辯偽錄 1.3

1.3

Heaven covers without partiality; Earth supports without partiality; the sun and moon shine without partiality. What is stated in the Record of Refuting Falsehoods indeed has good reason. With deep reverence we reflect upon our sacred dynasty, which has succeeded to Heaven, established the supreme ultimate, deliberated the Dao, and administered the state, nurturing all realms with the Buddha's mind like children and moistening the four seas with the correct Dharma. In the xindmao year of the Zhiyuan era, in the first month of spring, the Elder Mai Jixiang of Dayunfeng, having reverently received the bright decree of the Emperor, compiled the Zhiyuan Bianwei lu. He presented it in audience before the heavenly countenance; upon his sagacious review, it was promulgated, incorporated into the Tripiṭaka, and circulated. Tracing its origin: in the yimao year, the Daoists Qiu Chuji, Li Zhichang, and others demolished the Temple of Master Kong in Tiancheng of the Western Capital and made it into the Wencheng Abbey; they destroyed the śarīra precious stūpa of the white jade Avalokiteśvara and the image of Śākyamuni Buddha, and schemed to seize four hundred and eighty-two Buddhist monasteries. Inheriting the fraudulent text by Wang Fu and the Laozi bashiyi hua tu, they deluded and threw into turmoil the ministers and assistants of the court. At that time, Elder Yu of Shaolin led eminent masters of virtue to the palace gate to submit a memorial. The late emperor Möngke Khan proclaimed the jade decree, ascending the hall to debate the truth and falsehood of the conversion of the barbarians. His sacred person presided over the court to witness it directly. Li Zhichang and the others saw their arguments fall and their words fail. In accordance with the imperial decree, the spurious scriptures were burned, seventeen persons renounced Daoism to become monks, and thirty-seven Buddhist temples were restored. Yet their clique continued to occupy the remaining temples, and the harmful abuses grew even worse. In the autumn of the dingsi year, Shaolin memorialized again. Successive imperial decrees were issued and the spurious scriptures were burned a second time, with monks reclaiming their properties in two hundred and thirty-seven places. From yimao to xinyou, nine springs in all, their disciples lurked like rats, clinging to their perverse doctrines without repentance, behaving flatteringly in secluded quarters and still recklessly distressing and blaspheming the imperial mind. Because of this, in the winter of the eighteenth year of Zhiyuan, an imperial jade decree was reverently received and promulgated throughout the realm: apart from the Daodejing, the rest of the scriptures containing falsehoods were to be entirely incinerated; Daoists who loved the Buddhist scriptures were to become monks, while those who did not become monks or Daoists were to take wives and return to commoner status. At that time, Master Lianzhenjia of Yongfu, Supreme Controller of the Buddhist Religion in Jiangnan, greatly propagated the holy transformation. Over three years, from the twenty-second spring of Zhiyuan to the twenty-fourth spring, he restored more than thirty Buddhist temples. As for the Sisheng Abbey, which was formerly the Gushan Temple, the Daoist Controller Hu and others abandoned falsehood and returned to correctness, renouncing Daoism to become monks—numbering no less than seven or eight hundred men. They hung their caps between the beams and brackets of the Imperial Preceptor's Hall at Upper Yongfu, an ancient precedent like the contracts of Mount Nanyue, serving as a warning to those who engage in falsehood. If one examines the past: since the Great Teaching came from the west, when Emperor Ming of Han welcomed the two masters Kāśyapa Mātanga and Dharmaratna to Luoyang, the Daoist Chu Shanxin and others from the Five Sacred Peaks presented a memorial slandering the Buddhadharma. At that time, an altar was erected to burn the scriptures of both Buddhism and Daoism; the Daoist scriptures were entirely reduced to ashes, while the Buddhist scriptures emitted light and remained undamaged. The Venerable One leapt into the air and performed the eighteen transformations. Words of supreme truth were spoken: that a fox is not of the lion's kind, and a lamp has not the brilliance of the sun and moon. Daoists who became monks were beyond counting. Consider how Kou Qianzhi acted deceitfully and falsely, and Cui Hao deluded Emperor Taiwu of the Wei; yet Cui Hao was ultimately executed along with his clan. Tanmozui confounded and bested Jiang Bin, and Bin was banished to Mayi. Tanxian of the Qi put Lu Xiujing to shame. In the first year of the Zongzhang era of the Tang, Faming debated the falsehood of the conversion of the barbarians, and an imperial decree ordered the confiscation of all copies of the Laozi huahu jing throughout the realm; his books were indeed consigned to the flames. From ancient times to the present, can the regulations of successive emperors be disregarded? The Bhagavān regards the sentient beings of the trailokya equally, just like an only child. To abandon and turn one's back on the Great Awakened One is for a child to turn his back on his father; for a child to turn his back on his father is to blind oneself to one's own Heaven. Furthermore, those who take Laozi as their master uphold the two chapters of the Daode[jing], taking clarity, emptiness, calm detachment, renouncing the world, and abandoning cleverness as their fundamental tenets; they dwell in seclusion to fulfill their aspiration, untrammeled and non-acting. Now, those disciples who steal his name gather in flocks, form partisan factions, falsely put on the cap and coarse robes, erect tall and extravagant abbeys and palaces, and court worldly gain and offerings—how could this be the intention of Laozi? Moreover, Laozi said: "Great eloquence seems slow of speech; great skill seems clumsy"; "The eloquent are not good; the good are not eloquent"; "Do not boast, do not brag; hold fast to the One as a model for the realm." Yet they seize and destroy Buddhist temples, steal scriptures, and fan the falsehood of the conversion of the barbarians—is this being clumsy and slow of speech? Is this being good and not eloquent? Taking Laozi as their master while acting contrary to his methods, they also violate their own school. If one were a legitimate disciple of Laozi, one would not do this; the fault belongs entirely to the degenerate offshoots. Even so, the qilin is to walking beasts, the phoenix is to flying birds, the orchid and iris are to foul weeds, and sandalwood is to filthy soil: the world has never discarded the auspicious omen of the phoenix and qilin, or the fragrance of the orchid, iris, and sandalwood, to find satisfaction in the ordinary nature of walking beasts and flying birds, or the filth of foul weeds and impure soil. The affections and aversions of the human heart and the principles of Heaven are the same in this. Why is it that, unable even to distinguish beans from wheat, they willingly devote themselves to false, reckless, and untrue teachings, and further boast extravagantly with empty rhetoric, treating the Great Awakened One with contempt and slandering the Supreme Sage, without dreading sinking into the three wretched destinies? This Record of Refuting Falsehoods rectifies names and teachings, plumbs profound and subtle principles, and dispatches difficulties with precision and clarity. Awe-inspiring, it maintains an unyielding integrity that soars into the clouds; calm and broad, it treads the straight path of the Kingly Way, erecting dikes to protect future generations from drowning in the great flood. Its words are ultimate indeed! For when there is falsehood, one must refute it; when there is no falsehood, there is no need for refutation. How could one be fond of disputation? Is not the propagation of the four unhindered pratisaṃvids the virtue of the Venerable Mai? "He who speaks incurs no blame; he who hears may take sufficient warning." Therefore, the golden words and metaphorical sayings of our Emperor declared: "Like the five fingers which all emerge from the palm, the Buddhist gate is like the palm and the rest are all like the fingers." Truly, the royal word is like silk, yet when issued forth it becomes a great cord; brighter than the sun and moon, firmer than metal and stone, it serves as a mirror for myriad generations. How then could this record be merely of minor benefit?