that Daoist abbeys in the defeated regions must not privately conceal them; violators would be punished.) Now, a platform was built on top to commemorate that place. The monasteries throughout the empire that had been occupied were also immediately rectified. All the star-crowns and robe-vestments were distributed widely among the Western Tibetans, the Muslims (Huihui), and the Kingdom of Dali, letting all hear and witness. The tonsured Daoists were dispersed throughout the monasteries without a single one escaping; if any fled, they were punished as thieves.

When the debate ended at that time, there was a Daoist who concealed his name and surname, unable to contain his wrath. He submitted a memorial claiming he was 380 years old, deceptively alleging longevity to disparage the Buddhist monks. The emperor summoned and asked him, "Since you have lived for so many years, back during the reign of the retired emperor of the Song, what fault did the monks commit that made them wear [Daoist] caps?" The Daoist said, "I lived in the mountains and do not know about this matter." The emperor said, "Since you claim to be three hundred, why do you say you do not know? Since you cannot know, you are a liar." He dispatched his subordinate, the Academician Zhang Zhongqian, to investigate his age thoroughly; he turned out to be in his thirties, originally a man of Xingzhou. The emperor was enraged by his dishonesty; initially he was sentenced to hard labor on the road, and in the end he was fed to leopards. Alas! When cultivating virtue, the mind is at ease and becomes daily more blessed; when manufacturing falsehood, the mind labors and becomes daily more clumsy. Jie and Zhou belonged to different eras yet were equal in wickedness; scoundrels live in different generations yet are equivalent in duplicity. How true this saying is!

Originally, when Master Qiu went west in the renwu year to meet Taizu, he was seventy-four or seventy-five, and by his passing he was barely near eighty. Yet Liu Wen deceitfully told Taizu that Master Qiu was more than three hundred years old; when Taizu asked him his age, he pretended he did not know. Therefore, Upāsaka Zhanran recorded these words in the Record of the Journey to the West to expose his deception of the sovereign. Now, this Daoist has followed in those footsteps again. Once a word has left the mouth, even a team of four horses cannot overtake it. Giving rein to stubbornness and wild talk, his corpse was ultimately buried in the belly of a leopard. An illness reaching the vitals cannot be treated; a mind like an obstinate rock is difficult to turn back. When the cart in front has overturned its shaft, the cart behind still does not change its tracks. Heterodoxies and fabricated falsities have constantly arisen through successive dynasties; let us briefly recount two or three to expose their villainy.

First, in the Later Han, Zhang Daoling, a man of Pei, traveled as a guest to Shu and resided on Mount Heming. He fabricated Daoist books and invented codes and rituals, tethering a crane to the mountain top to entice and deceive the indigenous people. Those who venerated his Dao gave five pecks of rice, and at the time they were called "Rice Thieves." Later he was swallowed by a great serpent, his body buried in a python's belly; his disciples falsely claimed he ascended to heaven in his whole body.

In the Later Wei, Kou Qianzhi, courtesy name Fuzhen, called himself Celestial Master. He flattered and misled Emperor Taiwu, building the Palace of the Pure Wheel Heaven on Mount Songgao. Taiwu personally received talismans and registers; the banners favoured green to match the color of the Daoists, aspiring to long life. Yet Taiwu fell ill with a pestilence, and Kou Qianzhi himself died early, toiling and harassing the myriad commoners without bringing the slightest benefit.

Lu Xiujing, a Daoist of Jinling, with his glib tongue and sharp speech, augmented and formulated talismans and chapters, falsely presenting the Three Registers to save the world and avert misfortunes. When Emperor Wu of Liang renounced the service of Laozi and issued an edict throughout the empire, the Daoist path could not thrive; he thereupon led his disciples north to take refuge with the Northern Qi, generously offering gold and silk to distribute among the princes and dukes in hopes of promoting Daoist methods. Exclusively relying on shallow arts, he wished to enhance his reputation. Emperor Wenxuan tested them, but not a single one proved effective: those who ascended into the sky fell beneath the terrace, and those who entered fire singed their eyebrows.

In the Tang, the sorcerer Ye Jingsheng disturbed the sovereign with bewitching arts, guiding Xuanzong by night to roam the Moon Palace; yet An Lushan brought about disaster, almost destroying the dynasty. The Daoist Zhao Guizhen skillfully sought praise with clever words and misled Emperor Wuzong, practicing filthy arts of harmonizing qi and consuming toxic elixirs of metals and stones; before longevity was verified, he died prematurely from the drugs' scorching heat.

Under the Song, Lin Lingsu showed off petty tricks, flattering the sovereign to gain glory. By night he led the retired emperor in a dream to roam the Divine Empyrean, bewildering ears and eyes, and was named Celestial Master. Soon after, the Bian River flooded and drowned commoners; the emperor ordered Lin to control it, but not the slightest result was achieved. The surging waves boiled up to the Tianjin Bridge; court and countryside were terrified, having nowhere to plead. The retired emperor burned incense, prayed to the Buddha, confessed his faults, and reproached himself. This moved the Great Sage Saṅgha of Sizhou to manifest his form; the cloudy billows naturally subsided, the myriad people rejoiced, and Lin fled into exile.

In the final era of the Jin dynasty, there was Master Wugulun, who always draped a hemp quilt over himself and roved the neighborhoods on foot. Shouting into the void and scolding the crowds, he falsely called himself an immortal. Among the base and foolish rabble, some even believed him. Emperor Aizong was misled by him and placed considerable trust in his vulgar arts, giving free rein to the Daoist's cunning nature to perform lewd and debauched practices in the world. The Daoist was ensnared in the legal net, and Emperor Aizong lost his life in Caizhou.

Such villainies have constantly occurred throughout the dynasties. At first, the calamity spread to the neighborhoods, and ultimately it overthrew the state. It is like an evil fox presenting itself as an omen of fortune, or vipers venting their venom. Using anomalies to breed anomalies, fabricating falsehood upon falsehood; listening to them fills the ears abundantly, but seeking them out is like grasping the wind and chasing shadows. They dissipate the purity of morality, fan the depraved winds of degeneration, defile human relations, and damage the imperial transformation. How much more do they display obstinate blindness, having no fear of the dynastic laws and devoid of supreme goodness!