Chapter 470: The Great Sage's Mantra of Conquering Demons and the Reformation of Buddhism
While Shi Chonggui was building a number of palaces such as Zide Palace in Kaifeng Prefecture, Tokyo, and housing the palace residents for entertainment, Zhang Zhao was also building a large-scale construction project in Liangzhou.
In mid-March, the Daci'en Temple in Liangzhou, covering an area of more than 1,000 acres, was finally completed in three years for the spiritual practice of Zhang Zhao's biological mother, the Song family, and for Zhang Zhao's religious innovation.
Zhang Zhao also deliberately built a nine-story, fifteen-foot-tall pagoda made of red gold bricks at the highest point of the temple, and named it Baozhao Pagoda.
Starting from the first month of this year, Zhang Zhao began to summon religious leaders and painters from Anxi, Beiting, Qingtang, Xia Sui, and even the land of Xijiasi to Liangzhou to create together the true wheel-turning holy king subduing demons and the great
The Holy Scripture of Conquering Demons.
At the same time, Dayun Temple was merged into Daci'en Temple, and a scripture school was started to explain Buddhist classics.
The so-called map of the true wheel-turning holy king subduing demons is the top priority of Zhang Zhao's Buddhist innovation.
This is a collection of pictures with hundreds of Buddhist stories.
Most of the Buddhist stories collected in it are about Sakyamuni, King Pasenadi, King Asoka, etc.
But there are nearly 40% of the stories, which are newly created. They tell the story of me, the Holy King Zhang Fa Wang, who went all the way west, defeated various evil spirits and heretics, and then received enlightenment from the Buddha at the Lingjiu Palace in Lingjiu Mountain, Tianzhu.
s story.
The most important part is the picture of the True Wheel-turning Holy King Conquering Demons. It is more than ten meters long and has corresponding murals, which have been carved in the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Shazhou.
The Holy Scripture of the Great Sage Conquering Demons is the written embodiment of the True Wheel-turning Saint King's Diagram of Conquering Demons.
It includes the meaning of the sutra chanted in Sanskrit, the narration of the story, and the explanation of the meaning of the sutra by the Holy Wheel-turning King.
Buddhism at this time was actually in a very confused period.
Prior to this, Buddhist philosophical spiritual speculation and teachings all came from Tianzhu, because Buddhism originated in Tianzhu.
At this time, Central Plains Buddhism still believed strongly in the authority of Tianzhu Buddhism.
So much so that from the Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties, monks from the Central Plains and Silla monks from Haidong continued to go to Tianzhu no matter how difficult the situation was. This was also the source of motivation for Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty to seek marriage.
However, Tianzhu Buddhism is now on the eve of its demise. Not to mention new classics, even new interpretations of old classics can no longer appear.
And there is another problem, that is, Buddhism rooted in Tianzhu, its cultural attributes at this time are still Tianzhu style.
This is also an important reason why the Three Martial Arts and One Sect destroyed Buddhism one after another.
Buddhism before the Song Dynasty was in conflict with the Chinese culture in the Central Plains, and it was so violent that even the Brahmin caste system tried to spread in the Central Plains.
Historically, they experienced the thunderstorm of Zhou Shizong and Guo Rong, as well as the strong penetration and innovation of scholar-bureaucrats of the Song Dynasty, before they became the Chinese Buddhism we saw in later generations.
Of course, in fact, at this time, the Han people had already begun to modify Buddhist thought.
The various sects that emerged in the Tang and Five Dynasties were the beginning of innovation.
However, Zhang Zhao could not wait that long. Buddhism in the Central Plains could be left to literati and officials to slowly correct, but Longyou in Hexi could not be delayed like this. This was related to Zhang Zhao's plan to expand westward.
"His Holiness, this is the image of the thirty-two lotuses made by Master Tongxiu."
Specifically, Yang He, the monk from Dufatong Huixing who was in charge of Buddhist affairs for Zhang Zhao, and Longbian, the monk from Dufatong who was in charge of the monks, came over hand in hand.
They also held a portrait in their hands, which showed a Buddha whose features resembled those of Zhang Zhao.
The Buddha is wearing a monk's robe, holding a Zen staff, floating on the vast lake with misty waves, surrounded by lotus flowers in full bloom. It seems that the majesty also reveals the temperament of charity, and it is the solemnity of Buddhism.
The master who painted the painting, Tongxiu, had a common surname of Zhou. It is said that he was a descendant of Zhou Fang, who founded the Zhou family style Buddhist painting.
Of course, there is nothing to say about his painting skills, but what Zhang Zhao is most satisfied with is the Buddha’s features.
This is not to say that he was satisfied if the painting looked like Zhang Zhao's, but because before that, most of the Buddhist images of Buddha, Arhat, etc. were of Tianzhu style.
Some of the Buddha statues we saw in later generations have strange shapes because they did not draw them according to the facial features of the Han people.
The reason why Zhang Zhao asked Master Tongxiu to make the Thirty-Two Lotus Flower Figures and to have them reviewed by him is that from today on, the eyebrows and eyes of the Buddha statues in Hexi must be painted according to the appearance of the Han people.
That kind of statues of monks can also be painted, but only for people like Sakyamuni who were originally from India.
"The Dharma King and his disciples reviewed the Great Sage's True Scripture of Conquering Demons and found that the location of our country, Liang, should be the place of Dharma.
The west of Daliang should be the place for spreading the Dharma, the south of Daliang should be the place for protecting the Dharma, and the land in the Central Plains should be the place for good Dharma.
It is divided into four places, and the Holy King of Wheels divides the Buddha into four bodies to save all sentient beings."
Long Bian was extremely respectful and treated Zhang Zhao exactly as a Buddhist disciple would when he saw the Buddha.
The so-called four places are the four images of Buddhism proposed by Zhang Zhao and created by a group of eminent monks from the Liang Kingdom.
According to the explanation of the Great Sage's Sutra of Conquering Demons, after Zhang Zhao received the Buddha's teachings and advice from the Lingjiu Palace in Lingjiu Mountain, Tianzhu, Buddhism in the world changed.
Buddhism in Tianzhu has declined and has lost its foundation as the origin of Buddhism. It should be a place to protect the Dharma. After the reincarnating holy king established a sect and established a sect, he would then send believers to protect the Dharma.
To the west of Daliang, that is, all the places west of Hezhong, Persia, Daqin, etc., they did not know the compassion of the Buddha and his desire to save the world, so they had to have people preach the Dharma. This was the place where the Dharma was preached.
Of course, in the process of teaching the Dharma, there may be some stubborn villains or even mortals transformed by demons who may block it, so the Holy King of Wheels has the power to organize monks and soldiers to spread the Dharma.
The land of the Central Plains is a land of good law. This was proposed by Zhang Zhao. Chinese culture and attitude towards religion are the most supportive of Zhang Zhao, so it is called a land of good law.
What this means is that the Buddhist teachings here, no matter how they are understood or interpreted, can be classified as a good word, and it is up to them to decide on their own.
This approach avoids the extreme amplification of Zhang Zhao's religious attributes in the Central Plains, and also sets the tone for Hexi Buddhism to go westward.
The Dharma Land is easy to understand. It is the birthplace of the new Buddha Dharma, the birthplace of the Wheel-turning Holy King, and the ancestral home of the Dharma after the decline of Tianzhu.
Long Bian saw that Zhang Zhao was more agreeable and continued to explain: "Among these four places, the place of rectification of the Dharma should be saved by the Supreme Heavenly Great Merciful Dharma King, the place of Dharma Protector should be saved by the Supreme Heavenly Great Ming Dharma King, and the place of Dharma transmission should be saved by the Supreme Heavenly Great Ming Dharma King.
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These three dharma kings are all transformed by the dharma bodies of the sage kings, and are called the three dharma bodies of the holy kings."
Zhang Zhao nodded, this was already more in line with his expectations. After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Zhao decided to add another dharma body.
"The grasslands in the north and south of the desert are set as the place where the Dharma should be fulfilled. The Supreme Dharma King will be the one to save it. Tengger is designated as the Dharma King and the head of all the Dharmakayas.
From now on, we need to call on the grassland people to respect and obey the law, so that they understand that they have important responsibilities to spread the law where they preach and to protect the law where they protect it.
In addition, we should quickly get rid of the monk-official system in Qingtang and the grassland. From now on, there will be no monk-officials in the Liang Kingdom and the Central Plains, and all the monk-officials will be moved to Qingtang and the grassland.
Under the four dharma bodies of the Holy King, there are living Buddhas, great virtues, Dharma officials, Sangha officials and other officials.
The Living Buddha will be found on his own from the Dharma Land, and will be recognized by the Golden Seal of the Wheel-turning Holy King and the Golden Book. The following Living Buddhas will be enshrined by the Living Buddha."
I, Zhang Tianwang, have learned enough about stitching, and even developed the Golden Vase Lottery System.
And this is obviously that he will not interfere with the specific teachings, but I want to be the leader of Buddhism.
By the way, Sakyamuni was thrown into the cold palace, and the Holy King Chakravartin became the interpreter of Buddhism in the secular world.
From then on, the tough warriors on the Qingtang and the grasslands were urged by Buddhism to advance towards Tianzhu, the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea.
This is also Zhang Zhao’s idea of trying to solve the inextricable life-and-death struggle between the grasslands and the farming peoples in the land of China.
The fundamental reason why the grassland peoples wanted to go south was that life on the grasslands was too difficult.
If the population is too large and they can no longer support themselves, they will go south to plunder and survive. If there are too many disasters, they will go south. If they are cheated by profiteers and cannot afford to buy anything, they will go south.
In the end, it got to the point where it was hard to live a life at a certain death, so I decided to take a gamble and go south to plunder.
If you win, you will be a young model in the club, if you lose, you will go to the sea... Uh! No! If you lose, you will move your head.
For the Central Plains dynasty, the grassland was too wide and too large. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty defeated the Xiongnu so badly that he was unable to eliminate them or rule the grassland for a long time. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty tried to fight and assimilate at the same time, but it still didn't work.
It was Zhang Zhao's turn, and he was ready to try to divert the disaster to the west.
As Khan, he became the Roman emperor of the steppe tribe chiefs and became their pope through Buddhism.
Then every ten years or so, he would lead these hard-working people to conquer the west, and serve as masters to the Russians and Germans in the west.
Perhaps, this is a good path.
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
I'm in a bit of a bad mood today. I wrote a few hundred words less, so everyone just has to read it. I can't concentrate.
