辯偽錄 3.2.1

3.2.1

Now, the teachings of the Three Sages stand in the Central Kingdom like the legs of a tripod, supporting the imperial transformation. Master Kong's discourse on benevolence and righteousness provides a standard for unprincipled scholars; Laozi's adherence to modesty and retreat puts an end to the struggles of restless and contentious fellows; the Buddhist discourse on nature and life seeks to cause them to return to the source. Yet in later ages, contentious discussions have arisen where people follow only their own opinions, boasting of themselves and claiming superiority, deluded about the root and ignorant of the source; this is simply because they fail to fathom the comprehensive path of the Dao and cling to divergent doctrines. Little do they know that when benevolence and righteousness are practiced, every person treads the path of the gentleman; when modesty and retreat are practiced, every person closes the door to greedy and miserly pursuits; and when nature and life are illuminated, every person attains the source of the wondrous Dao. If it were not so, how could they be considered accomplished scholars and gentlemen? This is close to what Zhongni meant by: 'Qi with one change would attain to Lu; Lu with one change would attain to the Dao.' Yet Daoist priests of late antiquity exclusively esteem boastful fabrications, taking the bizarre and unorthodox as extraordinary, and falsehood and deceit as the wondrous gate. They discard the mellow purity of the two chapters [of the Daodejing] and mix in the foul arts of the three Zhangs. Wang Haifeng regarded raving madness as supreme virtue, unaware of the deep source of the Dao; Qiu Chuji regarded performing as a divine phoenix as wondrous and miraculous, losing the essential subtlety of Complete Perfection (Quanzhen). Traveling ten thousand miles to the west, his audience with the sovereign lacked clarity; returning three years to the east, by chance encounters he vaunted his uniqueness. Deceiving people and insulting the Sages, boasting and vaunting himself, he began with groundless talk and ended with unfounded doctrines. Leaving aside for a moment the fraudulent fabrications of ancient times, let us set forth several matters of the present dynasty. When our Taizu, Genghis Khan, flew like a dragon across the northern wastes and strode like a tiger into the Central Plains, he received the precious calendar to govern the realm, answered the auspicious destiny to shepherd the people, accorded with Heaven to change the mandate, and pacified turmoil to establish merit. Although military and state affairs were pressing, he kept his mind fixed on the path of awakening, being the first to promulgate gracious edicts to protect and uphold the Buddhist gate: 'The Great Sage's spiritual transformations cannot be measured; wherever his physical likenesses are, they must not be damaged. With regard to the lands, irrigated top-grade fields, watermills, and utensils used in monasteries wherever they may be, all that belongs to the Buddha is ordered to be returned and must not be encroached upon or seized. All corvée duties, whether great or small, relay-post service, and provisions are completely excused. The monks who have renounced household life are disciples of the Buddha; they recite scriptures and pray to Heaven to help cultivate merit for our imperial house, its sons, and grandsons. Wherever monks go or stay, let them be at liberty, and do not obstruct them. If there are evil persons who rely on their power to disturb Buddhist monasteries, memorialize their names and surnames.' Enlightened monarchs of subsequent generations have all respected this model. Yet the demonical debaters simulate truth to fabricate hierarchies, all claiming that Master Qiu opened the foundation of the Three Teachings and serves as the original ground of Confucianism and Buddhism. Let us briefly recount the beginning and the end, and request that the merits and demerits be examined in detail. Initially, the rise of Quanzhen was not a matter of ancient antiquity. According to Yuan Yuzhi's funerary stele for Chongyang Zhenren: In the Zhenglong reign of the Jin dynasty, there was Wang Shixiong, a native of Sansfu. In his youth he was praised for his knight-errantry; in middle age he suddenly had an awakening, whereupon he abandoned his family affairs, wandered amidst wine, jested without restraint, acted wildly and recklessly, shouted at the empty air and laughed alone. People of the time considered him madly insane, and so called him Wang Haifeng ('the Crazy'). Later he encountered two Daoist priests wearing felt robes, drew water and drank wine with them; his wild abandon grew even greater, and his tricks were difficult to fathom. He dug a grave to the east of the county seat and lived in it, calling himself the 'Living Dead Man'. After dwelling there for two years, he moved to the hermitage of Liu Jiang. Their gathering never assembled more than three people, and the hermitage was built of no more than two rooms. From then on he roosted in earthen caves and lodged in poor lanes, wrapping his body in tattered robes and rotting wadding, holding a staff and carrying a gourd to beg for food to sustain himself. Imitating the silent sitting of foolish Chan, he confined himself within a circular wall. He once said: 'Chan monks comprehend nature but do not understand life; Confucians talk of life but do not speak of nature. I now cultivate both together.' Thus he took the title Quanzhen (Complete Perfection). Begging his way eastward to Ninghai commandery, he obtained seven disciples—Ma Danyang, Qiu Chuji, Liu, Tan, Hao, and others—and the teaching of Complete Perfection then spread widely. Later, his disciple Pan Zhiyuan and others invited Mr. Fan to his military headquarters, and Lord Wang wrote several letters of invitation. Yuan Yuzhi composed the inscription and eulogy for the stele. In Yuzhi's preface, he cited Ge Hong (Zhichuan) of the Jin, Tao Hongjing (Zhenbai) of the Liang, Kou Fuzhen (Qianzhi) of the Wei, Sima Ziwei of the Tang, and Chen Tunan (Tuan) of the Song; describing these several worthies, he considered none of them equal to [Wang], bending over backward to make him appear admirable. Yet the adherents of Complete Perfection considered that it did not glorify him enough; therefore Haowen's text was erected and then destroyed again. Furthermore, his disciples unearthed the interlocking golden bones of the precious stupa of Dushun and buried them in Shixiong's grave mound, claiming they were the śarīra of Wang Haifeng. (Emperor Shizong and Emperor Zhang of the Jin dynasty prohibited their ways and dispatched Minister Yang to Haizhou to beat Master Qiu with eighty blows of the staff, yet the sound was uninterrupted; this is well known to the world and not a false statement.) The Daoist priest Qiu Chuji, styled Tongmi, was a native of Qixia in Dengzhou, known by the title Changchun zi. He took Wang Haifeng as his teacher and continued to advocate Quanzhen, but originally possessed no Daoist arts. There was a certain Liu Wen, styled Zhonglu, who gained the favor of Taizu by making whistling arrows; he was the first to believe his heterodox doctrines, flattering him with sweet words, and when presenting medicines to the Emperor, he said: 'Master Qiu is over three hundred years old and possesses arts for preserving health and attaining longevity.' He thereupon memorialized recommending him. In the wuyin year, answering the summons, he traveled north. Master Qiu grew weary of the journey; hearing that the Emperor was on a western campaign, he submitted a memorial requesting to await his return. Zhongshu Zhanran was dispatched with a gentle edict to summon him, and Master Qiu thereupon set out. Earlier, when the Emperor campaigned westward against the Dashi Linya and the Kipchak kingdom, he took possession of all their lands; only the Sultan Khan, having seized and crushed the Naiman territory, had strong and flourishing troops and horses, and occupied the city of Samarkand (also called Xie-mu-si-gan, the Hezhong prefecture of the Liao). Hearing that the Emperor was launching a western expedition, he fled south through the Iron Gate, escaped south of the Hindu Kush, and secretly hastened toward India. The Emperor led his forces in pursuit and halted south of the Hindu Kush. On the eighteenth day of the eleventh month in the winter of the xinsi year, Master Qiu arrived at the city of Samarkand; because the heavy snow of the Snow Mountains (Hindu Kush) blocked the valleys to a depth of about twenty feet, making them impassable, he temporarily remained in the city. On the fifth day of the fourth month in the summer of the renwu year, he first crossed the Snow Mountains and reached the imperial traveling palace. Arriving before the Emperor, he bowed several times, stepped back to show reverence, and only after the rituals were completed did he enter the tent. The Emperor asked: 'What medicine of immortality do you have to assist our person?' Master Qiu hesitated, cupped his hands, and replied: 'There are ways of preserving life, but no medicine of immortality.' The Emperor, taking his words to be truthful, rewarded him with mare's milk. At that time, Muslim mountain bandits were causing disturbances nearby, so he ordered Master Qiu to return to the city of Samarkand, arranging to summon him again in the tenth month.