A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 782: Evil thoughts in the heart
Inside the Great Buddha Hall,

Li Yi saw the Forty-Two Chapters Sutra as he wished.

Bearing the halo of being the first Chinese translation of Buddhist scriptures, legend has it that Emperor Ming of Han dreamed of a golden man and sent envoys to the Western Regions to seek Buddhist teachings. In the Yuezhi Kingdom, they met the monk Kasyapa Matanga, who translated the scriptures, which were then carried back to Luoyang on a white horse.

This sutra became the treasure of Baima Temple. It was once collected by Emperor Ming of Han in the Lantai Stone Chamber, hence it is also known as the Forty-Two Chapters Sutra of Emperor Xiaoming.

The Buddha said: "One who renounces family and leaves home, understands the mind and reaches its fundamental nature, comprehends the unconditioned Dharma, is called a Shramana. He constantly practices the 254 precepts, maintaining purity in his conduct and actions, thus following the Four Noble Paths, and ultimately becomes an Arhat..."

Huiyin personally took out a stone box from the Sutra Repository.

The stone box was opened, revealing another jade box inside, which in turn revealed a gold box...
Nine floors in total

Ultimately, they were scrolls.

These forty-two chapters of the sutra were written on silk, not on bamboo slips or paper.

Huiyin carefully took out the first scroll and unfolded it; the ink on it was somewhat unclear.

The old monk recited scriptures for Li Yi.
In fact, this Buddhist scripture is very short, condensing the Buddha's teachings into forty-two concise and powerful passages. It is said to have been translated into Chinese by Kasyapa Matanga and Dharmaraksha, and the translations of "Shramana" and "Nirvana" in the scripture have been used ever since.

"Kasyapa Matanga and Dharmaraksha selected a passage from the Buddha's teachings and called it a chapter. They compiled forty-two passages into this Forty-Two Chapters Sutra and painted an image of Shakyamuni Buddha for worship. Thus, the Three Jewels of Buddhism, Dharma, and Sangha were complete in our Eastern Land, marking the beginning of Buddhism's introduction to China."

Li Yi wasn't really interested in these things.

He picked up a scroll and examined it closely. Unfortunately, this scroll only contained a single passage, written in both Indian and Chinese characters, and was a thin scroll of silk.

There was no treasure map hidden inside.

Li Yi first heard of the Forty-Two Chapters Sutra when he was a teenager reading *The Deer and the Cauldron*, where the character Wei Xiaobao had seven wives, which filled him with immense envy. In *The Deer and the Cauldron*, the Forty-Two Chapters Sutra is consistently a central thread connecting the main plot.
The struggle for power among various factions, including the Heaven and Earth Sect, the Divine Dragon Society, and the Qing Dynasty.

But in the end, Wei Xiaobao used various methods to collect all eight volumes of the Forty-Two Chapters Sutra.

"Is this truly the authentic scripture we retrieved back then?" Li Yi asked Huiyin.

"For more than 500 years, Baima Temple has suffered several calamities and was almost destroyed, but with the protection of Buddha, it has always managed to turn danger into safety and its heritage has never been interrupted."

This sutra of forty-two chapters, though it changed hands several times, ultimately returned to the White Horse Temple.

Li Yi felt that Huiyin might have only produced a copy, or that the original Baima Temple no longer had it.

Hui Da and the others seemed very nervous.
His eyes were fixed on the Forty-Two Chapters Sutra, as if afraid that Li Yi would take it away.

But Li Yi only glanced at it, and then listened to Huiyin personally explain two chapters to him.

"Thank you, Master, for expounding the sutra to me."

Since Huineng, the abbot of Baima Temple, was so cooperative, Li Yi naturally reciprocated in kind.
Don’t reach out to hit the smiling person.

The trip went even more smoothly than expected.

So, they returned the favor in return.

Li Yi initially believed that, according to Buddhist rules, Baima Temple also needed to change its system. He thought that the virtuous Huiyin was perfectly suited to serve as abbot, given his qualifications, prestige, virtue, and Baima Temple's status as the ancestral temple.

The virtuous Huiyin should be appointed as the abbot.

The east and west sections were originally led by Abbot Huida and Chant Master Huishi.

The organization within Baima Temple was originally a matter of internal temple affairs, but now Li Yi is openly interfering.

He relied on the "Buddhist Rules of Conduct," which was primarily written by Bao Gong, the foremost of the Ten Eminent Monks, with the Ten Eminent Monks as co-authors and over a hundred eminent monks jointly proofreading and signing it.
With the full support of the imperial court behind it,

Even the ancestral temple of Baima Temple could not resist.

Huiyin couldn't refuse.

Although he could be promoted from senior monk to abbot if he agreed, he would still be in charge of temple affairs, and the abbot's position and authority in the temple would even be above that of the original senior monk.

But once you accept it,

That meant accepting the court's interference, and the court could continue to interfere in this way thereafter.

On one side are the strict rules of Buddhism, and on the other side is the imperial court.

Neither Baima Temple nor Huiyin could refuse.

In the end, the high monk with two long white eyebrows accepted the arrangement.

The White Horse Temple also held a serious-sounding election by all the monks.
As a result, Huiyin was naturally nominated as the candidate for abbot, while Li Yi, the envoy to observe local customs, was both an imperial commissioner and one of the Three Dukes and prime minister of the court.
They then exercised their privileges.
He accepted the recommendation of the monks of Baima Temple and agreed to let Huiyin become the abbot after the monastic rules were established.

"The five hundred monk certificates originally required a payment of 30,000 coins per certificate, but now they are all waived."

A single ordination certificate costs 30,000 coins; 500 certificates would amount to 15,000 strings of cash.

However, no one at Baima Temple was happy about this.

After all, the cost is ultimately borne by the consumer, and besides, a certificate of ordination costs 30,000 coins, which is quite expensive.

The White Horse Temple now has more than 2,000 monks, but Li Yi only issued 500 monk certificates. The rest will be forced to return to secular life or go back to their original temples.

Without a certificate of ordination, returning to their original temple would mean facing disrobing. Many monks even had their original temples destroyed in the war, leaving them with nowhere to return.

But now there are only five hundred ordination certificates.
Who can take it, and who can't?

Li Yi believed that, for the sake of fairness, they should be allowed to take an exam.

"I think there's no need to test anything else. Just test the Forty-Two Chapters Sutra, including copying the sutra, writing its meaning, reciting it, and interpreting its meaning. Select 500 people based on their merits."

Two hundred monks refers to two hundred monks aged twenty and above.
Three hundred novices were to be retained, along with three hundred monks under the age of twenty.

If Li Yi hadn't taken away the money and grain from Baima Temple and transferred it to the Wujinzang, which was managed by the imperial court, Baima Temple could have afforded to buy two thousand ordination certificates, which cost 30,000 coins each.

Sixty thousand strings of cash is not a lot for the White Horse Temple.

However, Li Yi not only wanted to take most of the money and silk from Baima Temple, but also claimed that it would be deposited into the Inexhaustible Treasury. This Inexhaustible Treasury was to be jointly supervised by the imperial court and the Ten Great Eminent Monks, and the money and silk deposited there would be used primarily for the repair of temples and Buddha statues, and for helping the poor and orphans, with funds earmarked for specific purposes. But for Baima Temple,
Once the money and silk have been taken away, no matter how the court uses them, they no longer belong to them.

Hui Da looked anxiously at Hui Yin.

But Huiyin remained unmoved, which made Huida so anxious that he forgot about his image as a high-ranking monk and started winking at Huiyin.

He did not want the imperial court to interfere too much.

We do not want the White Horse Temple to keep retreating.

But finally,
Whether Abbot Huiyin failed to notice his expression or had already made up his mind, he still agreed to Li Yi's proposal.

Then,
The more than two thousand monks of Baima Temple immediately began the examination.

The Forty-Two Chapters Sutra will be tested.

First, you have to memorize it. If you can't memorize it fluently, you'll be eliminated in the first round and sent back to where you came from, or you might have to return to secular life.

The second stage involves verbally explaining the meaning of the scriptures, eliminating those who fail.

Finally, there was a written test, which involved copying the sutra and interpreting it in ink. The test was still based on the Forty-Two Chapters Sutra. If you couldn't write, you were eliminated.

In the end, two hundred monks and three hundred novices remained.

Li Yi observed the whole process.
The examination was administered by a group of eminent monks from the temple.

Li Yi didn't care how they took the exam.
But he only produced five hundred blank degree certificates.
These ordination certificates were already stamped before they arrived, and were specially prepared for the White Horse Temple.

There were exactly five hundred tickets, no more and no less, so these five hundred slots included Abbot Huiyin.

During exam breaks,

Huiyin went to change her clothes.
Hui Da and Hui Shi quickly followed.

As soon as they left Li Yi, the two of them couldn't wait to persuade Huiyin.

"White Horse Temple has only recently prospered again after the chaos of the Sui Dynasty. How can we back down just because of Li Yi's words?" Hui Da said anxiously.

Huiyin walked steadily and looked calm.

"Have you forgotten how Wang Shichong treated my Buddhist community when he occupied the Central Plains during the Sui Dynasty's chaos?"

Wang Shichong initially served under Yang Tong, the Prince of Yue, and before he usurped the throne, he treated Buddhism relatively politely, especially the ancestral temple, Baima Temple, located just outside Luoyang.

He was even a major benefactor of the temple.

However, after Wang Shichong usurped the throne, the country was beset by internal and external troubles, and Luoyang suffered from a long-term famine and food shortage. Wang Shichong no longer treated the temples under his jurisdiction, such as the White Horse Temple and the Shaolin Temple, with any courtesy.

He condoned his subordinates' officials and soldiers seizing temple lands and properties.

Forcing temples to donate money and forcibly borrowing money and grain.
Later, they openly looted temples, even forcibly conscripting monks into soldiers and melting down Buddhist statues to mint coins.

Faced with Wang Shichong's various forms of bullying,

Some temples did rebel, but even those like Baima and Shaolin could not stand against the imperial court, not even a separatist force.

then,

Many temples were destroyed in the war.

Some were robbed by refugees, and others were looted by bandits, but many of the so-called refugees and bandits were actually Wang Shichong's subordinates in disguise.

They couldn't resist Wang Shichong back then.
Now, how can we rebel against the Li Tang dynasty, which has already unified the country?

The Three Ranks Sect was so powerful, with hundreds of temples from Guanzhong to Sanhe, yet it was all uprooted in one fell swoop.

Having experienced the chaos of the Sui Dynasty, Huiyin knew very well that...
If the imperial court is going to take real action, the temples are powerless to resist.

Just like Emperor Wu of Northern Wei and Emperor Wu of Zhou persecuted Buddhism.

Li Yi's words were already very clear.
Those who follow the rules prosper, those who resist perish; the Three-Stage Religion is the best example of this.

What is the imperial court?
The imperial court has countless soldiers.

For the sake of the regime, they could fight each other to the death, one overthrowing another. Why would they be afraid of monks?

The few martial monks at Baima Temple were useful in dealing with small groups of refugees during famines and in suppressing tenant farmers who resisted rent during disaster years.

Could warrior monks fight against the imperial army?
“That Minister Li came prepared.”

He had prepared the Buddhist precepts and also prepared five hundred ordination certificates.
That Minister Li is full of confidence; everything is unfolding exactly as he planned.

Hui Shi was still unwilling to give up.
So much land, so much money and grain.
Li Yi said he would take everything, even the swords, spears, bows, and arrows of their martial monks.

They must also return their servants.

Huiyin chanted Amitabha, "Emperor Wu of Northern Wei suppressed Buddhism, but after the fall of Northern Wei, Buddhism revived. Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou also suppressed Buddhism."

However, the two emperors of the Sui Dynasty were also particularly devout Buddhists.

The founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty also held Buddhism in high esteem.

The new emperor is now strict with Buddhism.
But who knows what the future holds?

As long as the lineage of my White Horse Temple endures, land, money, and grain are all external things.

Hui Da said bitterly, "Is there no one to protect the Buddhist sect in this imperial court?"

"If Li Yi were to suddenly meet with misfortune, perhaps our White Horse Temple could survive this calamity?" Hui Shi whispered.

"Amitabha," Huiyin softly chanted the Buddha's name, "You must never have such a thought, lest you fall into Avici Hell!"

(End of this chapter)