Standalone Northern and Southern Dynasties

Chapter 370

Something happened to Su Renjie (the legal officer who solves cases like a god) as well?

Su Chao almost lost his balance. He finally understood why Su Ze summoned him alone in the Mingtang.

If only Su Wen had problems along the way, it could be considered an isolated case. But if the two inspectors sent to Liangzhou also had problems, then the entire Liangzhou would be in tatters.

This time, Su Ze did not let Su Chao see the secret letter, but simply summarized the contents of the secret letter.

"As soon as Su Renjie arrived in the county, he encountered several murders."

Hearing this, Su Chao felt a little relieved. If this was a murder case, it didn't mean that it was a problem with the local officials. All he had to do was catch the murderer.

Su Ze continued:

"After Su Renjie arrived in the county, he encountered a group of merchants from the Western Regions who came to complain about their grievances. They said that many merchants had disappeared in the county, but the local county lieutenant had found nothing."

"Su Renjie looked through the files from the county and found that these business groups were all related to a local Xianyun Temple. He then took people to the Xianyun Temple to investigate."

Su Ze seemed to be telling a story, as if he had seen it with his own eyes, and first described the magnificence of Xianyun Temple.

"This Xianyun Temple is located on a mountain outside the city. It was originally a small temple built by an unknown monk. Over the years, its popularity has grown, and there have always been merchants coming and going to stay overnight. The Buddhist temple has grown day by day, and now there are 10,000 acres of monk land and 100 houses."

"The prosperity of Xianyun Temple began after the current abbot Fayun took over the temple. It is said that Master Fayun was proficient in Buddhism and was highly respected by the locals. The 10,000 mu of monk land was donated by believers when he was the abbot."

The more Su Chao listened, the more he felt something was not right. He only heard Su Ze continue to say:
"After Su Renjie stayed at Xianyun Temple, he encountered many strange things. First, he heard a demon's voice at night, warning him to leave the county as soon as possible."

"Then his personal seal of the Imperial Inspector was stolen, and he encountered many 'accidents' and almost died in the temple."

Su Ze described Su Renjie's experience in the temple vividly and in a supernatural tone. This made Su Cho, who had no interest in Buddhism, stand on end. Could it be that the gods and Buddhas really appeared?

"After a series of twists and turns, Su Renjie finally found a clue. These merchant groups disappeared in different places, but they all stayed in Xianyun Temple, and they were all loaded with goods."

"After investigation, Su Renjie finally found that Xianyun Temple was colluding with the bandits outside the city. After finding out the situation of the merchant group, he let the bandits rob the merchant group, and finally sold the stolen goods through Xianyun Temple."

"And the prosperity of Xianyun Temple is also due to this evil path."

Su Cho was dumbfounded. He didn't expect that there was such a dark temple in Liangzhou, and the local government actually ignored it?

Su Ze continued:

"After Xianyun Temple was exposed, the evil monk Fayun was planning to kill Su Renjie and conceal the truth. In the end, it was the messenger from Xuanjing Division who dispatched the palace soldiers to attack Xianyun Temple and rescued Su Renjie."

Su Ze added:
"The evil monk Fayun has been killed."

Hearing this, Su Chao breathed a sigh of relief. Although this case was horrifying, it should have nothing to do with the local area, right?

Su Ze continued, "But Su Renjie later found out that the rent of the land in this county has been declining year after year because the local county magistrate is a sycophantic Buddhist and condones the expansion of local Buddhist temples. Xianyun Temple covers an area of ​​10,000 mu, but it is nothing compared to the local big temples. Moreover, these Buddhist temples have become businesses, and the big monks are all wearing gold and silver, and their pomp and circumstance is greater than that of the county magistrate."

"This county magistrate also treated these monks as honored guests and resolutely refused to implement the policies of the Ministry of Monks and Taoists of the Political Affairs Hall."

"Because there were too many tax-free monk fields, the county officials imposed heavier taxes on civilian fields. More people offered their land to temples to avoid taxes. Some good men also became monks to avoid rent and corvee labor. As many as 20% of the local people became monks."

This time Su Cho could no longer hold it in. The world worships Buddhism, but there is still such a sycophantic county magistrate. The distorted local atmosphere has also given rise to evil temples like Xianyun Temple. Liangzhou does have big problems.

Su Ze said:

"Ling Chuo, how do you think this matter should be handled?"

Su Cho also found this situation difficult to handle. Buddhism was a powerful force both in the north and the south, and they also had the support of the grassroots people. If they used tough measures to destroy Buddhism, they would suffer a backlash.

To put it bluntly, the reason why local people became monks and entrusted their land to the temples was the final decision based on economic considerations. This was harmful to the country, but beneficial to them personally.

Although Su Ze's system of granting land to monks in Xiazhou was well implemented, it was still the local officials who ultimately implemented it.

The local officials and local monks are already in collusion, or they are Buddhists and unwilling to implement the regulations of your government hall, or they resist and delay implementation openly or covertly.

There are only so many Inspectors, and it is impossible to send Inspectors to inspect every county. These two counties have the most problems in Liangzhou, but that does not mean that there are no problems in other counties.

Su Chuo thought for a long time, then shook his head and said:
"I don't have any good ideas either."

It’s not that Su Cho doesn’t want to offer advice, but there is really no way to deal with such religious issues.

Su Ze did not blame Su Chao. He said:
"A few days ago, a Japanese general met a Buddhist master, who gave me some inspiration."

Buddhist master?

Could it be the great Buddhist figure who came to participate in the debate among the three religions?
I haven't heard that General Su is interested in Buddhism?

Of course Su Chao didn't know that this so-called great Buddhist master was summoned by Su Ze himself using the system.

【A monk with profound Buddhist precepts】

Name: Biankong.

Grade: Orange;
Effect: The Buddhist teachings are boundless, one has a deep understanding of all branches of Buddhism, and is familiar with various Buddhist scriptures.

Keep the precepts, be able to abide by various Buddhist disciplines, and persuade the monks around you to keep the precepts and be good.

Comment: "Advise people not to do evil, observe the precepts and cultivate to become a Buddha."

Price: No donation required.

When it comes to the debate on emptiness, the first thing Su Ze thinks of is the Vinaya school.

The Vinaya school is a school of thought that developed during the Tang Dynasty. Its main Buddhist philosophy is to observe precepts and practice, that is, to become a Buddha by observing various Buddhist precepts.

However, this sect has long since declined in later generations, and the most famous Vinaya school monk is Jianzhen who traveled to the East.

The reason why Jianzhen sailed to the East was not only because of the need to spread Buddhism, but also because the Buddhist monasteries in Japan were very powerful at that time, and even the monk soldiers could influence the situation in Japan.

The ruling class of Japan invited Jianzhen to Japan and promoted the practice of keeping precepts in order to disintegrate those monks who did not observe the precepts.

The effect was indeed very good. After Jianzhen sailed east, he immediately rectified the order of Buddhism in Japan. Through his profound Buddhist teachings and his status in the Buddhist community, he expelled the evildoers who had infiltrated the ranks of monks and controlled the expanding power of the monastic community.

It is best for Buddhism to handle its affairs itself.

Su Ze also discovered that the Vinaya School was even more suitable as the official ideology of Buddhism than Bian Cai's Pure Land School.

The Vinaya school emphasizes the observance of precepts, believing that as long as one adheres to the various complex Buddhist precepts, one can eventually cultivate and become a Buddha.

The purpose of precepts is naturally to guide people to be good. To become a Buddha, one must of course get rid of all kinds of vulgar interests.

Moreover, the moral character of the Vinaya school monks is often very high, and they can also guide the people to be good.

Su Chao was relieved to hear that Su Ze was not planning to destroy Buddhism by force.

In fact, Su Ze also discovered that the prosperity of Buddhism during the Northern and Southern Dynasties had reached a stage of universal belief.

The Guanzhong region is also full of cave Buddhist temples.

When in Hezhou, there were the Bingling Temple Grottoes. The newly recovered Jingzhou also had a large number of grottoes and Buddhist temples. Liangzhou was home to the world-famous Dunhuang Grottoes. Bingzhou and Hengzhou, separated from Xiazhou by the Yellow River, also had the Yungang Grottoes.

Even many grottoes were not excavated by official organizations. For example, the Dunhuang Grottoes have no official background. They were excavated and constructed even during the period when Hexi was not under the control of the Central Plains.

These caves are extremely large in scale. Craftsmen spent a generation or even several generations to carve caves in the desolate mountains, which shows the prevalence of folk beliefs.

Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou destroyed Buddhism, releasing a large amount of land and population from Buddhism, but it did not reverse the trend of worshipping Buddhism that continued in the Sui and Tang dynasties. Otherwise, there would have been no need for Han Yu of the Tang Dynasty to write the "On the Buddha's Bones".

On the contrary, since the Song Dynasty, with the prosperity of the imperial examination system and the continuous localization of Buddhism, Buddhism in the Central Plains began to become gentle and harmless. The super-large temples of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties disintegrated, and Buddhism turned into a pure folk belief.

Thinking in this way, there is really no need to destroy Buddhism on a large scale. It would be better to use the more harmless Buddhist theories of later generations to transform Buddhism while Buddhist theories are complicated and there are many schools.

This is the same as Su Ze's attitude towards aristocratic families. It has to be used because of practical problems, but it must be used with caution.

The same is true for the debate on the three religions. What Su Ze needs is not to completely eliminate Buddhism, but to determine the status of Confucianism among the three religions and exclude Buddhism and Taoism from the official ideology.

Common people can believe it, but officials who are sycophants to Buddhism, like the county magistrate where Su Wuming went, should not be allowed to do so.

Su Ze said again:
"Are there any officials in the shogunate and government offices who are devoted to worshipping Buddhism?"

Su Cho was stunned for a moment. Officials these days would have some exposure to Buddhism, but he had never heard of anyone who was extremely pious.

The main reason is that Su Ze is still in its rising period, and officials focus more on practical progress and do not need to indulge in Buddhist teachings.

Su Ze said:

"If you want to devote yourself to worshipping Buddha, then you should not occupy an official position for nothing. You can just give up your position and go home to practice Buddhism."

Su Chao immediately understood what Su Ze meant, nodded and said, "If there are such people who are just sitting there doing nothing, the Government Affairs Office will definitely not let them off. When the Ministry of Personnel recommends officials in the future, this will also be a key point in their examination."

Su Ze nodded and said:
"This Master Biankong is very proficient in Buddhism and will be giving a lecture at Yongle Temple in a few days."

"This general intends to appoint him as the chief monk in charge of the Buddhist and Taoist Department in Liangzhou to clean up the temples in Liangzhou that do not abide by the Buddhist precepts."

I forgot to write the title, it is "Vinaya School".

As of 12:182 yesterday, the last one was on the nd floor.

The lottery result is the 40th floor.

@Dreaming Salted Fish
Please tell the rumor about the steam account in this chapter, and Fei Niao will give you a copy of Black Myth.

Thank you all for participating!

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(End of this chapter)