early buddhism in china: daoist reactions 213
time. The only preserved fragment of the imperial stele Shengmu bei
(Stele for the Sage Mother) of 153 AD^54 reads:^55
,. , , ,
[.. .]^56
Laozi is the dao, born prior to the Shapeless, grown before the Great
Beginning, he lives in the prime of the Great Immaculate, and oats
freely through the Six Voids [of the universe]. [.. .]The same idea is re ected in the famous stele called Laozi ming
(Inscription for Laozi), erected on imperial command in Kuxian
(Henan) by Bian Shao on 24 September 165^57 in order to honour
the recently dei ed Laozi. The relevant passage reads like this:^58
, , [ ], [ ] ,
, [.. .] ( ) [ ].
Laozi, separated from and united with the breath (or: “energy”) of the
primordial chaos, began and [will] end with the three luminants (sc. sun,
moon, stars). He observed the sky and made prophecies, descended from
and went up to the stars [of the Dipper]. Following the course of the sun,
he transformed nine times, he waxed and waned with the seasons. [.. .]
[When his] dao was accomplished, he transformed into an immortal.^59It was this notion as it were of Laozi that in uenced the early Chinese
understanding of the Buddha which shows the Buddha as “a deity
without de nite form”,^60 resembling the dao and capable of transform-
ing into various appearances. As Mouzi’s Lihuo lun (On
the Correction of Errors) which, due to internal evidence, must date
after 222 AD describes:
The Buddha is the original ancestor of the power of the dao, the end
of the thread [connected to] the divinities. [.. .] Shadowy and indistinct,
by transformations in different bodies and varied forms, [he appears in
diverse realms]. Sometimes he is present, sometimes absent. He can be
small or large, heavenly or earthly, old or young, hidden or manifest. He
can walk on re without being burned [.. .].^61(^54) For a discussion of the most probable interpretation of the date given on the
stele, see Seidel 1969, p. 37.
(^55) Kohn 1998, pp. 39f.
(^56) Shengmu bei apud Taiping yulan 1.4a.
(^57) Seidel 1969, p. 37.
(^58) Kohn loc. cit.
(^59) Adopting the reading of the Hunyuan shengji, cf. Seidel 1969, p. 123.
(^60) Kohn op. cit., p. 116.
(^61) Modi ed after Keenan 1994, p. 64.