Easy Tycoon

Chapter 547 "The Great Cloud Sutra"

The relationship between Wu Zetian and Buddhism is far more than that.After Wu Zetian ascended the throne and became emperor, she took practical actions to promote the spread and promotion of Buddhism in China.

There are two short stories about the "slaughter ban" that can illustrate Wu Zetian's contribution to the development of Buddhism from the side.

Wu Zetian believed in Buddhism, so after she became the emperor, she promulgated a ban on slaughter, that is, no killing, no eating big fish and meat, as a life creed that everyone abides by, it is not easy, so many people thought at that time not to eat Meat is uncomfortable, so what if the emperor does not allow meat to be eaten, but he wants to eat meat?So there are many things that have policies and countermeasures.

Wu Zetian sent the Prime Minister of the current dynasty to inspect and walk from the post station one by one.When the postman saw the big man coming, he wanted to curry favor with the prime minister. He wanted to feed the prime minister something good, and served him a pot of mutton.

Yicheng was quite clever, and said that the sheep was killed by a wolf. When the prime minister heard it, it was killed by a wolf. It doesn't matter, let's eat it.After eating, another plate of fish was served, saying it was wrong, the emperor said that the fish could not be salvaged either.The Yi Cheng was at a loss for words, and said that the fish was killed by a wolf, and the prime minister said, why are you so stupid to say that the fish was killed by an otter.

The second story tells that during the promulgation of the ban on slaughter, a son was born in the family of a petty official. The petty official was very happy and wanted to invite his colleagues to dinner. He secretly slaughtered a sheep and shared some mutton with each colleague.

There was a colleague who was very dishonest. He ate and ate. After eating, he stuffed a piece of meat into his sleeve. After returning home, he wrote a memorial to Wu Zetian, saying that a certain colleague violated the ban on massacres. A sheep was slaughtered, the evidence is here, and the lamb is also brought up.

The next day, Wu Zetian summoned the official who gave birth to a son, and said, I heard that you gave birth to a son, and you are very happy. Take out a piece of meat, and ask where did this thing come from?The little official was so frightened that his face turned ashen, and he couldn't get up after kneeling there.

At this time Wu Zetian spoke, she said that I promulgated a ban on slaughter, I hope everyone has a heart of compassion, and don’t kill people for no reason, but I don’t intervene when it comes to weddings and funerals, so you can kill sheep or eat meat Okay, I don't blame you, but in the future, when you treat guests, you must choose the guests well, that's what that person told me.The informer blushed, and the whole court wanted to spit on him.

In fact, not only these small folk tales, Wu Zetian really did a lot of things that are very beneficial to the promotion of Buddhism after becoming emperor.Among them, the introduction and translation of Buddhist scriptures is an important measure.

Everyone in the world knows the story of Tang Sanzang, who went through 81, [-], [-] ordeals, and finally retrieved a large number of Buddhist scriptures in the Western Paradise.But I am afraid that very few people know that Wu Zetian's role in the introduction and promotion of Buddhist scriptures is even greater than that of Tang Sanzang.

The most important reason for this is that there was once a Buddhist scripture that gave Wu Zetian an excuse to be the emperor, or Wu Zetian found a theoretical basis in a certain Buddhist scripture to support her as an empress.

This Buddhist scripture is the famous "Dayun Sutra".

Wu Zetian became the emperor with a female body, which has never happened in Chinese history.In order to prove the rationality of her ascension to the throne, she can only find evidence from other than Confucian and Taoist classics.Therefore, when she saw the teachings of Buddhism supporting women as emperors, she was naturally overjoyed, promulgated the relevant teachings to the world, and vigorously promoted Buddhism.And this Buddhist scripture is the Great Cloud Sutra.

Such a story is told in the "Da Yun Jing".The goddess of pure light once heard the "Mahaparinirvana Sutra" from the lamp Buddha of the same sex. Later, when Sakyamuni Buddha was alive, she was born into the world in a mortal body and heard the profound meaning of Buddhism again.Although she was a woman, she later became a king and gained a quarter of the territory ruled by the wheel-turning king. She educated men, women, and children in her field to eliminate all kinds of wrong views and dissent, and to do bodhisattva careers.

In the first year of Tianshou, that is, in July of the year when Wu Zetian changed Tang to Zhou, monks Huaiyi and Faming wrote "Dayun Jingshu", attaching the above story as "Buddha" to Wu Zetian as the empress. , that is, prophecy.

With this prophecy, Wu Zetian can be the emperor in a grand manner.Therefore, Wu Zetian promulgated the "Da Yun Jing" to the world.He also ordered Chang'an, Luoyang and each prefecture to set up a Dayun Temple, each of which contained a copy of the "Dayun Sutra", which was explained by monks raised to the seat.

In this way, everyone in the world will know that Wu Zetian is Maitreya and should replace Li Tang as emperor.Subsequently, Wu Zetian officially proclaimed himself emperor in September of this year and changed the name of the country to Zhou.

Confucianism in China is strongly opposed to women's interference in politics, so after the Tang Dynasty, people repeatedly used the "Da Yun Jing" as an argument, and they all used it to accuse Wu Zetian of forging Buddhist scriptures and deceiving the world.

So is there any teaching in the Buddhist scriptures that a woman should be an emperor?The answer is: yes.In the Buddhist scriptures, there is a story about a woman who becomes king in the afterlife.

The Buddha said that 700 years after his Nirvana, there was a small country in southern Tianzhu called Wuming; there was a river in the country called Heija; on the south bank of the river, there was a city called Gushu; ; The king and his wife gave birth to a daughter named Growth.One day in the future, the king and others will die suddenly.At that time, the ministers will let his daughter grow up to inherit the throne.After she ascends the throne, the situation will be that the world will be in full swing, and all the countries in Jambudvipa will come to honor her, and there will be no rejection or disobedience.

This story shows that at least from the time of the Buddhist scriptures, the teaching that women can be emperors has been clarified.

After Buddhism was suppressed by Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, it fully recovered its lost status when Wu Zetian came to power. It must be said that Wu Zetian was the suzerain of Zhongxing Buddhism.

After Wu Zetian became emperor, she sent someone to bring Shenxiu, the leader of the Northern School of Zen, to Luoyang, then carried him into a sedan chair, and knelt down to worship herself.Her actions attracted high officials and ordinary people to follow her, and tens of thousands of people came to worship this eminent monk every day.

She also personally greeted another eminent monk who had returned from overseas.Wu Zetian's association with Buddhism means that her legitimacy has gradually increased.And Chinese Buddhism has also entered a stage of comprehensive prosperity, the most prosperous is in Wu Zetian's Wu Zhou Dynasty.

There were three manifestations of the prosperity of Buddhism at that time: first, a large number of Buddhist scriptures were translated.

Wu Zetian translated one of the most important Buddhist scriptures, the Huayan Sutra. At that time, Her Majesty always felt that the sixty "Huayan" translated in the Jin Dynasty was too lacking, and felt very regretful, so she sent a special envoy to India to ask for the complete copy of this sutra.

A dharma master in Khotan happened to have this book in hand, and she invited the dharma master to come to China, and this dharma master was Shicha Nanda.After the master was invited, he was asked to preside over the translation of the Huayan Sutra.

When Master Shicha Nanda came, the "Avatamsaka Sutra" he brought with him was not complete.However, there are [-] more verses than the Jin translation, and there are a total of [-] verses. The teachings of the Great Sutra can already be seen.At that time, the scale of the translation field was very large, and Wu Zetian himself often went to participate.After the translation, she even wrote the preface and opened the "Avatamsaka Sutra" herself.

This is the famous "Kaijing Gatha": "The supreme, profound and subtle dharma is difficult to encounter in hundreds of thousands of kalpas; what I have seen and heard is accepted and upheld, and I wish to understand the true meaning of the Tathagata."

"Avatamsaka Sutra" advocates the common prosperity and symbiosis of all things in all ages, and it is a quite bold classic.In the Tang Dynasty, there were dozens of masters famous for their translation of scriptures, and fifteen of them lived in the Wu Zhou era.

The second is that Wu Zetian also made important contributions to the construction of temples. She established a Dayun temple in every state in the country. According to historical records, there were 38 famous temples in the Tang Dynasty, of which more than 30% were established during the Wu Zhou period.Where there is a Buddhist temple, there must be monks. Xue Huaiyi became the abbot of the White Horse Temple. There were originally more than 300 monks in the White Horse Temple, but during the Wu Zhou period, the abbot Xue Huaiyi had more than 1000 attendants.

The third contribution is statues. Among all the statue arts in the Tang Dynasty, the time of Wu Zetian was the most brilliant, and the propaganda of Buddhism also reached its peak.Wu Zetian's association with Buddhism has a great effect on Buddhism. Both Wu Zetian himself and Buddhism have reached their peak state.

Wu Zetian respected Buddhism so much, it is not surprising that she arranged so many Buddha statues to accompany her tomb!
PS: Bow down and thank you for the 300 tip of "Love Buried in the Dead Sea" and the 200 tip of "Looking at the Starry Sky from the Roof".

(End of this chapter)