Chapter 398 Zhao Duan: Eastern and Western Buddhism, fighting for Buddhism? So ridiculous
Enter!
"Dang——dang——"
In the Shenlong Temple, the deep sound of bells came from this ancient temple, and the sound rolled across the audience, giving orders to all the officials in the Guanshui Tower. The spirit was shaken.
I saw a group of eye-catching monks from the Western Regions walking towards the square outside Shenlong Temple that had already been cleared of snow. Outside the armored Forbidden Army blocking the scene in the cold wind.
The team included the "Five Directions Sangha" under the throne of the Dharma King of the Western Regions, monks in black, green, white, red and yellow robes of different colors. However, the leader of the group was still the most eye-catching master of the Red Sect.
The old monkey-like "holy monk" led the crowd, with a solemn and solemn expression. Beside him, young Danche followed closely, holding a prayer wheel in his hand.
The group of people walked to the side of the stand under the watchful eyes of the Imperial Guards and the nobles who were invited to observe the debate in the square.
Dan Che glanced around, frowned slightly, and whispered:
"Master, there are not many people."
The Red Sect master looked intently, but he was obviously a little disappointed, not because of the large audience...
After learning about the "forbidden Buddha", he did not expect many believers to watch today's debate. There is speculation that what really makes him frown is that with fewer people, the chance of "wisdom" appearing will be much more difficult.
But now that the matter has come to this, he can only calm down and whisper:
"Don't look around. What do you think are these people on the field? There are all of them hidden in the surrounding buildings. There are more people from the Yu Kingdom, and today the female emperor of the Yu Kingdom is in the nearby Guanshui Tower.
Moreover, the debate is not only famous, but also the competition with the Shenlong Temple, which makes the monks in the Shenlong Temple realize. , the orthodoxy of Buddhism in the Western Region is our real goal.”
In the final analysis, today's debate on scriptures is a competition within Eastern and Western Buddhism.
Appearing to outsiders is second, fighting for the "orthodox" status is the core.
“Dang——dang——”
The bell echoed lowly.
After the Western Regions Mission entered the square, a large group of monks came out of the gate of Shenlong Temple.
The leader was the abbot Xuan Yin, who was wearing brown monk robes and golden cassocks, with a stooped figure and an old appearance.
This powerful man who has been hiding in the Buddhist temple and has not appeared in the world for many years has once again appeared in front of everyone after Xu Zhenguan suppressed Shenlong Temple and resisted the empress's three swords not long ago.
Behind Abbot Xuanyin, three people followed.
They are:
Bianji in white monk robes;
The burly Nagarjuna Bodhisattva with no beard or hair on his face;
and the female Prajna Bodhisattva with a head full of black hair hanging down to her waist, a plump and charming figure, and almost transparent pupils.
Behind the three people, there was a dense crowd of hundreds of monks. At this moment, everyone looked serious.
Both parties came to both sides of the huge hastily built round platform in the square.
Nearly at the same time, all the monks clasped their hands together and chanted: "Amitabha!"
The sound mixed together was like a loud bell, causing the building tiles around the square to faintly vibrate.
Great momentum!
Many nearby viewers all changed their minds, feeling enveloped in a sudden solemn atmosphere.
……
Guanshui upstairs.
The officials of the imperial court looked at the square in the snow and clearly heard the resonant Buddha's name.
As a maid, Mochou stood beside the empress. As soon as she filled a glass of water in her hand, her eyelids twitched when she saw the water ripples in the cups on the coffee table.
Then, everyone clearly heard the loud voices of both parties greeting each other in the distance.
It was probably the Master of the Red Sect, representing the Dharma King, who had a dialogue with Xuan Yin, explaining the purpose of today’s debate on the scriptures, in order to fight for “orthodoxy” and so on.
“What a loud noise...”
Princess Manzhu had a strange expression. Although she had been in the Western Regions for many years, this was the first time she had witnessed a debate on this scale.
"The formations are engraved around the high platform. Even if you don't deliberately use magic, the sound of debate can spread far away,"
Xu Zhenguan sat at the main seat with an indifferent expression and smiled. : "Does Auntie know that we will be debating scriptures later? What is today's theme?"
Princess Wenzhu shook her head: "But I don't know."
After entering the city, she deliberately maintained her relationship with the Western Regions The distance between the monks is that I am sitting here today as the "Princess of Yu Kingdom" and nothing else.
Xu Zhenguan personally introduced:
"Have you seen that high platform? After that, both sides will send people to the stage and jointly summon the projection of the god, the Lord, hanging high in the sky. Both sides will use 'What is Good deeds' opening debate, the outcome is not decided by humans, but by the Buddha, the World-Honored One...
Oh, the World-Honored Buddha is a god of wisdom, and it is best to be a 'judge'... This is also a fight for 'orthodoxy' The reason is that whichever party’s understanding of Buddhism is more favored by the Buddha will naturally inherit the Buddhist orthodoxy.”
The reason why she is so familiar with it is because this is not the first time that debates have occurred in history.
But to truly witness it is the only time I have seen it in my life.
The battles in the religious world do not require the secular imperial power to be more gentle. Looking through the history books, which sectarian struggle has not erupted in blood and fire?
......
While slightly distracted, the "greetings" session in the square ended.
"Master..." Danche glanced at the old monk beside him, and saw the latter's big hand gently caressing the young monk's head.
The master of the Red Sect stepped up to the high platform, adjusted his robes, and sat down cross-legged. Looking to the opposite side, he said loudly: "Please!"
On the side of Shenlong Temple, Abbot Xuanyin sat on the seat in front of the monks. As a strong man in the realm of heaven and man, according to the rules, he would not participate in this debate.
The plump and beautiful Prajna Bodhisattva glanced at the other two people, smiled with a complex expression, and sat down on the empty chair to the right of Xuan Yin.
As one of the three Bodhisattvas in Buddhism, Prajna and Xuan Yin have never dealt with each other. This time, Xuan Yin has personally ordered not to participate.
Everyone’s eyes fell between Bianji and Nagarjuna.
However, in the end, Nagarjuna, who was expected to be the second most popular figure in Shenlong Temple, still snorted, turned around and sat down on Xuanyin's left hand side.
First Tianhai was defeated, and then Yansuo Lake... After Nagarjuna returned to Beijing this time, his power was severely reduced by the angry Xuanyin.
Therefore, the one who represented Shenlong Temple in the battle today finally fell on Bian Ji, who Xuan Yin relied on the most and was very good at eloquence.
Bian Ji walked up to the high platform step by step and sat down cross-legged.
As he sat down, suddenly, without warning, dark clouds gathered in the sky above the square, and the prayer wheel in the hands of young monk Danche suddenly started to rotate crazily on its own.
On the side of Shenlong Temple, the unfathomable old monk Xuan Yin didn't know when he had opened his palm and gently threw a "swastika" Buddhist inscription into the sky.
"Boom!"
With a roar that was almost like thunder, circles of ripple-shaped Buddha light suddenly spread in the sky, accompanied by the sound of hundreds of monks chanting Buddhist scriptures in the square.
Amidst the chanting of scriptures, an astonishing scene appeared!
I saw a large hole opened in the clouds high in the sky. In it, a majestic and huge Buddha head with a vague face, overlooking the earth, bathed in the Buddha's light, looking towards the high platform for debating sutras!
"World Honored One!"
Around the square, the nobles who were watching, as well as the court officials and scholars in nearby buildings were excited and dazzled.
Be in awe as you witness the birth of one of the most powerful gods in the world, Lord Buddha!
Not only them, this time, even outside the blockade of the Forbidden Army, almost half of the mortals in the capital caught a glimpse of the golden light in the sky.
Even closer, the believers who lived near Shenlong Temple knelt down and fell down one after another as they looked at the World Honored God emerging in the distance in their courtyards.
Oral recitation: Amitabha.
"Your Majesty...it's about to begin." Mochou took a deep breath and handed the teacup to the Empress.
Upstairs, all the officials, including Xu Zhenguan, stared intently at the position where the scriptures were being debated, imagining the ensuing verbal exchanges between the two sides.
However, just as the debate was about to begin, suddenly, a discordant voice came from somewhere, breaking the solemn atmosphere.
“Haha, it looks like I came just in time!”
In an instant, people looked around in shock and saw a figure appearing on the roof of a two-story building near the square.
Zhao Duan was wearing a loose robe, his hair was tied back casually, and he was holding a flag that was hastily and crudely made from an unknown shop.
Standing in the wind, with a stern smile.
As people watched in shock, Zhao Duan threw the flagpole forward with all his strength! The man leaped into the air.
Then, like a dragonfly touching the water, he leaped out more than ten feet, stepped on the flagpole with both feet and used his strength, and jumped towards the towering round platform for debating scriptures!
"Bang!"
The flagpole under his feet was like a spear, making a sharp sound through the air, wrapped in strong wind, and pierced hard into the center of the high platform!
"Crash..."
The flag wrapped around the flagpole stretches in the wind, with two big characters "Challenge" flying in the air!
Then, Zhao Duan floated down on the stage while everyone was dumbfounded, and with his hands behind his back, he swept past the red sect master and the white-robed Bianji who were sitting cross-legged in meditation, and chuckled:
"Eastern and Western Buddhism? Debate on Buddhist scriptures? A group of elmwood lumps. They are clearly on the wrong path, but they still dare to argue about the orthodoxy of Buddhism. It is simply ridiculous!!"
Quiet!
The originally solemn and tense scene of the debate seemed to have been pressed on the pause button. The monks in the square, and even the nobles and the surrounding imperial troops watching all looked shocked.
In the distance, on the Guanshui Tower.
All the officials in the imperial court were even more stunned, and then they buzzed and exploded.
"Master Zhao? He...how did he get on the stage?!" An unknown official exclaimed.
"This kid... is crazy..." Cold sweat broke out on Ma Yan's forehead.
"Zhao Qianshi...what's going on? Mr. Yuan?"
Xue Shence was also stunned for a moment. He turned to look at Da Qingyi next to him, but saw that the doctor Yushi, who had always been calm, was also confused. His expression was slightly dull.
On the contrary, Zhao Duan’s old enemy, Prime Minister Li Yanfu, was stunned and suddenly turned his head to look at the empress in front of him.
Then, the other officials came to their senses and looked at the empress.
Guessing arose in my heart:
Could this be arranged by His Majesty? It must have been arranged by His Majesty, right?
"Zhao...how did he..." Mochou was stunned and almost lost the teapot in his hand.
Princess Manzhu was the calmest. She was startled and blurted out:
"Is he that Zhao Duan?"
As she said that, she looked at the figure standing on the high platform in the distance, and suddenly she felt inexplicably familiar, but she had clearly never seen this person before.
When he turned to look at his niece next to him, he saw Xu Zhenguan sitting in a chair blankly, with a faint vein bulging slightly on his forehead.
Xu Zhenguan's beautiful eyes reflected Zhao Duan's figure, and he gritted his teeth:
"You guy...what are you doing again?"
This plot is much more difficult to write than I expected... I hope I can finish it tomorrow.
(End of this chapter)