法苑珠林 44.46

44.46

Emperor Ling of Han frequently made merry in the Western Garden, ordering the palace ladies to act as innkeepers while he himself acted as a merchant travelling to the inns. The palace ladies served wine, and they drank and ate together, taking it as amusement. This was an omen that the Son of Heaven was about to lose his throne and descend into the corvée of lowly servants. Thereafter, the Son of Heaven passed down an ancient prophetic record that said: "The red crisis will undergo three sevens." "Three sevens" meant that after two hundred and ten years had passed, there would be a usurpation by maternal relatives. The monster of the Cinnabar Eyebrows would usurp and steal, with a short mandate lasting at most three sixes; there would be a dragon-soaring Xiu who would restore the dynastic ancestors. Passing another three sevens, there would again be yellow-headed monsters, and all under Heaven would be in great disorder. From Gaozu founding the dynasty to the end of Emperor Ping was two hundred and ten years, and Wang Mang usurped the throne, truly by relying on kinship with the empress dowager. After eighteen years, Fan Zidu and other rebels of Shandong arose; they actually painted their eyebrows with cinnabar, hence all under Heaven called them the Red Eyebrows. Thereupon, Guangwu arose, whose personal name was Xiu. Coming down to the first year of the Zhongping era of Emperor Ling, Zhang Jue arose and gathered a host of three hundred and sixty thousand; several hundred thousand men all wore yellow turbans, hence all under Heaven called them the Yellow Turban Rebels. Thus today's Daoist vestments arose from this. They initially arose in Ye and convened in Zhending, deluding the common people by saying: "The blue heaven has already died; the yellow heaven shall be established. In the year marked jiazi, there will be great good fortune under Heaven." Arising in Ye meant that all under Heaven began its karma; convening in Zhending was where they assembled. The petty people faced each other, prostrating, believing, and hastening thither; in Jingzhou and Yangzhou it was especially rampant. Discarding their property, they overflowed the roads, and those who died numbered in the hundreds. Jue and others initially raised troops in the second month; in the twelfth month of that winter they were completely destroyed. From Guangwu's restoration to the uprising of the Yellow Turbans was not quite two hundred and ten years, yet all under Heaven was in great disorder and the Han mandate was brought to an end, truly responding to the cycle of the three sevens.