And Wu Zetian's relationship with Buddhism is far more than that.After Wu Zetian ascended the throne as emperor, he promoted the spread and promotion of Buddhism in China with practical actions.There are two short stories about the "slaughter ban" that can illustrate Wu Zetian's contribution to promoting the development of Buddhism.Wu Zetian believes in Buddhism, so after she became the emperor, she issued a ban on slaughter, that is, it is not allowed to kill, it is not allowed to eat big fish and meat, and it is not easy to be a life creed that everyone abides by, so many people felt that it was very uncomfortable not to eat meat at that time, so what should I do if the emperor does not allow me to eat meat, and I want to eat meat?
So there are a lot of things that have policies and countermeasures.Wu Zetian sent the prime minister of the dynasty to inspect and walk from the post station to station.When the post man saw that the big man was coming, he wanted to befriend the prime minister and give the prime minister something good, so he served him a pot of mutton.Yi Cheng was very clever and said that the sheep was bitten to death by a wolf, and when the prime minister heard it, it was bitten to death by a wolf, it doesn't matter, eat it.After eating, he served another plate of fish, saying no, the emperor said that the fish could not be fished.This Yicheng was speechless for a while, saying that the fish was also bitten to death by wolves, and the prime minister said, why are you so stupid, to say that this fish was bitten to death by an otter.The second story tells that during the promulgation of the ban on slaughter, a petty official gave birth to a son in his family, and the petty official was so happy that he wanted to invite his colleagues to dinner, so he secretly slaughtered a sheep and gave each colleague a little mutton.There is a colleague who is particularly inauthentic, he ate and ate, after eating, he also stuffed a piece of meat into his sleeve, and after returning home, he gave Wu Zetian a recital, saying that his colleague XX violated the slaughter ban and slaughtered a sheep without permission, and the evidence is here, and the mutton was also served.The next day, Wu Zetian called the official who gave birth to a son, and said, I heard that you gave birth to a son, congratulations, take a piece of meat out, and say Where did this thing come from?
This petty official was so frightened that he couldn't get up when he knelt there.At this time, Wu Zetian spoke, she said that I issued a ban on slaughter, I hope that everyone will have compassion and don't kill indiscriminately for no reason, but when it comes to red and white ceremonies, I don't intervene, so whether you kill sheep or eat meat, I don't blame you, but in the future, you will have a treat, but you must choose a guest, that person told me.The informer's face was red, and the whole court wanted to smack him.In fact, not only these folk stories, Wu Zetian really did a lot of things that were quite beneficial to the promotion of Buddhism after becoming emperor.Among them, the introduction and translation of Buddhist scriptures is an important measure.Everyone in the world knows the story of Tang Sanzang who went through nine hundred and eighty-one difficulties and finally retrieved a large number of Buddhist scriptures in the western heavens.But I am afraid that few people know that Wu Zetian's 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 the emperor, or Wu Zetian found a theoretical basis to support her as an empress in a certain Buddhist scripture.This sutra is the famous "Great Cloud Sutra".Wu Zetian became emperor as a woman, which has never been done in Chinese history.In order to justify her ascension to the throne, she could only find evidence from outside the Confucian and Taoist classics.Therefore, when she saw the Buddhist doctrine of supporting women to become emperors, she was naturally overjoyed, and promulgated the relevant teachings to the world, and vigorously promoted Buddhism.And this Buddhist scripture is the "Great Cloud Sutra".Such a story is told in "The Great Cloud Sutra".Later, when Shakyamuni Buddha was alive, she was born into the world as an ordinary womb and heard the profound meaning of Buddhism again.Although she was a woman, she later became a king, received a quarter of the territory ruled by the Wheel King, and taught men, women, and children in her field to eliminate all kinds of evil opinions and dissenting opinions, and to do a wide range of bodhisattva business.In the first year of Tianzhu, that is, in July of the year when Wu Zetian changed the Tang Dynasty to Zhou, the monks Huaiyi and Fa Ming wrote "The Great Cloud Sutra", attaching the above story to the "Buddha" to Wu Zetian's "award", that is, the prophecy.With this prophecy, Wu Zetian can be the emperor in a grand manner.Therefore, Wu Zetian promulgated the "Great Cloud Sutra" to the world.And let Chang'an, Luoyang and each state respectively place a big cloud temple, each in the temple has a copy of the "big cloud scripture", and the monks ascend to the seat to explain.In this way, everyone in the world will know that Wu Zetian is Maitreya and should replace Li Tang as emperor.Subsequently, Wu Zetian officially proclaimed himself emperor in September of this year and changed the name of the country to Zhou.Confucianism in China is strongly opposed to women's participation in politics, so after the Tang Dynasty, some people have repeatedly used the "Great Cloud Sutra" to talk about things, and they all use it to accuse Wu Zetian of forging Buddhist scriptures and deceiving the world.So is there a doctrine in Buddhist scriptures that a woman should be an emperor?
The answer is: Yes.There is a story in the Buddhist scriptures about a woman who became a king in the afterlife.The Buddha said that seven hundred years after his nirvana, there was a small country in Nantianzhu called Ignorance; There is a river in the country, called Heija; On the south bank of this river, there is a city called Ripe; There was a king in the city, called the Waiter; The king and his wife had a daughter named Growth.One day in the future, the king and the other passenger will die suddenly.When the time comes, the ministers will let his daughter grow to inherit the throne.After she ascends to the throne, the situation will be that the world will be subdued, and all the countries in Yan Futi will come to honor her, and there will be no refusal and disobedience.This story shows that the doctrine that a woman could be an emperor has been made clear since at least the time of the Buddhist text.After Buddhism was suppressed by Tang Taizong, it completely recovered its lost status when Wu Zetian was in power, and it cannot but be said that Wu Zetian was 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 a sedan chair and bowed down herself.Her practice attracted high-ranking officials and ordinary people to follow, and tens of thousands of people came to bow down to this high monk every day.She also personally greeted another returnee monk.Wu Zetian's affiliation with Buddhism means that her legitimacy is gradually increasing.And Chinese Buddhism has also entered a stage of full prosperity, the most prosperous in the Wu Zhou Dynasty of Wu Zetian.Buddhism flourished in three ways: the first was the large number of Buddhist scriptures translated.Wu Zetian translated one of the most important Buddhist scriptures "Huayan Sutra", when Her Majesty the Empress always felt that the Jin Dynasty's translation of sixty "Huayan" was too lacking, and felt very regretful, so she sent an envoy to India to ask for a complete copy of this scripture.A mage in Khotan happened to have this book in her hand, and she invited her to China with the mage, and this mage was Shicha Nanda.After inviting the master here, he asked him to preside over the translation of the Huayan Sutra.And when Master Shicha Nanda came, the Huayan Sutra he brought was also incomplete.However, there are 9,000 verses more than the Jin translation, a total of 45,000 verses, and the teachings of the Great Sutra can already be seen.At that time, the scale of the translation field was very large, and Wu Zetian himself often participated.After the translation was published, she even wrote a preface and opened the scriptures for the Huayan Sutra herself.This is the famous poem "Opening the Sutra": "The supreme and profound subtle method, millions of calamities are encountered; I have seen and heard it now, and I am willing to interpret it as it comes. ”The Huayan Sutra advocates the co-prosperity and symbiosis of all things in all ages, and is a very bold classic.There were dozens of masters in the Tang Dynasty who were famous for translating scriptures, and there were fifteen who lived in the Wu and Zhou periods.The second is that Wu Zetian period also made an important contribution to the construction of temples, she established a Dayun Temple in all states of the country, and the historical records record that there are 38 famous temples in the Tang Dynasty, of which more than 30 were established in the Wu Zhou period.If there is a Buddhist temple, there must be monks, Xue Huaiyi became the abbot of the White Horse Temple, the White Horse Temple originally had more than 300 monks, but in the Wu Zhou period, the abbot Xue Huaiyi's attendants had more than 1,000 people.The third contribution is the statue, among all the statue art in the Tang Dynasty, the Wu Zetian era was the most brilliant, and the propaganda of Buddhism also reached its peak.Wu Zetian has a great relationship with Buddhism, which has a great effect on Buddhism, and Wu Zetian himself and Buddhism have reached their peak.Wu Zetian respects Buddhism so much, it is not surprising that she arranged so many Buddha statues for her tomb to accompany her burial!
ps: Bow and thank you for the 300 tip of "Love Buried in the Dead Sea" and the 200 tip of "Watching the Stars from the Rooftop".