"If you have something to do, start to act, if nothing happens, leave the court!"
As the eunuch's sharp voice echoed in the hall, many ministers braced themselves to see if anything happened today.
The Ming Dynasty has been hosting banquets at Haiqinghe for many years, and with the implementation of administrative reforms, the feudal officials in various places now work much harder than before. When they reach the court, they have much fewer things to do.
Of course, the most important thing is that we pay attention to pragmatism now, which is different from before. We should do something as soon as possible. In the past, we focused more on etiquette and morality and fought and fought.
For example, when Emperor Hongzhi entered the hall today, he moved his left foot first. This must be criticized carefully. Emperor Hongzhi must be told based on scriptures that when he enters, he must move his right foot first. It is wrong to move his left foot.
There was also the fighting between the courtiers. The fighting was extremely fierce. This faction and that faction fought endlessly. On the contrary, national affairs were forgotten.
Fortunately, in the Hongzhi Dynasty, this kind of struggle was not fierce or obvious. The main reason was that Emperor Hongzhi didn't like it. At other times, the civil servants and military generals would fight, the civil servants from the south would fight against the north, and the people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang would fight.
We have to fight Qi Chu and so on.
In short, most of the time, we are actually doing meaningless things endlessly, and we actually have very little time to deal with national affairs.
Now Liu Jin is the chief assistant of the cabinet, and he has a very stable position. He can not only suppress the civil servants, but also convince the generals and nobles. The second assistant Wang Shouren and Han Wen are both pragmatic officials, and they are not concerned about these intrigues.
not interested.
Most of the six ministers were promoted by Liu Jin, such as Zhong Fan, who could not compete with Liu Jin.
The resulting situation is that the imperial court is also very stable. With the country and the people in peace, nothing happened in the morning.
Many ministers looked at me and I looked at you. They all seemed fine and were about to leave the court.
At this time Emperor Hongzhi said: "Since you have nothing to do, let me tell you something."
When everyone heard this, everyone immediately became energetic. If Emperor Hongzhi talked about this matter, it would obviously be a big deal.
"Not long ago, drastic changes occurred in the Chu State. A monk intended to overthrow the Chu State and establish a so-called Buddhist kingdom. He also called himself a Buddhist emperor."
"I heard that Buddhism in Ming Dynasty is at its peak now. More and more temples are being built, and there are more and more monks. Moreover, this Buddhism has a way of making money."
"I didn't believe it at first. Yesterday happened to be the weekend. I had nothing to do so I went to Fahua Temple to have a look. I happened to come across some kind of Dharma conference being held in Fahua Temple."
"As for this Dharma assembly, you have to donate at least 50 taels of sesame oil to enter. If you want to enter the treasure hall to listen to this Dharma assembly, you have to donate at least a thousand taels of silver. Even outside the main hall, it costs several thousand taels.
One hundred taels of silver."
Emperor Hongzhi stood up and walked down the steps while talking.
Upon hearing this, many ministers immediately began to think hard. Emperor Hongzhi would definitely not talk about this nonsense, and there must be some deep meaning in it.
There is no doubt that Emperor Hongzhi is now criticizing Buddhism for making money, and making money in the name of the Dharma Assembly.
"I counted at that time, and there were hundreds of believers outside the temple alone. This would cost tens of thousands of taels of silver. I don't know how many people were inside. Moreover, after the Dharma conference is over, we still need to ask everyone
By donating money, according to a rough calculation, the Fahua Temple can get at least more than one hundred thousand taels of silver for every performance."
"It's no wonder that Fahua Temple holds Dharma gatherings every month. This month it's for Guanyin, the Son of Mercy, and next month it's for Tathagata Buddha. They are held every month."
"Let's burn incense here. There are grades. The first-class big incense costs thousands of taels of silver, and the first-class incense costs several hundred taels of silver."
"This one is that the temple collects millions of taels of silver every year, which is more than the tax money our court used to earn in a year."
"There are more than a dozen temples like this in the entire capital, and each one is similar. This works out to tens of millions of taels of silver a year going into the hands of these temples, raising those monks with fat heads, big ears, and sinister faces.
, many monks are monks during the day, and they eat, drink, whore and gamble a lot at night.”
"We, the common people of the Ming Dynasty, all have to pay taxes, and merchants also have to pay taxes. These temples are good. They are crazy about making money, but they don't have to pay a penny in taxes. Not to mention how comfortable our little life is."
"In ancient times, there was the Tang Dynasty, and in the Wei, Jin, southern and northern dynasties, Buddhism flourished. The people suffered and the country was weak. Today, the Chu Kingdom was almost destroyed because of Buddhism. My dear friends, please tell me what you think of this matter."
Emperor Hongzhi's words immediately caused an uproar.
Until now, people have not paid much attention to Buddhist matters, because most of us believe in Buddhism, and there are quite a few Buddhists in our families. It is very normal in this era to pray to God and ask questions about Buddhism.
Whenever I go to a temple, I donate some sesame oil money or something.
But no one has thought in detail about how profitable this temple is.
This Fahua Temple can actually make millions of taels of silver a year. This is so profitable. Everyone is jealous, thinking that if they open a temple of their own, wouldn't it be a huge profit?
You must know that when you are an official, you work hard for a year and your salary is only a few hundred taels or a thousand taels of silver. But these monks are so rich, each one of them is so rich.
"Ma Dan, thanks to me giving them a few hundred taels of silver when I went to the temple yesterday, I turned out to be so rich."
Some people can't help but curse out, these monks must be too rich.
"This temple is so profitable, earning millions of taels of silver a year. No wonder this Bodhisattva is cultivating more and more, and the temple is getting bigger and bigger."
"These stinky monks are making so much money. No wonder every time I go there, I need money for this and that."
Many officials couldn't help but curse in their hearts. There was no doubt that everyone had been defrauded of a lot of money. Originally, they were just thinking about giving it to the gods and Buddhas first, and begging the gods and Buddhas for their blessings, but they were willing to do so.
.
Now who knew that this temple could make millions of taels of silver a year? This is incredible.
"Your Majesty~"
"I believe that it is necessary to severely crack down on Buddhists' money-making, limit their number, conduct regular assessments to distinguish true from false, impose heavy taxes on temples, strictly prohibit their arbitrary expansion of scope and land, and strictly limit the construction of new temples."
Someone immediately stood up and said.
"Your Majesty, Buddhist temples are not engaged in production, but they can make a lot of money. If everyone becomes a monk, who will farm the land? Who will do the work? Who will be a soldier? Pay taxes?"
"This trend cannot last long and must be curbed in time to prevent our Ming Dynasty from repeating the mistakes of Chu."
"Your Majesty, the people are ignorant and can easily be fooled. The temples are taking advantage of this to make money. I believe that in addition to attacking the temples to make money, we should also broaden the people's wisdom and let the people know that the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty is the result of the above.
The emperor’s majestic strategy, literary and military skills, his love for the people, and his exhaustive efforts are the fruits of our Ming Dynasty’s tens of thousands of people who are thrifty, hardworking, and hardworking.”
"It has nothing to do with the Buddha of Buddhism. It is neither the illusory blessing of the Buddha nor the merits of the Buddhist monks. However, they are just sitting back and enjoying their success. It is really abominable and should be severely punished."
One minister after another kept coming forward.
The minister's words also made Liu Jin couldn't help but his eyes lit up. This was a fundamental statement.
It is not just about cracking down on temples amassing money, but the key is to enlighten the people's wisdom and let everyone know that everyone can live a good life because of their own efforts, not by some so-called blessing.
In fact, it is not just a matter of money-making in Buddhism. Feudal superstition has always been quite popular in the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, this is not just true in ancient times. Even in the 21st century, feudal superstitions are still very popular, such as Feng Shui, which is believed by countless people, ranging from high-ranking officials to ordinary people.
Everyone believes in Feng Shui. Choosing the location of a cemetery is extremely important. There is also a complete set of Feng Shui theories. This cemetery can produce talented people, certain types of acres can make descendants rich, and there are even legendary dragons.
Tombs, buried in them, future generations can produce emperors.
There are so many people who believe in it, not just one or two, but countless people who believe in it. Those who have money believe it, and those who have no money believe it even more. Countless people including those who are officials believe in this.
"Your Majesty~"
"I think that the entire temple should be heavily taxed, and everyone must pay taxes. This Buddhist temple is no exception. Otherwise, if things go on like this, the temple will become richer and richer, which will inevitably attract more people to become monks. By then, what will happen to our Ming Dynasty?
Isn’t it going to become another Chu State again?”
"Your Majesty, I think that a new yamen should be established under the Ministry of Household Affairs to specifically manage these religious affairs, grade and report all temples, Taoist temples, monks, Taoist priests, etc., and issue ultimatums to the real monks and Taoist priests.
.”
The ministers stood up one after another to express their opinions. There is no doubt that everyone is extremely dissatisfied with the temple's ability to amass money like crazy. Damn, all the officials are not making as much money as monks like you.
