Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1960, breaking superstition and enlightening people's wisdom
"I really don't know if I don't check it, I'm shocked when I check it!"

"Liu Gong, Wang Gong, look at it, it's shocking."

Han Wen handed Liu Jin a memorial. This is the latest memorial to rectify temples and Taoist temples. It clearly states the situation of this rectification.

Liu Jin looked up quickly.

According to the decrees of the imperial court, the rectification work of temples and Taoist temples has been carried out in various places in Ming Dynasty. After a month of rectification and sorting out, some preliminary results have come out.

The situation is also similar to that in the Beijing-Tianjin area. The main problem is that the number of temples has increased a lot compared to before, at least it has more than doubled.

Secondly, the number of monks in temples has increased several times compared to before. Many temples used to have only a few monks, big and small. Now there are dozens of people in any temple, and even hundreds in large temples. Thousands of people.

A large number of people become monks, one or two temples is nothing, but if the entire Ming Dynasty is added up, the number is very large. According to statistics, there are millions of monks and nuns in the entire Ming Dynasty.

This number is really surprising.

You must know that the labor force in Daming is still very scarce. According to the latest census, the population of Daming has just exceeded 2 million people. There are actually millions of monks and nuns.

Most of these monks are actually fake monks. They take monks and nuns as their occupations, work in temples during the day, and go home to eat meat and drink outside at night.

While the number of temples and monks has increased slightly, the amount of property owned by temples has also increased dramatically.

The first one is that the land occupied by temples has increased very little compared to later, and some temples even occupy tens of thousands of acres of land, which they still cultivate themselves, and rent them out to others for rent.

There are also a small number of shops and houses around the temple, which belong to the temple and become the important property of the temple. They can get Philippine rent by renting out.

Another thing is that the property of the monks outside the temple is very small. They only have a small amount of cash, deposits, houses, and land, and few monks are very brainless to manage investments. They bought a small amount of stocks, He has bought shares in commercial firms and factories, and owns many plantations in the sea, etc.

Take Youchen, the abbot of Fahua Temple, the total amount of property in his personal name alone. Before statistics, the value of the property he owns exceeds 3000 million taels of silver.

Of course, the reason why the value is so small is also because I have no way to invest, and the money I got from the temple is actually not very small. A small amount of stocks, real estate, fields, manors in the sea, factories, commercial firms, etc. Assets are extremely small.

In addition to those places, after in-depth investigation, it is also known that a small number of temples and the like will hold various pujas under clever names.

In the future, there will be no activities in the temple or anything throughout the year, and they will be very clean. The real Buddhism should also be like this. Stay away from the secular and worldly world, and practice well after escaping into Buddhism.

However, now, there are very few Buddhist ceremonies, celebrations, and temple fairs in those temples. .

Temples in very few places hold those activities, which is a waste of money and people. The common people are already tired enough to come to participate in various activities in temples, which costs money and troubles. In the first place, it was cheaper for monks outside the temples.

Those problems are all already known to Xiaojia, but the really terrible problem is that Buddhism has become a place where filth is hidden.

There are many murderers and wanted criminals hidden outside temples in some places, and many such people were caught in the surprise investigation that time.

In addition, some temples use religion to ignorant believers. For example, some temples say that Guanyin is giving away children, and they rape believers who later ask for children by doing dirty things outside the temple, and those believers often dare to say Coming out made us even more timid.

The monks in some temples are extremely domineering, just like local hooligans, who bully women and bully men, and run amok.

In short, there were very few problems detected that time.

But compared to Buddhism, Taoist temples are much better.

On the one hand, the number of Taoist temples has grown rapidly, and there are only a few thousand Taoist temples in Xiaoming, and there are only a few thousand new temples a year, especially in the sea.

Secondly, the number of Taoist priests outside Taoist temples has also increased a lot. This has nothing to do with Taoist philosophy. Taoism has always felt inferior.

Another thing is that the Taoist school advocates quietness and promise, pays attention to personal practice, hides among the mountains and forests, and will take the initiative to develop its own believers and disciples.

Therefore, at that time, the Taoist temple basically did not find any problems, but it also found some Taoist priests who swindled and sold fake medicines and fortune-telling.

In addition to temples and Taoist temples, mosques and churches were also investigated, and many problems were also found.

For example, churches, Xiao Ming restricted the spread of local religions, but with the expansion of Xiao Ming's territory, some places did not have those, such as Baitu Province.

The natives of Baitu Province originally believed in Christianity, and there are not many churches.

There are many problems in those churches, such as covering up those who rebelled against Xiao Ming, secretly collecting tithes, selling indulgences and so on, and there is no close connection with the Holy See, who betrayed Xiao Ming Issues.

What's more, it is the order of the Gu court to develop believers wantonly and spread those religions to Xiaoming people.

"My lord, let him take a look too."

Daming read it slowly, and then handed the memorial to Wang Shouren.

Religion has had very few problems since its birth.

The East has always been good, and its influence on the secular world is not very small. In Europe, the Middle East, Tianzhu and other places, religion has no unparalleled influence on the secular world, and even the secular power has to succumb.

That may also be the reason why the East is the only country with an ancient civilization that has been able to continue. Because it is influenced by religion, it can always maintain its own culture and inheritance. The middle is the continuous rise, the individual is revived again.

Now with the slow rise and prosperity of Xiaoming, those various religions are also developing rapidly, temples, churches, etc. are increasing, and the number of monks and clergy is decreasing. There is also a small increase in wealth, land and the like.

"What do they think of this?"

After Wang Shouren finished reading, Daming thought about it and asked.

"On the one hand, we must rectify the retrogression of temples and churches, and limit their number and number of people. For monks, priests, etc., we must tolerate and limit their number. punish."

"For these fake monks and the like, all of them will be dismissed and ordered to return to vulgarity. They must be bluffed again."

"On the other hand, it will be subject to assessment. Only those who fail the assessment can be issued documents and crowns, and only then can they be allowed to become monks or priests."

"As for the priests in the Haili Territory, we are required to master your Xiaoming's language and writing, and require him to translate all relevant scriptures and the like into Chinese, and gently prohibit him from retreating with the Haili religious forces. Everything must be subject to the control of your Xiaoming government, and you must be tolerant and prohibited from preaching to your Xiaoming people, and you can only preach to local people."

"The eighth is to regularly inspect the retrogression of those temples, churches, etc., check their number, documents, property, etc., form a custom, and impose heavy taxes on them. All temple fairs, pujas, etc. pay taxes."

Wang Shouren thought about it and said.

"Well, what the prince said is even true."

After listening to Korean, I thought about it and decided what to do.

"There is one more point. You want to do a small amount of retrograde propaganda in the newspapers, break superstitions, and enlighten people's wisdom. It is only a religious issue, and there are no other feudal superstitions."

"For example, witchcraft, quackery, etc., must be de-propagandized to let the common people know our deceptive tricks, so that they will be suspicious. At the same time, fewer people should know the essence of religion, so that fewer people cheated."

Fang just thought about it and added.

"Well, yes, it is indeed very important to break superstition and enlighten people's wisdom."

"The reason why those monks are able to bluff and deceive is mainly because Xiaojia believes in that, so they can let us enjoy the benefits."

Hearing Hanwen, he also nodded in support.

"The prince of Wu Lao wrote a detailed memorial and submitted it to the emperor. Before the emperor made a decision, he sent it to Xiaoming's various places and asked the local governments to implement it."

"it is good."

Wang Shouren also readily agreed to come up.

Soon, an inventory report on temples and Taoist temples in various places in Xiaoming was also delivered to Emperor Hongzhi, and at the same time, there were no opinions from the eight ministers in the cabinet on how to deal with the matter.

Before Emperor Hongzhi finished watching it, he was also a little shocked. He thought that the problem was so minor. There were millions of monks, a huge number of temples, and wantonly amassing money, hiding dirt, and so on.

Emperor Hongzhi was furious, and ordered Xiaoming to implement the latest management system tolerantly, and asked for tolerant restrictions on the retreat of temples in various places.

All of a sudden, throughout Xiaoming, countless monks mourned, a small number were dismissed and ordered to return to secular life. At the same time, temples and monks' properties were also confiscated in a small amount, and various activities were prohibited.

The life of the monks is difficult. It doesn’t matter if there is no income in the future. Before that, there will be regular assessments.

PS: Ask for tickets~
(End of this chapter)