World Tibet Bureau

Chapter 778 The Buddha is the Tao
Xia Xi said: "There are no treasures inside! After opening the password box, there was only one photo. The photo showed a seven-story masonry tower covered by ice. It was vaguely visible that there were many Sanskrit characters on the tower. On the reverse side of the photo, there were A line of words reads Shennongjia Guanghan Palace Ice Pagoda, a rare treasure in the world."

I am amazed.

There is indeed a Guanghan Palace in Shennongjia, commonly known as Ice Cave, located in Songluo, Shennongjia.

This place is magical.

In summer, when the temperature outside the cave is above 27 degrees Celsius, ice begins to freeze inside the cave. Water from the mountain crevices seeps out, forming ice curtains along the cave wall, extending downward for more than ten meters.

In fact, it is a magical physical phenomenon formed by microclimate.

But legend has it that in order to store food in the summer, Shennong cast a divine curse on the cave, causing winter and summer to be reversed.

Local people often say that there are two Guanghan Palaces in the world. One is in the moon in the sky, which is the main palace, and the other is in Shennongjia on the ground, which is the auxiliary palace.

However, this ice cave has been developed into a tourist attraction, so why is there still an ice pagoda inside?
Xia Xi saw my doubts: "There is no way that the ice cave that has been developed into an attraction has an Ice Pagoda."

"But Shennongjia has always been extremely mysterious. Maybe there is a bigger and weirder Guanghan Palace inside the mountain, and there is such an ice pagoda inside."

I asked Xia Xi at that time: "Even so, it's just a pagoda. Is it still worth going to it in person?"

Stupa is "Stupa" in Sanskrit, which refers specifically to a pagoda or pagoda.

The original purpose of building the pagoda was to hold the Buddha's body or relics. Later, it became the supreme merit belief of Buddhist disciples.

The seven-story pagoda is also called the seven-level pagoda, and the seven-story pagoda is the highest level (of course there are also nine-story pagodas, but that is not important. The so-called odd number is infinite is just a metaphor).

There is a saying that saving one life is better than building a seven-level pagoda.

The meaning is that saving people is more profound than the merits of a seven-story pagoda.

Well known.

Buddhism is not an indigenous religion.

In the past, there was no such thing as a pagoda in our architecture.

So far, the oldest pagoda is the Brick Pagoda of Songyue Temple in the Northern Wei Dynasty in [-] AD, followed by the Sui Pagoda in Tiantai Mountain, the Fawang Pagoda in Zhouzhi County, the Sui Relic Pagoda in Qixia Mountain, and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Daci'en Temple.

Xia Xi said to me: "This pagoda is made of Han tiles, and they have typical Han tiles with the characteristics of the middle Western Han Dynasty!"

I was stunned.

The term Qin bricks and Han tiles are often used to replace the splendid ancient architectural culture of our ancestors.

Because among the Chinese building materials, Qin bricks and Han tiles have the most obvious characteristics and have extremely unique beauty.

Qin bricks are famous for their gorgeous patterns. The bricks are engraved with rice grid patterns, sun patterns, parallel lines, small square patterns, safari patterns, banquet patterns, etc., which are gorgeous and weird, and it is amazing.

Han tiles are decorated with animals, plants and characters. The tiles are decorated with turtles, mosquitoes, leopards, cranes, jade rabbits, deer, cows, horses, flowers and leaves, and various characters that highlight the thoughts of the times. They have both form and spirit and are a collection of ancient pottery decorations. Dacheng.

Those who deal in antiques and miscellaneous items regard Qin bricks and Han tiles as treasures, which can be recognized at a glance.

But here's what shocked me.

Why does this Ice Pagoda use tiles characteristic of the mid-Western Han Dynasty?
It has been said before.

Buddhism is an imported product. There is some controversy in academic circles as to when it was introduced into the country, but most people believe that it was introduced around AD 67 during the Eastern Han Dynasty.

A culture is introduced again and again, but for culture to be reflected in architectural forms, it must reach a certain range of beliefs.

In other words.

The appearance of the pagoda was much later than the time when Buddhism was introduced.

From a theoretical analysis, pagodas that can break through the sky can only be found after the Eastern Han Dynasty (in fact, pagodas are almost rare before the Tang Dynasty), and the oldest brick pagoda of Songyue Temple discovered today is older than the Buddhist pagoda. The introduction time was nearly 500 years later.

But this Ice Pagoda uses tiles characteristic of the mid-Western Han Dynasty.

On the contrary, it was more than 100 years earlier than Buddhism was officially introduced to China.This is not logically true at all!

I asked Xia Xi: "Did you make a mistake?"

Xia Xi shook his head: "Do you think Xiang Liu even has the ability to identify Han tiles?"

I:"……"

indeed.

There are so many talented people in Xiangliu that it is impossible for Tawa to admit his mistake.

Xia Xi also said: "The older the pagoda is, the more it has the original characteristics of imported products. Only when it develops later will it be integrated with the aesthetics of ancient Chinese architecture, and the pagoda can have the characteristics of Chinese-earth architecture. But this Ice Pagoda, however, It is a typical Han culture architectural style, completely as if it were born and raised in the local area.”

"What's even more incredible is that Hai Ye used an instrument to enlarge the Sanskrit text on the photo tower, copied out a few words that could be seen clearly, and passed them on to others for translation. Do you know what the content is? It turned out to be Sentences from the Tao Te Ching!”

"Xiang Liu believes that if this tower appears, it may be a subversive existence and may even confirm an ancient legend."

I frowned and asked, "Buddha is the Tao?!"

Xia Xi nodded.

This legend specifically refers to Laozi's departure from Hangu Pass to the west.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, Laozi founded Taoism and left many deeds of gods and the magnificent "Tao Te Ching" on this land. After riding on an ox, carrying the mighty purple energy of three thousand miles, he left Hangu Pass in the west (Purple). Qi Donglai originated from here).

"Historical Records" once recorded that from then on Lao Tzu "lost his whereabouts."

Where did I go after leaving Hangu Pass?

From the analysis of historical maps, we know that after leaving Hangu Pass, there is Tianzhu.

What am I doing in Tianzhu?
Legend has it that Lao Tzu was going to convert the Hu people, and he specifically gave some guidance to Sakyamuni at the same time. As a result, Sakyamuni achieved great enlightenment, combined with local culture, and established Buddhism. This is the famous legend of "turning the Hu people into Buddhas".

of course.

It's just a legend.

Later generations believed that this was actually a way of saying that Taoism deliberately squeezed Buddhism.

Because there is no evidence that Buddhism is a sub-religion of Taoism (although the Quanzhen system’s practice rules are similar to Buddhism).

But what if.

Before Buddhism was introduced to China, there was already a local pagoda in China. Moreover, this pagoda was specially engraved with the Taoist classic "Tao Te Ching" (faith-based buildings generally only engraved with the teachings of this religion) Classics), with this dual evidence of architecture and culture, does it mean that Buddhism is not actually imported at all, but a sub-religion of local Taoism?
The so-called introduction of Buddhism is actually equivalent to export to domestic sales!
Such a subversive and earth-shattering event is indeed worthy of Hai Ye’s personal visit!

I asked Xia Xi: "How long has Mr. Hai been gone?"

Xia Xi told me that Haiye went to Shennongjia at the same time as he went to Fanggong Island. However, the current news is that due to heavy rains some time ago, the mountains in the Shennongjia area collapsed severely. Haiye did not go up the mountain at all in the past few days, and I was waiting at the bottom of the mountain and went up the mountain only one day ago.

At that time, I still didn't understand Xia Xi's actions.

Because he wanted me to help rescue Dai Lin, he only needed to tell me that Dai Lin might have been taken to Shennongjia by Hai Ye. There was no need to go into so much detail about the Ice Pagoda. After all, this was Xiang Liu’s confidential matter. As a bad little bully, my brother will definitely not let Xiang Liu succeed.

Ever since Lu Chenyin revealed Xia Xi's identity in the Taoist temple.

I totally figured it out.

Xia Xi not only wanted me to save Dai Lin, but also wanted me to use tricks to make Haiye return without success.

The three of us took a ride in a large truck and gave the driver some money.

Heading to Shennongjia!

(End of this chapter)