大宋僧史略 2.43

2.43

論曰。周武輕棄我教。若錙銖爾。甞御正殿。量述三教。以儒居先。佛教居後。道教最上。由出於無名之前也。近見沈公著聱書云。唯聞二教。不聞釋氏。此皆侮聖人一言為阿鼻之種也。故拓跋虎入冥。具見周武受對。并寄言隋天子。為我拔苦。文帝乃募天下出錢。營福以救薦之。且如佛無我。所遭傷毀而無報復。蓋以將欲殘害於彼。必先燒熱於心。心為苦因。身嬰惡報。自作自受。可不畏乎。昔阮孝緒著七錄中。以佛教為外篇。一戒律。二禪定。三智慧。四疑似。五論記。因目佛理為方外之篇。號方外教。自孝緒始也。所言方外者。同莊老也。域中之教拘縶所不及也。請以智眼照其淺深。則內外上下自區別矣。如無智眼。以玉石俱焚。薰蕕共器。知復奈何。緬思後周摧滅遇隋復興。方謂熾然。尋又微矣。唐宗老氏。釋教逶遲。或抑拜君親。或分班上下。良以有為之法何免四相遷移。譬如火焉。火中寒暑乃退。興久必替。替極還興。興替相尋。未始有極。景雲中。令僧班在西。道班在東。齊行並進。朱梁之世。又移厥位。今大宋每當朝集。僧先道後。並立殿廷。僧東道西。間雜副職。若遇郊天。則道左僧右。未知始起也。

The commentary states: Emperor Wu of the Zhou dismissed and abandoned our teaching as if it were a mere trifle. He once presided in the main hall and evaluated the three teachings, placing Confucianism first, Buddhism last, and Daoism at the very top, because it emerged before the Nameless. Recently I saw Shen Gong's Aoshu, which says, 'I have heard only of the two teachings, and not of the Śākya clan.' These are all utterances that disparage the sage, becoming seeds for Avīci. Thus Tuoba Hu entered the underworld and saw in full Emperor Wu of the Zhou undergoing retribution, who also sent a message to the Sui emperor: 'Deliver me from suffering!' Emperor Wen then raised funds from throughout the realm to cultivate merit and rescue him. Moreover, as the Buddha is without self, he suffered injury and destruction without retaliation. For when one wishes to harm another, burning heat must first arise in one's own mind. The mind is the cause of suffering, and the body incurs the evil retribution; one makes it and one suffers it oneself—how can this not be feared? Formerly, when Ruan Xiaoxu wrote the Seven Records, he took Buddhism as the outer section: first, vinaya; second, dhyāna meditation; third, wisdom; fourth, doubtful texts; fifth, treatises and commentaries. Because he designated Buddhist principles as the section 'beyond the realm', it was called the teaching beyond the realm; this began with Xiaoxu. That which is called 'beyond the realm' is aligned with Zhuangzi and Laozi; it is that which the bonds of the teaching within the realm cannot reach. Please examine its depth and shallowness with the eye of wisdom, and inner and outer, superior and inferior, will naturally be distinguished. If one lacks the eye of wisdom, burning jade and stone alike and placing fragrant and foul plants in the same vessel, what can be done? Remembering the Later Zhou's destruction, it met with revival under the Sui; just when it was called flourishing, it soon waned again. The Tang took Laozi as ancestor, and the Śākya teaching fell into decline: at times they were coerced to bow to sovereign and parents, at times their ranks were divided as higher or lower. Truly, how can conditioned phenomena (saṃskṛta) avoid the shifts of the four characteristics? Like fire, in fire cold and heat recede; what flourishes long must decline, and what declines to the utmost will flourish again. Flourishing and decline succeed each other without end. During the Jingyun era, it was ordered that the monks' rank be in the west and the Daoists' rank in the east, advancing side by side. In the era of the Zhu Liang, their positions shifted again. Now, under the Great Song, whenever there is a court assembly, monks go first and Daoists behind, standing side by side in the palace courtyard; monks in the east and Daoists in the west, interspersed with deputies. If it is an occasion of sacrifice to Heaven in the suburbs, then Daoists are on the left and monks on the right; the origin of this is not yet known.