20 years of spring breeze

Chapter 598 Talking about Buddha
Speaking of Bodhidharma, let's talk about Buddhism by the way.

Buddhism was introduced to China during the Yongping period of the Eastern Han Dynasty. It was established in Luoyang, the capital of the Han Dynasty, and the White Horse Temple was built to preach to the world. It was recommended by the emperor at that time to become the state religion.But the Eastern Han Dynasty was not yet the dynasty with the deepest belief in Buddhism. The deepest was Xiao Yan, Emperor Wu of Liang during the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

"480 temples in the Southern Dynasties, how many towers are in the mist and rain." Du Mu's "Jiangnan Spring" is a realistic depiction of the Buddhist grandeur during the reign of Emperor Wu of Liang.Xiao Yan, Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty, was a talented and emotional poet. His Jiangnan Nong poems were included in the Yuefu poetry anthology.

Emperor Wu of Liang lived to be 86 years old, which was considered a miracle in an era when the average age was in his twenties. Later generations believed that he lived a long life because he believed in Buddhism. To what extent did he believe in Buddhism?He didn't want to be an emperor and ran to become a monk. He ran back and forth four times, but was chased and coaxed back by the ministers.He said that he was sorry for the Buddha for leaving the temple and had to redeem his body. In the end, it cost more than 4 million yuan to redeem him, and the national treasury was spent.

His influence on Buddhism was the largest and most successful in history.One is to build monasteries extensively, covering the entire country. If it weren’t for the minister’s persuasion to go abroad, it was his efforts that made people all over the country worship and believe in Buddhism at that time, and the rapid popularization of Buddhism reached a new height.

The second thing is the division of Buddhism.

Buddhism does not have any rules and regulations. It is just a kind of belief and a way of practice. Think about it, the founder of Buddhism was a prince in ancient India. How could he have so many rules and regulations to abuse himself?He needs only the faith and worship of the masses.

Ancient India is not India, but today's Nepal.

The Buddha's surname is Gautama, also known as Gautama, belonging to the Sakyamuni family in ancient India, so he is called Sakyamuni.

Buddhists build monasteries to practice, but eat meat as usual and women sleep as usual. There is no taboo. Only the lamas of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism are authentic Buddhism.Only Chinese Buddhists in the world work so hard. Chinese people like to go to extremes whenever they believe in anything.

Emperor Liang Wu liked to study Buddhist scriptures when he had nothing to do and was not engaged in creation. One day, he was suddenly inspired and wrote a paper, saying that Buddhists don’t kill animals. How can they eat meat if they don’t kill animals?Isn't eating meat the same as killing?This point is contradictory, but the Buddha cannot be wrong, and those of us who believe in Buddha must be the ones who are wrong, so we should avoid meat.

Moreover, Emperor Liang Wu didn't know why he didn't like female sex very much. His record was that he hadn't slept with a beautiful girl for more than 40 years, which was also written in his thesis.Because he is the emperor, the thesis soon spread to the world.After this thesis was studied by orthodox Buddhist practitioners, there were two schools of thought, one thought it was nonsense, and the other thought it made sense.

As a result, Chinese Buddhism is divided into two schools. One is Zen, represented by Bodhidharma and Master Huineng. The Buddha statue was smashed and lit a fire or something.It turned out that the Buddha statues were all made of wood.

The other school is the Pure Land School, which originated from Emperor Wu of Liang and developed in Huiyuan, a native of Shanxi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.He set up the Bailian Society in the preaching center of Donglin Temple in Jiujiang, and summed up a bunch of rules and precepts, believing that only by observing the precepts and practicing hard will one see the true Buddha nature.Huiyuan had a great influence and was revered as the first ancestor of the Pure Land Sect. Even Japanese Buddhism was divided because of him. Some Japanese monks respected Jiujiang Donglin Temple as their ancestral court.

Thus began the miserable life of the monk.

Today, Zen Buddhism is basically no longer seen. Domestic Buddhism is monopolized by Pure Land Buddhism, and the scriptures learned are all written by Huineng and his descendants. It is no longer something that was passed on. In fact, Buddhism has nothing to do with it at all. I still worship Shakyamuni every day, and I don’t know what Shakyamuni feels in his heart.

Huiyuan's influence on history is not limited to Buddhism. He pioneered ink and landscape painting, as well as Qigong.That's right, there is no qigong in the world, since Huiyuan came into being, there is qigong.Moreover, the theory of qigong originated from pirated versions of Taoist theories.

Chinese Buddhism is a synthesis of the theory of Emperor Wu of Liang, Confucianism, Taoism, and Yin-Yangism.

So, how did Guangxiao Temple, as the site of the first ancestor of Zen Buddhism, become attached to Pure Land Buddhism?This is also a question about Zen Buddhism in the whole country. We must know that in history, Zen Buddhism is orthodox.

For this matter, we have to look at several dynasties in Chinese history, especially the two minority dynasties, Yuan and Qing.

I won't talk about the far ones, let's start with Tang.why?The time of the Sui Dynasty was too short. Everyone knew before the Sui Dynasty that indescribable historical problems occurred. The Han people became two-legged sheep, and the history was broken.

In the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan was a man who suppressed Buddhism. He once ordered that only one temple should be left in a county, but because he was deprived of the throne, he did not carry it out, so Li Shimin came to power.Everyone knows that when Li Shimin was crusading against Wang Renze, there was a scene in which he asked the eighteen-stick monk to save the king of Tang. Although it was not as magical as in the drama, it did happen.

After Li Shimin came to power, he changed Li Yuan's style. He was grateful to Buddhism, appointed many eminent monks, and built some temples, which led to the prosperity and development of Buddhism.

Later, a female emperor appeared in the Tang Dynasty. The sisters pleaded that the Buddha, Emperor Xu, not only built temples, but also began to find people to make various Buddha statues. The modern Buddha statues are basically formed in the Tang Dynasty.The most prominent one is Master Avalokitesvara, who has transformed from a man before the Tang Dynasty into a beautiful woman with a charming appearance, which is self-evident.

But the anti-Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty was the nature of the whole people. Both Taoism and Confucianism began to tear Buddhism apart, spraying each other in front of the emperor, and published many good articles. Among them, Pu Yi is the main representative of Taoism, and Han Yu is the main representative of Confucianism. , Taoism has "Ten Different Nine Mysteries", Han Yu wrote "Original Dao", you can read this.

However, due to the interference of the two great emperors Li Shimin and Wu Zetian, the suppression of Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty was unsuccessful, so it was a tie. However, there were a number of new Buddhist temples, a large number of virtuous and eminent monks, and the success of the statues actually won the game.The Maitreya Buddha was also imaged in the Tang Dynasty.

In the Song Dynasty, commerce was prosperous, people believed in ghosts and gods, Buddhism and Taoism went hand in hand, and the Song Dynasty and the Liao and Jin Dynasties fought for decades without a break, and the government had no time to control local religions.

The Yuan Dynasty was violent, and many people were killed. During the period of rule, China never stopped, and the entire dynasty survived the constant rebellion and suppression.Zhu Chongba, who cut off the rule of the Yuan Dynasty, had been a monk, and he knew how miserable the monks were at that time, and the Pure Land sect who kept the precepts was good at living a life of hardship, and he persisted, and his territory became larger.

The Ming Dynasty was exactly the opposite of the Tang Dynasty. Because Zhu Chongba had been a monk, he was bullied enough in the monastery, and because he broke into the interior, he hated the monastery’s encroachment on land, gathering property, extravagance, and harming female believers. From the beginning to the end of the Ming Dynasty, they have always promoted Taoism and suppressed Buddhism. They have liquidated temple assets many times and expelled monks to establish Taoism as the state religion.

It's a pity that in the Song Dynasty, Confucianism grew because of Zhao Gou. Huanghuang Daming collapsed abruptly, not only knelt and licked the Qing Dynasty, but also slandered the emperors of the Ming Dynasty one by one in the history books.The Ming Dynasty was the most embarrassing era for Buddhism.

We have all read a strange novel in the Ming Dynasty called "Journey to the West".

In the Qing Dynasty, Buddhism was once again regarded as the state religion, and the emperor wanted to become a monk. The old lady Cixi even called herself the Buddha.Although the Qing practiced the Tantric Lamaism at that time, that is, the Zen way of not abstaining from alcohol, meat and beautiful women, the Pure Land Buddhism was promoted among the people.In this way, the situation of Buddhism today was formed.

As for Guangxiao Temple, when the Qing Dynasty unified the whole country, Yangcheng Gongyuan was bombed, and Guangxiao Temple was changed into Gongyuan. Later, Baqi Primary School was established here.The Japanese used this place as their headquarters, and the Japanese ran away to become a provincial art college and a cradle of artists.

After liberation, this was the South China People’s Academy of Arts and Arts. In 53, it was arranged by the superiors to become the residence of the South China Song and Dance Troupe, and it was changed into a courtyard. People work here, settle down and give birth to babies. The children born here are affectionately called "little children". monk.

It was not until 87 that the place was handed over to the Buddhist Association. The monks re-entered the temple to restore the sound of scriptures. It has been an educational base for 330 years. talent.

Buddhist believers often chant scriptures.

Chanting is a good thing, it is a learning process.But you have to understand the scriptures, know its meaning and understand the principles. It’s not like praying to Buddha and asking for scriptures if you don’t understand a word after reading it over and over again.In ancient times, great virtuous and eminent monks preached the meaning of the scriptures, explaining them word by word, instead of just leading people to read and play like the monks today.

Buddha, meaning the enlightened one, knowing, is the opposite of not knowing, and it means that if you understand everything, you will be transparent.Knowing is great enlightenment and Buddha, not just referring to a certain person or thing, but a state.

To become a Buddha is to live and understand, to see and understand, to understand.Instead of chanting sutras and calling Gautama's name to play every day.

(End of this chapter)