Chapter 132: The Kingdom of God on Earth - The Millennial Kingdom and Heavenly Court
PS: At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the peasant revolt of Doricino, which took place in northern Italy, put forward the idea of an ideal kingdom. www.biquge.info In 1303, a peasant revolt broke out in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. The leader of the uprising, Doricino, preached that private property was the root of all evil, and prophesied the arrival of a "thousand-year kingdom" without private property. The "millennium kingdom" became the purpose and goal of the peasant uprising. Doricino's prophecy comes primarily from the "apostolic brotherhood." Around 1260, Segareri founded the "Apostolic Brotherhood" near Parma, advocating the emancipation of serfs, the sharing of property, and the living of poverty among believers of the same sect as brothers and sisters. After Segareri was persecuted by the Catholic Church, Doricino, as a follower, carried on his legacy and developed his ideas into a "millennial kingdom".
1. The Millennial Kingdom
At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the peasant revolt of Doricino, which took place in northern Italy, put forward the idea of an ideal kingdom. In 1303, a peasant revolt broke out in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. The leader of the uprising, Doricino, preached that private property was the root of all evil, and prophesied the arrival of a "thousand-year kingdom" without private property. The "millennium kingdom" became the purpose and goal of the peasant uprising. Doricino's prophecy comes primarily from the "apostolic brotherhood." Around 1260, Segareri founded the "Apostolic Brotherhood" near Parma, advocating the emancipation of serfs, the sharing of property, and the living of poverty among believers of the same sect as brothers and sisters. Later Segareri was persecuted by the Catholic Church, with Doricino as its adherent. Carrying on its legacy, it developed its ideas into a "millennial kingdom".
The Millennial Kingdom in Christian Doctrine
The Millennial Kingdom is the thousand-year kingdom after the great tribulation, when Satan is bound and locked into the bottomless pit, and then Jesus Christ establishes the millennial kingdom on earth. and rule the kingdom himself. This kingdom is incomparably beautiful, a microcosm of the kingdom of heaven on earth (see Isaiah for details). A thousand years later, at the end of the millennial kingdom, Satan was temporarily freed, and the two kingdoms of Gog Magog on earth were stirred up to fight against the beloved city around the camp of the saints, and fire fell from heaven. burned them out. So Satan was utterly defeated and thrown into the lake of fire. Then Jesus came to judge all mankind, and heaven and earth were gone. Then all the dead throughout the ages will be resurrected and stand before the judgment seat, and according to what they have done in their lifetime, they will receive the judgment of the Lord, and the overcomers will enter the kingdom of heaven, and the others will be thrown into the lake of fire. Finally the kingdom of heaven comes.
2. The Heavenly Court System
The establishment of the Heavenly Court Coalition Government was a great milestone event. It is of epoch-making significance. This government was originally composed of 365 Kunlun gods (note that there are 365 gods, and the gods have the lowest status in the immortal and Buddha realms), and it can be regarded as an efficient government. The government was organized according to Confucian doctrine and appointed an emperor (since the immortals are immortal, there is no question of hereditary succession). This is the Jade Emperor, and the full name is "Taishang Kaitian Zhifu Imperial Calendar Contains True Body Dao Haotian Jade Emperor God". He is the supreme head of the Heavenly Court Coalition Government and has the highest authority. Dao Ancestor Taishang Laojun and Buddha Rulai must also obey the leadership of the Heavenly Court, and the dispatch of the Jade Emperor is called "Fengzhi".
The establishment of the position of the Jade Emperor is the product of the full integration and compromise of the three schools of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. The Jade Emperor cannot be an immortal in any of the three schools of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, so he can only choose again. The Heavenly Court government was organized in accordance with Confucian teachings, which fully reflected the dominant position of Confucianism in China. The name of the Jade Emperor focuses on Taoism, which also fully shows the home advantage of Taoism; On the other hand, the Buddha (Buddhism) has preserved the integrity of its own organization to the greatest extent possible (it still dominates the West and has its own territory).
When the Heavenly Court Coalition Government was first established, it was more of a symbol and did not have great authority, and the various Immortal Buddhas still acted on their own. As a result, the Heavenly Court began to recruit civil servants, and there were no more than three kinds of recruits: some immortals in Taoism, some bodhisattvas in Buddhism, and some famous figures in Confucianism. At first, it was just a small fight, as more and more immortals and Buddhas joined the government, some high-level immortals and Buddhas with status, status and seniority also joined the government and were in charge of some of the most important businesses, such as the Taoist Zhenwu Emperor, Donghua Emperor, etc., the four heavenly kings of Buddhism, Jizo Bodhisattva, etc. Many famous figures recommended by Confucianism were also included in the Heavenly Court government, such as Guan Yu, Wei Zheng, Bao Zheng, etc. The strength of the Heavenly Court is getting bigger and bigger, so much so that the Taoist Ancestor Taishang Laojun was also hired as the chief political adviser of the Heavenly Court (of course, in order to maintain the dignity of the Taoist immortal world, Laojun also depreciated himself by three levels, and voluntarily demoted from the Taoist boss to the end of the Three Qings).
At this point, Heavenly Court's strength gradually grew, and it had a considerable organizational scale, and even had a certain number of troops. The original component of Heavenly Court, ---- God, also had a considerable political status, and as a rising star, he could already compete with the senior immortals and Buddhas who had cultivated to a higher level.
In order to arrange enough jobs for civil servants in the growing government, Heavenly Court began to form some local governments to take charge of the affairs of each place, mountains and rivers. In the Yin Division, the Ten Palaces of Yan Jun were set up as the supreme commander, but the real power was in the hands of the Dongyue Emperor and the Jizo Bodhisattva. Set up a dragon king in the four seas, take charge of the waters of the four seas, and supervise the water gods of the rivers and lakes in the world. For a time, all kinds of things in the heavens and the world were controlled by the gods. Immortals and Buddhas who do not have a job can only entertain themselves in the designated area, and are generally not allowed to accept human affairs except for a few people with great mana. At this point, the Heavenly Court Government was completely in charge of the power of the heavens and the earth.
Under the unified leadership of the Heavenly Court, the Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism immortals and Buddhas were closely united around the central government with the Jade Emperor as the core, and for a time they were at peace and quiet, and each had its own place. The Taoists installed a large number of personnel in the Heavenly Court, and basically mastered most of the affairs of the Heavenly Court; The Buddhists also took the opportunity to arrange for the four bodhisattvas to be stationed in the four famous mountains and firmly established their foothold; After establishing the Heavenly Court and forming a government with its own teachings, Confucianism also effectively consolidated its dominance in the human world.
Heavenly Court is also a product of the gods, so far at the turn of Shang and Zhou, the Three Realms metaphysical gods and demons obeyed the mandate of heaven, helped Zhou to experience immortal tribulations, and increased the manpower of Heavenly Court. Since then, there have been the Sun and Moon Wandering Gods, the Sun Star Monarch, the Taiyin Star Monarch, the Sun God on Duty, the Time God, the One Hundred and Eight Nakshatras, the Four Heavenly Masters, the Twenty-Eight Nakshatras, the Nine Yao Star Officials, the Three Qings, the Four Emperors, the Five Directions Jiedi, the God of War of All Parties, and so on....
The Jade Emperor was regarded as the leader of the gods, and his prestige among the Taoist gods was extremely high, and he had the greatest divine power. It resides in the Haotian Golden Valve Miluo Heavenly Palace, the wonderful appearance is solemn, the Dharma body is supreme, dominates the heavens, leads all saints, dominates the universe, enlightens the heavens, walks the way of the heavens, spreads the virtues of the heavens, creates all things, helps the masses, weighs the three realms, rules all spirits, and has no measure of people, is the supreme god of the heavenly realm, and the emperor of ten thousand heavens. In short, Taoism believes that the Jade Emperor is in charge of all yin and yang blessings and misfortunes in the Three Realms (Heaven, Earth, and Space), the Ten Directions (Four Directions, Four Dimensions, and Upper and Lower), the Four Beings (Viviparity, Oviparity, Wet Birth, and Metamorphosis), and the Six Realms (Heaven, Man, Demons, Hell Animals, and Hungry Ghosts).
3. The world
The Great World is the situation in which Buddhism explains the organization of the world. Each small world has the same form, with Mount Meru in the center, through the sea, standing on the wheel of the earth, under which is the golden wheel, then the wheel of fire, and then the wheel of wind, and beyond the wheel of the wind is the void. Mount Meru is big up and down, the center is small, the sun and the moon are on the mountainside, there are seven gold mountains at the root of Mount Meru, seven perfume seas, surrounded by it, each heavy sea, a heavy mountain between them, there is the Aral Sea outside the seventh gold mountain, and there is a big iron fence mountain outside the Aral Sea. There are four continents in the four directions of the Aral Sea, namely the East Sheng Shen Continent, the South Ganbu Continent, the West Niuhe Continent, and the North Julu Continent, which are called the four heavens, and there are two middle continents next to each continent, and hundreds of small continents are dependents. For example, it is nine mountains, eight seas, one day and one moon, four continents, six desires and heavens, and three days of early meditation, which is a small world. Set a thousand small worlds, overlaid with two Zen three days, for a small thousand worlds. Set a thousand small worlds, overlaid with three Zen three days, for a thousand worlds. It is a collection of a thousand worlds, covered with four meditations and nine heavens, and four empty heavens, which is a great world. Because there are multiples of three thousand in between, the Great Thousand Worlds are also called the Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds. (To be continued.) )