大唐內典錄 5.5

5.5

世襲亂離魏晉更霸。各陳正朔互指偽朝。仁義可曰銷聲。德行是稱凋殞。仍自諸代國史唱言我是彼非。斯則一是一非。一政一虐。都難愜當。誰敢籌之。故北魏以江表為島夷。南晉以河內為獯鬻。周承魏運魏接晉基。餘則偏王無所依據。而宋齊梁陳之日自有司存。國亡帝落。遂即從諸筆削。可不然乎。周之先祖宇文覺者。即西魏大丞相黑泰之世子也。泰舉高陽王為魏帝西遷長安。改衣幡為皂色。號大統元年。一十八載改年。廢帝立。魏齊王四年而薨。覺承魏禪。當年被廢。立弟毓為帝。四年而崩。立弟邕為帝。太祖第三子也。開闊大度統御群小。立十二年殺叔大塚宰晉國公護父子十人大臣六家。改元建德。至三年內納道士張賓妖倿云。佛法於國不祥。遂滅除之。至建德六年。東平齊國又殄前代數百年來公私寺塔。掃地除盡。融刮聖容焚燒經典。八州佛寺出四十千。盡賜王公三方釋子減三百萬還歸編戶。帝以為大周一統天下無事也。志高慮遠。改元宣政。五月而崩。太子贇立。殺齊王父子八人。改元大成。二月立子衍為太子。禪位與之。改元大象。自號天元皇帝。立四皇后。威儀服飾倍多於古。大象二年五月。天元崩。子衍立。正月一日改元大定。二月禪位於隋周。凡五帝。二十五年。治於長安。傳譯沙門一十一人。所出經論天文要等。三十二部合一百四卷。為後周經錄云。

Through generations of disruption and upheaval, the Wei and Jin alternated in hegemony. Each proclaimed its own calendar and branded the other an illegitimate court. Benevolence and righteousness might be said to have fallen silent, and virtuous conduct to have withered away. Yet the official historians of successive dynasties still asserted their own rectitude while condemning others' faults. When one is labeled righteous while another is condemned, one praised for order and another for tyranny, it is thoroughly difficult to ascertain the truth; who would dare judge between them? Thus the Northern Wei referred to the lands south of the Yangtze as "island barbarians," while the Southern Jin called those north of the Yellow River "Xiongnu savages." The Zhou inherited the mandate of the Wei, and the Wei succeeded to the foundation of the Jin; all others were regional rulers lacking rightful legitimacy. In the eras of Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen, each had its own record offices; yet once the state fell and its emperor tumbled, their histories were promptly subjected to editing and excision. How could it be otherwise? The ancestor of the Zhou, Yuwen Jue, was the eldest legitimate son of Heitai, Grand Chancellor of the Western Wei. Tai raised the Prince of Gaoyang to be the Wei emperor and moved the capital west to Chang'an, changing garments and banners to black and establishing the first year of the Datong era. After eighteen years the era name was changed; the deposed emperor was installed, and the Prince of Qi of the Wei died after four years. Jue accepted the abdication of the Wei, but was deposed that very year. His younger brother Yu was installed as emperor, passing away after four years. His younger brother Yong was then installed as emperor; he was the third son of Taizu. Possessing broad mindedness and great capacity, he held sway over the masses. Twelve years after ascending the throne, he executed his paternal uncle, the Grand Regent and Duke of the State of Jin, Yuwen Hu, along with his ten sons and six families of high officials, changing the era to Jiande. In the third year [of Jiande], he gave ear to the seductive falsehoods of the Daoist Zhang Bin, who asserted that the Buddhadharma was inauspicious to the state; [the emperor] thereupon eliminated it. In the sixth year of Jiande, having pacified the state of Qi in the east, he also eradicated the public and private monasteries and stupas that had endured for hundreds of years through former dynasties, razing them utterly to the ground, melting and scraping holy images, and burning scriptures and treatises. The monasteries in the eight prefectures, exceeding forty thousand, were entirely bestowed upon princes and nobles; and the sons of Śākya from the three regions, numbering nearly three million, were returned to the secular registries. The emperor believed that the Great Zhou had unified all under Heaven and that all affairs were settled. Harring grand ambitions and far-reaching designs, he changed the era to Xuanzheng, but passed away in the fifth month. Crown Prince Yun ascended the throne, executed the Prince of Qi and his eight sons, and changed the era to Dacheng. In the second month he installed his son Yan as crown prince, abdicated the throne to him, and changed the era to Daxiang, styling himself the Heavenly Sovereign Emperor. He instituted four empresses, with ceremonial retinue and dress doubling those of antiquity. In the fifth month of the second year of Daxiang, the Heavenly Sovereign died. His son Yan was installed, and on the first day of the first month changed the era to Dading. In the second month he abdicated the throne to the Sui. The Zhou spanned five emperors over twenty-five years, ruling from Chang'an. There were eleven translating śramaṇas; the sūtras, śāstras, and astrological treatises they produced totaled thirty-two works in one hundred and four fascicles, constituting the scripture catalogue of the Later Zhou.