大唐內典錄 4.16

4.16

The ancestors of the Yuan clan were barbarians of Yunzhong in Northern Dai. For generations they were heroic leaders, situated more than four thousand li south of Dingxiang. According to the Zhi Gong Tu by Xiao Yi, King of Xiangdong under the Liang: Their original surname was Tuoba, Xianbei barbarians. During the disturbances of the Western Jin, there was Tuoba Lu, who came forth to reside in the Loufan region of Jin. The Jin then enfeoffed him as the King of Dai. Subsequently, the tribes dispersed; after more than sixty years, it reached Lu's grandson Shiyijian—some say Shegui. The History of Wei states that he was Emperor Daowu, the Grand Ancestor of the Wei. He changed the era name to the first year of Shenrui, which corresponded to the first year of Taiyuan of Emperor Xiaowu of the Jin. He came forth to occupy a place three hundred li east of Shuozhou, where he built a city and established a town, designating it the capital of Heng'an. He was defeated by Jian, the Protections General of the Fu Qin. Later he assumed the imperial title; possessing innate knowledge, he believed in the Buddha and established great monasteries. On the stone cliffs of the great valley west of the suburbs of Heng'an, caves were all carved out, more than a hundred feet in height and spanning thirty li from east to west; they were linked together like the teeth of a comb, exceedingly numerous. To the east of the valley a stone stele still stands, recording his achievements, which cannot be counted. That stele states in brief: 'The wealth and tributes governed by the State of Wei were all made into stone niches; therefore their design was magnificent and farsighted, and for this reason their divine work has endured over time without decaying.' Coming to the third ruler, Emperor Taiwu, of the generation of Fuli, he placed faith in and accepted perverse speech, destroying the Buddhadharma, executing monks, and demolishing monasteries. After passing through seven years, an evil disease struck his body and he died. Afterwards, four more rulers succeeded in the north. Coming to the reign of Emperor Xiaowen, [Yuan] Hong, the capital was moved to Luoyang. The surname was changed to Yuan; they discarded barbarian clothing, robes, and caps, cut off barbarian speech, and honored Chinese customs. He composed literary texts with his own hand and spoke elegant edicts: he was a sagely Son of Heaven. Coming to the first year of Xiping of Emperor Xiaoming, the Empress Dowager Ling, née Hu, built the Yongning Monastery. She raised a nine-tiered wooden pagoda, ninety zhang in height. Atop it was a precious finial, another ten zhang high, being a thousand chi above the ground; one could see it from afar a hundred li from the capital. When they first sought to lay the foundation and excavated down to the Yellow Springs, they obtained thirty-two golden images; the Empress Dowager believed this to be an auspicious omen of the veneration of the Dharma. For this reason, its construction exhausted the utmost of worldly craftsmanship. On the finial was a precious golden vase holding twenty-five dan. Below the precious vase were dew-receiving golden plates, eleven tiers in all; around the entire perimeter hung golden bells. There were also four iron chains guiding the finial toward the corners of the pagoda; on the chains at the four corners there were also golden bells, their size all like that of a one-dan urn. On each of the nine tiers of the pagoda, golden-bronze bells were suspended from every corner, totaling one hundred and thirty bells above and below. On each of the four sides of the pagoda there were three doors and six windows, all coated with vermilion lacquer. On each shutter were five rows of golden bells; its twelve doors and twenty-four shutters had a total of five thousand four hundred bells. Below the bells were furthermore carved gilded rings and door-knockers, exhausting the ingenuity of manufacture and pushing the craft of earth and timber to its limit. The common people came like sons, completing it in no time. The Buddhist affairs were exquisite and inconceivable; the embroidered pillars and golden knockers astonished men's hearts and eyes. As for the high winds during long nights of the autumn moon, the precious bells chimed in harmony, their sound echoing for ten li. There was one Buddha Hall, shaped like the Taiji Palace. Within it was a sixteen-foot golden image, ten life-sized golden images, three images woven of real pearls, five embroidered images woven in gold, and two jade images; their wondrous craftsmanship surpassed that of the age. There were more than a thousand monks' chambers, pavilions, and belvederes, with carved beams, whitewashed walls, and blue-patterned latticed windows, difficult to describe in words. Cypress, cypress-fir, cedar, and pine grew luxuriously beneath the eaves; thickets of bamboo and fragrant herbs spread across the steps and courtyards. Therefore, Chang Jing's inscription for the monastery says: 'The precious halls of Sumeru and the pure palaces of Tuṣita could not surpass this'—which is indeed true. The miraculous scriptures and images presented by foreign lands were all kept in this monastery. The surrounding walls of the monastery were all fitted with short rafters and covered with tiles, resembling palace walls. On each of the four sides of the monastery a gate was opened. Its main southern gate had a three-storied pavilion, opening into three covered walkways, twenty zhang above the ground; its shape and structure were like the present-day Duan Gate. Painted with cloud-vapors and depictions of immortals and spirits, with interlocking coins and blue-lattice designs, it was radiant and magnificent. Flanking both sides of the gate were four wrestlers and four lions, decorated with gold, emerald, and supplemented with pearls and jade, adorning it with a brilliance unheard of in the world. The east and west gates were also completely like this; what was different was only that their pavilions had two stories. The north gate was a single passage without any structure above, resembling a wutou gate. Outside the four gates, green locust trees were planted, bordered by clear water. Pedestrians of the capital often sheltered beneath them; umbrellas were kept away from the road, not due to the moisture of lingering clouds, while cool breezes brought comfort without needing the blossoming of Persian silk trees. And the ritual requisites were equal to those of the Jeta Grove; the four requisites were provided to seven hundred Indian monks. Bodhiruci was the foremost in translating scriptures. An imperial order was sent to Li Kuo to compile a catalogue of scriptures. Up to the time when Ruler Yongxi moved into Guanzhong, encompassing the four Weis—Western, Eastern, Southern, and Northern—there were altogether sixteen emperors over a span of one hundred and sixty-one years, branching into the Zhou and the Qi. Relying on an examination of fourteen individuals, monastics and laypeople, the sūtras, śāstras, biographies, catalogues, and so forth translated and produced by them totaled eighty-seven works in three hundred and two fascicles, forming the catalogue of scriptures for the three eras of the Later Wei.