Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Sun Yuanhua was finally relieved to receive Xu Guangqi's letter.

The reason he stayed in the Suzhou-Songjiang New Area was because he was worried that the turmoil in Beijing would affect the diplomatic team.

The emperor now clearly values ​​the mission's achievements and has hinted at reducing criticism of Nestorianism. This means they can proceed north with peace of mind, without worrying about other issues.

However, some people had other ideas. Bishop Long Huamin, the superintendent of the Jingjiao Church, said:
"Because the Vatican did not respond, the Emperor strengthened restrictions on Nestorianism."

"Can the books and talent we brought from Rome change this?"

Sun Yuanhua shook his head and said:
"it's out of the question."

"The most fundamental principle of His Majesty's foreign policy is equality."

“Recognizing the power of the Roman Catholic Church in Christian countries can already be considered a concession.”

"The fact that the Vatican has not responded is a blatant disregard for the goodwill of the Ming Dynasty."

"The Ming Dynasty must respond until the Holy See responds to the court's goodwill."

This was the reason he deduced after learning about the turmoil in the capital.

Traditionally, the Ming emperor, as the Son of Heaven, possessed the power to rule the entire country.

Other countries were also regarded as vassal states and had no right to engage in equal relations with the Ming Dynasty.

The current emperor revised this policy, clearly distinguishing between foreign countries and vassal states. He also established three principles—peaceful coexistence, mutual respect, and mutual benefit—as the rules for foreign exchanges.

As the ruler of the Papal States, the Pope also has the power to crown the monarchs of other Christian countries. Therefore, he is regarded by the current emperor as a figurehead monarch of the Christian world, and treated as the Zhou emperor of the West.

This was already a huge concession, yet the other side ignored this goodwill. The imperial court naturally had to respond by explicitly restricting the Jingjiao Church.

According to Sun Yuanhua's estimation, for the Nestorian Church to be allowed to operate freely in mainland China, in addition to Sinicizing its doctrines and conforming to the unity of all religions, the Roman Catholic Church also needed to gain recognition from the Roman Catholic Church for the Ming Dynasty's rule over the Nestorian Church, and for the two sides to establish diplomatic relations.

This is an extremely difficult thing; he doesn't know if he will live to see this day.

Long Huamin was extremely frustrated after hearing his explanation.

He felt deeply guilty because he believed it was due to his failed mission.

He was distressed that he had failed in his duty and disappointed his fellow believers. He also thought of the depravity and corruption of the Papacy that he had witnessed during his time in Rome.

This gave rise to other thoughts in Long Huamin's mind, and he began to place his position as cardinal superintendent of the Nestorian Church ahead of his position as superintendent of the Jesuit mission in China.

As one of the three founders of the Jingjiao Church, he hoped to establish an immortal legacy within the church.

Regardless of whether he can be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church in the future, he will at least become a saint of the Nestorian Church.

While pondering the Sinicization of Nestorianism and the right to proselytize abroad, Long Huamin began to envision how to further develop the Nestorian Church under this situation.

He quickly realized that the Jingxie Church had the power to establish a religious inquisition within the Court of Justice in the Free Trade Zone.

Previously, religious laws were allowed to be used for secondary trials against Westerners. Now, Long Huamin hopes that religious laws can be used on Nestorian Christians as well.

However, after discussing this idea with Sun Yuanhua, he vehemently opposed it:
“If the Nestorian Christians do not prioritize loyalty to the Emperor, the Emperor will never allow you to expand your power and use religious laws to judge citizens of the Ming Dynasty.”

"But if loyalty to the Emperor is the top priority, then one must obey the laws and regulations of the Ming Dynasty, rather than your religious laws."

"No matter what, the Inquisition cannot judge the people of the Ming Dynasty, and the citizens of the Ming Dynasty are not subject to the Inquisition's judgment."

His words were resolute, clearly indicating that he stood on the opposite side.

Having witnessed the atrocities of the Inquisition in the West, Sun Yuanhua, a Nestorian Christian, desperately did not want to be subjected to a similar trial.

If Long Huamin were to force this to happen, he would resolutely oppose it and even consider leaving the Jingjiao Church.

After his mission to the West and his encounter with the Roman Catholic Church, Sun Yuanhua had already demystified Christianity and realized that the Roman Catholic Church and the imperial court were no different, just using the name of religion.

His faith in Nestorianism is now more out of habit than blind devotion as it once was.

Especially after learning of the court's restrictions on Nestorianism, Sun Yuanhua might have given up his Nestorian identity if it weren't for the fact that most of his teachers and friends were believers and that he needed to exchange Western learning with missionaries.

In fact, many people shared this view. Some of Xu Guangqi's disciples had already lost enthusiasm for Nestorian Christianity.

If Xu Guangqi wanted to leave the Jingxie Society, they would leave without hesitation.

This made Xu Guangqi's position in Nestorianism even more important, and all missionaries recognized the significance of this pillar.

Xu Guangqi's advanced age and poor health were also a major concern. Many missionaries worried that the Nestorian Church would suffer another blow after Xu Guangqi's death.

As a disciple of Xu Guangqi, Sun Yuanhua was also expected to become a court official. He was one of the successors of Xu Guangqi favored by the Nestorian Church.

But his current attitude is making Long Huamin very worried.
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Long Huamin was very frustrated because he could not get support from Sun Yuanhua.

In particular, after Sun Yuanhua demanded that the Jingxie Church's religious inquiries be made clear that the Westerners who could be judged by the inquiries he had made were only Christians, Long Huamin realized that Sun Yuanhua was no longer wholeheartedly devoted to the Jingxie Church.

It's estimated that Sun Yuanhua probably won't go on the next mission. Without a firm belief, he wouldn't be willing to spend several years taking such a risk.

Sun Yat-sen's attitude towards Nestorianism was already very similar to that of many Chinese people towards religion.

"Many Buddhists are like that; they'll believe if there are benefits, and they won't believe if there aren't."

Is this the typical Chinese attitude towards religion?

With this thought in mind, Long Huamin walked along the wide, open streets of the Suzhou-Songjiang New District when he suddenly heard someone shout:

"The Buddha's skull has been revealed!"

"Buddha's skull relic discovered at the Great Bao'en Temple!"

The street immediately erupted in a cacophony of voices.

Many people came out of their homes and factories to celebrate the news.

The fact that the imperial court was excavating Buddha's relics was no secret. People noticed this after the court sent troops to surround the Great Bao'en Temple.

Major newspapers in Jiangnan even followed up on this.

This led to the discovery of the Buddha's relics becoming a major event in the entire Jiangnan region, with people traveling to Nanjing every day to see if they could find the Buddha's relics.

After nearly a month of excavation without finding the so-called underground palace, some people have given up and even doubted whether the emperor's instructions were correct.

Unexpectedly, at this very moment, officials from the Nanjing Imperial Academy, through textual research, successfully located the underground palace of the former Changgan Temple from the Song Dynasty within the grounds of the Great Bao'en Temple, where they unearthed a Buddha relic. This Buddha relic was found hidden inside a gilded seven-jeweled Ashoka Pagoda, and was seen by many people.

After examination by the eminent monks present, it was confirmed that this was a relic of the Buddha's skull.

This discovery successfully confirmed the accuracy of the emperor's prophecy, further enhancing the emperor's prestige.

Buddhists worship the current emperor and deeply believe in his claims that the Buddha has converted the Buddha.

Buddhism went a step further in its Sinicization, becoming a completely Chinese religion.

Witnessing this scene, Long Huamin felt an even greater sense of crisis.

One of the goals of Nestorianism was to replace Buddhism.

Now that Buddhism has acquired sacred objects and used them as evidence of its complete Sinicization, how can Nestorianism surpass them?

He had no ability to obtain Christian relics, and didn't even know where they were.

The situation facing Nestorianism did not improve despite the decrease in criticism; in fact, it began to be ignored, with more people paying attention to Buddhism.

This situation is worse than before because it means that people are no longer paying attention to the Nestorian Church.

If they cannot achieve results to attract people's attention, Nestorianism is likely to decline in the Ming Dynasty.

Faced with this situation, at the suggestion of Long Huamin and others, Nestorian missionaries from various places began to travel to the capital to prepare for a general meeting of the missionaries.

At the same time, the Buddhist Association of the Ming Dynasty was also gathering eminent monks from all over the country to prepare for a Dharma assembly in the capital.

This excavation uncovered more than one Buddha relic. In addition to the Buddha's skull relic at the Great Bao'en Temple, there is also the Buddha's finger bone relic hidden in the underground palace of Famen Temple.

This relic is the very one that Han Yu opposed welcoming the Buddha's relics back then. Now, the emperor has brought it back to the capital as evidence of the Buddha's conversion.

Master Zhixu decided to seize this opportunity to convene a meeting and formalize the Buddhist Association of the Ming Dynasty. Modeled after the clergy meetings of the Nestorian Church, a Buddhist Sangha Council was to be established.

This monastic community will serve as the core of Buddhism in the Ming Dynasty. Even after incorporating Buddhism from other regions in the future, it will become the core of all Buddhist schools worldwide, much like the Roman Catholic Church's position in Christianity.

As the president of the Buddhist Association, he will also gain the status of the Pope in Christianity, which Zhixu is very much looking forward to.

Of course, Zhixu had no intention of crowning a monarch like the Pope in Rome. Under the miracles performed by the Ming emperor, Buddhism had to submit to the emperor and regard him as the supreme god on earth.

Zhu Youjian naturally welcomed this, as it represented the support group for his status as emperor. If he were to lose control over secular affairs in the future, whether the Ming emperor could continue to exist as a figurehead ruler would depend on his status as emperor.

This was a safeguard he left for future generations, which is why he strongly supported the reform of the Buddhist Association. In Buddhist doctrine, the emperor is recognized as the supreme deity on earth.

However, he did not accept the Buddhist Association's practice of imitating Tibetan Buddhism by regarding the emperor as an incarnation of Manjushri Bodhisattva. He believed that the emperor's status was already supreme and noble, and he did not need any other titles to enhance his status.

Titles like "Heavenly Khan" were initially of some interest to Zhu Youjian. However, as he increasingly understood the prestige of the Son of Heaven and the Emperor, he lost all interest in them.

The title of Heavenly Khan might have been more helpful in subduing the grassland tribes, but with the grasslands in decline, whether or not one has this title is not of much importance.

Moreover, he already planned to divide the grasslands and incorporate them into the inner vassal states. Accepting the title of grasslands would actually hinder the division of grassland tribes and affect the assimilation of grassland people into Chinese.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian planned to appoint nobles as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty and use them to govern the grasslands.

In the future, he will only retain the titles of Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and Son of Heaven, representing imperial power and divine power respectively.
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Zhixu was somewhat frustrated that he couldn't persuade the emperor to accept a Buddhist divine position.

However, the emperor's support for the Sangha still reassured him.

As a religion that has experienced the persecution of Buddhism by the three Wu emperors and one Zong emperor, Buddhism fears nothing more than the emperor harboring ill will towards it.

The emperor's previous restrictions on the number of temples and clergy had led many to associate them with measures to suppress Buddhism.

It is now clear that this was not the case; although the emperor suppressed Buddhism, he treated all religions equally.

Support for the Sangha further united various sects and strengthened Buddhism's fighting power.

Zhixu had already foreseen that Buddhism would experience great development, and even spread from the Ming Dynasty to the world.

As the mastermind behind this event, he will surely be remembered in history, and may even be comparable to Master Xuanzang, who was conferred the title of Buddha of Merit, and become one of the Buddhas of Buddhism in the future.

Thinking about this made Zhixu extremely excited.

At the preparatory meeting for the Sangha assembly, Zhixu addressed the monks:
"Master Xuanzang's journey to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures has lasted for a thousand years."

"Over the past thousand years, Buddhism has been continuously Sinicized and has merged with Confucianism and Taoism."

"Now that Buddhism in the West is declining, the Buddha and other deities have been converted to Buddhism and have been instructed by the emperor to revise the scriptures."

"These scriptures will become new Buddhist texts and will be returned to China."

"In the future, we will revive Buddhism in the West, and we hope that you will all participate!"

The monks chanted in unison, realizing that a great era was about to unfold.

Historically, Buddhist scriptures have all come from the West, and now that they are to be transmitted back to the West, they are all excited.

Moreover, after the discovery of the Buddha's relics confirmed the current emperor's statement, any revised scriptures they produced could be considered scriptures approved by the Buddha, as long as they had the current emperor's endorsement.

This gives them an advantage in debates and allows them to modify scriptures according to their own wishes.

They actively discussed revising Buddhist scriptures and decided to hold the first plenary meeting of the Great Ming Buddhist Association on Buddha's Birthday, April 8th, to elect the Sangha according to the principle of "monastic affairs being decided by monks" and to govern the Sangha "by the Dharma".

After the establishment of the Sangha Council, it will determine the doctrines and precepts recognized by each sect, revise the scriptures, and establish the standards for examinations.

These doctrines will also be exchanged with Theravada Buddhism and other overseas Buddhist traditions in the future, becoming part of the doctrines of Buddhism as a whole.

Buddhist missionary groups will also be established based on the monastic community, with each temple allocated a quota of missionary monks who must provide a certain number of monks to spread the doctrine.

The primary objective was the Western Regions, to convert the people there back to Buddhism, and to serve as the vanguard for the Ming Dynasty's reconquest of the Western Regions.

This was also a practice borrowed from Christianity. After learning that the West conquered the world with missionaries as the vanguard, Zhixu planned to let Buddhism occupy this position as the vanguard for the Ming Dynasty's outward expansion.

Therefore, through his active application, Buddhism, like Nestorian Christianity, gained the right to punish monks and believers abroad using religious precepts. It could also retaliate against those who attacked Buddhism, and train armed monks to ensure the smooth progress of its missionary work through force.

However, those with Ming Dynasty citizenship were first tried by the Ming court. Whether they would be subject to religious punishment depended on the judge's decision. If the judge felt it was unnecessary, they would not be subjected to a second religious trial.

The most severe measure taken by major religions remains excommunication. (End of Chapter)