大唐內典錄 3.5

3.5

Regarding the Eastern Jin catalogue: Sima Rui, courtesy name Jingwen, was the great-grandson of Emperor Xuan, the son of King Gong who succeeded King Wu of Langye. On the day of his birth, a divine light shone within, illuminating the entire chamber. White hairs grew to the left of his forehead horn, and his eyes had a brilliant radiance, flashing bright when glancing about. He consecutively held the posts of Envoy with Credentials, General Pacifying the East, Commander-in-chief of Military Affairs of Yangzhou, and Left Chancellor. After Huai and Min fell, the civil and military officials dispersed; some fled south of the Yangtze, while others were slaughtered by Liu Yao. Chang'an lost its hold and the emperor was confined in Pingyang. South of the Yangtze, five suns were suddenly seen at that time. The ministers advised Rui that he should assume the title of King of Jin, overseeing the manifold affairs of state and presiding over the millions of subjects. After Emperor Min passed away, he ascended the throne and adopted the era name Jianwu. Establishing his capital at Jianye, he changed it to Jiankang to avoid the taboo of Emperor Min's personal name. Earlier, in the second year of Taikang, Guan Gong, a former general of Wu, rebelled. At that time in Jianye, Wu Zhen divined, saying: 'Gong is already destroyed; yet thirty-eight years later, there shall be a Son of Heaven in Yangzhou.' When this time came, it turned out as he had predicted. Furthermore, during the reign of the First Emperor of Qin, diviners observing qi said that five hundred years later, a Son of Heaven would arise from the Jinling Mountains of Wu. The First Emperor, jealous of this, dispatched troops to sever the Jinling Mountains and renamed the area Moling, hoping to cut off its imperial fortune. Exactly five hundred and twenty-six years from then until Rui, the Metal virtue of Jin came to rule all within the four seas; the auspicious omen of Jinling lay precisely in this. At that time, a popular ballad also sang: 'Five horses swim across the Yangtze; one horse turns into a dragon.' In the disasters and upheaval of the Yongjia era, the empire was overwhelmed and ruined; only five kings—Langye, Xiyang, Runan, Nandun, and Pengcheng—managed to cross south of the Yangtze, and Rui founded the dynasty as Emperor Yuan. Thus we know that receiving the mandate above moved the heavenly spirits, while striding across the empire below relied on geographical advantage. The earth offered its strategic terrain, which the First Emperor could not destroy by cutting; heaven bestowed its divine spirit, which Liu Yao could not wipe out entirely. From the first year of Jianwu under Emperor Yuan, a dingchou year, when the capital was established, to the first year of Yuanxi under Emperor Gong, a jiwei year, when abdication was made to Song, spanning one hundred and four years, there were twenty-seven Chinese and foreign monks and laymen. The scriptures produced, together with formerly lost translations, total two hundred and sixty-three works in five hundred and eighty-five fascicles, collected as the Jiankang Catalogue of the Twelve Rulers of the Eastern Jin.