Chapter 9: Decline

Section 1: Will Buddha bless you?

Go west to kiss the Gobi desert, and the sweet carriage sheds tears on the clouds of my hometown.

The border desert looks like a crescent moon, and the snowy plateau looks like my old home.

King Songtsen and Tibetan leader Shi, and Princess Wencheng planted mulberry and hemp.

After thousands of years of strife, we continue to write poems about women!

The alliance between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo consumed too much energy from both countries, especially Tubo. As an empire developed to this day, even the Tang Dynasty began to decline, and the Tubo Empire was no exception. Then it went downhill step by step.

At that time, the Breakthrough people used their usual custom of placing their hope in religion. Buddhism is the most popular thing in Tubo now, so will Buddha bring peace to the snow-covered plateau?

Ever since Trisong Dezan realized in his later years that Trizu Dezan had succeeded to the throne, Tubo had been conducting foreign conquests for years. The wars consumed a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, resulting in domestic emptiness, common people complaining, and a high level of war weariness from top to bottom. Along with this

A series of contradictions have emerged, and there are also many contradictions within the ruling class. The struggle for power between royal families has never stopped, and there is a trend of intensification. In terms of diplomacy, Tubo has been isolated by the Tang Dynasty, and the situation is extremely unoptimistic. Especially

It was Datang who also actively united with Uighur, Dashi, and Nanzhao to fight against and contain Tubo, which made the development of Tubo very difficult.

In addition, from the perspective of the ideology of a country's ruling class, they have never had a unified guiding ideology. At the beginning, the ruling class used religion to rule the people, and later there was a dispute between Buddhism and Bon. In Buddhism

Before being introduced to Tibet, it had always been an indigenous religion, and Bon religion was used as a means of rule by the ruling class. Moreover, the great wizards of Bon religion could also directly participate in the management affairs of the ruling class. Therefore, as a belief, Bon religion

Tubo occupies an ideological leadership position in the country. During the Songtsan Gampo period, Buddhism began to be introduced into Tubo, and the ruling class began to favor Buddhism, support the development of Buddhism, and regard Buddhism as its ruling ideology. What followed was a series of Buddhist and

Bon fights.

During Trisong Detsen's period, the struggle between the two religions was very sharp, and the ruling class did not know which ideology to adopt as its own ruling ideology. Therefore, the thinking of royal rule in this period seemed a bit confusing.

This period was not only accompanied by struggles between religions, but also fierce battles for royal power. When Chide Zuzan just succeeded to the position of Zampu, he was still a child and had no way to take care of the government affairs himself. So he

His grandmother Chimalun supervised the government affairs on his behalf. In 705 AD, it was Dezuzan's half-brother Dusongmangbujie who, with the support of some people, established the title of Zanpu in Niboluo without permission. In fact, it was

Blatantly questioning and challenging the legitimacy of Chide Zuzan's royal power.

It was not until Trisong Detsen came to power that Tubo began to enter its heyday. However, the struggle for power within Tubo still did not stop. One thing is a concentrated expression of the contradictions in the struggle for royal power during this period. This story is called Trisong Detsen's recognition of his mother.

It is said that when an eminent monk from Han Dynasty was giving a sermon to Chide Zuzan, he once predicted to him that Princess Jincheng would give birth to a prince for him, and this little prince would be the incarnation of Bodhisattva. Not long after, Jincheng

As expected, the princess gave birth to a little prince for Zampu, who was Trisong Detsen. The then-major concubine Naangshi announced that she was also pregnant with Liujia, and sent someone to steal the little prince from Hongyan Palace, and used medicine to make him pregnant.

Her milk overflowed. Princess Jincheng cried all day long, missing her son. Zanpu and the ministers could not tell the truth from the lie.

When the little prince was one year old, Zanpu held a grand banquet for all the ministers and held a first-year wedding banquet for the little prince. The two real and fake mothers were also invited, and their families were arranged on both sides. After the banquet began, Chide Zunpu held a wedding banquet filled with fine wine.

He handed the wine glass to the little prince and said: Both mothers said that they gave birth to your son. You are a gift from God. Your body is full of wit and intelligence. I hand the wine glass to you, hoping that you will give birth to this son.

Dedicate a glass of fine wine to your biological uncle, and identify who is your biological mother based on the object of your tribute. The little prince started to offer wine with a staggering step. The Nang family used flowers, jewelry, toys and other items to attract the little prince.

The prince and Princess Jincheng called the little prince's name. He turned a blind eye to flowers, jewelry, toys and other items, walked straight to Princess Jincheng and other Tang people, handed the wine glass to the Tang people, and said: "I am the nephew of the Tang Dynasty, the Nang family

It's not my uncle's house." Seeing this scene, Princess Jincheng cried with joy and held her precious son tightly in her arms.

Due to the fierce struggle for royal power, domestic conflicts were also acute. Faced with the intrigues in political life, Trisong Detsen wanted to find an ideological oasis, and this oasis was Buddhism. Trisong Detsen believed in Buddhism, although he could not find his wife and children.

He realized the family happiness of ordinary people, but could not find any spiritual sustenance here. After coming into contact with Buddhism, he truly found the purpose of relieving pain in his soul, and Buddhism became Trisong Detsen's tool to get rid of worldly troubles.

, in the future, Trisong Detsen decided to become a monk and practice Buddhism. In fact, the foreshadowing has been laid from here.

Trisong Detsen and Cai Bangshi Mei Tuo Zhong gave birth to four children in total, the eldest son Mou Trisongpo (Tianzhe), the second son Muni Zanpu, the third son Mouru Zanpu, and the youngest son Tride Songtsen. After Trisong Detsen became a monk,

The second son Muni Zampu succeeded to the throne. He continued his father's hobby of worshiping Buddhism and ordered everyone from the royal family to ordinary people to donate to monks and monasteries. As a result, the power struggle originally hidden behind the contradiction between monks and seculars intensified. Mou

Nizampu was poisoned to death in Umpura Palace at the age of 24 and had only served as a nizampu for 21 months.

After Muni Zampu's death, the struggle between his mother Cai Bang and the powerful ministers became more complicated and fierce. When Muni Zampu was in power, he relied on the support of Buddhist monks to lift the rule of the powerful minister Shang Jiezan. In order to alleviate internal conflicts,

To divert the attention of the struggle, he turned a blind eye to the local war launched by the Tubo military nobles against the Tang Dynasty. Due to the tight defense of the Tang Dynasty's border areas, Tubo's attacks failed, especially during the Zhenyuan period, the Tang army was defeated

The Tibetan army came to relieve the siege of Weizhou. The Tibetans were so weakened that they took the initiative to stop their troops and ask for peace from the Tang Dynasty in 803.

The Tubo ruling class has been doing its best to promote Buddhism, hoping to promote Buddhism to the altar and make it the supreme spiritual pillar of the Tubo people. Since the Gar family was eliminated, Tubo has often suffered setbacks in military operations against the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, the military speculators and the main war faction in Tubo were greatly weakened. The main peace faction was consolidated and strengthened with the support of Tride Songtsan and Trizu Detsen, and there were even two

An eminent monk was awarded an important task, and their authority was even higher than that of the Prime Minister of Tubo. At that time, there was a trend in Tubo, which was to encourage young children to become monks and use this method to strengthen the power of Buddhism. However, they did not consider it.

The consequences of this have laid the foundation for the next internal conflicts in Tubo.

When Tride Songtsen first ascended to the position of Zampu, he encountered a conspiracy from his opponents. Fortunately, he escaped by chance. Although he successfully escaped this disaster, it is unknown whether he can escape successfully next time.

.This incident is not an accident, but a powerful reactionary force within Tubo. The conflict and struggle between the royal families is the root cause of this incident. If this problem is not resolved, then the Tubo ruling class will not

If there will be peace, the whole of Tubo will not be stable. Sure enough, Chide Songtsen's son Trizu Dezan was killed by the ministers around him. This incident should have sounded the alarm for the entire Tubo royal family.

Tell them it's time to wake up.

In the face of the issue of war or peace with the Tang Dynasty, there was never internal unity. Tride Songtsan was close to the Buddhist forces, and he also upheld the spirit of peace in Buddhism, so he also chose to shake hands with the Tang Dynasty and make peace.

.But peace is not a good thing for those warring factions, because this group has cut off their financial resources. The warring factions are unwilling to give in, so the battle between the upper echelons of Tibet will continue.

Songtsan Gampo, Trisong Detsen and Trizu Defe are also known as the three great Dharma kings of Tubo. They have one thing in common, which is that they vigorously promoted Buddhism during their reign. A poem by Du Mu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, goes: "There are four hundred and eighty temples in the Southern Dynasties.

"How many towers are there in the mist and rain", just 14 words, directly express the prosperity of Buddhism during the Southern Dynasties. And similarly, under the advocacy of Buddhism by the "King of Dharma", Tubo was not full of monasteries.

After the death of Trisong Detsen, the young Trisong Detsen succeeded to the throne, and the power of the government fell into the hands of powerful people such as Mashangchun Bajie and Dazalu Gong. These people are loyal supporters of Bon religion.

In the name of Tubo, he ordered a ban on the spread of Buddhism in Tubo, expelled the monks, and demolished temples. The first ban on Buddhism in the history of Tubo was vigorously launched. The desolate temples were overgrown with weeds, and the monks instantly changed from having no worries about food and clothing to becoming homeless.

Begging along the street.

After Trisong Detsen grew up, he began to use Buddhism to attack the powerful. He actively promoted Buddhism and built monasteries in various places. Even if ministers were convicted, as long as they contributed to the monastery, they would basically be spared. If

Some ministers have committed very serious crimes. As long as they are willing to donate their property to the temple and devote themselves to Buddha from now on, they can be exempted from the death penalty. In addition, Trisong Detsen also sent 300 officials and civilian disciples

Go to Tianzhu to learn Sanskrit and Sanskrit. The purpose of this is to cultivate more translation talents, and then invite eminent monks from Tianzhu to translate Buddhist scriptures in Tubo. To better promote and spread Buddhist culture, Trisong Dezan also specially invited eminent monks to establish monasteries for Tubo.

system, guided Tubo monks to learn Buddhism, and established the first Buddhist school in Tubo history.

Trisong Detsen treated those eminent monks particularly well. After the first abbot of Samye Monastery passed away, Trisong Detsen conferred on him the title of World Honored Master. He also announced a decree and rewarded him with a gold medal and a position above the Grand Master.

In some meetings, Tubo Zanpu also proposed that eminent monks preside over the meeting. In order to consolidate the status of Buddhism, some people submitted Trisong Dezan and asked for some financial aid and support. When they said this, the monks

You can concentrate on practicing. Trisong Detsen agreed with this opinion and stipulated that every three households in Tubo must support a monk, and distributed land and households to temples. These monks had a stable source of income and began to be like the landlord class.

In his later years, Trisong Detsen became even more obsessed with Buddhism. He often discussed sutras and Taoism with the so-called eminent monks. Finally, in 796 AD, Trisong Detsen made the decision to become a monk and practice. He followed the god in his heart, Sakyamuni.

He went to practice Buddhism and then left this huge empire to Muni Zampu. This successor was also deeply influenced by Trisong Detsen and continued to vigorously promote Buddhism in the country. In the name of the country, he ordered the establishment of the "Four Major Offerings"

, pushing the movement to promote Buddhism across the country to a climax. In various places, everyone from princes and ministers to ordinary people generously donated money to make offerings to temples. Whether it was gold, silver, jewelry, silk, or rags.

, the temple welcomed all comers. For a time, the temple was bustling with activity, and the hobby of temples was also popular in society. At that time, Muni Zampu also had unrest factors that eliminated the inequality of social wealth. He wanted to achieve equality

He implemented measures to equalize wealth three times a year, which were historically called "three equalizations of wealth." However, his measures to equalize wealth were a bit radical. First of all, this measure touched

When it comes to the interests of slave-owning nobles, they will of course encounter strong opposition from these nobles. Suppose a noble family originally had 2,000 cows, and through one-time average wealth, it became 1,000 cows. Maybe he can still tolerate it, but if after three consecutive

The average wealth is reduced to less than 100, which is unbearable even for ordinary people.

To achieve such a large task, Muni Zampu could not achieve it by relying on his own strength. So he began to disperse power to his relatives and monks who supported him, hoping to rely on the strength of these people to promote this reform.

Measures. As a result, the reform faction with Tubo Zamp as the core was formed. Muni Zamp took tough measures to implement his measures to equalize wealth. Even the family of his mother-in-law Cai Bang was not spared.

Because of this, one wave of resistance trends began to set off in the upper class of the ruling class. The largest resistance force was the strength of the relatives led by Zan Pu’s mother, Cai Bangshi. They believed that Zan Pu was their relative and was shunned by them.

Why did Tubo Zampu, who had been trained and promoted by these people, pick up a sword and attack himself now? They still couldn't figure out why. Would Tubo Zampu use killing methods to remove stumbling blocks?

There is another thing that has always bothered Cai Bangshi. Trisong Detsen had a concubine named Boyong Fei Jamao Zun. Master Padmasambhava believed that she was the reincarnation of Trisong Detsen's mother, so she was deeply favored by Trisong Detsen.

Before his death, Trisong Detsen gave this concubine to Muni Zampu, hoping that he would take good care of Concubine Boyong. This approach overturned Concubine Cai Bang's jealousy. Concubine Boyong gathered the favor of three thousand people during Trisong Detsen's lifetime.

It’s so unfair that I can continue to live a comfortable life under the umbrella of Muni Zamp! Under the control of this jealousy, Concubine Cai sent an assassin to assassinate Concubine Boyong, but due to the protection of Muni Zamp, the assassination failed. Cai Bangfei

Bangshi then transferred his jealousy and anger towards Concubine Boyong to Muni Zampu.

Cai Bangshi finally couldn't bear it anymore, and a plot to kill the supreme ruler of Tibet was about to happen. One night in 798, a dark figure secretly put a packet of powder into the tea prepared for Muni Zampu. Mou

After approving a memorial to offer property to the temple, Nizampu felt a little thirsty, so he picked up the tea on the table and drank it all. Not long after, Nizampu felt that his intestines were twisted like a knife, and he was bleeding from all his orifices...

When he was discovered, he was already dead. Muni Zampu never thought until his death that his mother-in-law, Cai Bangshi, who loved him dearly and personally helped him ascend to the throne of Zampu, would send someone to poison the tea.

After Muni Zampu was killed, because he had no heirs, his second brother was killed again. Therefore, Zampu's position was passed to his youngest brother Tride Songtsan. Tride Songtsan ascended the throne of Zampu

After he became emperor, he did not abandon the reform policies of his brother's reign. He further deepened these reform measures and continued to promote Buddhism nationwide. In fact, this was not due to his worship of Buddhism under the influence of his father and brother.

It is because without Buddhism, he would not be able to rule such a huge country. He does not know what measures and thinking methods should be used to help him rule. In addition, he has been educated in a monastery since he was a child, and all he studied was Buddhist theory.

, besides relying on Buddhism, he didn’t know how to help himself. Since Zanpu was killed when he took office, he was also trembling with fear after he came to power. Fortunately, his master, the Buddhist monk Ding Aizeng, was always protecting him.

At the same time, it also played a role in teaching Zanpu’s teachings and solving doubts.

Speaking of this Niang Dingai Zeng, the first thing we see is his surname - Niang. By the way, let's talk about the legendary life of this eminent monk.

Niang. Ding Aizeng, a famous monk in Tubo history, was born in an ancient Tubo family, the Niang family. This family is widely distributed. The Niyang River in the east and the Nianchu River in Tibet are actually Niang rivers.

Among them, "Rula" among the 61 Dongdai includes "Niangruo" and Dongdai, which is most likely the place where the Niang family once lived. The Niang family has a high level of Han culture, and they have a deep understanding of the classics of the Tang Dynasty.

I am very familiar with the system. The important Tibetan minister who welcomed Princess Jincheng at that time was named Xila, and he came from the Niang family.

As early as the period of Dabu Niezan (Songtsen Gampo's grandfather), the Niang family and the Wei family defected to the Tubo tribe, and formed an alliance with the Tubo tribe to jointly conquer Songwang, a small state in Supi. Later, the Niang family followed the Nan

Ri Songtsen (Songtsan Gambo's father), made many military exploits and won the trust of Zamp, and Niang's political status was greatly improved. When he arrived at Songtsen Gambo, Niang Shangnang was convicted and demoted, and Niang's family was
To be continued...