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The relationship between Wu Zetian and Buddhism is much more than that. After Wu Zetian ascended the throne and became the emperor, he took practical actions to promote the spread and promotion of Buddhism in China.

There are two short stories about the "ban on slaughter" that can illustrate Wu Zetian's contribution in promoting the development of Buddhism from the side.

Wu Zetian believed in Buddhism, so after she became the emperor, she issued a ban on slaughter, that is, no killing or eating of big fish and meat is allowed. As a life creed that everyone abides by, it is not easy, so many people at that time felt that they did not eat. Meat is uncomfortable, so what should the emperor do if he refuses to eat meat and he wants to eat meat? So there are many things that have policies and countermeasures.

Wu Zetian sent the current prime minister to inspect, and walked from station to station. When the Yi Cheng saw that the big man was coming, he wanted to curry favor with the Prime Minister, and wanted to feed the Prime Minister something good and served him a pot of mutton.

The Yi Cheng was very clever, saying that the sheep was killed by a wolf. When the prime minister heard that it was killed by a wolf, it didn't matter, eat it. After eating, he brought another plate of fish, saying that it was wrong, the emperor said that the fish could not be salvaged. This post cheng had no words for a while, saying that the fish was killed by a wolf. The prime minister said, "How can you be so stupid? If you say that the fish was killed by an otter."

The second story is about a little official who gave birth to a son during the ban on slaughter. The little official was very happy and wanted to invite his colleagues to dinner. He secretly slaughtered a sheep and gave each colleague a bit of mutton.

A colleague was particularly innocent. He ate as well. After eating, he stuffed a piece of meat into his sleeve. After returning home, he repaired a memorial for Wu Zetian, saying that his colleague XX violated the ban on slaughter and privately. A sheep was slaughtered, the evidence is here, and the mutton is also brought up.

The next day, Wu Zetian called the official who gave birth to the son and said that I heard that you gave birth to a son. It was gratifying and congratulated. He took a piece of meat and said where did this stuff come from? The little official was so scared that he couldn't get up when he knelt there.

At this time, Wu Zetian spoke. She said that I had issued a ban on slaughter. I hope that everyone will be compassionate and don’t kill people for no reason. However, I will not intervene when encountering a happy event, so whether you kill sheep or eat meat Okay, I don't blame you, but in the future, if you treat guests, you must choose the guests. That person told me. The informer was blushing, and the entire court wanted to spit him.

In fact, it is not just these small stories that are circulated by the people. After becoming the emperor, Wu Zetian really did a lot of things that are quite beneficial to the promotion of Buddhism. Among them, the introduction and translation of Buddhist scriptures is an important measure.

Everyone knows the story of Tang Sanzang who went through nine, nine and eighty-one difficulties and finally retrieved a large number of Buddhist scriptures in the West. But I am afraid that few people know that Wu Zetian's role in the introduction and promotion of Buddhist scriptures is even greater than that of Tang Sanzang.

The most important reason for this is because there was a Buddhist scripture that gave Wu Zetian an excuse to be an emperor, or that Wu Zetian found a theoretical basis in a Buddhist scripture to support her as an empress.

This Buddhist scripture is the famous "Great Cloud Sutra".

Wu Zetian has never been emperor in Chinese history with a female body. In order to prove the rationality of her ascension to the throne, she can only find a basis outside the Confucian and Taoist classics. Therefore, when she saw that Buddhism supports the doctrine of women becoming emperors, she was naturally overjoyed and enacted related doctrines to the world and vigorously promoted the Dharma. And this Buddhist scripture is the "Great Cloud Sutra".

Such a story is told in the "Da Yun Jing". The goddess of Jingguang once heard the "Great Nirvana Sutra" from the same-sex lamp Buddha. Later, when Buddha Shakyamuni was alive, she was born as a mortal womb to the world, and once again heard the profound meaning of Buddhism. Although she was a woman, she later became a king and obtained a quarter of the territory controlled by the King of the Wheel. She also educates men, women and children in the field to eliminate all kinds of evil opinions and dissent, and broaden the cause of Bodhisattva.

In the first year of Tianshou, in July of the year when Wu Zetian changed Tang to Zhou, the monk Huaiyi and Faming wrote "The Book of Clouds", and attached the above story as the "indication" of the "Buddha" to the Empress Wu Zetian. , That is, prophecy.

With this prophecy, Wu Zetian can become emperor grandly. Therefore, Wu Zetian promulgated the "Da Yun Jing" to the world. In addition, Chang’an, Luoyang, and the prefectures were ordered to set up one Dayun Temple. Each of the temples contained a copy of the “Dayun Scripture”, which was explained by the monks.

In this way, everyone in the world knew that Wu Zetian was Maitreya who descended to earth and should replace Li Tang as the emperor. Subsequently, Wu Zetian officially proclaimed himself emperor in September of this year and changed his country's name to Zhou.

Confucianism in China strongly opposed women's political involvement, so after the Tang Dynasty, people repeatedly used the "Da Yun Jing" to talk about things, and they all used it to accuse Wu Zetian of forging Buddhist scriptures and deceiving the world.

So is there a doctrine of a woman being emperor in the Buddhist scriptures? The answer is: yes. There is a story in the Buddhist scriptures about a woman becoming king in the afterlife.

The Buddha said that seven hundred years after his Nirvana, there was a small country in Southern Tianzhu called ignorance; there was a river in the country called Heihua; on the south bank of the river, there was a city called Miaoshu; there was a king in the city called waiting. Multiply; the king and his wife gave birth to a daughter named Zhan. One day in the future, the king will die suddenly. At that time, the ministers will let his daughter grow up to inherit the throne. After she ascended to the throne, the situation will be majestic in the world, and all the countries in Yan Futi will come to honor her, and there will be no rejection or disobedience.

This story shows that at least since the Buddhist scriptures were recorded, the doctrine that a woman can be an emperor has been made clear.

After being suppressed by Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism completely recovered its lost position when Wu Zetian was in power. Wu Zetian must be said to be the suzerain of Zhongxing Buddhism.

After Wu Zetian became the emperor, she sent someone to take Shenxiu, the leader of the Northern Sect of Zen Buddhism, to Luoyang, and then carried him onto the sedan chair and bowed herself. This practice of her has attracted high-ranking officials and the people to follow each other. Every day, tens of thousands of people come to bow down and worship this high monk.

She also personally greeted another eminent monk who returned home. Wu Zetian's connection with Buddhism means that her legitimacy has gradually increased. And Chinese Buddhism has also entered a stage of full prosperity, the most prosperous is in Wu Zetian's Wu Zhou dynasty.

The prosperity of Buddhism had three manifestations at that time: The first is that a large number of Buddhist scriptures were translated.

During the Wu Zetian period, she translated the most important Buddhist scripture "Hua Yan Sutra". At that time, Her Majesty felt that the sixty "Hua Yan" translated during the Jin Dynasty was lacking too much, and felt very regretful. So she sent a special envoy to it. India went to ask for the complete book of this sutra.

A mage from Yutian just had this book in his hand~www.readwn.com~ She even invited the mage to China, and this mage was Shicha Nanda. After the Master was invited, let him preside over the translation of the "Hua Yan Jing".

When Master Shicha Nanda came, the "Hua Yan Sutra" he brought with him was incomplete. However, there are 9,000 more verses than the Jin translated sutras, for a total of 45,000 verses, and the teachings of the Dajing can already be seen. At that time, the scale of the translation field was very large, and Wu Zetian himself often went to participate. After the translation, she even wrote the preface and opened the scriptures for the "Hua Yan Sutra" herself.

This is the famous Hungry "Opening Sutra": "The supreme and subtle method, millions of catastrophes have been encountered; I can stand by what I have seen and heard, and I am willing to understand the true meaning of the Tathagata."

"Huayan Sutra" advocates the co-prosperity and symbiosis of all worlds, and it is a very bold classic. There are dozens of masters in the Tang Dynasty who are famous for translating scriptures, and there are 15 of them living in the Wu Zhou era.

The second is that the Wu Zetian period also made important contributions to the construction of temples. She established a Dayun Temple in all states across the country. According to historical records, there were 38 famous temples in the Tang Dynasty, of which more than 30% were established during the Wu Zhou period. . If there is a Buddhist temple, there must be monks. Xue Huaiyi became the abbot of the White Horse Temple. There were more than 300 monks in the White Horse Temple, but in the Wu Zhou period, the abbot Xue Huaiyi had more than 1,000 attendants.

The third contribution is statues. Among all the statue art in the Tang Dynasty, the Wu Zetian era was the most brilliant, and the propaganda of Buddhism reached its heyday. Wu Zetian's connection with Buddhism has a great effect on Buddhism, and both Wu Zetian and Buddhism have reached their peak state.

Wu Zetian respects Buddhism so much, it is not surprising that she arranges so many Buddha statues for her tomb to bury her with!

PS: Bow to thank you for the reward of 300 for "Love to Bury the Dead Sea" and 200 for the reward of "Watching the Stars from the Roof".

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