開元釋教錄 8.6.3

8.6.3

followers gathered like clouds. At the beginning of the Zhenguan era, Emperor Taizong gave up the former Dahe Palace on Mount Zhongnan to establish Longtian Temple. By nature Lin delighted in seclusion and quiet, so he went there to reside. Recommended and praised by the community, he was elected to oversee the affairs of the temple. In unhurried ease in his mountain robes, he chanted and sang in the forests and wilds. In the third year, an imperial decree ordered the Tripiṭaka master Prabhākaramitra to translate the Bao xing jing (Ratnatārā-dhāraṇī-sūtra) as well as the Prajñāpradīpa-śāstra and other treatises, summoning Lin to serve as scribe receiving the meaning and to critically verify terms and doctrines. By the winter of the thirteenth year, there was a Daoist yellow-turban named Qin Shiying, who used occult arts to seek glory and thereby displayed his talents before the Crown Prince. Having long harboured enmity toward the Śākya lineage, he covertly submitted Lin’s treatise, asserting that it slandered the imperial lineage and that his crime constituted deceiving the sovereign. The Emperor, enraged, issued an edict to purge the monks and nuns, directing that the existing monastic assembly should abide by the posthumous teachings, and furthermore commanded that Lin himself be sought out and interrogated according to the law. Clenching his fists in vigorous resolve, Lin did not wait to be summoned, but went alone to the official court, holding his life lightly in sacrifice for the truth. He was then bound in fetters. An imperial decree was issued demanding:
“In the ancestral alliances of the Zhou, those of different surnames came second; revering ancestors and honouring kin indeed stem from antiquity. Why have you pursued shortcomings, wavering between both ends, extensively quoting superficial words, and fully setting forth disrespectful analogies, defaming my ancestors and reviling my forebears? Seeking favour from the sovereign in this manner is a crime that cannot be pardoned.”
Lin replied:
“King Wen was a great sage, and the Duke of Zhou a great worthy; in revering ancestors and performing funeral rites with caution, even August Heaven could not match their devotion. When filial piety and fraternal affection reach their utmost, they communicate with the spiritual luminaries. Although there was the ancestral Zhou, in righteousness they did not contend for seniority. Why so? August Heaven has no favourites; ultimately it only aids virtue. The ancients were partial to principle, not to kin; they did not start from what preceded them, nor from what succeeded them. Though a relative commits a crime, they must be punished; though an unrelated person has merit, they must be rewarded. When rewards and punishments are principled and just, the realm is at peace.
Laozi cultivated instructions and made the Dao the ancestral source; his teaching of virtue extended to the common people; he showed tolerance toward others, kept his light humble, and his benevolent breeze served as a model for the four seas. Furthermore, he said: ‘My teacher is named the Buddha; the Buddha is one who awakens all people. The ancient sovereign of Tianzhu ascended to the west and departed.’ If one examines the teachings of Laozi, their beginning and end can be traced. In the Scripture Handed Down by the Sun, he instructed his disciples, saying: ‘My teacher has entered well into nirvāṇa, ceaselessly and constantly enduring; I now depart.’ Nowadays, what is expounded by Liu and Li slanders and destroys the master of Master Lao, yet the world cannot recognize it. I composed this Bianzheng lun (Treatise on Discerning the Correct) in eight fascicles, summarily answering the Daoists in over sixty items, all citing the prior words of the historical records; it was truly not meant to slander the imperial family.”
Thereafter he debated more than twenty items, and a memorial was fully submitted according to Lin’s statements. An imperial decree stated:
“In the chapter ‘Mutual Retribution of Faith and Slander’ of your Bianzheng lun, it says: ‘One who is mindful of Avalokiteśvara will not be harmed when facing the blade.’ We now grant you a reprieve of seven days to let yourself be mindful [of him], and shall test whether you can remain unharmed when the execution arrives.”
Lin was fettered in bonds without and pressed by the date of execution within. Tormented by fire and water in his heart, he had no way to appeal upwards. He therefore brought to mind the scriptures and teachings he had heard in his lifetime and the sacred names of the Three Sages, inscribing and reciting them in the chamber of his heart, aiming for a manifest response. When the time limit expired, suddenly his mental thoughts surged with swift boldness and overflowed in his breast. Joy and celebration followed one another; he abruptly forgot the fear of death, standing and waiting to be questioned. Before long the decree arrived, stating:
“Now the reprieve has ended and the execution is at hand. What have you been mindful of? Has your mindfulness had efficacy?”
Lin took up his brush and replied:
“Since the turmoil of the late Sui, the four seas have seethed. Calamity and poison spread abroad; shields and spears arose in contention. Armies were mobilized to attack one another, each presuming military might. Ministers were flattery-ridden and sovereigns profligate, failing to govern correctly; they severed the royal roads and obstinately held their own corners. Since the August Sovereign waged righteous punitive campaigns, he has cleansed the lands and seas; this was truly the power of Avalokiteśvara, and all relied on the grace of Mahāsthāmaprāpta. Matching virtues and following in their footsteps, your Way equals the highest sages; you save people from untimely death in the imperial court, and spare them from excessive punishments in the metropolis. During the past seven days, I have not been mindful of Avalokiteśvara; I have only been mindful of Your Majesty.”
An imperial decree directed the Attendant Censor of the Department of Justice Wei Cong to question Lin:
“There was an imperial edict ordering you to be mindful of Avalokiteśvara. Why were you not mindful of him, but instead say you were only mindful of His Majesty?”
Lin replied:
“I humbly understand that Avalokiteśvara’s holy discernment manifests worldly forms throughout the six destinies; above the heavens and below the earth, he is a model teacher to all. Now the Great Tang illuminates the four seas, and the nine barbarian tribes submit to their duties; punishments are clear across the eight quarters, the sovereign is sage and ministers are worthy, without committing injustice. Today Your Majesty nurtures the ordinary beings as children, which according to the scriptures is indeed Avalokiteśvara. Since the spiritual discernment corresponds, I was therefore only mindful of Your Majesty. Furthermore, the Bianzheng lun I composed is of the same category as the historical records; if a single phrase is erroneous, I submit to the axe. If Your Majesty accords with loyalty and righteousness, Lin will not lose a single hair; if Your Majesty metes out punishments recklessly to the innocent, Lin will suffer the grief of a fallen corpse.”
The matter was reported in full, and in the end no punishment was inflicted. There was an imperial edict exiling him to a Buddhist monastery in Yizhou. When he reached Bodhi Temple at Bailao Pass, he died of illness, aged sixty-nine. The śramaṇa Huixu took care of his suffering; their bond of feeling was as sharp as severing gold. Morning and night sharing a blanket, he comforted and attended to him. When Lin’s life was about to end, his head rested on Xu’s lap. Xu wept bitterly in grief, his tears falling like driving rain. He then summoned the clergy and laity from beside the pass and buried him on the summit of the eastern mountain, erecting a tall white stūpa and carving an inscription to commemorate him. Wayfarers who looked upon it and knew of him shed tears. The poetic works, rhapsodies, petitions, eulogies, steles, memorials, compositions, and dirges of the Mahāyāna teaching, together with various treatises, records, and biographies composed by Lin, total more than thirty fascicles. All strike a resonance like metal and stone; rich brocade adorns his literary imagination, which is flowing, elegant, facile, blazing, and deeply tranquil. Furthermore, he was skilled at preaching according to the occasion, improvising his words on the spot; his language matched musical tones and his meanings conformed with profound texts. Qin Shiying was eventually executed for wicked madness; both the public and officials wondered why his death had come so late. Liu, Li, and Fu successively passed away in turn. Thus Lin’s surviving writings and past conduct may serve as an axle-pin for ten thousand generations.
Da boreboluomiduo jing (Mahāprajñāpāramitā-sūtra), six hundred fascicles (found in the Fan jing tu; preached by the Buddha in four locations across sixteen assemblies; translated starting on the first day of the first month of the fifth year of Xianqing at Yuhuadian in Yuhuagong Temple, and completed on the twentieth day of the tenth month of the third year of Longshuo; śramaṇas Dacheng Guang, Dacheng Qin, Jiashang, and others took down the text by brush).
Nengduan jingang boreboluomiduo jing (Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra), one fascicle (found in the Nei dian lu; the fourth translation, the same text as that translated by Kumārajīva of the Yao Qin and others; translated on the first day of the tenth month of the twenty-second year of Zhenguan at Hongfatai in Yuhua Palace, Yijun County, Fangzhou; Du Xingyi, Collator in the Secretariat, took down the text by brush).
Boreboluomiduo xin jing (Prajñāpāramitā-hṛdaya-sūtra), one fascicle (found in the Nei dian lu; the second translation, the same text as the Mohe bore damingzhou jing and others; translated on the twenty-fourth day of the fifth month of the twenty-third year of Zhenguan at Cuiwei Palace on Mount Zhongnan; śramaṇa Zhiren took down the text by brush).
Da pusa zang jing (Mahā-bodhisattvapiṭaka-sūtra), twenty fascicles (found in the Nei dian lu; now compiled into the Ratnakūṭa as the twelfth assembly; translated starting on the second day of the fifth month of the nineteenth year of Zhenguan in the Translation Hall of Hongfu Temple in the Western Capital, and completed on the second day of the ninth month; śramaṇa Zhizheng took down the text by brush, Daoxuan certified the text).
Da cheng da ji dizang shi lun jing (Mahāyāna Mahāsaṃnipāta Kṣitigarbha-daśacakra-sūtra), ten fascicles (found in the Nei dian lu; the thirteenth division of the Mahāsaṃnipāta, identical to the old Fangguang shi lun...