Wudang

Chapter 24

"Let's go there quickly." Zhang Junbao hurried towards the Taoist side.

People on the Taoist side basically knew Miao Daoyi, so they didn't stop him.

Many people looked at Zhang Junbao curiously, after all he was very strange and he was still so young.

It stands to reason that at this age, he is not even qualified to attend.

Seeing Zhang Junbao and his party approaching, Zhang Zhixian hurried over from the front.

"Uncle, you are finally here." Zhang Zhixian whispered.

He was a little embarrassed, and it was a bit awkward to call a teenage boy uncle.

It would be fine if there was no one in private, but now the surroundings are full of people.

"What's the situation now?" Zhang Junbao didn't think too much, "Can you tell me about some of the previous debates?"

Zhang Zhixian nodded, ignoring the strange gazes around him.

Although his voice of calling Master Uncle just now was soft, but he was surrounded by masters, so he naturally heard it.

Some people wonder if they heard it wrong?
Zhang Zhixian is Qi Zhicheng's younger brother, and his seniority in Quanzhen Sect is already very high.

Although Quanzhen Sect still has an older generation, they are the generation that is in power now.

Zhang Zhixian called a young uncle?
Some people immediately thought of it. It is said that Huolong Daoist went to Quanzhen Sect, and Huolong Daoist took in a young apprentice, probably this son.

Otherwise, how could Zhang Zhixian respect this son?

Zhang Junbao followed Zhang Zhixian to Qi Zhicheng and sat down.

He has revealed himself to people now.

As long as someone with some background sees himself sitting next to Qi Zhicheng, he will be able to guess his origin.

Qi Zhicheng nodded slightly to Zhang Junbao, and then looked at the two sides in the debate.

He didn't care why Zhang Junbao was late, his thoughts were all on the debate field.

His face was serious, it can be said to be ugly.

Facing the aggressive trend of Buddhism, Taoism is powerless to parry.

Zhang Junbao didn't make a sound. After sitting down, Zhang Zhixian continued to narrate to him in a low voice the process of the previous debate.

While listening, he also cast his gaze on the field.

Fuyu, the abbot of Shaolin Temple, represented Buddhism, and Qi Zhicheng, the head teacher of Quanzhen Sect, represented Taoism. Seventeen representatives from each side of Taoism and Buddhism came out to debate. More than 300 monks and more than 200 Taoists participated in the assembly. There are more than 200 ministers and Confucian scholars, and the scale is unprecedented, far exceeding the grand debates of previous dynasties.

Among the monks are the eminent Namo State Teacher, Emperor Bashi, Living Buddha Karma Pakhi and others.

They were not originally among the 17 who went off.

The 17 Buddhists are: Congchao, the elder of Yuanfu Temple in Yanjing, Deheng, the elder of Fengfu Temple, Conglun, the elder of the pharmacist, Yuan Yin, the elder of Fabao Temple, etc.Among them, Lao Conglun, the dean of the Yanjing pharmacist, is the younger brother of Fuyu, the abbot of Shaolin Temple, with profound Buddhist teachings.

As representatives of one party, neither Fuyu nor Qi Zhicheng went off in person, but sat on the sidelines.

After all, today's classic debate is divided into winners and losers, and one side will always lose.

It doesn't matter whether it's Fuyu who grows his hair to become a Taoist or Qi Zhicheng shaves his hair to become a family, it's not appropriate, their status is here.

The imperial court still has a bottom line in this regard, at least it does not intend to beat Quanzhen Sect to death.

The 17 members of Taoism are: Fan Zhiying, Wei Zhiyang, Zhou Zhili and others. Three of them are Qi Zhicheng's younger brothers. Among the 17 members, twelve are from Changchun Palace, and the others are from Zhendingfu, Xijing, Pingyang, Daiyang and Fuzhou. .

At this time, standing in front of the Buddhist side was a lama in his 30s.

Judging by his attire, his temperament is different from that of ordinary lamas, and his status is obviously more noble.

Zhang Junbao didn't ask anyone else, he already knew who this person was in his heart.

Emperor Shi Bashi, an eminent monk of Tubo Esoteric sect, in terms of age, he is considered a junior among these eminent monks, but he is highly regarded by Kublai Khan, and his status as a master of God is enough to surpass other eminent monks.

Moreover, his Dharma is equally profound. It can be said that there are few people in the world who can discuss Buddhism with him.

If you don't have any real skills, how can you become an emperor teacher at a young age?

Just like Qiu Chuji was honored as Qiu Shenxian by Temujin back then, simplicity is in the emperor's heart.

When Kublai Khan was not yet the emperor, Bashi gave him the Vajra Empowerment, which is one of the important rituals of Tibetan Buddhism, and Kublai Khan respected him as his master.

In private, Ba Shi, as a guru, could even take a seat.

Kublai Khan had great admiration for Bashi. The couple and their children met with Bashi in the manner that ordinary people pay respects to their guru. A total of 25 people received tantric empowerment in front of Bashi.

Later, when Kublai Khan ascended the throne as emperor, he set up the imperial teacher system, and Ba Shi served as the emperor's teacher, with an unprecedented status.

As an imperial teacher, he represents the imperial court and acts as a referee.

Now he is fighting against the Taoist sect in person, and he is a little bit ignorant of martial arts.

"Is there any evidence?" Ba Shi clasped his hands together, with a kind face and a calm tone, and stared at Taoism after speaking.

Invisible pressure is deadly.

Zhang Junbao frowned slightly, the Taoist side was under too much pressure, it was almost unbearable.

The topic of today's debate is whether the Taoist scriptures "Lao Tzu Hua Hu Jing" and "Lao Tzu 81 Hua Tu" are real classics.

The main content of "Lao Zi Hua Hu Jing" is that Lao Tzu traveled far to Tianzhu, became Sakyamuni, and founded Buddhism, which means that Taoism believes that Taoism is higher than Buddhism.

"Laozi 81 Huatu" is a Taoist priest of Quanzhen religion who added various illustrations to this story, and engraved and printed it with both pictures and texts, making it more intuitive.

These angered the Buddhist side. Buddhism believed that these two books were apocryphal scriptures and asked the court to burn them.

Now Bashi is asking Taoism to produce evidence to prove that Lao Tzu is the incarnation of Sakyamuni.

The 17 people from the Taoist side whispered to each other, and they were a little caught off guard when Ba Shi made a move.

After all, they didn't count him at all, he jumped out suddenly, and 17 people panicked.

what does this mean?
Isn't Kublai Khan's meaning obvious?

In fact, they had expected the imperial court's attitude in this debate, but they didn't expect it to be so straightforward, and they didn't even want to face it.

"Yes!" Fan Zhiying shouted.

After some exchanges, they thought of evidence that could refute each other.

"Please!" Ba Shi said with a faint smile.

"Sima Qian's "Historical Records" records, 'Lao Tzu was born in Qurenli, Li Township, Chuku County. His surname is Li, his first name is Er, and his character is Dan. He is also the history of Zhou Shou's Tibetan room'. Seeing the decline of the Zhou royal family, Lao Tzu went west to Hangu Pass Guan Ling Yinxi once saw "Purple Qi coming from the East" and knew that there would be a sage passing through. When he met Lao Tzu, he asked him to leave a way to save the world. , wouldn't it be Tianzhu if you go west?" Fan Zhiying said loudly.

These words caused the surrounding people to discuss one after another.

Those present are all educated and rich, how can they be unfamiliar with "Historical Records"?
"Historical Records" does have records in this regard.

Noticing the reactions of the people around him, especially the buddhists on the opposite side who began to whisper to each other with worried faces, Fan Zhiying secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

It's finally a victory, let's see how he refute.

People on the Taoist side looked much better. Just now Ba Shi forced them to retreat again and again.

Fortunately, Fan Zhiying came up with a countermeasure, and the effect was very good according to the situation.

Everyone was waiting for Ba Shi's response.

But Zhang Junbao knew that it was easy for Ba Shi to refute Fan Zhiying.

It is also the particularity of this dynasty. If it were another dynasty, Fan Zhiying's evidence would not be so easy to overthrow.

After all, Taoism and Buddhism have been arguing for many years because of "Lao Zi Hua Hu Jing", not only in the Yuan Dynasty, but basically in all previous dynasties.

But "Lao Tzu Hua Hu Jing" has been passed down to the present, which shows that Taoism also has its own evidence, which makes Buddhism helpless.

Here we will talk about the origin of "Lao Zi Hua Hu Jing".

There are several versions of Zhang Junbao's various information obtained from the Internet of later generations.

The first theory is that during the period of Emperor Hui of Jin Dynasty, a Taoist priest named Wang Fu often argued with a Buddhist monk named Boyuan, but unfortunately he lost every time.

He couldn't quarrel with his verbal kung fu, and he couldn't get angry, so he wrote this "Lao Tzu Hua Hu Jing".

So what if I win the Buddhist debate?
The Buddha in your family is just an incarnation of the Taoist ancestor of my family.

This statement is also the most recognized by the majority of later generations. "Lao Zi Hua Hu Jing" was forged by Wang Fu.

According to Zhang Junbao's understanding, Wang Fu wrote "Lao Zi Hua Hu Jing" at that time, which was actually a kind of YY. In reality, he couldn't beat Bo Yuan, so I wrote YY novels. In the novel, who is the protagonist?
It's a means of self-soothing.

It's just that this scripture has been passed down through later generations, and the stories and scriptures in it have been continuously enriched and perfected, making it difficult to distinguish the authenticity from the fake.

Buddhism was stimulated, and later some people in the Buddhist sect compiled a book called "Awakening of the World", which said that Sakyamuni sent two saints under his command to go east. It is a Confucian boy Bodhisattva.

Good guy, this is bringing Confucianism and Taoism into trouble.

Confucianism and Taoism are confused, you two are arguing, what do you care about Confucius?

In this way, Confucius has become the incarnation of Bodhisattva, which is a disaster without reason.

Is it messy and quite speechless?
During the debates in the later dynasties, many of these fabricated scriptures were published, which can actually be read as novels.

It's just that it's a long time ago, and honestly, it seems to be okay.

It seems that there is no strong evidence for your falsehood, so in short, you are a little confused.

This is the grievance and resentment that Taoism and Buddhism argue about, which originated from "Lao Zi Hua Hu Jing".

The second argument is that "Lao Zi Hua Hu Jing" first came from Buddhism and was compiled by Buddhist disciples.

Zhang Junbao still remembered these clearly, after all he had paid some attention to it at the time.

Does it sound ridiculous at first?
How can Buddhist disciples demean Buddha?

Say Buddha is the incarnation of Lao Tzu?
This involves some things about the Central Plains Dynasty.

Buddhism came from Tianzhu. At that time, the Central Plains Dynasty was extremely confident in its own culture. They believed that Tianzhu was a barbarian and a barbarian.

And because of the different races, Yi Di believed in Buddhism, so we Huaxia shouldn't believe in it, otherwise wouldn't it lower our own level?

Taoism already existed in the Central Plains. Taoism uses the five elements to distinguish the two religions. It believes that we belong to wood in the east and belong to yang, while Buddhism comes from the west and belongs to metal and yin.Yang is superior to Yin and Yin is inferior to Yang, so Taoism is superior to Buddhism.This made it very difficult to preach Buddhism in the early days.

People in the Central Plains delved into Buddhism deeply, and felt that such a broad and profound teaching of Buddhism should not be possessed by the Yidihu people in the West, so they made up stories about Lao Tzu going to Tianzhu and becoming a Buddha. Therefore, they acquiesced to this statement and behavior, and tried their best to use the Taoist language that Chinese civilization could understand to describe Buddhism in the early days.

Under the condition that Buddhism acquiesces in the saying of Laozi Huahu, no matter it is written by the Buddhists themselves, or the Taoists of later generations began to write the "Laozi Huahu Jing", every dynasty and every generation has written it, so the content in it has become more and more abundant , making it difficult to distinguish between true and false in the later stage.

These are not groundless rumors, there is evidence.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Heng of the Han Dynasty, in order to seek blessings and prolong life, established Huang Lao in the palace, the shrine of the Buddha, and the Buddha refers to Buddhism.

It can be said that Emperor Han Heng believed in Buddhism, although it was for the law of longevity, the purpose was not pure.

But as an emperor, who doesn't pursue longevity?

One of his ministers was named Xiangkai, who understood Buddhism from the perspective of doctrine.

There is such a record in "Book of the Later Han·Xiangkai Biography", which is Xiangkai's elucidation to Emperor Heng of the Han Dynasty: "I also heard that there are temples of Huang Lao and Futu in the palace. This way is pure and empty, and there is nothing to do if you are expensive. You like to live and hate to kill. Save your desires and get rid of extravagance. Your Majesty is not going to let go of his desires, and killing and punishing him is unreasonable. If he is obedient, how can he be honored! Or say that Lao Tzu went to barbarians and became a Buddha..."

It is mentioned here that 'or say that Lao Tzu entered the barbarians and became a Buddha', which means that Lao Tzu went west to incarnate Buddha.

At this time, it was more than 100 years before the publication of "Lao Zi Hua Hu Jing", and it was proposed to the emperor who believed in Buddhism, and Emperor Hanheng did not object.

It can be seen that there must be a reason for this statement at the time, and Emperor Hanheng also recognized it.

Otherwise, even if he borrowed Xiangkai's ten heads, he wouldn't dare to say that.

As for the reason, the saying that "Lao Tzu entered the barbarians and became a pagoda" was probably first proposed by Buddhists to prove that Buddhism and Taoism have the same origin, so that people in the Central Plains can better accept Buddhism.

To be honest, the phrase "Lao Tzu entered the barbarians and became a Buddha" at the beginning was not obviously appraising or derogatory.At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Taoism and Buddhism were both in the initial transmission period. There were not too many contradictions and conflicts, and they even communicated with each other and supported each other.

Then why did Buddhism hate the "Lao Tzu Hua Hu Jing" so much?

The reason is also very simple, that is, the great prosperity of Buddhism, especially during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Buddhism developed rapidly and completely overwhelmed Taoism.

Then the problem comes, my Buddhism is so prosperous, your Taoism is far behind, and the descendants of Buddhism will not accept it.

How could Buddha be the incarnation of Lao Tzu?

Total bullshit?

Buddhism wants to justify the name of its own Buddha.

So, the historical Taoist-Buddhist tangle kicked off.

Zhang Junbao has been thinking about how to refute the Buddhist point of view for the past few days. Originally, this second point was a good starting point.

Too bad it was born in the wrong era.

If it was the Han Dynasty, everything would be fine.

But now it is the Yuan Dynasty of the Mongols.

According to the previous dynasties of the Central Plains, the Mongols were the Nahu people.

Is it too long to refute Buddhism with the previous point of view that the Central Plains looked down on the Hu people?

Now the Hu people are in power, and the relationship between superiority and inferiority is completely reversed.

Therefore, this piece of evidence that was more favorable in other dynasties was a taboo in the Yuan Dynasty.

Zhang Junbao felt that even if his master was Huolong Daoist, he might not be able to handle it.

Maybe Kublai Khan chopped off his own head in a fit of anger.

With his master not around, he couldn't reach him, and he didn't want to become an unjust dead ghost.

(End of this chapter)