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Under the guidance of Zen Master Faqing, Qin Muyi visited the Da Ci'en Temple and burned incense in front of the Buddha statue in the main hall according to custom.
It had only been a year since the Qin Dynasty was established. Before that, the four borders were in turmoil and wars were frequent. Qin Mu's energy was mostly spent on war. But as the external enemies were gradually eliminated, his energy naturally shifted more to the interior.
In addition to providing new types of enlightenment education, setting up colleges of mathematics, physics and chemistry, developing people's livelihood, science and technology, commerce, adjusting the military system and many other aspects, the attitude towards religious issues and how to manage and guide them are becoming increasingly important.
If one only sees that Buddhist monks do not engage in production but possess a large amount of wealth and enjoy free offerings from believers, then one's understanding of Buddhism is undoubtedly superficial.
Compared with Taoism, Buddhism has a wider range of believers throughout Asia and has a much greater influence. In particular, Buddhism, which has been integrated with traditional Chinese culture, has had a huge impact on countries such as Korea and Japan.
Western colonization is not simply military colonization, and history has proven that it is not sustainable. The more successful colonial method of Britain is actually a comprehensive colonization, led by military force and backed by religious beliefs, economy and culture.
Strictly speaking, the export of Chinese Confucianism is just a pure cultural export and has little to do with faith.
Moreover, Buddhism, which integrates Chinese traditional culture, actually has many complementary aspects with Confucianism.
Therefore, in history, many scholars such as Su Dongpo have had an indissoluble bond with Buddhism.
Many eminent monks have also reached very high levels in Confucianism. The poems and articles they wrote not only have the essence of traditional Chinese culture, but also reveal the Zen spirit of Buddhism.
It is an indisputable fact that Chinese Buddhism can no longer be simply called a foreign culture; it has actually been localized.
The expansion of the Qin Dynasty could not be accomplished by military expansion alone. It would be best if the three schools of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism could be combined as the successor force of military expansion to digest the opposition and contradictions of military expansion in a civilized and gentle way.
To put it bluntly, military expansion only puts food into the stomach, but it cannot truly digest it, so religious beliefs, economic and cultural means are needed to help digestion.
Without these means, the more you eat, the more likely you are to get sick.
After returning to the Zen room, Qin Mu enjoyed the vegetarian meal carefully prepared for him by the Da Ci'en Temple, and then sat under the window of the Zen room with Zen Master Faqing to drink tea and play chess.
White snow is flying outside the window, and two white-headed birds are huddled on a branch bent by the snow; in the Zen room, the scent of sandalwood is curling, with a few Putian balls, a cup of fragrant tea, and a pure mind.
On the chessboard, Qin Mu holds the black pieces, while Master Faqing holds the white pieces. Gu Junen watches the game from one side.
Ta! A piece fell gently.
Qin Mu picked up the tea and took a sip, then said casually, "As far as I know, during the Tang Dynasty, the people of the Western Regions all believed in Buddhism. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the Central Plains was divided by warlords, and the people were living in misery. They were no longer able to take care of the Western Regions, and the Western Regions fell into the hands of the Uighurs. The Uighur Khan forced the 200,000 people in the Western Regions to abandon Buddhism and convert to the Islamic religion, which led to the current situation."
The solemn appearance of Master Faqing was calm. He casually placed a chess piece on the chessboard, then stroked his white beard and replied, "Your Majesty is right. It can be seen that the fate of Buddhism is closely linked to the fate of the country. I think that Buddhist disciples, although outsiders, cannot help but love their country. In fact, loving one's country is loving the religion."
Faqing's words were a departure from his previous Zen tone, and were spoken very directly, not even sounding like they came from his mouth. But there was no doubt that this was to please the emperor.
"The reason why I chose to come to Da Ci'en Temple today is because of the great monk Xuanzang. To be honest with you, I didn't worship Buddha before. In my memory, there are only two great monks who left a deep impression on me.
Xuanzang traveled thousands of miles to the west, went through untold hardships to retrieve the true scriptures, and made an indelible contribution to Buddhism in China. Jianzhen traveled to the east, established a thousand-year-old Buddhist foundation in Japan, and spread Chinese culture, which is also admirable. "
When Qin Mu mentioned Xuanzang and Jianzhen, Zen Master Faqing was naturally filled with awe and echoed him repeatedly.
"In my opinion, no matter whether it is Confucianism, Buddhism or Taoism, no matter how wonderful your words are, it is not as good as putting them into practice. The reason why I remember the two eminent monks Xuanzang and Jianzhen is not because of how profound their Buddhist teachings are, but because of their spirit of practicing what they preach.
This Da Ci'en Temple is magnificent, but do you think it was Da Ci'en Temple that made the monk Xuanzang successful, or did the monk Xuanzang make Da Ci'en Temple successful? Old Zen Master, it is not difficult to see from the deeds of the two monks that the promotion of Buddhism and personal cultivation do not depend on how magnificent the temple is built or how much temple property it owns.
However, after the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism lost its original pioneering spirit and became trivial, rigid, and formalistic. It was lost in the magnificent temples and the leisurely cigarettes. For a thousand years, there has been no eminent monk like Xuanzang and Jianzhen.
Whenever I think of this, I can't help but ask myself, is this kind of Buddhism still worthy of my belief? I sigh at the heroic deeds of the two eminent monks Xuanzang and Jianzhen thousands of years ago. I really hope that my great Qin can also have some figures like the two eminent monks. Only such figures are worthy of my worship and admiration. "
After the emperor finished speaking, the white-bearded Zen Master Faqing's fingers began to tremble slightly, and the white piece in his hand could no longer be held tightly, and fell onto the chessboard with a "click".
He wanted to speak, but no words came out, and his long silver beard trembled slightly.
Qin Mu immediately stood up and walked out of the Zen room. The breeze he created caused the smoke in the Zen room to become a mess.
Gu Junen followed Qin Mu away, feeling a lot of emotions in his heart. Looking at Qin Mu's back, he didn't know what to say for a moment, and his mind was a little dazed.
It turned out that the emperor's trip was far from as simple as he had imagined. A grand national strategy emerged bit by bit in the emperor's seemingly frivolous words and deeds.
I believe that the emperor's words just now will soon be known to everyone in the entire Buddhist community, and will make all the monks unable to sleep or eat, because those words revealed too much information.
The emperor has made it clear that he does not believe in Buddhism, so you don't have to try to change it by talking nonsense. At the same time, the emperor is obviously dissatisfied with the temples occupying a large amount of temple property. If you make him angry, no one can guarantee that there will not be a nationwide campaign to destroy Buddhism in Daqin.
However, while putting heavy pressure on Buddhism, the emperor also left room for it, and even pointed out a way out. If done well, it would not be difficult to gain the emperor's recognition and royal offerings.
From the Da Ci'en Temple on the bank of Qujiang River, a faint sound of bells came, echoing in the drifting snowflakes, a little hurried and a little bustling.
The emperor's carriage had already gone far away in the wind and snow, and the falling snowflakes quickly covered the traces left by the wheel tracks, leaving no trace.
After Qin Mu came out of the Da Ci'en Temple, he did not return to the palace immediately, but walked out of the city. When he reached the South Gate, he called Li Shi to the side of the carriage and asked, "Have the officials from the Sinong Temple come out?"
Li Shi immediately clasped his fists and replied, "Your Majesty, they are already waiting for you in the shed in the south of the city."
"Um."
Qin Mu lowered the curtain, put his hands to the silver-gilt flower incense burner and cloisonné enamel hand warmer, rubbed them twice, and said to Gu Jun'en: "Have you heard about the Sinong Temple's cooperation with wealthy households to build winter vegetable greenhouses before?"
Gu Junen replied, "I heard a little about it and thought that your majesty had ordered the Sinong Temple to do this, so I didn't pay much attention to it. Your majesty, you..." Gu Junen was the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and was not in charge of agricultural matters. He couldn't understand why the emperor came to see the winter vegetable greenhouse in such a cold weather. Was this vegetable greenhouse really worthy of so much attention
Qin Mu laughed and said, "I want to come and see if the officials of the Sinong Temple have any collusion with businessmen."
Gu Jun'en also smiled easily and said, "I heard that this vegetable greenhouse seems to be quite profitable. If Your Majesty finds out the stolen money, you must give me an extra winter coat during the New Year."
"Haha, Gu Qing, you have to wear more clothes. I'm afraid this winter will be very cold."
Gu June'en's heart skipped a beat, and his heart was in suspense again.
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.(To be continued..)
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