The Legend of Shushan Xuanjian

Chapter 520 Mysterious Prophecy
See Jiangshan and chant, how can you come without being relegated.

——"Yellow Stream Night Mooring" Ouyang Xiu
……

A few days later, Tang Kui brought news.

It turned out that in order to find out the details of the Tang Dynasty, the new Tubo master Qi Song Dezan attached great importance to recruiting spies from the Tang Dynasty, and spared no expense in buying Tang people.In addition to using the maids to spy on the secrets in the palace, he also wins over the frustrated literati in the examination room to give them advice.

Qi Song Dezan has long learned from secret spies that there are many scholars in the Tang Dynasty who are proud of their talents, but they have been depressed because they were not reused by the court.Qisong Dezan knew that these people were the ones he could win over, so he sent someone to secretly recruit them.

When he learned that Li Zhi, Wu Zhangyang, and Xiang Hao were three talented and frustrated literati, he sent secret spies to buy them off.Li Zhi categorically refused, but Wu and Xiang were self-esteemed, but they were not taken seriously, and they were always dissatisfied. When they heard that Tubo wanted to spy on the Central Plains, they defected there.

……

After gaining insight into the details of the Tang Dynasty, Tubo had the confidence to challenge the Tang Dynasty, and repeatedly led troops to invade the country when the Tang Dynasty had no time to look around.

……

Bai Fu asked: "Have you ever found out the origin of the nursery rhyme 'Rising to the East with a Golden Sword in Hand'?"

Tang Kui said: "It is said that some women taught children, and those who learned to sing were rewarded with candies. The disciples of the Beggar Clan once saw these people in the temple, but the whereabouts of these women are unknown."

After hearing this, Bai Fu got up and paced around the room.

Bai Fudao: ""The Book of Rites · The Doctrine of the Mean" says: 'When the country is going to prosper, there must be auspiciousness; when the country is going to perish, there must be evildoers'

The current situation in the Tang Dynasty is even more serious than we expected. Apart from the puppet Yan rebels and Tubo barbarians, there are many enemies that we cannot see..."

That night, Bai Fu took Tang Kui to visit Fang Shuliu's mansion.

The three sat down, and Bai Fu recounted the nursery rhyme.

Fang Shu heard it, put down the teacup, straightened his back, with a solemn expression on his face.

Fang Shuliu said: "Since the fall of the Han Dynasty, the world has been in chaos, and people have lost their lives. The world is filled with the atmosphere of 'the end of the world is approaching, and the period of reincarnation has arrived'.

Around the "Taiping World" depicted in the Taoist "Taiping Jing", almost every religious sect promotes the "Savior Faith" and uses the prophecy as a hidden word to make believers firmly believe that when a catastrophe strikes, God will send The savior came to the world to save the common people in the world.

Among them, the two prophecies of "Eighteen Sons" and "Mao Jin Dao" are widely spread.

Rather than saying that the emperors created and used the prophecy to confuse the people, it is better to say that the emperors obeyed the popular belief of "the end of the world, the savior descends to earth".

Therefore, the prophecy of "Eighteen Sons" was combined with Li Hong's "Daojun was born" to promote "Li Shi will prosper".At the same time, the prophecy of "Mao Jin Dao" was combined with "Liu Ju"'s "Maitreya's next birth" to promote "Liu's reign as king".

But before the establishment of the Li-Tang Dynasty, although there were disputes among believers between Taoism and Buddhism, neither of them was the mainstream of competing in the Central Plains, and there was not much conflict of interest, and both were hated and suppressed by the imperial power.

At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the world was in chaos. Li Tang used the title of "Li Shi Jiang Xing" to fight for the world, and regarded Liu Heita and others as strong enemies.

After the establishment of the Li Tang Dynasty, the "Tao Jun was born" was promoted and respected by the court, while "Maitreya's next life" was regarded as heresy and heresy.

The imperial court brutally suppressed those who spread the prophecy of 'Liu's reign as king'.Therefore, the prophecy of "Mao Jin Dao" turned to the folk, combined with Maitreya belief, and became a force against the imperial court. "

Tang Kui was puzzled and asked, "Among the many sects and sects, why did the rebel forces choose to combine with Maitreya?"

Fang Shuliu replied: "The savior of Buddhism often refers to Maitreya Buddha. In addition, 'Moonlight Bodhisattva', 'Turning Wheel King' or 'Moonlight Boy' are all saviors sent by Maitreya to save the world.

Maitreya is a transliteration of Sanskrit, also translated as 'Mi Di Li', 'Mei Di Li', etc., and its free translation is "Ci Shi".

Unlike Shakyamuni, who was born in the Kshatriya caste, Maitreya was born in the more noble Brahmin caste.His father is Xiufanmo, and his mother is Fanmoyue, who lives in Chitomo City.

Maitreya has three identities: when he is enlightened by Sakyamuni among all living beings, he is a disciple of the Buddha; When he cultivated the fruit of Buddha under the Longhua tree, descended from the Tushita Heavenly Palace to the world of sentient beings, and practiced the Longhua three times to save sentient beings, he was Maitreya Buddha.

According to Buddhist scriptures, Maitreya is the future Buddha who will inherit Sakyamuni Buddha and be born in the world in the future.After Maitreya becomes a Buddha, he will be reborn in the human world, where he will establish a pure land of the Buddha Kingdom, spread Buddhism, and save all living beings.

After Maitreya became a Buddha, he still did not forget the sufferings of the world, and promised to turn the world into a beautiful 'Tushita Pure Land'.This feeling of universal salvation made Maitreya belief formed in the ruling and opposition parties after the introduction of great monks such as An Shigao, Zhu Fahu, Kumarajiva, Juqu Jingsheng, and Shi Daoan in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. A climax of faith in Maitreya.

The Sui Dynasty's Nalian Tili Yashe translated "The Sutra of the Buddha's Virtue and Protection of the Elderly", saying: "(Buddha said) this boy (moonlight), after I am Nirvana, in the future, I will protect and uphold my Dharma, make offerings to the Tathagata, and accept and uphold the Dharma. , place the Dharma, praise the Dharma; in the next life, when the Dharma is at an end, he will be a great king in the country of Jambudvipa, named Daxing; it can make all living beings in the Dharma believe in the Dharma, and plant all kinds of good roots. '

From the emperors and generals to the common people, they all express their respect for Maitreya, yearning for Tushita Pure Land and Longhua Sanhui by offering offerings to Buddha statues, copying Buddhist scriptures, confessing and worshiping, and even sacrificing themselves in temples.Many master figures in Buddhism, such as Xuanzang, Shi Dao'an, Tan Jie, and Fa Xian, all have obsessive faith in Maitreya.

However, with the widespread spread of Maitreya beliefs, a large number of forged Buddhist scriptures about Maitreya have also emerged.

Most of these apocrypha are elaborations of Maitreya's teachings, but several scriptures also show alternative interpretations.For example, the "Maitreya Becoming a Buddha and Subduing Demons" links Maitreya's becoming a Buddha with subduing demons, and provides a basis for some destructive teachings.As a result, a heresy sect within Buddhism - Maitreyaism began to be quietly born.

According to legend, the Maitreya religion was founded by Master Fu of Dongyang County during the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang.According to legend, when Master Fu was enlightened by Patriarch Bodhidharma at the age of 24, he established Shuanglin Temple, founded the Zhuanlunzang Dharma Gate, promoted the Dharma to save the people, and helped the poor and the poor, which had a huge impact on the Zen and Tiantai sects of later generations.In the history of Buddhism, he is enshrined as the sage of the Western Heaven and the Eastern Land, and 23 other Bodhisattvas, including Manjusri, Tianqin, and Vimo.Before and after his life, it can be said that he is extremely respected.

However, Dashi Fu's Taoism is incompatible with the Maitreya religion of later generations.

According to our Six Doors’ files on Maitreya over the years, the real founder of Maitreya should be a heretic among Buddhist monks.

Because of his lack of reputation, lack of appeal, and the need to deliberately hide his whereabouts, he resorted to tricks and faked the name of Master Fu.

Only due to lack of data, we still have no way of knowing who the real founder of Maitreyaism is. "

Fang Shuliu's words aroused greater interest in Bai Fu and Tang Kui.

Bai Fudao: "Our Lingyun Temple in Jiazhou, Bashu also has a huge stone statue of Maitreya, carved on the cliff, as high as Lingyun Mountain, with a solemn and majestic appearance.

When I left Bashu, the Buddha had been repaired to the knees.It's just a pity that because the project is too large and expensive, the project has now been suspended.

Every time I pass by here by boat and look up at the Buddha, I feel peaceful and reverent.Who would have thought that someone would use the Maitreya Religion to cause chaos. "

Tang Kui said: "That's right, why are there so few records about the Maitreya Sect's rebellion in the files of my Tang Sect?"

Fang Shuliu said: "That's because all dynasties deliberately covered up the truth.

Peasant uprisings are not terrible, but once they are mixed with religion, they are extremely terrible.Zhang Jiao's "Yellow Turban Uprising" at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty is a typical example.

After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there were several rebellions in which monks directly participated, two of which were particularly notable.

The first time was in the fifth year of Zhengguang in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Hu Feng Yidu and He Yue Huicheng and others rebelled in Wucheng County, Hedong Road. Lead all the rebels to resist Wang Shi in the suburbs of Yuntai.Later, he was suppressed by Pei Liang's army.

Another rebellion had more impact.It took place in Jizhou in the fourth year of Yanchang, Emperor Xuanwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty. The leader of the rebel army was a monk named 'Faqing'.

Judging from the secret scrolls of the six doors, the recluse Faqing is good at magic arts, and Li Guibo, a Bohai native, worships him extremely, and leads his clan and private tribes to accompany him.Li Guibo's cousin Li Shubao was the Taichang Cheng at that time, and his cousin Li Shuhu was in charge of Huazhou affairs at that time, and he was a prominent local family.

Faqing is not only good at deceiving people, but also good at using ecstasy.After being subdued, the father, son and brother don't know each other, they are cruel and easy to kill, and even kill each other.

With the help of Li Guibo, Faqing gathered a crowd to revolt, killed the order of Fucheng, broke through Bohai County, and massacred officials and civilians.

The strength of the rebel army grew rapidly, and the number of troops quickly increased to more than [-]. They slaughtered temples, killed monks and nuns, and burned scriptures and statues wherever they passed.

Emperor Xuanwu appointed Yuan Yao, a member of the royal family of the Northern Wei Dynasty, as the envoy, and rode [-] horses to discuss it.Finally, the rebellion was put down, and hundreds of leaders including Faqing, his wife Bhikkhuni Huihui and Li Guibo were beheaded for public display. "

Speaking of this, Fang Shu showed a thoughtful expression, and said: "These two massive rebellions show that in the Northern Wei Dynasty, there was a powerful underground force secretly existing among the people.

Sudden attack, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses can be gathered in a short period of time to attack the city, and even force the imperial court to dispatch [-] troops to suppress it.

Even though Faqing has amazing magical spells and can concoct mind-disturbing ecstasy drugs, but if he contacts the local powerful and gathers tens of thousands of horses, without a strict organization and a unified signal to communicate and echo, it will be difficult to accomplish anything in the short term.

The behind-the-scenes planners of these two incidents were not recorded in the history books because they hid in a dark and hidden corner and manipulated secretly.We have only confirmed the existence of this underground dark organization system with the surviving files of the six doors.

Based on the clues in the dossier, my mentor, Master Di Renjiedi, deduced that the power hidden in the shadows behind the two rebellions was related to a key word - that is 'Maitreya'!
It's a pity that my mentor did not finally crack this underground force throughout his life. "

……

　1. References:
　　1. "The Era of Divine Words: Prophecy, Jushu, and Medieval Politics", Sun Yingang, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House,
　　Published June 2015.

　　2. "Listening to Wu Han's History: The Mirror of History", Wu Han, Zhejiang People's Publishing House, published in January 2020

　　2. Reference poetry

　　Since ancient times, the Chu people have come to hate, and they have been sad for nine times.

　　Thousands of trees, green smoke, and the Three Gorges are dark, and the river is full of bright moon, and a monkey mourns.

　　The situation in the country is so frightened and disabled that it is better to bring a wine glass to the consoling guests.

　　See Jiangshan and chant, how can you come without being relegated.

　　——"Yellow Stream Night Mooring" Ouyang Xiu
　　
　
(End of this chapter)