Chapter 4742 The Cornerstone of Taoism
"Buddhism's 'cultivation of the afterlife' only needs to fool believers into believing it is true. After all, the afterlife is so illusory and elusive that it is difficult to detect. However, if Taoism's 'cultivation of this life' means immortality and whether it can become an immortal, everyone can see it. What's more, 'cultivating immortality' The road not only requires huge amounts of money to support it, but also requires outstanding talent to understand. How many people have such qualifications in the world? So if Taoism and Buddhism compete for believers, they will only fail."
Obviously, Yin Wenchao had given deep consideration to the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism, and directly attributed the key to success or failure to the fundamental teachings and concepts of both parties.
No matter how you look at it, there is no possibility of victory.
Cheng Xuanying sighed and said: "Jingxian's words have penetrated the foundation of Buddhism and Taoism. However, although our Taoism has passed down countless classics for a long time, they are all mysteries and mysteries, and they point directly to the origin of the universe and the mysteries of heaven and earth. This has already abandoned those traffickers and lackeys. ”
Strictly speaking, in fact, "Confucianism and Taoism are not divided into different schools." On both sides, there is me among you, and you among me. Therefore, it is difficult for an illiterate peddler and lackey to become a qualified Taoist priest. This is not a matter of reciting a few words of "Amitabha Buddha". "Then it's as simple as donating a few taels of sesame oil to become a Buddhist believer.
How can one who is illiterate and does not have certain literary accomplishments understand Taoist classics?
How to become a Taoist disciple if you cannot read Taoist classics?
From the moment it was born, Taoism was destined to be impossible to become a method of "universally saving all sentient beings". It has steps.
Yin Wenchao said: "So if Taoists want to be invincible in this competition, they can only find another way."
Cheng Xuanying saw that he was confident, so he was very interested. After all, this was a question that made him feel desperate: "I would like to hear the details."
Yin Wenchao stood up: "Follow me."
The two of them left the thatched building and turned to a taller building behind the house.
The "Thatched Tower Temple" is not just one thatched tower, but a total of more than ten thatched towers with wooden structures and thatched grass. Although it is not as dense as some prominent Taoist temples, it still has dozens of disciples.
Seeing their head teacher and a Taoist priest with an immortal style walk in, the disciples in the building bowed their heads and saluted, and moved aside.
The two of them climbed the stairs to the second floor and saw a five-foot-long cylinder placed on the base, pointing upwards. What surprised Cheng Xuanying was that this building had no roof. The roofs of the houses were lifted, the sky was shining and white clouds were blooming.
Cheng Xuanying circled the cylinder and asked curiously: "What is this?"
Yin Wenchao first opened the window on the north side, then stepped forward and turned the base. The cylinder changed its direction and pointed at the open window. He motioned to Cheng Xuanying to put his eyes up: "This thing is called a 'telescope' and it belongs to the Foundry Bureau." Products, use the purest and best quality The high-quality glass is assembled from a set of lenses made by water grinding. The magnification is eighty times. The construction process is extremely complicated. There are countless discarded unqualified glasses. The cost is about 5,000 guan. Of course, this is a gift from the academy. .”
Cheng Xuanying gritted her teeth while listening to the introduction: "It doesn't cost so much to make gold, right? It's incredible... Mother! How can you see so far and so clearly?"
The most famous figure in Taoism couldn't help being surprised. He took his eyes away from the telescope and looked at the continuous foothills of Zhongnan Mountain in the distance outside the window. Then he brought his eyes back and visually inspected the vague foothills dozens of miles away, but under the telescope But he could even see clearly every tree on the mountain and the birds standing on the branches looking left and right.
What's going on? !
Master Xihua, who had always only done theoretical research and knew nothing about the art of investigating objects, was shocked and lost his mind...
Could it be a magic weapon left behind by some immortal after his emergence? !
"The principle of this object will be explained to fellow Taoists later, but this object can see objects a hundred times away from the visual distance very clearly. If it comes at night, it can even observe the starry sky. Did you know that when I used this object to observe the moon last night? What?”
Cheng Xuanying: "Can you see clearly?"
Yin Wenchao sighed and nodded: "You can also take a look at it in the evening, Taoist friends. It will be clear and distinct: the crater, the mountain peaks, the plains..."
Cheng Xuanying's eyes widened: "Where's the Moon Palace? Where's Chang'e? Where's the Moon Rabbit? Where's Wu Gang?"
Yin Wenchao shook his head in pain: "No, there is nothing. Except for the mountains and valleys, the rest is dead silence. There is no moon palace, and there are no Chang'e, Moon Rabbit, Wu Gang, osmanthus... all the records left in the Taoist canon are... Wrong.”
"..."
Cheng Xuanying covered his head. Naturally, Yin Wenchao would not lie to him with such a thing, but if this was all true, wouldn't it mean that the records in the Dao Zang were simply fabricated and fabricated?
Ancient books such as "Gui Zang" and "Huainanzi" clearly record the deeds of "Chang'e flying to the moon", but now it is said that there is no moon palace and no Chang'e on the moon. How can Taoism justify its theory?
This collapse of ideals and beliefs was more unacceptable to him than killing him with a knife...
Yin Wenchao was not surprised by Cheng Xuanying's performance. When he used a telescope to observe the starry sky with bright stars and a bright moon for the first time at night, the intuitive shock could only be more shocking.
He raised his head and looked at the blue sky and white clouds from the open roof, and sighed: "This sky has never changed since the beginning of Pangu, and it will exist forever, for thousands of years, ten thousand years, and even hundreds of thousands of millions of years... This sky has never changed since the beginning of time. Compared with eternity, the vicissitudes of the world are just a fleeting moment, and any imperial ambitions, merits and reputations become empty in the blink of an eye.”
Looking at Cheng Xuanying, he pointed to his head, his eyes flashing with passion and perseverance: "Only knowledge can last through the ages and never decay! I, the Taoist, have never disdained to preach or fool the people. Firearms have flourished and been passed down for thousands of years. The root of this lies in our knowledge of the unity of nature and man. Whether it is Confucianism, military strategists, Mohists, doctors, etc., none of them are based on Taoist knowledge. Born? In this case, why not return to the origin and be rooted in knowledge? Put away those illusory techniques of seeking immortality. Those things can only be provided to emperors, generals, and high-ranking officials, and then the entire Taoist school should Concentrate our efforts to create and expand the two disciplines of 'astronomy' and 'medicine'. As long as we can make breakthroughs, Taoism can be passed down through the ages."
Competing for believers?
Harvest the people?
Taoists have never bothered to do this. Even if they want to harvest, they will only harvest emperors and generals...
But what if the harvest is reached to the extreme?
If a disaster such as "destroying the Buddha" hits the head, all the prosperity will turn into clouds and dust in an instant.
But knowledge will not disappear. Taoist classics contain the way of "the unity of heaven and man", master the rules of the movement of heaven and earth, and nourish the land of China from generation to generation. How can those specious, empty and weird scriptures of Buddhism be the same? ?
If we can make further achievements in "astronomy" and "medicine", two disciplines that Taoism has a profound inheritance, it will be enough to be passed down for thousands of years.
No matter how many believers there are, nothing can compare to integrating the inheritance of the sect into the blood of the nation.
Cheng Xuanying calmed down the shock in her heart, thought about it carefully, nodded and said: "Fellow Taoist has gained a glimpse of the way of heaven. As long as we keep walking, we will definitely be able to carry forward Taoism. However, my inheritance of Taoism must not be abandoned. It's over now. I will return to the East China Sea to retreat and concentrate on sorting out the ideas and teachings of various Taoist schools and laying the foundation for my Taoist inheritance.”
Taoism has been passed down for so long that it can even be traced back to the era of slash-and-burn farming and drinking blood from raw materials. At that time, there were no pens and no pens. All Taoist teachings were passed down orally. After countless wars, natural disasters, and man-made disasters, they were scattered or dispersed. Lost or misrepresented, resulting in There are endless branches of Taoist sects, and the core concepts are messy and even wildly different. If you want to avoid being suppressed by Buddhism and never turn around, these core concepts must be sorted, summarized, and summarized, so that the entire Taoist lineage has one A unified heritage.
Only by focusing on Taoism and learning as a supplement can we create a Taoist inheritance that will last forever.
Yin Wenchao happily said: "My Taoist friends are extremely talented and are rare talents that we in Taoism will encounter in a hundred generations. Now that we are devoted to the compilation of the Taoist canon, we will definitely get twice the result with half the effort. When the Ghost Festival comes, Taoist friends from all over the world will gather here, and we can invite them to participate in this grand event."
Although Taoism has complex factions and different affiliations, they have the same root and origin. Now facing the unprecedented pressure from Buddhism, they will definitely be able to work together to launch a counterattack.
As long as all Taoist sects can abandon their prejudices and work together to forge ahead, nothing will be impossible in this world.
At that time, Zhang Daoling once said, "At the age of Jiazi, Huang Tian is about to stand." Even the majestic and magnificent Han Dynasty was riddled with holes and its foundation was broken, let alone a mere Buddhist sect now?
He held out his hand and smiled.
Cheng Xuanying also stretched out his hand to shake it, and the two looked at each other with sympathy.
After drinking a pot of tea and discussing some details, Yin Wenchao suddenly remembered something: "Li Chunfeng sent someone to tell him last night, saying that the imperial court wanted to reform the tax system for Buddhism and Taoism, which would probably mean increasing taxes and even assigning corvees, so that We will respond as soon as possible to avoid being in a hurry when the decree is issued.”
Cheng Xuanying frowned: "Taoism was decreed as the 'state religion' by Emperor Gaozu, and all systems tolerated it. The tax rate was only symbolically charged. Emperor Taizong exempted and exempted many Taoist temples and sects from taxes many times. The tax rate was suddenly increased. , the imperial court is not afraid that Taoist factions will be dissatisfied and cause turmoil? ”
At this point, he suddenly woke up, raised his forehead and said: "How stupid. I think the court is taking advantage of the juncture of our fight with Buddhism to increase taxes, and they are not afraid that we will not agree. As expected, Buddhism must treat it the same way. "Buddhism and Taoism have a large number of people and rich assets. Which temple is not connected by vast buildings and vast tracts of fertile land, especially Buddhism? He often engages in borrowing and lending, and he is regarded as a thorn in the flesh by many honest officials. Now both sides of the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism have no time to take care of themselves, so they take the opportunity to increase taxes. On the one hand, they can increase the revenue of the national treasury, and on the other hand, they can also curb Buddhism and Taoism. With the strength of the two factions, I don’t know which one initiated it in front of His Majesty and struck with such cruelty.”