辯偽錄 3.2.7

3.2.7

Afterward, an ulcer broke out on the back of Li Zhichang's head, and he died amid thunderclaps. They then held a fraudulent funeral, placing a bamboo hat and staff inside the coffin and burying it at Yuquan, while in reality his actual corpse was buried in Wuhuaguan. Their intention was to exhume and rebury it in another year, merely displaying an empty coffin to foster false rumors, imitating Bodhidharma's corpse-liberation and immortal flight. Yet the spirits do not tolerate deceit; the more they tried to conceal it, the more exposed it became. Because Sayyid Ajall sent an emissary to present an umbrella and reported the matter in detail, foreigners and Han Chinese alike, upon hearing of it, scoffed at their treacherous flatteries. When the Imperial Brother and Prince heard of this fraud, he reported it to the Emperor, saying: 'The Daoists have continually deceived and hoodwinked the state. In past years they claimed it was a blessed land for casting tallies; today, on the contrary, they bury a foul, putrid corpse. If it is truly thus, they cannot be lightly pardoned.' Thereupon, the postal couriers Hehui Bichechi and Aslan were dispatched down to excavate it. They indeed unearthed an empty coffin. Upon interrogating, [they found] the real corpse buried within Wuhuaguan. When they opened it to inspect, it was already decomposed. Such fraud was known to all under heaven. Yet the Daoists engraved pictures depicting his spirit emerging and ascending, while inside the Tianchangguan the cloud-shaped bronze gong of a thousand pieces broke on its own without making a sound; the cauldron for ten thousand people cracked imperceptibly; and the great lapis-lazuli pavilion suddenly collapsed and crumbled. Such inauspicious occurrences are difficult to enumerate fully. These were also brought about by the accumulation of deceit and falsehood. Furthermore, the land and waters of Mount Yuquan were entirely entrusted to State Preceptor Namo by imperial edict. Spanning the cliff and occupying the spring, a multi-story pavilion for Avalokiteśvara was constructed above, and her image was sculpted within; with gold-plating and colorful embellishment, skillfully painted in vermilion and azure, it was restored to the possession of the Buddhists. The Emperor addressed the masters, saying: 'Our state relies on the power of the Buddha to brilliantly open up our vast foundations. How would we dare not comply with and honor the Buddha's holy decrees? Yet whenever the Daoists see our imperial house taking refuge in the Buddhadharma, they give rise to hatred and jealousy, arbitrarily seeking to block and impede the Buddha's disciples. These two paths, Buddhist and Daoist, need not obstruct one another; merely wishing to dominate on one's own while barring the other's door is not an all-pervading discourse. Now the Daoists say that the Daoist gate is the highest; scholars say that the Confucian gate is number one; the Christians worship the Messiah and say they will attain rebirth in heaven; the Muslims cry to heaven and give thanks for what heaven grants. When one carefully considers their roots, none can equal the Buddha.' The Emperor then raised his hand and used an analogy, saying: 'For instance, just as the five fingers all emerge from the palm, the Buddhist gate is like the palm, and the rest are like the fingers. Not observing their root, they each boast and display themselves—these are all like the talk of the blind men groping an elephant.' As winter's cold drew near and the Daoists refused to arrive in the end, lingering on the road, the Emperor said to the masters: 'Since the Daoists refuse to come, their reasoning is certainly inadequate and they do not dare sustain the debate.' He then ordered the assembly of monks to take the postal relay and return to Yan. It was the tenth day of the ninth month in the bingchen year. In the eighth month, autumn of the dingye year, Elder of Shaolin and Elder Jindeng again went to the imperial court. Prince Ariq Böke specially transmitted the imperial edict: 'The Daoists previously produced the Laozi bashiyi hua tu and other texts slandering the Buddha, which are to be destroyed by burning their printing blocks. Wherever there are sculpted images, painted images, or engravings on stone, and where the Daoists did not follow the old regulations, let them all be destroyed, washed off, or ground away, entrusting this to the present Emperor to execute in accordance with the law.' The Emperor, reflecting that this matter had been settled here, but that those in Han lands would not know of it, and fearing that if they did not gather broadly to debate and refute them there so that they would exhaust their words and yield themselves, they would accuse the state of forcibly suppressing and subduing them, when the present Emperor founded the city at Shangdu as the state's eastern bulwark, imperial edicts were entrusted to him for the future, commanding that a grand assembly of famous scholars of the nine schools be gathered to conduct further examinations and debates, so that the correct and heterodox between the two paths of Buddhism and Daoism would be made clearly distinct. The present Emperor, upholding the intentions of the previous imperial edict, universally summoned both the Buddhist and Daoist traditions. With the Elder of Shaolin heading the assembly of monks and Master Zhang heading the Daoist masters, they faced each other in debate before the throne beneath the Great Pavilion in the palace of Shangdu. Among the assembly there were State Preceptor Namo, State Preceptor Phags-pa, the State Preceptor of the Western Barbarians, monks from the Hexi realm, monks from the outer five circuits, monks from the Dali realm, Elder Chao of the Yuanfu Monastery in the Central Capital of the Han territory, Elder Heng of Fengfu Monastery, Elder Mai of the Kaijue Monastery in Pingluan Circuit, Elder Jin of Daming, Lesser Master Tabi, Supervisor Sumati, Interpreter Zhending, Monggudai, Lecturer Xun of Beijing, Lecturer Gui of Daming, Monk Scribe Shou of the Central Capital, Lecturer Lang of Zifu, Lecturer Yu of Longmen, Grand Protector Cong, and more than three hundred other monks. Confucian scholars such as Dou Hanqing and Yao Gongmao, Chancellor Mengsusu, Lian Pingzhang, Chancellor Merkit, Zhang Zhongqian, and more than two hundred others served as witnesses to the debate. The Daoists, including Daoist Master Zhang the Southerner Wang, Daoist Registrar Fan Zhiying, Daoist Assistant Wei Zhiyang, Lecturer Zhou Zhili, and more than two hundred others, contested the debate with the monks. The present Emperor asked, saying: 'The Daoists fabricated the Laozi bashiyi hua tu and other texts slandering the Buddha. Li Zhichang previously debated with Shaolin before Möngke Khan and has already yielded, having confessed and agreed to burn them.'