大宋僧史略 2.43

2.43

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.