辯偽錄 3.2.6

3.2.6

'After remodeling [the statues], hand them over to the monks. Those Daoist masters who damaged the Buddhist statues shall be punished according to the law. Have witnesses stand before the judicial court, and let Master Namo oversee it. If any monks have damaged images of Laozi to sculpt Buddhist statues, they too shall be punished according to the former precedent.' This imperial decree was issued at Qunao'er on the twenty-ninth day of the ninth month of the yimao year [1255]. Because of this imperial decree, Master Namo saw that the Daoist masters had usurped Fengfu Monastery and other monasteries, but the masters refused to hand them over; furthermore, the masters had smashed the white jade Avalokiteśvara at Mount Yuquan and refused to pay restitution. He sent the Elder of Shaolin and Elder Jindeng to Dexing Prefecture before the present Emperor to proclaim the former imperial decree and demand restitution at once. The Elder of Shaolin had already drawn up the formal recognizance, yet Zhang Zhijing, the acting head of the Daoist order, deceitfully tried to prevaricate and refused to hand [them] over. The present Emperor was furious and ordered Palace Attendant Liu Hözersü to strike and berate him. With blood streaming down his head and face, [Zhang Zhijing] showed no shame at all. The next year, the envoy Hudu-sun was dispatched down. Following the original intent of the Emperor's decree, when all matters were adjudicated and boundary walls were erected, [the property] was handed over to the community of Fengfu Monastery. Originally, in the imperial decree of Möngke Khan, it was entrusted to the jarquči Bujir and other judicial officials that thirty-seven monasteries and lands in various circuits where Daoist masters were residing and which ought to be returned should all be handed over to the Buddhist order; however, Li Zhichang did not comply with the adjudication. He sent the Daoist Register Fan to submit another memorial requesting an imperial decree, concocting a different pretext that, according to the Noyan Quduqu, once registered, no alterations were allowed. Although this memorial was submitted, it was not granted. Yet the Daoist Fan Zhiying merely spoke to Qitai-buqa and falsely propagated an imperial decree, seizing all of them at once on that pretext and tearing down the boundary walls again. In the fifth month of the binchen year [1256], Master Namo, together with Elder Shaolin, Elder Heng of Fengfu, General Director Master Wen'an, Elder Mai of Kaijue, Elder Jin of Daming, Elder Yun of Shangfang, Lecturer Lang of Zifu, the Lesser Great Master Tabi Somśrī, Director Yao'ashi of Zhongshan, and the Interpreter Mongoltai along with Upper Qara went up to Qaraqorum to await Li Zhichang and the others, in order to face the court together and hold a great debate with the Daoist masters. On the sixteenth day of the seventh month, they had an audience with the Emperor at the Sira Ordo south of the city of Qaraqorum. The Emperor led the masters inside, received them with a warm countenance, and bestowed gold and silk upon them, specifically waiting for the Daoists to debate and clarify the true and the false. But Li Zhichang was cowardly and did not dare to go. He reflected that previously before the Son of Heaven he had only pleaded ignorance, and now, confronting them again, he feared falling into defeat. He therefore dispatched the acting head Zhang Zhijing (style Yiqing), Wei Zhongping, Wendahan, and others to drag their feet and advance slowly, watching the monks from afar and refusing to meet face to face. Spying that the monks had withdrawn from court, they then resumed their journey. The Son of Heaven and Prince Ariq Böke knew that these Daoists were in the wrong; though [the Daoists] spoke much, [the princes] ultimately paid no heed to their words. As Li Zhichang saw the monks journeying upward, his advances and retreats were fraught with distress; brooding within, he developed a carbuncle on the head. His legs trembled and his spirit was terrified; furthermore, he was struck with terror by a thunderclap, and consequently he passed away. Therefore, people of the time composed a poem chanting: 'Before the hawthorn fruit inn, an elixir of immortality, / Old Qiu handed it down to Li Zhenchang. / Three thousand royal maidens in the Pavilion of Everlasting Spring, / Twelve jasper chambers in the Hall of the Reclining Moon. / Swallowing qi transformed into debilitating dysentery, / Ingesting auroras turned into a carbuncle on the head. / The full measure of Quanzhen's karma has been reached over the years; / A thunderclap rips through the eaves, incrimination from the Jade Emperor.' Those who heard it took it as the truth. (This was in the sixth month of the wuwu year [1258].) Because of the grand assembly of princes and the lavish conferral of rewards, as for the matter of the debate between Buddhists and Daoists, the Emperor ordered Prince Ariq Böke to interrogate them on his behalf and report all matters in detail. Originally, regarding Faxing Monastery at Zhongpan on Mount Pan, when the heavenly troops first passed through during the haizi years [1215–1216], there were rarely any monks. Mount Haishan was a descendant of Old Master Benwu; Elder Zhen first resided at the Upper Peak, gathering acorns and chestnuts for food to get by day and night. The disciples of Quanzhen, relying on the power of Old Qiu, plotted to seize Zhongpan. They went to Elder Zhen under the false pretext of borrowing lodgings. Thinking that Daoists sheltering there was still better than desolation, Elder Zhen allowed them to stay provisionally. Having occupied it for a long time, Wang Daozheng, Monastery Supervisor Chen, Master Wu, and others plotted permanent possession. They dismantled the halls and buildings, smashed the Buddha statues, and falsely submitted a memorial to Her Majesty the Queen Mother, erecting a stele and changing the plaque to Qiyun Daoist Abbey. Within it, the precious reliquary stupa of the ancient Buddha, two hundred feet high, was flattened to the ground. The portrait hall, the main hall, the triple gate, and the cloud hall were all torn down and destroyed. Repeatedly the monks contested this, but could not redress it. In the yimao year [1255], an imperial decree adjudicated that it be given to the monks, but [the Daoists] refused to hand it over. Later, Elder Yun of Shangfang, indignant at their lack of reason, shattered their stele and memorialized the present Emperor. He also went with Master Namo and the Elder of Shaolin to have an audience with Möngke Khan and laid out the facts in detail. An imperial decree entrusted the present Emperor with rectifying the abuse and returning it to a Buddhist monastery. This was on the fourth day of the ninth month of the wuwu year [1258]. The old Buddhist statues and the Sixteen Arhats of Shuigu Monastery in Dexing Prefecture were all carved of stone, consummate in miraculous craft. After the fires of war, there were no monks guarding them. Several Daoists stealthily took up residence there. As time passed, fearing that monks would contest them, they obliterated the traces by destroying all the statues and filling the water moat with them. Later, monks contested it; [the Daoists] denied [they were Buddhist], claiming it was originally a Daoist abbey, until the monks searched and dredged up the statues, whereupon the Daoists submitted. Elder Yun, the Director of Shangfang, carried the head of a damaged statue to memorialize the imperial court. Prince Ariq Böke, seeing it, was moved with sorrow. He immediately summoned Master Wang of Jinpo, the Daoist Director of Right Rites, shot at him with whistling arrows, and struck him with stones, until blood flowed from the Daoist's head. He said to the Daoist: 'The true body of the Buddha is utterly beyond form, just like empty space, which cannot be destroyed. Even the eyes cannot perceive it; how could it be harmed? It is only that you in your ignorance produce the seeds of hell. Even though in your perverse folly you could destroy what exists in the worldly realm, have you ever harmed the true body of the Buddha?' Knowing clearly that the Daoists had encroached upon Buddhist monasteries and damaged Buddhist statues, these were not empty words. Furthermore, at Mount Yuquan north of Yan, there was originally a white jade Avalokiteśvara statue; it was smashed by Daoists, with the body and head severed. They broke stone stupas and hollowed out stones into caves, carving Daoist images inside. Flaunting flattery toward the imperial court, they claimed it as a place of cultivating merit for the state and cast slips into the blessed land, wishing to usurp it permanently for fear of future disputes.