readx; When Zhu Youzhen's Luan drove to the gate of Tanzhesi Mountain, it was already crowded with people. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info top dot small said that since the Wanli Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty's national strength has been weakening day by day, internal and external difficulties, social turmoil, and Buddhist activities have been greatly affected, and there has been no nationwide uncovered conference for many years.

And this uncovered conference of Tanzhe Temple can be called an unprecedented grand occasion What Zen Buddhism, Vinaya Buddhism, Pure Land Sect, Tiantai Sect, Huayan Sect; Wutai Mountain, Jiuhua Mountain, Putuo Mountain, Emei Mountain... In short, as long as it is a more influential temple, they have sent senior monks to attend the conference.

Of course, for ordinary people, they don't know what the difference is between these many schools, in short, it is a Buddhist festival that has not been encountered for decades, and believers should not miss it. Two days before the first day of the uncovered conference, the good men and women who came to worship the Buddha were about to break through the threshold of Tanzhe Temple. Today is the arrival of the Holy Vehicle, of course, there are people from the Ministry of Rites and Shuntianfu to maintain order, it is impossible to enter so many people, but there are still a large number of people gathered outside the mountain gate to look at the sky and worship the Tanzhe Temple. In addition, it is also a rare honor for the people to be able to worship the Buddha on the same day and in the same temple as today.

Zhu Youzhen and his entourage got off the horse outside the mountain gate, and the queen Ruier and the concubine Bao Yulian supported the Empress Dowager Zhang to walk in the front, and the rest followed Zhu Youzhen and slowly walked into the temple. The abbot of Tanzhe Temple, Meng Yishi, has already led all the female nuns of Tanzhe Temple to wait for a long time. When she saw the Queen Mother and Zhu Youzhen, she did not bow down, but just slapped her head with one palm, and hung the Buddha number high, and the Queen Mother and Zhu Youzhen also hurriedly returned the salute.

Master Mengyi let everyone go to the Daxiong Treasure Hall, Zhu Youjian saw that the formation here was even bigger, there were already hundreds of monks from other places who came to participate in the meeting, and hundreds of bald heads were shining brightly under the bright lights. The futon in the center was naturally reserved for the Queen Mother and Zhu Youzhen and her party, but Meng Yishi didn't expect that there would be a few more Fanbang people in fancy clothes, so he hurriedly asked the little nun to increase the futon.

The seat of Master Mengyi is located on the right side of the Queen Mother, but on the left is a very young monk, who looks no more than twenty years old. The person who can sit here must be the eminent monk Zhu Youzhen, imagining that he must be a person with white hair, but he didn't expect this person to be so young.

Master Mengyi hurriedly introduced everyone: "This master is the Pure Land Sect's high monk Lotus Yizhixu."

The young monk sighed lightly and said to the Queen Mother and Zhu Youzhen: "The poor monk has little knowledge and dares to call himself a high monk. For decades, Buddhism has declined, no matter which sect is the withering of talents, the three most admired masters of poor monks, Yunqi Qihong, Zibai Zhenke, and Hanshan Deqing have passed away one after another, and now I am afraid that no one can afford to be a 'high monk'. ”

This may sound like a modest statement, but in fact he is listed after the three masters who have passed away, and this person's status in the Buddhist world can be seen. Zhu Youzhen is not interested in religion and does not know where this Zhixu monk is, but the Empress Dowager Zhang has great respect for him, saying that he will be called "master", Rui'er, Chen Yuanyuan and others also worship this person as a god.

After everyone sat down, the uncovered assembly officially began. Zhu Youzhen also visited the temple of Wutai Mountain in his previous life, and he thought that the so-called Dharma meeting was an old monk with a group of big monks and small monks chanting scriptures, but this uncovered conference was completely different, but more like a debate. Hundreds of monks spoke enthusiastically, starting with one person asking a Buddhist question, then debating the issue, and finally explaining it by the senior monks. For a while, the words and swords in the Daxiong Treasure Hall came out, but Zhu Youzhen seemed absent-minded, looking left and right from time to time.

The debate went on for a while, and Monk Zhixu finally spoke: "Zen Buddhism says, 'Originally, there was no Buddha, there was no Buddha, there was no Buddha, and I didn't like to hear a word of Buddha'. The Pure Land sect says, 'There is a Buddha name in the West, Amitabha, remembering the Buddha, reciting the Buddha, and reciting the Buddha, you must see the Buddha'. At first glance, the two seem to be distinct, but the poor monk thinks that the two are on the same path. ”

Later, Zhu Youzhen didn't understand what Zhixu said, but he could also roughly understand that Zhixu believed that an important reason for the decline of Buddhism was that the sects had their own doors, especially the various schools of Zen Buddhism, often only liked to talk about some profound Buddhist principles that ordinary people could not understand at all, but lost the origin of Buddhism. His idea is that we must change the image of Buddhism in the past and attract more followers by chanting the Buddha and telling simple truths, so that Buddhism can be revitalized.

Zhu You listened to this, and smiled secretly in his heart, thinking that this Zhixu monk is really not simple, and he actually understands the truth of "advancing with the times". And John Tang, who is proficient in Chinese, also listened very carefully and praised it from time to time.

Unexpectedly, Monk Zhixu suddenly turned to Tang Ruowang and Maldini and smiled slightly: "Look at the two costumes, are they from the West to the Middle Earth missionary?"

Maldini was young and vigorous, and today he came with the idea of "kicking the field", immediately got up, bowed, crossed his chest, and said: "Yes, I was sent to China by the Pope to spread the gospel. Since the master is very knowledgeable, can you explain how this world came into being and who created the people?"

When the monks heard this, they blew up the pot, especially when they saw Maldini's arrogant attitude, and no one in his eyes, they glared at him angrily. Zhixu asked quietly as usual: "Then how is the doctrine you spread explained?"

Maldini immediately took out a small copy of the Bible from his bosom and said triumphantly: "The will of the Lord and the teaching of mankind are in this book, and of course the question of the origin of the world is also included." The Lord created the world in seven days, and man was created by the Lord in His own image..."

Then Maldini began to talk about the teachings of Catholicism, but Zhu Youzhen smiled dumbly, thinking to himself, these are all monks, aren't you talking about chickens and ducks?

But before a monk could refute Maldini, John Tang tugged at his sleeve to signal him not to say any more, and then turned to Zhixu and said humbly: "Although what the master said is different from the teachings we preach, there are many similarities, and I have benefited a lot from listening to them. This missionary is still young and does not know much about China and the customs of the Chinese, and hopes that the master will not be surprised. ”

Zhixu also bowed his head and said: "Buddhism has also come from the West for thousands of years, and it has lived in harmony with Taoism, Nestorianism, Islam and other religions to achieve today's scale. I hope that the two religions will respect each other and settle in their own places, and perhaps the poor monks will be able to learn a thing or two from your teachings. ”

This time, it was Zhu Youzhen's turn to look at Zhixu with admiration, and he thought to himself, isn't his idea of freedom of religious belief and equality among all religions?

At this moment, a person outside the hall suddenly strode up to Zhu Youzhen's side and said loudly: "Your Majesty, it's time to eat!"