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Fazang the Court Politician CHAPTER TEN FAZANG THE COURT POLITICIAN As a court priest for over three decades (ca. 680-712), Fazang was actively involved in politics during a crucial period in history. This chapter has two purposes. On the one hand, through various facts about Fazang I throw some light on significant historical events and illustrate how these were shaped in part by Fazang’s political shrewdness and religious vision. On the other, I will explore the intellectual and histori- cal contexts for Fazang’s importance as a court chaplain. These touch on specific events on the eve of Empress Wu’s epochal dynasty-founding of 690 and those concerning the political transitions around 705 and 710. Understanding Fazang’s political role requires a view of approxi- mately fifty years of Empress Wu’s own political life. Although Fazang lived under six sovereigns of the Great Tang and Zhou,1 it is helpful to consider that Empress Wu began to manipulate imperial power long before she became the supreme ruler both in fact and in name, and that in a sense she was a focus of Fazang’s life and career. Given the ex- traordinary influence that she had over Fazang’s monastic and political life, I will devote three of the four sections of this chapter to Fazang’s relationship with Empress Wu, leaving his political role under the reigns of Empress Wu’s two successors (Zhongzong and Ruizong) to the last section. 1. FAZANG AND EMPRESS WU: 670-690 This section will treat two developments: the circumstances under which Fazang came into Empress Wu’s power circle, and a major poli- tico-religious event on the eve of Empress Wu’s Zhou dynasty. 1.1. The Beginning of the Relationship The earliest association between Fazang and Empress Wu is from Xian- heng 1 (March 27, 670-February 14, 671), when the empress assigned 1 Taizong (r. 626-649), Gaozong (r. 649-683), Zhongzong (r. 684, r. 705-710), Ruizong (r. 684-690, 710-712), Empress Wu (r. 690-705), and Xuanzong (r. 712-756), whose accession on September 8, 712, was about three months before Fazang died. 242 CHAPTER TEN the twenty-seven year old novice Fazang to one of her clan temples— Taiyuansi. Shortly afterwards, Empress Wu ordered him to preach the Avatasaka stra there. Furthermore, it seems that beginning at an early point in time, Fazang had captured her attention, and, as we have mentioned previously, received a special gift on the occasion of the annual duanwu festival—a set of five monastic robes accompanied by a warm message.2 It is noteworthy that the Avatasaka stra was the main medium through which Empress Wu and Fazang cemented and periodically reaffirmed their relationship. From Fazang’s side this is no surprise to us, given the importance of the stra for his Buddhist career. Empress Wu’s interest in the stra was also not just perfunctory. We can trace the interest to the late 650s, when Sun Simiao ୪৸᠓ (581-682),3 a Daoist physician whose expertise on the Avatasaka teaching was widely admired, introduced the stra to her husband Gaozong and probably herself as well.4 One can also clearly see a fondness for the stra in her generous donation in Xianheng 3 (February 5, 672-January 23, 673): she gave 20,000 strings of cash from her own pocket to defray the cost of carving a statue of the Buddha Vairocana (or Rocana), the chief Buddha of the Avatasaka stra, in front of Great Fengxiansi Օ in Longmen.5 ڝ࡚٣ Empress Wu’s profound interest in the Avatasaka stra is seen in the preface she wrote for a new translation of 699: Da Fangguangfo huayan jing is the esoteric treasure of all the Buddhas’ and Tathgatas’ “Sea of Human Nature.” Those who look at it are unable to recognize its import and those who draw (water) from it (i.e., the “Sea of Nature”) rarely plumb its depths. Both trainees and non-trainees6 try in vain to gain a glimpse [of its essence]; but who among the practitioners of the “Two Vehicles” (i.e., Mahyna and H - nayna) and “Three Vehicles” (i.e., srvaka, pratyeka-buddha and bo- dhisattva) does not aspire to listen and attend to its teachings? It 2 Chapter 5.1.3. Ren Yucai ٚߛթ suggests that Sun Simiao’s dates were actually 541-682. See 3 Ren, “Sun Simiao.” 4 See Fazang’s biography of Sun Simiao in HJZ, T 51: 5.171c11-16. See also GYZ (T 51: 178a18ff), which attributes this story to Sun Simiao and Taizong. Fazang does not date the episode. As Sun Simiao was probably summoned into the court in 656, when Gaozong’s health grew bad, it may have been around that time. 5 Scholars generally believe that Great Fengxiansi was devoted to the posthu- mous benefit of Empress Wu’s own parent(s). Forte (“Fengxian”) has recently raised the possibility that the monastery might have been dedicated to Empress Wu’s .(parents-in-law, Taizong and his empress Zhangsun ९୪ (Wende ֮ᐚ) (601-636 6 Of practitioners in the stages of training as arhat, those in the fourth and last stage were called aaika (wuxue ྤᖂ) (beyond the need of further teaching or study), while those in the preceding three stages were in need of study, hence aika .(ᖂڶ youxue) .
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