辯偽錄 3.2.2

3.2.2

In the last ten days of the eighth month, Master Qiu again arrived at the traveling palace. Everything he answered was utterly mediocre and unworthy of being listened to. When asked about his age, he falsely said he did not know. When examined regarding the essentials of divine immortals, he spoke only of conserving essence, nourishing qi, and projecting the spirit into dreams, taking these as the utmost reach of the Dao. He praised Lin Lingsu's spiritual journeys and relished Wang Haifeng's entering of dreams. Moreover, he cited Ma Danyang as constantly saying that he had repeatedly received encouragement from sages and worthies, and that his true nature roamed in foreign lands; and furthermore, he held that the Chan school's frequent bad dreams were merely because their merit was meager, so that they were unable to attain good dreams. He also asked the Layman Zhanran about the meaning of the Eulogy to Avalokiteśvara, but the Palace Secretariat [scholar] dismissed it lightly and did not reply, and none of those who possessed understanding failed to double over with laughter upon hearing it. Afterwards, returning eastward, he submitted a memorial requesting tallies and tablets; on his own authority he issued master titles, secretly granted monastery plaques, and falsely wrote imperial edicts to deceive and hoodwink the sovereign, exempting only the disciples of Master Qiu from labor service, extending neither to Buddhist monks nor to other Daoist assemblies. Matters without precedent in antiquity he willfully sought to carry out! What has been said above, Layman Zhanran compiled into the Xiyou lu (Record of the Journey to the West), clearly demonstrating Master Qiu's ten fallacies. Returning as far as Xuande and other prefectures, he humiliated monks into welcoming and prostrating to him. Later, arriving in Yancheng, his attendants incited and praised him, particularly using force to encroach upon and seize properties, dispatching his Daoist disciple Wang Boping with dozens of mounted attendants, hanging out tablets, riding swiftly back and forth across various prefectures, intending at once to place monks and nuns under his total control. Master Qiu went in person to Jizhou, specifically announcing a pseudo-imperial edict, aggressively wishing to summon and arrest Master Xuan, Benwu of Ganquan, hoping to break his integrity, but ultimately failed to execute it. In the Western Capital, at Tiancheng, he destroyed the temple of Master Kong and turned it into the Wencheng Daoist Abbey. In Jingzhou, he seized Mr. Jia's Longjiaoshan and changed it into the Chongxu Daoist Abbey. Later, when monks wished to dispute this, Master Qiu sent a letter to Layman Congle to gloss over and whitewash his misdeeds. In the main hall of Shuigu Monastery in Pinggu County were [statues of] the Trikāya, all masterworks of Liu Luan; he completely smashed them into the ravine, converting it into a Daoist abbey for his residence. In Taiyuan Prefecture, Master Qiu's disciple Song Defang occupied Jingju Mountain, chiseling the stone into caves, turning it into a Daoist cloister, and setting up steles to establish its title. Mount Huanghua in Xiangzhou was an ancient monastery of the Sui and Tang; its stele inscriptions still remain, but Daoists occupied and seized it. The Western Daoist Cloister of Hunyuan was originally Congfu Monastery, and was occupied by Daoists. In lower counties of Luanzhou, several Buddhist halls were torn down by Daoists, who also destroyed the Buddha images. Lingyan Monastery on Mount Shugu in Tanzhou was formerly the place where Zou Yan blew the pitch-pipes; its halls, buildings, and covered corridors were all fully intact. The Quanzhen followers Jia Zhizu and Wang Zhiqin, relying on Master Qiu's power, swept away the Buddha images, sculpted the Three Purities, pushed the stone dhāraṇī pillars into the ravine, and occupied the fertile fields and gardens as their own tenants and masters, renaming it the Datong Daoist Abbey. On the hanging walls of the main hall of Mulin Monastery in Tanzhou, in the renzi year, the Quanzhen follower Xu Zhiguan demolished and destroyed the molded images, replacing them with the Three Purities, calling it the Tianbao Wanshou Palace. At the lands of Xingchan Monastery in Zhangxie Village, southeast of Liangxiang County—date-tree groves, apple orchards, and outer fallow land—Master Qiu's disciple Kong Zhitong forcefully occupied them for farming, mistreating and humiliating the community of nuns. Cases such as these number several hundred. Even Zhuang Qiao's wolf-like fierceness in Southern Jing, or Robber Zhi's overbearing rampancy in Eastern Lu, would not exceed the plunder of the present day! Taking not morality as their mind, they specialized solely in pillage and extortion. Later, when virulent dysentery broke out, [Master Qiu] lay inside a latrine, remaining there for seven days. When disciples went to move him, he refused to stir; utterly exhausted and emaciated, he then deceitfully told them: 'Lying here flat, how is it any different from sleeping?' Two more days passed, and in the end he died squatting in the latrine. Yet his disciples lied to the outside world, saying: 'Our master sought blessings.' The one who compiled Master Qiu's record (collected by Li Haoran) claimed that on that very day he ascended into the resplendent light and transformed, with strange fragrance filling the room! All of this is widely known to everyone, yet they still alter their account; the rest of their dishonest deeds are all like this. Therefore, the people of that time made a rhyme about it, saying: 'A bundle of flesh and gaunt bones, / Changchun suddenly turns into autumn. / Covered in filth, he perished in the latrine; / one stream flows out, making two streams flow!' This is reliable evidence indeed (these were the words of the Fourth Patriarch of the Dadao school), namely on the ninth day of the seventh month in the dinghai year. Later, the Daoist Zhichang, whose courtesy name was Haoran, styled Zhenchangzi, straightened his hairpins and cap to follow in those former tracks. He extorted wealth from Daoists, bribed princes and ministers, used petty and frivolous craft to flatter contemporary trends, falsely usurped the name of Quanzhen, and practiced nothing of the reality of the Dao and its virtue. Screeching like an owl against the correct path, eyeing the Buddhist house like a tiger, relying on wickedness to exert authority, he encroached upon and seized Buddhist monasteries, following Master Qiu's fraudulent tracks and fanning the lingering embers of cruelty. He indulged his subordinates in pillage and gave free rein to his private whims in tearing down and destroying: smashing Buddha images to install Laozi images, abolishing bodhisattvas to erect Heavenly Worthies. Greedy for gain and oblivious to benevolence, his insatiable ambitions knew no bounds. Since other places are far away and people might not yet believe it, let us relate only the capital city and its subordinate prefectures and counties, where they seized monastery cloisters, usurped fields and gardens, ground down steles and pillars, and obliterated Buddha images. A brief citation of one or two will prove their falsity or truth. The Guanyin Cloister at Tongxuan Gate in the capital had a three-bay main hall, complete with molded statues and paintings. Li Zhichang dispatched Daoists of his own abbey to completely destroy the holy images and sculpt the Three Purities. Although repeated complaints were made, they defied the imperial edict and refused to surrender it. Even now, though it has been reformed, nearly thirty bays of the cloisters west of the street have not yet been handed over. At the Jing'en Chan Monastery in the capital, the main hall, monk cells, abbot's quarters, and storehouses totaled more than fifty bays; inside the hall were Amitāyus and images of the Sixteen Contemplations, dazzling with gold and emerald. Female Daoists changed it into the Xiuzhen Daoist Abbey and permanently occupied it as residents. At the Eastern Pagoda Cloister of Minzhong Monastery in the capital, the female Daoist follower Daoxin of the Dadao school occupied it as her residence. At the Cisheng Cloister in the capital, Daoist Recorder Xue of Changchun Palace converted it into Xuandu Abbey and occupied it. At the Tripiṭaka Cloister of the Baota Monastery in the capital, the female Daoist Futong, a subordinate of Tianchang Abbey, occupied and took up residence. Jisheng Monastery in the capital was an ancient monastery of the Tang and Liao, open to the street both front and back, with more than thirty mu of land and over one hundred and ten rooms of quarters; the Quanzhen followers Gong Zhi and [Gong] Lang altered it into Baozhen Abbey, occupying it as resident abbots. Outside the Haohua Gate of the capital, the main hall of Jinqiao Monastery had a Śākyamuni image cast in solid gold; the Quanzhen follower Zhang Zhiguan demolished the main hall, leveled the foundations, and turned it into a graveyard by placing Mr. Qiu's burial mound there. At Jianfu Cloister in Tongma Lane of the capital, the disheveled-hair Mr. Zhang of the Quanzhen school seized and altered it for his residence. At the Hongjiao Cloister of Wan'ying Lane, west of Chuntai Lane in the capital, the main hall, holy hall, monks' quarters, kitchen, storehouses, vegetable garden, and stone stele were completely demolished and destroyed by Mr. Fan; he then took the timber and stone to the east of Senior Secretary Dai's residence and built the Tianqi Rensheng Temple. At Jixiang Cloister in the northwest corner of the capital, Changchun Palace occupied it as a kiln ground for transmuting cinnabar scriptures; even though an imperial edict has judged it, it has still not yet been handed over.