If you want to ask what is the status of Master Taixu in the Buddhist world, just give a simple example.

Although Master Taixu has a good relationship with Liang Qichao, he does not agree with Liang Qichao's argument that he uses Japanese research to do Buddhist research, and even bluntly said: "Japan is today, so there is no real Buddhist scholar!" He also accused the Japanese monks of marrying wives and eating meat, and they were all a group of fake monks.

These criticisms reached Japan, and it stands to reason that the Japanese Buddhist community should hate him. But just eight years ago, Master Taixu led a Chinese delegation to Japan to participate in the East Asian Buddhist Conference, and he won the respect of Japanese monks by virtue of his profound Buddhist cultivation, and was respected by Japanese monks as "the leader of the Buddhist world".

Of course, the alliance leader or something is just a compliment, the Japanese monk will never dare to leave Master Taixu behind, this master is playing the Buddhist revolution!

No one wanted to be revolutionized, including the conservatives in Chinese Buddhism, so the Buddhist reforms advocated by Master Taixu often ended in failure, and in many cases had to make compromises with the conservative forces.

But even the most conservative monks only oppose Master Taixu's reforms, and do not question his own Buddhist practice.

Including today's No. 1 monk, Master Yinguang, although he was sprayed as a "demon king" by the disciples of Master Taixu, the personal relationship between the two is very good, otherwise Li Shutong would not respectfully call Master Taixu a senior brother.

After all, Uncle Li is also the apprentice of Master Yinguang.

Even Lu Xun, who has always been mean-mouthed, commented on Master Taixu as "approachable and thoughtful".

The real masters have a unique personality.

Seeing that the two were chatting energetically, Lu Bicheng suddenly asked a question and said, "Master, when Mr. Zhou was in Europe, he said something that puzzled me to this day. Please also ask the master to solve my doubts. ”

"You say." Master Taixu laughed.

Lu Bicheng repeated Zhou Hexuan's words and said: "Mr. Zhou said that in his view, Buddha is the embodiment of great wisdom, great compassion and great power, and Buddha represents a personality whose intellect, emotion and ability have reached the state of perfection. A Buddha is not omnipotent, and a Buddha cannot give us liberation. The Buddha can only teach us and lead us to liberation by our own efforts. The Buddha cannot send us to heaven or hell, whether it is the heavenly Western Elysium or the terrifying eighteen layers of hell, it is all obtained by our own actions. Master, what do you think about this? ”

"Amitabha!"

Master Taixu glanced at Zhou Hexuan in surprise and said with a smile: "What Brother Zhou said is very much in line with my wishes!" ”

"The master agrees with this point of view?" Lu Bicheng was surprised, she obviously hadn't read Master Taixu's "Theory of True Reality".

Master Taixu pointed at Zhou Hexuan and smiled: "Looking up to the Buddha is the only one, and the end is in the personality." The Buddha is a Buddha, which is a real reality. Brother Zhou was able to say those words, and he had already glimpsed the real reality, and I only realized this truth six years ago. ”

Lu Bicheng was dumbfounded, because the four sentences of the revelation said by Master Taixu were very similar to Zhou Hexuan's words, and the views of the two coincided.

After a little silence, Lu Bicheng asked again: "Master, I practice the Pure Land Sect, and you practice Zen Buddhism." Mr. Zhou once asked me, since there is no difference between a Buddha and a Buddha, what is the difference between Zen Buddhism and Pure Land Buddhism? ”

Master Taixu smiled and pointed to the east: "To go to Shanghai, you can take a boat or a car, what is the difference between the two?" ”

"Different paths are just the same end," although Lu Bicheng understood, but he was still entangled, "Although the different paths lead to the same end, the paths taken are still different, since the Buddhas are the same, why choose different paths?" ”

Master Taixu shook his head and said, "Your heart is upset! ”

Lu Bicheng was stunned for a moment, and then smiled bitterly: "Amitabha, thank you for the master's explanation, Manzhi is indeed in love." ”

Although Zen Buddhism and Pure Land Buddhism have different ways of practice, both schools focus on "cultivating the mind."

Zen Buddhism talks about centering, requiring the mind to return to one place, not to give rise to delusions, to give birth to wisdom from concentration, and to attain enlightenment from wisdom in order to achieve liberation; The Pure Land sect talks about the undisturbed mind, from the single mind to the Buddha's name, and corresponding to the Buddha, to get the Buddha to lead to the rebirth.

Lu Bicheng was able to ask that kind of question, which showed that her heart to the Buddha was in turmoil, completely contrary to the purpose of the Pure Land Sect, and the results of her cultivation in the past two years had come to naught.

Master Taixu saw that Lu Bicheng was confused, and said, "Why don't you listen to what Senior Brother Hongyi has to say?" ”

Lu Bicheng looked at Li Shutong suspiciously, and only heard Li Shutong say: "Determined by the precepts, developed by wisdom, and liberated by wisdom." ”

Hearing Li Shutong's words, Lu Bicheng became more and more confused, because Li Shutong was talking about the basic method of the Vinaya, which had nothing to do with the questions she raised.

The so-called bystanders are clear, but Zhou Hexuan sat next to him and understood it.

Master Taixu, Li Shutong and Lu Bicheng belong to the three major schools of Buddhism: Zen Buddhism, Vinaya Buddhism and Pure Land Buddhism. Li Shutong deliberately mentioned the basic method of the Vinaya, in fact, he wanted to say that he should stick to his own practice and not be bothered by the remarks of other families, so that Lu Bicheng should not be too concerned.

Obviously, Lu Bicheng's cultivation is not enough, she has already drilled the horns. If she can't understand this truth, she won't want to improve for the rest of her life.

Zhou Hexuan no longer paid attention to Lu Bicheng, but asked: "Master Taixu, Master Hongyi, what do you think about the relationship between Buddha and people, the nation, and the country?" ”

Li Shutong replied: "The Buddha, who has realized the truth, can vow to sacrifice everything, bravely and diligently, and save the country. Therefore, to save the country, we must recite the Buddha, and to recite the Buddha, we must save the country. ”

A patriot is a patriot after all, even if he is a monk, he is still a patriot.

Li Shutong participated in many national salvation movements back then, and he was a staunch advocate of boycotting foreign goods. When he used to be a teacher, the students saw that the clothes he was wearing were of poor materials, so they gave him a new dress. Li Shutong said: "I don't wear foreign cloth. The student said, "This cloth is a domestic product, and we in China can also make this kind of good cloth." Uncle Li was overjoyed when he heard this, and he couldn't put down the dress, and he was reluctant to throw it away until it was worn out.

Even after Li Shutong became a monk, he once said to his disciples: "There are three rare things in life. The first is that it is rare in China, the second is that Buddhism is unpleasant, and the third is that it is difficult to meet a good teacher. ”

From this sentence, it can be seen that in Li Shutong's heart, the country is ranked ahead of the Buddha.

Zhou Hexuan turned his head again and asked, "What does Master Taixu think?" ”

Master Taixu's answer was completely unexpected by Zhou Hexuan, who said, "Buddha is a realist who pursues freedom. The rise of Buddhism originated from the liberal movement in Indian society to liberate the caste oppression of the time. The reality of today's China is the pursuit of freedom and liberation of the country and the nation, and this is something that those who study Buddhism must understand. At that time, if you wanted to cultivate Buddhism and succeed, you had to devote yourself to the national liberation movement in China, which was in line with the concept of Shakya's founding of Buddhism. ”

"What does this have to do with realism?" Zhou Hexuan wondered.

Master Taixu said: "The origin of the paranoia of selfish views and desires, as well as subjectivism, is materialism, solipsism, and the wheel of God. To be imprisoned in the subjective state of inanimate, to exhaustively study the ontology of inanimate, as for the pure subjective state that is detached from reality, such as atoms, etc. Paranoia is the origin of reality, and according to it, it is the philosophy of materialism and the theory of scientific evolution......"

Zhou Hexuan was dumbfounded when he heard it.

Nima, I'm just asking about the relationship between the Buddha and the state and the nation, and how Buddhism is related to realism, is it necessary for you to talk about it so much?

Master Taixu spoke for five or six minutes, from materialism and evolution, to idealism, Taoism, and Confucianism, and also said that Buddhism's theory of reincarnation and liberation belongs to the Indian foreign way.

Awesome, my master. Reincarnation liberation is in your mouth, and it has become a sideshow, are you really a monk?

Uncle Li was noncommittal when he heard this, neither refuting nor agreeing.

Lu Bicheng was completely stunned, and what Master Taixu said at this time completely shattered her Buddhist outlook.

In fact, Master Taixu said so much, it is very simple to summarize. He believes that human selfish desires bring subjectivity and imprison human beings in a complex subjective world, and that Buddhist practitioners should jump out and look at problems from the subjective perspective of reality, so that they can gain insight into the truth of reality and be free from the cage.

So, he said that the Buddha was a realist who pursued freedom. And this kind of freedom also includes the freedom of the state and the nation, once Japan invades and occupies the whole of China, then the Chinese Buddhists will be imprisoned forever and will never be able to get free and transcendent. Therefore, if Chinese Buddhists want to attain positive results, they must drive out the Japanese invaders in order to truly attain the state of Great Perfection.

This is a subversive Buddhist thought, and I am afraid that in the eyes of traditional Buddhist practitioners, Master Taixu has fallen into the devil's path.