You are correct that there were no formal alliance between Buddhists and Legalists. Yet it is indispputable that Buddhists borrowed Legalist precepts to buttress their political objectives. For example, during the Tang dynasty, which began with Daoism as the official state religion, Buddhists at court regularly employed Legalists arguments to ward off Daoist persecution. Buddhist politics, reinforced by Legalist principles and tactics, was the determining factor in the imperial concubine Wu Zhao's success in overcoming Confucian opposition to her installing herself as Model Heaven Emperor (Zetian Huangdi), the one and only female huangdi (emperor) of China.
Wu Zhao's political ascendance was aided by Xu Jingzong, whose insightful Legalist eloquence was reportedly not matched by equal elegance in manners. Xu Jingzong represented Buddhists politics at court, in support of Wu Zhao, to move the Tang dynasty toward Buddhism. A Southern Buddhist from Hangzhou where the well-known scenic West Lake is located, a cultured town known for its refined lifestyle, Xu Jingzong, eloquent yet crude, intelligent yet unsophisticated, was a curiosity in Tang politics. Despite his Buddhist background, he is a protege of Daoist minister Wei Zheng. Xu Jingzong was intellectually at ease with paradoxical Daoist ideas, yet overflowing with literary talent much treasured by Confucian scholars. And he was also widely recognized for his practical political skills. Above all, Xu Jingzong was an authority on Legalist principles. Though not a Confucian, he is nevertheless well schooled in Confucian classics, as all literati routinely were. His one fault, which many at court surreptitiously admire with open envy, was his insatiable appetite for beautiful women, particularly for those outside of his own household.
Buddhists, because of their rejection of secular concerns, have not developed any formal political theory. So they often borrow Legalist concepts to oppose hostility leveled on them at court regularly in the name of Confucianism (Ru Jia), even though Buddhist emphasis on mercy represents the very antithesis of merciless Legalist thinking. Xu Jingzong was the son of the late Xu Shanxin who had been assistant minister of Rites Ministry (Libu Shilang) of the since-fallen Sui court for which Xu Shangxin loyally sacrificed his life. As a young man of twenty-seven, Xu Jingzong served with late Daoist minister Wei Zheng under Li Mi, a rebel warlord during the final years of Sui dynasty, around 617, when he also met General Li Ji, a celebrated military hero. Having served a year under Li Mi, Xu Jingzong in 618 joined Tang rule under Li Yuan, founding High Grand Emperor (Gaozu), grandfather of Li Zhi, High Heritage Emperor (Gaozong). Xu Jingzong subsequently served as political advisor to Li Shimin, then second-ranking Prince of Qin, future Genesis Emperor (Taizong), cementing the ambitious prince's relationship with Buddhists by sceuring their support for Li Shimin's usurpation of his older brother's throne. During the funeral of the Civil Virtue Empress (Wende Huanghou) of the Genesis Emperor in 636, tenth year of the reign of Virtuous Vision (Zhenguin), Xu Jingzong derisively laughed at the homely physiognomy of well-known scholar and calligrapher Ouyang Xuan, who was known for being as ugly as he was righteous. As a result, he was censored for conduct unbecoming to an imperial official. Despite his considerable talent, it took almost a decade before Xu Jingzong would recover from the stigma of having publicly breached proper Confucian etiquette against an establishment figure. Even then history would not totally forgive his transgression, as the Old Book on Tang (Jiu Tang Shu), compiled in 945 by Confucian historiographers, 390 years after the event, would pointedly record the incident in Xu Jingzong's biography. On the eve of the expeditionary campaign in Liaodong in 645, the Genesis Emperor appointed Xu Jingzong to the post of tutor of then Imperial Prince Li Zhi, whom Xu Jingzong served at Dingzhou, modern-day Baodingshi in Hebei province, a garrison seven hundred kilometers northeast of Luoyang and midpoint to the front. With the sudden death of Minister Cen Wenben at the prime age of fifty-one, Xu Jingzong, then fifty-four and serving as manager of the imperial prince's office, was summoned five hundred kilometers northeast from Dingzhou prefecture to Youzhou prefecture, modern day Beijing, nine hundred kilometers northeast of Changan, imperial capital, northern-most staging point of then just-begun Liaodong expeditionary campaign, to replace the departed Cen Wenben as logistics minister. Years later, as a result of marriage of his daughter to the son of Feng Ang, a minor Tujue (Turkic) chieftain, for which Xu Jingzong received handsome marriage gifts of gold and precious stones, the Daoist-influenced Buddhist minister was censured by the court, at the insistence of stern Confucians, for behavior unbecoming to a court minister. According to Confucian ethics, to give the hand of one's daughter in marriage to a tribal chieftain for the lofty purpose of state alliance is high diplomacy, but to do so for personal ambition, particularly if coupled with financial gain, is unbecoming for a man of morals. To the dismay of a Legalist scholar like Xu Jingzong, equal justice under the law appeared to have no place in Confucian ethics. As a result of censure by Confucians at court for breaching unequal marriage laws, Xu Jingzong, Daoist-influenced Southern Buddhist and Legalist authority, was relieved of his post as minister of Rites Ministry and banished to a provincial post for one whole year. Understandably, his antagonism toward Confucian conservatism expanded for personal reasons on top of intellectual Legalist disdain. In 652, third year of the reign of Perpetual Splendor (Yonghui), Xu Jingzong, at age sixty-one, was recalled to court by Li Zhi, his former pupil, now reigning High Heritage Emperor, to return to his previous post as a senior scholar in Hongwen Guan (Great Literary Academy). Xu Jingzong, Southern Buddhist with Daoist leanings, who would often draw on Legalist arguments to oppose conservative Confucian politics, felt that he had been unfairly persecuted by Confucians for his Buddhist faith, Daoist understanding and Legalist outlook. His Legalist animosity towards corrupt Confucian justice was now justified by his having been found guilty of his unjust indictment on receiving gifts from his daughter's arranged marriage to a tribal chieftain. To his Legalist mind, the episode typically exemplifies Confucian travesty of justice. Why should a sheren (commoner) minister be censored for doing what guizus (aristocrats) and the sovereign do routinely in the name diplomacy? Subsequently, Xu Jingzong engineered the legal impeachment of the sitting Empress and installed Wu Zhao in its place, putting Wu Zhao on the way to become a female emperor.
Henry C.K. Liu
"Rosser Jr, John Barkley" wrote:
> Henry C.K. Liu,
> I question your identification of Buddhism with
> Legalism. Your argument presupposes a triad of Daoism,
> Confucianism, and Legalism as the three primal orientations
> in China, with Buddhism siding with Legalism because of its
> opposition to both Confucianism and Daoism. This does not
> follow. It may well have been true during a particular
> historical period, however. Can you name one where
> Buddhists clearly supported Legalist positions rather than
> merely opposing Confucianist and Daoist ones?
> I note that in the medieval period the
> neo-Confucianists suppressed both the Daoists and the
> Buddhists and arguably adopted some Legalist attitudes
> themselves.
> Barkley Rosser
>
> --
> Rosser Jr, John Barkley
> rosserjb at jmu.edu