A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 298 Kushan Monk, Returning

In the city of Malakanda in the northern part of the Kushan Kingdom, Cai Min and others, led by the guards sent by the King of Kushan, found the eminent monk who was preaching Buddhist scriptures.

There were two eminent monks. According to the King of Kushan, the two eminent monks traveled together and stayed to preach Buddhist sutras wherever they went. The two took turns and debated each other's sutras, leaving many legends in Kushan country.

In fact, from the heart of King Kushan, he was really unwilling to give up these two eminent monks to others, because he was also a person who worshiped the Buddha. The presence of eminent monks in the country meant that the Buddha was gazing at his country. This was also his departure from the Buddha. recent days.

But as the king of a country and the king of the Kushan people, he knew very well what was most important to him. From the knowledge passed down, he understood that if he wanted to find a way forward for the Kushan people, he could only find a way forward for the Kushan people. The sword and the horse on the crotch.

The eminent monks may be important, but they are far less important than the Han's advanced weaponry and technology. I heard that the Han has defeated the Huns to the north of the North Sea, which shows how sharp the Han's weapons are.

In comparison, an eminent monk cannot open up territory for him, and besides, he is so close to Tianzhu, so he can easily invite another eminent monk to come over. This is not a difficult task.

In Marakanda, on a high platform, the two men shaved their heads and wore typical monk robes of Tianzhu Buddhists. Cai Min had been in the Kushan Kingdom for many days. Under the influence of such a strong Buddhist culture, He already knew the origin of these monk's robes.

I heard from a Buddhist soldier on the side that Buddhist monks should not wear more than three layers of clothing. From the inside to the outside, they are the first layer of clothing, Andohui; the second layer of clothing, Uttara; and the third layer of clothing, Sanghali.

According to legend, this was stipulated by Sakyamuni, and the color of monk's robes cannot be pure colors (single colors, such as pure white, yellow, red, green, etc.), but "bad colors" (non-single pure colors). ).

Therefore, the tops of Tianzhu monks are mainly yellow and green, and the lower skirts are almost reddish brown. In this way, red and yellow have become the regulations for Tianzhu monks' clothes.

In Tianzhu, there is almost no severe cold weather. In order to eliminate the heat, monks often wear dark-colored, light and breathable long and wide cloth to cover their whole body, leaving only the right shoulder exposed.

To be honest, Cai Min couldn't understand these regulations. Baring your arms to show others is called rudeness in Confucianism. Only when archery and martial arts are being practiced, for the sake of convenience, it is allowed for people to bare their arms.

He also had to shave his head, which Cai Min couldn't tolerate. This was a great act of unfilial piety. In the Han Dynasty, only those who had committed serious crimes would be shaved. This was a kind of criminal law called Kun punishment.

But now he had something to ask for, so he could only suppress the discomfort in his heart, since he didn't believe in Buddhism anyway. And in order to prevent his companions from making mistakes, when he came to the Dharma site, he specifically told everyone not to show disrespect for Buddhist culture, otherwise they would definitely read his book after returning home.

In the afternoon, the Dharma assembly finally came to an end, and the two eminent monks got off the platform.

They had been here since the morning, and the two eminent monks had been speaking on the stage for several hours. Cai Min couldn't understand, so he could only pretend to listen below, while his companions on the side had already fallen asleep for several hours.

No matter how Cai Min reminded him, he could not stop everyone from falling asleep, so in the end he had to give up and let them go.

Seeing the two eminent monks finally coming down, Cai Min immediately pulled Qin Jing forward, saluted and said: "I have come from the Han Dynasty in the East. I want to help the Han people understand the Buddhist scriptures. I invite the two eminent monks to go to the East to teach the scriptures."

The two eminent monks, one named Shemo Teng and the other Flan, were both eminent Buddhist monks who came to Guishang from Zhongtianzhu to preach.

They listened to Qin Jing's translation and looked at Cai Min's unique etiquette. Judging from this set of etiquette, that big eastern country should be a country with a very ancient heritage.

The two of them saluted with one hand and said, "I don't dare to be an eminent monk. I am only willing to teach scriptures and resolve doubts for my Buddha's followers."

This is what Qin Jing translated.

Upon hearing this, Cai Min had an idea in mind: "Both of them are enlightened monks in Buddhism. Their understanding of Buddhist scriptures is second to none. All they want is to let the Buddha's glory shine farther.

I have traveled a lot in Kushan, and everything I see and do is Buddhist. The people here, think and speak, all follow the Buddha's teachings. In my opinion, this Kushan is already under the protection of the Buddha.

The Buddha said that the world should have no suffering, no hunger, no birth, old age, sickness and death. Now the people of Kushan have enjoyed the glory of Buddha, but the people of Han Dynasty have never seen what Buddha is.

For the Buddha, it is a land of nothingness. It is the responsibility of every Buddhist disciple to spread the glory of the Buddha. Our Emperor heard from people in the Western Regions that there is a kingdom of Buddha here, so he sent us to find the Buddha's spokesperson and go to the Han Dynasty to explain Buddhist scriptures to him.

Relieving the suffering of the people of the Han Dynasty is a very beneficial thing for both of us. We also ask the two eminent monks to spare no effort to accompany us to the east to spread the glory of Buddha. "

She Moteng and the two listened to Qin Jing's intermittent and incomplete translation. If they were ordinary people, it might be a bit difficult to understand, but the people here are all famous people in the world, so they can naturally understand each other's meaning. .

In the ears of She Moteng and the two of them, what Cai Min probably meant was: "The East is a big country, there is no Buddha, come quickly!" But after all, the big man is not less than ten thousand miles away from here, this is not something that can be decided arbitrarily. In the end, the two of She Moteng He still said to them: "This is related to the spread of Buddhism. The two of us dare not draw any conclusions at will. We also ask the donor to wait for us to think about it for a few days. After seven days, we will definitely give you an answer."

Cai Min understood the concerns of the two, and after saluting respectfully, stood aside and let the two of them go back to their residence.

I don’t know what the final discussion between the two Shemo Teng was. On the seventh day, they came to the residence of the Han envoy and announced their decision to them.

"I have made an agreement with Master Frank and am willing to go to the far east with you to preach the teachings of Buddha to the people of your country."

After hearing this, Cai Min was overjoyed. He could finally go home, so he happily invited the two of them into the "inn" where they were staying, and introduced them to them in detail about the Han Dynasty, including the emperor's status in the Han Dynasty, and some common sense.

After listening to Qin Jing's story, Shemo Teng learned that there is a country called Han in the east. They call the king "Emperor" and his country is "Han". When calling the emperor, you cannot call the emperor directly by his name, but "Your Majesty" .

The emperor of the Han Dynasty held the supreme power of the Han Dynasty and had the same status as the Buddha. However, Cai Min and Qin Jing, two people who they considered to be very Buddhist, were actually just small officials in the Han Dynasty and were stronger than them. The number of people is countless.

And in their introduction, the Han Dynasty has two families that control what they call "the world". One is the "Liu" family that controls the inheritance of the emperor, and the other is the "Bai" family that was inherited thousands of years ago and controls the culture. "family.

If they want to preach in Han Dynasty, they will definitely not be able to avoid these two families. If any family objects, they will have no other choice but to leave.

"Donor Cai, thank you for informing me. Without your reminder, I believe the two of us would have suffered inexplicable harm due to ignorance."

She Moteng and the others were very moved by Cai Min's explanation.

"You two masters don't have to be like this. You are equivalent to my guests. If you are hurt because of my problems, this is unforgivable to me.

Our Confucian sages said that it is a great pleasure to have friends coming from far away, which corresponds to this. "

Although the two of them didn't know what the sages Cai Min was talking about, from this Buddhist saying, Shemo Teng could feel that it must be the person closest to the Buddha.

Thus, the first collision between Buddhism and Confucianism in the world took place in this country that was neither a country of Confucianism nor a pure land of Buddhism.

Knowing that the Han Dynasty did not have Buddhist scriptures, the two masters brought all their Buddhist scriptures with them and copied some Buddhist scriptures from the largest Buddhist temple in Kushan as the basis for preaching.

After another month, Cai Min and his party, together with Master Shemo Teng and Flan, were ready. They loaded scriptures and Buddha statues onto several white horses donated or bought from the King of Dayuan, and said goodbye. The envoy of the King of Kushan embarked on his way back home with the letter written by the King of Kushan to Liu Zhuang and some rewards for them.

When they arrived, they were a group of eighteen people, traveling in light vehicles and with only a few horses and camels, carrying the necessary supplies and money. When they returned, there were more than twenty people carrying scriptures and Buddha statues on several horses, as well as several envoys sent by the King of Kushan, and gold and silver rewards.

Because it was the return journey, they were already familiar with the way there, so the journey was very fast, leaving Guishang and returning to Dawan.

King Dayuan heard that the eminent monks from Tianzhu were coming with the Han envoys, so he invited the two eminent monks into the palace with the highest etiquette and asked them to explain the Buddhist scriptures.

There was no other way, so Cai Min and others had to stay in Dawan and wait for King Dawan to release them.

Because Dayuan is separated from Tianzhu by several large and small countries, most of the Buddhist scriptures transmitted here are incomplete scriptures, and the King of Dayuan is a believer in Buddhism.

Now that he saw the eminent monk and personally explained to him what was unclear in the past, the King of Dayuan actually had the idea of ​​abandoning the throne and following the influence of the two eminent monks, but his reason allowed him to suppress this idea.

I had no choice but to say to the two eminent monks: "Please eminent monks, please take pity on Dawan's wholehearted devotion to the Buddha, stay in Dawan, and convey the true meaning of the Buddha to the people of Dawan!"

Not only that, in order to retain the two eminent monks, the King of Dayuan also attracted many nobles and common people in Dayuan who believed in Buddhism and knelt down to them.

The whole scene seemed very big, with Buddhists kneeling all over the ground. For a Buddhist monk, this was no less than a killing blow.

(End of this chapter)