A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 490 Dahai Temple

"It is said that Avalokitesvara traveled northward to ferry people and moved to Xingyang. From then on, the moat in Xingyang, Zhengzhou began to rise and fall with the tide of the sea. Therefore, the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva Dojo is also called Daihai Temple."

West of Zhengzhou, Xingyang.

After Wu Huaiyu left Luoyang, he came to Dahai Temple on purpose, instead of worshiping Guanyin, he came to look for Zhang Xutuo's tomb. This was also the task Qin Qiong specially confessed.

The former Daihai Temple is now called Haihai Temple.

Fatty Wu told them ostentatiously, "At the beginning of the Sui Dynasty, the current Emperor Taishang was the prefect of Xingyang County. Today, His Majesty is young and suffers from eye problems. He sought medical treatment to no avail. Later, he went to Daihai Temple to seek Buddhahood and healed.

Later, Daihai Temple was destroyed by the battle between Li Mi and Zhang Xutuo.

After ascending the throne today, Yuchi Jingde asked for an order to expand the temple voluntarily, and His Majesty ordered Yuchi Jingde to expand the temple, which cost a lot of money. After it was completed, it was [-] miles long from east to west and [-] miles wide from north to south. It was named after it. Dahai Temple. "

Standing in front of the mountain gate, Wu Huaiyu and his entourage really felt the splendor of the dojo as large as the sea.

The seven-storey Thousand Buddha Pagoda stands tall, and the Daxiong Hall is also very majestic.

Here is really green bushes, birds and flowers, and Sanskrit sounds lingering.

This is simply a Buddha city.

This temple was not only built by the emperor's decree, but also has two masters, Yuchi Jingde and Xingyang Zheng. In addition, the Li family and Cui family in Zhengzhou are two of the five surnames Qijia, Longxi Li and Qinghe Cui. The surname is Fang.

In addition, many Central Plains gentry did not spend less money, which is why it has such a large scale.

Wu Huaiyu's purple robe was brought into the crown of virtue, Wei Xiaojie and Su Dingfang were both wearing silk armor, followed by five hundred elite guard cavalry.

In this situation, the Zhike monk at the mountain gate has already rushed back to the temple like facing a big enemy, and reported to the chief abbot and others.

"Do you know who is coming?"

In the temple, Wei Najing solemnly reprimanded the flustered monk.

"Reporting to Weina, it seems that Emperor Xinwu Taibao has arrived." Zhike monk still had panic in his words.

Jing Yangui is one of the three principles of Daihai Temple, Wei Na, who is in charge of the guidelines for the advancement and retreat of the monks. Not afraid.

But when he heard Di Xin Wu Shaobao's name, he couldn't help frowning.

Wu Huaiyu inspected the Dharma in Chang'an, purged it, and set off a violent storm. Many monks even called it a difficult Dharma.

"Abbot, do you want to send someone to invite the Zheng family, the Li family, and the Cui family immediately?"

Abbot Huaihai was not in a hurry, "Since Wu Shaobao is here, we will greet you first." He called one of his six attendants, one of the attendants, and asked him to go to the gate of the mountain to greet him with the guest monk. faux pas.

"Why do you think Wu Shaobao came to Dahai Temple?" the abbot asked another old monk.

Since the Han and Wei Dynasties, the three guides in the temple are the lord, the abbot and the weina. They are in charge of the affairs of the monks in the temple. , those who are highly respected and highly qualified will be in charge, and Wei Na will be mainly in charge of Tsunaki.

Together the three rule the temple.

But now Wu Huaiyu is reviewing Buddhism and requires adjustments to the temple jungle management system to establish a set of management methods with the deep participation of the imperial court.

First of all, the abbot of the big temple and the abbot of the small temple must be elected by the temple and appointed by the court. The abbot is the leader of the group, respected as an elder, and lives in the abbot.

The abbot is managed by the Temple Department, assessed by the Ministry of Officials, and supervised by the Yushitai. There is even a tenure system, with a term of five years and a maximum of three consecutive terms.

Under the abbot, there are two orders in the east and west, six governors in the east order, and six heads in the west order.

The governor means to be in charge of affairs. When Gaoxiang lived in the east side of the abbot when he went to the hall, he was called Dongxu;

Toushou lived on the west side of the abbot when Gaoxiang was in the hall, so it was called Xixu. There were the head seat, secretary, Zhizang, Zhike, Zhiyu, and Zhidian.When holding rituals, the abbot lives in the center, and the above-mentioned six governors and six chiefs live on the left and right. It is proposed that there are two civil and military classes in the imperial court, which are collectively called the two orders or two classes.

In addition to the above-mentioned monk duties, there are other duties of chief affairs, such as rice head, vegetable head, fire head, water head, garden head, bowl head, bath head, firewood head, tea head, etc., which are responsible for the most specific daily affairs.

The existing three cardinal principles only retain the support.

According to Wu Huaiyu's new system, in general large temples, the abbots are highly respected, and generally do not directly manage the general affairs of the temple.

The Dujian is the original superior, with higher seniority and seniority, and is responsible for supervision, but there is no specific management.

The first seat is mainly to assist the abbot, deal with temple affairs according to the instructions of the abbot, punish monks who violate the rules, and supervise the deacons to perform their duties.

The two orders under the abbot, the twelve deacon monks, are also ordered by the court.

This weakened the self-government power of monastery monks and strengthened the management and supervision of the imperial court.

Although the Dahai Temple is newly rebuilt, the management system in the temple is still the old system, with San Gang as the head, and the abbot has six waiters, including the towel and bottle waiter, who are in charge of a piece of affairs.

There are many monks in the temple, and there are also many deacon monks.

Even the temple, like the Shaolin Temple, has its own group of monks, most of whom are lay disciples, and there are also some tenants.

Because it was destroyed by war, it was newly built in recent years, so many monks in this temple are later generations. Although there are many monks, they are relatively mixed, and there are people who practice various sects.

However, as a royal temple, Daihai Temple has been very prosperous since the Wei Dynasty, and now it is as large as the sea. Not only does the temple occupy a large area, but it also owns a lot of fields, and is also engaged in various businesses and lending.

The abbot Huaihai was also worried, whether Wu Huaiyu was going to deal with Dahai Temple, just like cleaning up the temples of the third-level Jiaohuadu Temple.

But as the abbot, he had been summoned by the emperor, given purple clothes and cassocks, and had to pretend to be calm on the surface.

Shangzuo Zhizang was the former abbot of Daihai Temple, now he is old, but now he has to come out.

"Go and meet him first!" Zhizang had seen the power of swords and soldiers, and no matter how advanced the Dharma was, it was useless in front of those strong bows and crossbows.

Back then, Li Mi used Dahai Temple as a battlefield, and lured Zhang Xutuo to pursue him by feigning defeat. He set up an ambush on all sides, and launched a decisive battle here, killing corpses all over the field. The left and right vanguards are still defeated.

Zhang Xutuo died in battle, and the Sui official army was completely defeated, and no one could suppress Li Mi and others.

Daihai Temple was also destroyed by the war, and was looted by rebels. Even the golden statue of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva with eleven faces and six arms, which was ten feet high, was scraped off the gold powder, and finally the bronze Buddha body was smashed and melted. take away.

in front of the mountain gate.

Wu Huaiyu was still looking at Dahai Temple.

The newly built seven-storied thousand-pagoda, the eleven-faced and six-armed Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva statue with a ten-foot bronze body and a golden body are really remarkable.

But to Wu Huaiyu, it was nothing. The four-faced Avalokitesvara in Sanya is [-] meters high. The planes flying to Sanya have to fly in front of the Avalokitesvara statue, and you can see it clearly from the plane.

This ten-foot bronze statue did not surprise Wu Huaiyu at all, but the eleven-faced and six-armed image was a bit special, and he remembered that this kind of statue belonged to Tantric Buddhism.

Abbot Huaihai, Shangzuo Zhizang, and Wei Na Jingyan, the three eminent monks were all dressed in purple, and came out with a group of monks to greet them, saluting very respectfully.

Wu Huaiyu smiled back.

Seeing that Huaiyu had been looking at the eleven-faced Avalokitesvara just now, Zhizang said, "The eleven-faced Avalokitesvara has eleven faces, arranged in five layers. One face transforms evil into sentient beings, the second face transforms goodness into sentient beings, and the third face The quiet side is used to lead out the world and purify the karma. Three sides teach the three worlds and there are nine sides. The tenth side is the face of a big smile, which means that the cause of education needs great majesty and great will to be unremitting and successful. The top side is The face of the Buddha, the merits and virtues are complete."

"Did the name come from the Eleven-faced Avalokitesvara Mantra Sutra?" Huaiyu asked.

This surprised Zhizang a little.

"Wu Shaobao is very knowledgeable, it is true. In the fourth year of Baoding in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the Indian monk Yashejuo translated the "Eleven-faced Avalokitesvara Mantra Sutra".

Eleven-faced Avalokitesvara is one of the six Avalokitesvara. In the six ways, it saves all sentient beings in the Asura way. In Sanskrit, it is also called Avalokitesvara. It is said by 11 billion Buddhas, and it is very powerful. "

Wu Huaiyu seemed to be listening carefully.

Buddhism originated from India, and after being introduced to China, through historical evolution, by this time in the Tang Dynasty, many sects had been formed. In India, there were only two main sects, Sutra and Tantra.The ancestor of Esoteric Buddhism is Dharmakaya Buddha, the Great Sun Tathagata. With the translation of Chinese scriptures, Esoteric Buddhism has also spread to China, but at this time, it is still relatively complicated, and has not really established a sect. Most of these introduced mantras and mantras are included in various classics However, it has not yet been organized into a systematic unified system.

However, statues such as the Eleven-faced Avalokitesvara can still be seen in many temples. It can be seen that although Esoteric Buddhism was complicated at this time, its influence was not small. Historically, Esoteric Buddhism was also officially established in the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, and its influence in the future will be extremely large. big.

From the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, miscellaneous secrets were still widely spread, and there were many kinds of classic mantras.

I thought a little farther for a moment.

"I was ordered to go to Youzhou to take up the post, and I came to Xingyang on purpose. I was entrusted by the emperor to offer incense to Guanyin Bodhisattva, and also to see how the Dahai Temple is being repaired."

Hearing this, the three purple-clothed monks breathed a sigh of relief, fearing that they were here to demolish the temple.

Fortunately, the emperor still remembered the fate of those years. Li Shimin was only ten years old at the time, and he suffered from eye disease and sought medical treatment everywhere but failed. Later, the Zheng family introduced him to Daihai Temple to seek Guanyin. At that time, Zhizang was the host. More than twenty years have passed, and the blindfolded boy has now become a world-famous emperor.

The three monks led Huaiyu to worship Guanyin.

By the way, I also visited this large temple with a scale as large as the sea, including Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, Garan Bodhisattva, Dripping Avalokitesvara, Sakyabenni III Buddha,

The statue of Ksitigarbha, more than three feet high, is solemnly located in front of the bell tower.

In front of the Drum Tower stands the statue of the Garan Bodhisattva, and Wu Huaiyu feels a little staring at it.

"That is?"

"That's the door god Qin Shubao and Yu Chigong, and the martial god Zhang Xutuo and Guan Yu." Abbot Huaihai said.

Huaiyu was a little stunned.

This Dahai Temple actually repaired Zhang Xutuo, Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong Guan Yu into the statues of Garan Bodhisattva in their temple, standing in front of the Drum Tower.

Zhang Xutuo turned out to be the god of wealth just like Guan Yu, and Qin Qiong and Yu Chigong were also invited here as door gods.

The portraits of Qin Qiong and Lao Hei are quite sculptural.

Zhang Xutuo is very stalwart, Guan Gong's image is a bit different from the later generations, but he is also very majestic, with a red face and long beard and a big Guan knife.

Huaiyu felt that they were flattering. Yu Chigong was the key person to help them rebuild. After all, most of the money for the reconstruction of the temple was paid by Yuchigong. Although Yuchigong also used Yuanji money that the emperor rewarded him, but After all, he was the first to propose rebuilding, and then took out the big head, so a statue must be erected.

As for Qin Qiong, I heard that he didn't pay less.

It was a little surprising that Zhang Xutuo was regarded as the God of Wealth. He inquired about it. It turned out that Zhang Xutuo had a very good reputation in Henan. Even if he died, everyone would remember his achievements in protecting the peace of the Central Plains. he.

Some people built temples for him, and later some people regarded him as the God of Wealth. Nowadays, the Zhengzhou area of ​​Xingyang relies on the canal for business prosperity, and many craftsmen and businessmen worship Zhang Xutuo for safety and fortune.

Zhang Xutuo, the Martial God of Wealth, has not been sealed by the imperial court. In fact, he belongs to the prostitution temple, but this is the voluntary tribute of the people. Qin Qiong paid a sum of money, so he invited the old benefactor into the Dahai Temple.

"I have something to ask Elder Zhizang for help,"

"Wu Shaobao, please order."

"Elder Zhizang is the former abbot of Dahai Temple. Elder Zhizang also witnessed the battle of Dahai Temple. I heard that even though Dahai Temple was robbed after the war, the elder still led the monks to help bury the dead. Where is the general buried?"

(End of this chapter)