辯偽錄 1.22

1.22

The refutation states: When Zhongni had his dream, the teachings of the Ten Wings were first proclaimed. When Boyang passed the pass, the doctrine of the two chapters was first set forth. That which has a name is the beginning of the myriad things; that which has no name is the origin of heaven and earth. Blending their boundaries, they are subtly the same Mystery; startled by favor and disgrace, they are treated as one. The valley spirit never dies, granting long life and enduring vision; blunting sharpness, resolving entanglements, being humble and meekly tending oneself—such are the essential teachings of Laozi. All remaining scriptures and canons are forged writings. Authored in confusion by common mortals, they merely prize boasting and rivalry, plagiarizing Buddhist terms and switching forms to assign names. Imitating the three realms (trailokya), they establish the Three Purities; copying the three greats, they establish the Three Caverns, vainly wasting paper and ink to wildly embellish prose and verse. How is this known? In the Han dynasty, Zhang Daoling fabricated the Lingbao jing; Wang Bao fabricated the Dongxuan jing. In the Wu period, Ge Xiaoxian fabricated the Shangqing jing. In the Jin dynasty, Wang Fu fabricated the Mingwei huahu jing, and Bao Jing fabricated the Sanhuang jing, which was later altered into the Sanqing jing. In the Qi dynasty, Chen Xianming fabricated the Sixty-Four True Luxuriant Pacing the Void Scripture (Liushisi zhen buxu jing). In the Liang dynasty, Tao Hongjing fabricated the Taiqing jing. At the end of the Sui, Fu Huixiang altered the Nirvāṇa Sūtra into the Chang'an jing; later the matter was exposed and he was executed. According to Zhen Luan's Xiaodao lun: 'The Daoists wildly commentated on 350 fascicles of the various philosophers to make them Daoist scriptures.' Considering it in this way, generation after generation made far-fetched fabrications and person after person concocted wild inventions, plundering other Buddhist teachings and labeling them as Daoist books. Some claimed they flew in from immortal caverns, or claimed that Laozi had reappeared. While the multitude of the worthy saw nothing of this, the Daoist priests alone transmitted it, deceiving the rulers of their day without fearing the laws of the court. Therefore, Dharma Master Falin of the Tang said to Emperor Taizong: 'If we rely on the collective deliberation of Xiao and Wen, the Daoists have only the two chapters of the Daodejing. If we reckon according to Emperor Ming of the Han, there would be over seven hundred fascicles. Following Ge Hong's accounts of the immortals, there were barely a thousand. According to the catalogue submitted by Lu Xiujing, it exceeded the former by ninety. Furthermore, checking the Xuandu Catalogue, the number multiplies even more. Since their sequence is inconsistent, it is obvious that later people made wild fabrications, multiplying the scrolls and supplementing the chapters, relying on Buddhist sūtras to swap heads and change tails. Some say they emerged spontaneously from famous mountains; others constantly chant that they flew in from immortal caverns. Why is it that the yellow-collared priests alone know them, while eminent sages rarely see them? The ancient records do not note them, and the histories have never heard of them. Let us question the Daoist priests of today and cross-examine these later-emerging scriptures: Were they specially set forth by Laozi, or were they spoken anew by the Heavenly Worthy? If they were spoken anew, there should be a time, place, and master-disciple lineage of transmission: in what year, what month, what country, and what dynasty? If they were spoken in the heavens, who brought them down? If they were delivered in the Western Regions, who translated them? If there is evidence, they might be allowed to circulate; but if they are wild falsehoods, by principle they must be consigned to the flames and cut away.' Furthermore, in the Han and Jin periods, Buddhist monks were called 'daoshi' (scholars of the Way); when Kou Qianzhi gained prominence, he arrogated that title. Today they style themselves 'Dharma masters' (fashi), which is an even greater pretension. The title of 'Dharma master' originates from the Buddhist scriptures; it was never found among the myriad volumes of the hundred philosophical schools. Moreover, being a teacher of the Dharma is what is called a 'Dharma master'; or the Dharma itself being the teacher is what is called a 'Dharma master.' Not knowing the meaning of the name, they wildly assign the title to themselves. Furthermore, since the bhadrakalpa began, three Buddhas have appeared: when the first Buddha appeared, the human lifespan was sixty thousand years; when the second Buddha appeared, the human lifespan was forty thousand; when the third Buddha appeared, the human lifespan was twenty thousand. Why have they altered these to the Three Sovereigns and wildly conformed their numbers to them? Again, the previous text stated that within the upper three pneumas there were the designations of Longhan and Chiming; at that time the Five Phases did not yet exist, but there was only the primordial pneuma—how could there be rulers of the Three Sovereigns and the spans of human lifespans? Even if high antiquity had the Five Dragons, the Four Surnames, the Nine Heads, and the Ten Eras, the Three Sovereigns still had not established reign eras. May we ask: Longhan, Chiming, Shanghuang, and Kaihuang—whose reign eras were these? If you claim there is an account, history has no clear record of it; if you say there is no evidence, it cannot be wildly established. Probing both extremes, not a single claim is correct. Furthermore, before Fuxi, writing had not yet existed; whence could the chapters of the Three Caverns and Lingbao have come? Again, the names of the twelve divisions originate from the Buddhist sūtras, where the teachings of a Buddha's era are classified into twelve types. Not knowing the meaning of these names, why do the Daoists wildly write them into their own canons? This is like carving fine jade intending to make an earthen pot: though they endure toil, they are ridiculed by the wise.