法苑珠林 18.5

18.5

Furthermore, on the first day of the first month in the fourteenth year of the Yongping era of the Han (71 CE), six hundred and ninety Daoists from the mountains of the Five Marchmounts submitted a memorial during the New Year audience, requesting to compete with the Buddhist teachings from the Western Regions to test their superiority and inferiority. An imperial decree ordered Director of the Chancellery Song Xiang to lead them in and announce: 'On the fifteenth day of this month, a great assembly will be held at the south gate of Baima Temple, where three altars shall be erected.' The Daoists from the Five Marchmounts and eight mountains placed three hundred and sixty-nine fascicles of their scriptures on the western altar; two hundred and thirty-five fascicles of the masters among the twenty-seven schools were placed on the central altar; and offerings of food for the hundred deities were placed on the eastern altar. Emperor Ming set up a traveling palace to the west of the road by the temple gate, where he placed the Buddha's relics and scriptures. The Daoists encircled their altars with firewood and reeds, faced their scriptures, and wept, saying, 'The sovereign of men has placed faith in heterodoxy, and the mysterious wind has lost its continuity. We dare to bring forth the teachings of our scriptures upon this altar to test them by fire, so as to distinguish the true from the false!' They then set fire to burn the scriptures, and all turned to ash and embers. The Daoists looked at one another and paled. Some wished to ascend to heaven or enter the earth, but their various spells and arts were entirely ineffective; they were greatly humiliated and submitted. Grand Tutor Zhang Yan said, 'You now have not a single verification; you ought to follow the Buddhist Dharma of the Western Regions and shave your hair.' At that time the non-Buddhists Chu Shanxin and others made no reply. Daoist Fei Shucai of the Southern Marchmount and others died of self-reproach. The Buddha's relics emitted five-coloured light that rose into the sky like a canopy, eclipsing the sun and shining upon the assembly. Dharma Master Moteng leapt high into the air, manifesting divine transformations with complete ease. At that time, precious flowers rained from heaven, something unprecedented. Dharma Master Falan preached the Dharma to the assembly, enlightening them to what they had never heard before. At that time, Minister of Works Liu Jun, officials and commoners of the capital, Consort Yin of the inner palace, Daoist Lü Huitong of the Four Marchmounts and various mountains, and over a thousand others all requested to leave household life. The Emperor consented to it. Ten temples were thereupon established: seven temples outside the city to accommodate monks, and three temples within the city to accommodate nuns. Thereafter the Buddha's Dharma flourished extensively, and the construction of temples increased ever more down to the present day. (This item is taken from the Han fa ben nei zhuan.)