Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 219: The study of immortals is extremely immoral!
Confucianism, distinguished guest.

These two nouns appear at the same time.

The four ministers in Zhang Juzheng's cabinet couldn't help but think of the same person.

Xu Jie, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Revenue.

After Yan Song and Yan Shifan, father and son, were executed, Xu Jie was dismissed from office and sent back to his hometown. He returned to the capital as a great Confucian sage.

The imperial court banned the School of Mind, but the strength of Confucianism lies in its commonality. Nie Bao, Xu Jie, and even the Donglin Academy, which was reformed by the Jiangyou School of Mind, all returned to the "skin" of Confucianism.

Other followers of Yangming's School of Mind also changed their "skin", either to Neo-Confucianism or returning to Confucianism. In short, they changed their appearance.

Nie Bao and Xu Jie brought people from the Donglin Academy to Beijing to participate in the debate on the order of the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism as representatives of the Confucian school.

Perhaps it was for Nie Bao's sake, or perhaps it was for the sake of Saint Yangming's sake, the Confucian community tacitly approved of the actions of Nie Bao and Xu Jie.

Even the Taoists and Buddhists know that the order of the Three Religions is not within the debate but outside the debate.

How could Nie Bao, who once served as the Minister of War, and Xu Jie, who once held the highest position in the country, not understand?

So as soon as he arrived in Beijing, he went to visit the prime minister's residence. Calculating the time, he was already sitting in the prime minister's residence waiting for Zhang Juzheng to get off duty.

He was prepared to persuade Zhang Juzheng, the chief minister of the cabinet, by appealing to his emotions and reasoning, to start from the Confucian standpoint and make some adjustments to the order of the three religions.

All the civil and military officials in the court were Confucian scholars, so the task of "enlightening" the ministers was naturally done by people from the Donglin Academy and other Confucian schools.

When the three religions were ranked, Taoism and Buddhism were somewhat apprehensive, but in the eyes of Confucianism, it was just a formality.

There are countless officials in the entire imperial court, and countless Confucian officials. What can the Confucians do to lose?
As for the issue of the survival of the Taoist orthodoxy that Taoists and Buddhists are worried about, Confucianists just think it is a joke. Ever since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty abolished all schools of thought and promoted Confucianism as the only one, in the past two thousand years, we have only heard of the destruction of Buddhism and Taoism. When have we ever heard of the destruction of Confucianism?

In the eyes of many Confucianists, the huge imperial court is equivalent to Confucianism. Unless the emperor abolishes all government offices and manages the country's affairs alone, there will be no issue of life and death for Confucianism.

However, such an idea seems absurd to the current cabinet members, including Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, Hu Zongxian and Li Chunfang.

The imperial court is the imperial court, and Confucianism is Confucianism. These are two separate things.

Indeed, since Emperor Wu of Han, the imperial court has selected talents mostly from Confucian schools, but this does not mean that talents can only be selected from Confucian schools.

For the imperial court, it made little difference which school of thought was used to govern the country, as long as the four words "loyalty to the emperor and love for the people" were remembered.

Or let me put it more clearly: anyone who can read and understand basic principles can become an official.

If one can understand the emperor's orders and appease the people, he has already surpassed more than 90% of the court officials.

Nie Bao and Xu Jie had been away from the court for a long time. Some great Confucian sages simply never served as officials. They enjoyed more flattery and praise from their disciples, and gradually lost sight of their own and Confucian status.

Nie Bao and Xu Jie were Zhang Juzheng's master and grandfather. In the eyes of Zhang Juzheng and the cabinet, this open and dignified visit to the prime minister's residence was like blowing the suona for the demise of Confucianism.

Confused!
Now, Zhang Juzheng looked embarrassed. The arrogance of the Confucian school was obviously not tolerated by the emperor.

There was no need for Lu Bing to explain much about the power of the Confucian school and the hierarchy of superiors and subordinates. The four people in the cabinet understood it better than the Jinyiwei.

"Zhang Juzheng." Zhu Houcong spoke again.

Zhang Juzheng knelt down on the embroidered cushion skillfully and said solemnly, "I am here."

"I have issued a decree to the whole country, asking the three religions to determine the order. It is not the three religions that determine the order. What I want is for all three religions to be abolished. Confucianism is no longer the way to govern the country. It must be abolished along with Taoism and Buddhism."

Zhu Houcong first sentenced Confucianism to death. Zhang, Gao, Hu, and Li were all distressed. Then they heard the holy voice coming down and concentrated their attention to listen: "The real gods and Buddhas have no images. The statues of gods, Buddhas, Taoist temples, Buddhist temples, temples, and pagodas cost countless money but do not help faith. They must be eradicated. Taoist audiences and Buddhist monks who do not fulfill their filial piety and become monks are not tolerated by the law of the country. They must all be ordered to return to secular life and go home.

In the future, Taoist temples and Buddhist monasteries may be built to recruit Taoists and monks, but those who want to become Taoists or Buddhists must first reach adulthood and voluntarily become monks. They must also obtain the consent of their parents and elders, and the local county government will then issue an examination paper. Only those with good wisdom can become Taoists or monks.

In accordance with the ancestral system of our Emperor Gaozu, there can only be two Taoists and two monks and nuns in a county, and their certificates of ordination must be issued by the imperial court.

Anyone who becomes a monk or shaves his head without permission from the imperial court is considered to be breaking the law and will be punished with eighty strokes of the stick.

Now, does the cabinet understand my real intention in convening the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism to establish order?"

"Your Majesty wants to let the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism kill each other in the debate, and the court will reap the benefits." Zhang Juzheng replied solemnly.

All three religions are abolished.

To achieve this goal without causing a stir, we need to work on the topics and rules of the debate.

The topic must be tough!

The rules must be toxic!

Zhu Houcong nodded and asked Zhang Juzheng's cabinet to discuss appropriate debate topics and punishment for the loser in this hall.

A three-way debate is much more interesting than a two-way debate, but it is also a bit more difficult.

The topic should be discussed from the perspective of one of the three parties, and then the other two parties should be allowed to refute it.

A simple example is the "Confucian agenda" proposed by Gao Gong.

"You can learn to be a god, but you can't learn to be a god!"

In Confucianism, there is a saying of Confucius, "The Master does not speak of strange things, supernatural powers, or spirits," which has led many Confucian scholars to believe that there are no gods or Buddhas at all.

In the view of Confucianism, the vague teachings of God and Buddha should not appear to disturb people's minds.

Therefore, in the debate, the Confucians wanted to prove that becoming an immortal could not be learned, while the Taoists and Buddhists, not wanting to fail, had to prove that becoming an immortal could be learned.

This topic is to deny the existence of Taoism and Buddhism from the root. It would be strange if Taoism and Buddhism did not fight hard.

The move he used right from the start was heart-breaking, so cruel.

But at this point, the ministers no longer needed to pretend to be merciful. Zhang Juzheng, Hu Zongxian and Li Chunfang all appreciated Gao Gong's Confucian issues.

Lu Bing and Zhang Yuangong were standing nearby, their mouths twitching as they heard this. To be honest, he had to be a scholar.

The killing was done without leaving any blood.

Zhu Houcong agreed.

The three major topics, including Confucian topics, were passed.

The deputy prime minister had already proposed a topic, so Zhang Juzheng, the prime minister, could not lag behind. He paced a few steps in the hall and thought: "How about setting the Buddhist topic as "Laozi's conversion to Buddhism"?"

Legend has it that Laozi, the founder of Taoism, went west through Hangu Pass to the Western Regions, and incarnated as Buddha Sakyamuni in India to educate the people of the Western Regions and India.

The meaning is that Buddhism originated from Taoism.

If this were brought up in a debate, I have to say it is extremely immoral!
(End of this chapter)