法苑珠林 55.112

55.112

The Book of Wei states: In the first year of Zhengguang, Emperor Ming put on the court robes, proclaimed a grand amnesty under heaven, and summoned disciples of both the Buddhist and Daoist traditions to the front of the palace hall. After the vegetarian meal was finished, the Palace Attendant Liu Teng proclaimed an imperial decree, requesting the Dharma masters and others to debate with the Daoists so as to resolve the web of doubts among disciples. At that time, the Daoist Jiang Bin of Qingtong Monastery and the monk Tanmoxi of Rongjue Temple debated with one another. The Emperor said, 'Were the Buddha and Laozi contemporaneous or not?' Bin said, 'Laozi went west to convert the barbarians, and at that time the Buddha served as his attendant; clearly they were contemporaneous.' Xi asked, 'How do you know this?' Bin said, 'According to the Laozi Kaitian jing, it is known through that.' Xi asked, 'Under which King of Zhou and in which year was Laozi born? Under which King of Zhou and in which year did he go west?' Bin said, 'In the yimao year, the third year after King Ding of Zhou ascended the throne, in Chen of the state of Chu, in Quren hamlet, Lixiang, Ku county, he was born at the zi hour on the night of the fourteenth day of the ninth month. By the dingchou year, the fourth year of King Jian of Zhou, he served Zhou as Keeper of the Archives. In the thirteenth year of King Jian, he was promoted to Grand Astrologer. By the gengchen year, the first year of King Jing, at eighty-five years of age, seeing that the virtue of Zhou was in decline, he went west with the Guardian of the Sanguan Pass, Yin Xi, to convert the barbarians. This is quite clear.' Xi said, 'The Buddha was born on the eighth day of the fourth month in the twenty-fourth year of King Zhao of Zhou, and entered extinction on the fifteenth day of the second month in the fifty-third year of King Mu. Calculating after his entry into nirvāṇa, three hundred and forty-five years elapsed before reaching the third year of King Ding, when Laozi was only then born. Having been born, by the time he was eighty-five, reaching the first year of King Jing, four hundred and twenty-five years in all had passed before he first fled west with Yin Xi. Based on this discrepancy in years, is it not a sheer falsehood?' Bin said, 'If the Buddha was born in the time of King Zhao of Zhou, what written records are there?' Xi said, 'The Zhoushu yiji and the Han faben neizhuan both contain clear texts.' Bin said, 'Since Confucius was a sage who instituted the laws, why was there utterly no written record concerning the Buddha at that time?' Xi said, 'Your knowledge is like peering through a tube; your vision is not broad. According to the Sanbei bujing of Confucius—referring to Heaven, Earth, and Man—the Buddha's words appear in the middle record [concerning Man]. If you had investigated it early on, you would not harbor this delusion.' Bin said, 'Confucius, as a sage, knew without speaking; why would he rely on divination?' Xi said, 'Only the Buddha is the King of All Sages and the foremost guide of the four modes of birth. He thoroughly comprehends all sentient beings and the good and bad fortune, the beginning and the end of the two extremes of past and future without relying on divination. Other lesser sages, although they comprehend principles that have not yet manifested, must rely on yarrow stalks and tortoiseshells to communicate with the spiritual hexagrams.' Yuan Wen, the Palace Attendant and President of the Department of State Affairs, proclaimed the imperial decree telling the Daoist Jiang Bin and others, 'Your discourse lacked fundamental principles; you should withdraw to the lower seats.' He also asked, 'From where was the Kaitian jing obtained, and by whom was it spoken?' Thereupon the Vice Director of the Secretariat Wei Shou, the Bureau Director in the Department of State Affairs Zu Ying, and others were dispatched to the monastery to fetch the scripture. The Emperor ordered it to be deliberated upon. The Grand Defender and Prince of Danyang Xiao Zong, Grand Tutor Li Shi, Commandant of the Palace Guard Xu Botao, Minister of Personnel Xing Luan, Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary Wen Zisheng, and others—one hundred and seventy people in all—finished reading it and memorialized, 'Laozi authored only the five thousand words, and spoke no other teachings. In the deliberation of your subjects, Jiang Bin's crime is deceiving the multitude.' The Emperor was about to impose the supreme penalty, but at that time the Tripiṭaka Dharma Master Bodhiruci, practicing the Buddha's compassionate transformation, admonished the Emperor, who then desisted. Bin was exiled to Mayi. (The above two evidential accounts are drawn from the Liang Gaoseng zhuan.)