Pawn Crossing the River

The tallest building in Jinlingfu City is the Glazed Pagoda.

The Glazed Pagoda is located in the Dabaoen Temple.

The Dabaoen Temple occupies a vast area and is the largest in the south of the Yangtze River. It would take at least three hours to walk through the entire temple. There is an artificially dug river in the temple, called the Xiangshui River, which runs from north to south. This river is used as a boundary to divide the Great Baoen Temple into two halves. Only the front temple is open to the public, but the entire back temple is closed to pilgrims and tourists. Only celebrities and scholars are allowed to visit. , Only eminent Buddhist monks can enter.

Da Baoen Temple was built by Emperor Taizong of the Wei Dynasty to commemorate Taizu Emperor Gao and his biological mother. It lasted 19 years and cost 3 million taels of silver and 100,000 military personnel and civilians. It was built in full accordance with the standards of the imperial palace. It is magnificent and bright day and night. It has a total of It has thirty pavilions, one hundred and fifty monasteries, one hundred and twenty wing rooms, and thirty-eight sutra rooms, making it the first of the hundred temples.

The entire body of the Glazed Pagoda is made of glazed glaze, and there are 146 ever-burning lamps inside and outside the tower. It is known as the second tallest tower in the world.

The tallest tower is the Tongtian Pagoda located in the Purple Mansion of Yujing, with a total of thirty-three floors, which means the thirty-three days of Taishang Taozu. It also stands at the highest point of Yuxu Peak. It is said that it connects the Kunlun Cave and Sky above Yujing. .

Because of this, Da Baoen Temple is not a Buddhist temple, but actually a royal temple. Even after the fall of the Wei Dynasty, Da Baoen Temple was not under the name of Buddhism. Its relationship with Buddhism was not even as good as that of Confucianism. Most of the monks in this temple were those who fled Zen.

The so-called "escaping Zen" originally meant that a Confucian who dabbled in the teachings of Buddhism and eventually abandoned Buddhism and returned to Confucianism was called escaping Zen. To escape from Zen to return to Confucianism, to become false in order to seek truth, is to escape from Buddhism.

However, later, in order to eliminate the influence of escape Zen and confuse the ideas of Confucianism, Buddhism described escape Zen as escaping reality through studying Buddhism, that is, escaping to Buddhism.

One word difference, two meanings.

The monks in Dabaoen Temple can use either the former explanation or the latter explanation. According to Buddhism, they are Buddhist students who fled from Confucianism to Buddhism. According to Confucianism, they only temporarily set foot in Buddhism, and will eventually abandon Buddhism and flee back to Confucianism. No matter which way you say it, these monks have a deep relationship with Confucianism.

All in all, Dabaoen Temple is not a temple in the name of Buddhism, nor does it belong to Taoism. It can be regarded as belonging to Confucianism. Therefore, when Buddhism and Taoism were fighting, this place was spared and was not blocked by Taoism.

At this time, the Glazed Tower was brightly lit, and Situ Xingran was sitting on the top of the tower, with his back against the spire, overlooking the entire Jinling Mansion.

Sikong Cuo stood beside him, his clothes and hair being blown by the night wind.

Situ Xing pointed downwards and said: "The Taoist sect has already reacted. I have to say that the Taoist sect is really powerful. In a head-on confrontation, even if we have twice as many people, we will not be able to match it. It's a pity..."

"It's a pity that the Taoist sect is in chaos, or there is internal fighting." Sikong Cuo added coldly.

"That's right, internal fighting." Situ Xing laughed wildly, "Today's Taoism has two major contradictions, one is a horizontal contradiction, and the other is a vertical contradiction."

"What is horizontal? What is vertical?" Sikong Cuo asked.

Situ Xing stretched out his hand and drew four horizontal and vertical lines in front of him, forming a "well", and then said: "The so-called vertical means up and down. The so-called horizontal means left and right."

"For example, the great leader of the Taoist sect is on the left, and the pope of the Holy Court is on the right. They have different positions and different camps, but they are figures on the same horizontal line, which is the horizontal line above. In the same way, the Taoist sect The lower-level Taoist priests of the Holy See are on the left, and the lower-level priests of the Holy See are on the right. They also have different positions and different camps, but they are also people on the same horizontal line, that is,

"The great leader of the Taoist sect and the low-level Taoist priests of the Taoist sect are both on the same side. They are in the same camp, so they are on the same vertical line, which is the vertical line on the left. The Holy See's Pope and The low-level priests of the Holy See are on the same side and in the same camp, so they are also on the same vertical line, which is the vertical line on the right. "

"Divided by horizontal lines, the great leader and the pope are the same kind of people, and they are the rulers. The low-grade Taoist priests and the low-level priests are the same kind of people, and they are the ruled. There is a difference between superiority and inferiority, and there is a difference between superior and inferior."

"Divided by vertical lines, the high priests and low-level Taoist priests are the same type of people, and they belong to the Taoist sect. The pope and the low-level priests are the same type of people, and they belong to the Holy Court. The Taoist sect is on the left, and the Holy Court is on the right. "

Sikong Cuo partly understood, but also partly didn’t understand.

Without him having to ask, Situ Xinglan had already continued: "To put it bluntly, camp and level. Who you are depends on both the camp and the level you are in."

Sikong Cuo's expression became a little solemn. He smelled the arrogance of being disrespectful. This was a rebellious and unethical statement that would not be allowed by Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, the Holy Court, the imperial court, or even secret societies such as the Zhiming Sect.

If divided by hierarchy, believers will question the gods and leaders, which is absolutely intolerable.

Situ Xingluan was still thinking about himself and said: "The horizontal problem of the Taoist sect is actually a camp problem, that is, the Zhengdao and the Quanzhen Tao join forces to fight against the Taiping Tao. This is an issue on the surface. As long as anyone has eyes, they will You can see it. The reason why we have such a good opportunity is also because of the internal fighting among the three sects. To put it bluntly, it is the internal fighting between the rulers of the sect."

"But the vertical problems hidden under the horizontal problems are the key to the deterioration of the Taoist problem, that is, the struggle between the top and the bottom. It is easy to suppress the power of the Taoist priests at the bottom, but the Taoist priests at the bottom are the cornerstone of the entire Taoist sect. If the foundation is unstable, No matter how magnificent the superstructure is, it will become a castle in the air.”

"It's just like the glazed tower below us. Only the top floor is blown up, which is just a loss of one floor of the tower. The remaining part is still there, and it can be easily repaired on the original basis. But if the underground palace is blown up, What? The whole tower will collapse and have to be built from scratch."

"Of course, the knowledgeable people within the Taoist sect have realized this, so they advocate changing the Taoist sect to ease and eliminate the contradictions between the upper and lower levels. This is change. For example, Zhang Yuelu is a figure in this faction. I call him It is called the young man, corresponding to those old-school people who are stubborn to the end.”

"Do you know what change is? There is no need for so much nonsense. Two words can be summed up: 'Give benefits'. 'Give' means to give out, and 'profit' means benefit. Give up your own interests. As the saying goes, don't worry about being underwhelmed. As for the problem of inequality, as long as the upper class is willing to transfer benefits to the lower class, then the contradiction can be alleviated. "

"But the word 'profit' is easy to say, but it is so difficult to do. To put it bluntly, it is to cut one's own flesh with a knife. What state is that? It is the state of Buddha cutting meat to feed eagles. So Westerners say that touching the benefit ratio It’s hard to touch the soul. Orientals say that cutting off someone’s wealth is like killing one’s parents. Who would cut off one’s own flesh, and even more so if someone else does it for them?

"All changes are ultimately about revolutionizing oneself, changing oneself, and living towards death. Who has such courage? Even if there is such courage, the ship will turn around in disaster, it will be difficult to recover, and it will be deep-rooted. How can it be said casually? So ability Is it enough? Sooner or later, the young faction will fight against the old faction, but I am not optimistic about the outcome. The young people will probably die miserably. "

Sikong Cuo didn't look good and couldn't help but said, "What exactly do you want to say?"

Situ Xinglan asked, "What do you want?"

"Me?" Sikong Cuo was startled.

Situ Xingran narrowed his eyes: "Are you satisfied if you want to destroy a Jinling Mansion, or do you want to destroy the entire Taoist sect?"

Sikong Cuo couldn't help but take a breath of cold air.

What is audacity?

Even though he was a member of a secret society and had his head hanging on his belt, he still felt that Situ Xing was bold and bold, even to the point of being whimsical.

Situ Xing laughed wildly and said sarcastically: "If you don't even dare to think about it, how can you do it?"

After a long time, Sikong Cuo said slowly: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Instead of talking eloquently, it is better to do the things in front of you first."

Situ Xing twitched his lips: "Of course, of course, we must do the things in front of us well."

"Although the Taoist sect has responded, they still underestimated us. I remember a saying that seemed to be something. Weakness is not the biggest obstacle to survival, arrogance is. It still makes some sense."

"The Shuitang Workshop is just a cover-up. I'm ready, just waiting for your order."

Sikong Cuo exhaled softly: "Then let the Taoist clan pay the price for their arrogance."