辯偽錄 2.7

2.7

The refutation states: The emergence of script indeed dates back to high antiquity. When Fuxi ruled all under heaven, he first drew the eight trigrams and created tally-writing to replace the governance of knotted cords; from this, written records came forth. Thus there were the stone carvings of the Three Sovereigns on Qingqiu and Zifu, and the texts of the Six Jia and Lingfei on green slips and yellow cords. Later, Cangjie augmented and regulated them. The large seal script arose with Shi Zhou; the small seal script flourished with Li Si; flying white was created by Cai Yong; clerical script was modified by Cheng Miao. The Qin script had eight styles; the Han script had six forms. Slender gold, piled gold, hanging clouds, and hanging dew; the Cai leaf, dragon claws, the Yan style, and the Po script—all followed antiquity by augmenting and perfecting, and were reformed in recent ages. How could they have congealed through genuine qi? What connection do they have to Laozi's transmission? They conceal and steal the talents of others while hawking their own virtue; rolling their eyes insolently, they feel no shame before the untainted. It was said above that the Longhan [era] arose from the primal qi—how then could Laozi have been born? Having said that he wrote on the grove with a purple brush, that was after Meng Tian! Pulling in the present to drag in the past, they deceive our worthy men. Kong Anguo said: 'The books of Fuxi, Shennong, and the Yellow Emperor are called the Three Fen, which speak of the Great Way. The books of Shaohao, Zhuanxu, Gaoxin, Tang, and Yu are called the Five Dian, which speak of the Constant Way.' The Changes was only finalized by three sages; the Odes are the words of a host of heroes; the Spring and Autumn Annals was revised by Confucius; the Rites was established by the Duke of Zhou; the Erya was compiled by the Duke of Zhou; the Guoyu was expounded by Zuo Qiuming; Liu Xi's Shiming; Xu Shen's Shuowen; the Picang and Guangya; the Guiyuan and Zhucong; Gu Yewang's Yupian; Lu Fayan's Qieyun—each has its own lineage and origin, and has nothing to do with Lao Dan. Yet they claim: 'The Fen and Dian issued from me; the classics and records were born from me.' Such wild, absurd talk ridicules and insults the clear-sighted! It is just like Sima Xiangru in his 'Shanglin Fu' stating that loquats ripen in summer, or Yang Xiong's 'Ganquan Fu' having jade trees flourish in winter: listening to their words, they are grand and pleasing to the ear, but examining their facts, they are distant, empty fabrications. Furthermore, their names of countries are falsely invented, recklessly culled from other books. 'Dafutang' was named by altering Datang; 'Dongfuli' was established by imitating Fusang; 'Nanzhanli' was labelled by adapting Chongli; 'Xiweiduo' was stolen from Kapilavastu; and the northern region completely adopted the name of Uttarakuru. They are not included in the Ten Continents; they are not encompassed by the Shenyi jing; the Dilizhi contains no record of them; and the Kuodi zhi has no such shapes or names. Empty talk expounding five cartloads without a single fact—is this not what is meant by 'stealing a bell while plugging one's ears'?