Outside Luoyang City, the green cloud peak of the north mountain, the moonlight is bright, and the carved railing and eaves of the Shangqing Palace form a silhouette in the moonlight, like a pair of ink brushes.

The Qing Palace on Beibi Mountain is the national Taoist temple of the Tang Dynasty, and its status, like the Great Ci'en Temple in Chang'an, belongs to the national religious site. The difference is that the Shangqing Palace is a sacred place of Taoism, and the Temple of Great Mercy and Grace is a Buddhist place.

In the history of China, there has never been a dynasty in which religious forces were able to influence the political situation of the Tang Dynasty like the Tang Dynasty!

Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the forces of Taoism and Buddhism have been deeply implanted in the political center of the Tang Dynasty.

After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, in order to demonstrate the legitimacy of the throne surnamed Li, Li Shimin pulled the life and enshrined Lao Tzu, the ancestor of Taoism, as his ancestor. Since then, Taoism has become the state religion. The Taoist priests entered and exited the palace in a grand manner and participated in the government affairs, which became an important factor in maintaining the political stability of the Li Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, the imperial court funded the construction of this Shangqing Palace on Cuiyun Peak on the north mountain of Luoyang, where legend has it that Taishang Laojun alchemized.

Shangqing Palace is the world's first avenue view, the terrain is handsome, the palace is grand, overlooking the rivers and mountains, there is the reputation of "mountains and rivers supporting embroidery households, the sun and the moon are close to carving beams"!

Wu Zetian established the Great Zhou, in order to suppress the Li Tang forces, expelled the Taoist forces in the imperial court, and vigorously advocated Buddhism, the national Taoist temple suffered a catastrophe, most of the Taoist temples were occupied by the Buddhists, and became Buddhist temples.

However, after Li Longji became emperor, the imperial court once again supported Taoism, and used Taoism to suppress the Buddhist forces that supported Wu Zetian. Shangqing Palace ushered in the second spring. The imperial court funded the reorganization of the Taoist temple and expanded the scale, and the incense was more prosperous than before the Wu Zetian era. On the mountain road in front of the view, there is an endless stream of good men and women, and on the magnificent palace, the cigarette smoke is swirling all day long, and the incense floats for dozens of miles.

However, the prosperity of the Shangqing Palace came to an abrupt end with the defeat of Fan Yang by Fan Yang's army.

Fan Yangjun took over the Shangqing Palace.

The first thing these soldiers did when they entered the Shangqing Palace was to demolish all the Taoist gods in the palace, and the statues of Sanqing enshrined in the main hall were also moved down and thrown into the valley outside the temple, and fell to pieces.

Then, Fan Yang's soldiers expelled all the Taoist priests, leaving only a few firefighters to help boil water and cook rice to clean the temple.

Soon, a statue of Buddha was erected in the main hall.

Some Fan Yang soldiers chanted and prayed here, and every night, a raging fire was lit in the Shangqing Palace, and the light of the fire shone for dozens of miles.

A Taoist temple, in the blink of an eye, became a Buddhist temple.

This puzzled the remaining fireworkers.

Taoism and Buddhism, although politically at loggerheads. But among the people of the Central Plains, the Tao and the Buddha are not contradictory. Good men and women can go to the Taoist temple in the morning to kowtow, and go to the temple to burn incense in the afternoon.

In the eyes of the people, Taishang Laojun and the Buddha are two immortals in the sky, their responsibilities overlap with each other, but they complement each other, and they can both bless one side with peace. On the other hand, if you are disrespectful to one party, the one who receives the disrespect can also bring disaster, and the god you worship may not be able to protect you!

This is the unique polytheistic belief concept of the Chinese, which believes that no god can afford to offend!

Therefore, in China, various beliefs such as Buddhism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, and Manichaeism can coexist in peace and well. For thousands of years, there has never been a religious war in Chinese history, which is fundamentally different from the exclusivity of Western religions.

Even the ordinary monks of the two schools of Buddhism and Taoism, as long as they are high-ranking monks who have not risen to the political level, can tolerate the existence of each other, which is the so-called integration of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. What everyone is fighting for is not doctrinal differences, but only political opinions.

If you believe in the Buddha, you can go to the Buddhist temple near Luoyang to burn incense and kowtow, why bother to smash the Sanqing treasure elephant, there is no reason to offend a god.

There is only one explanation, Fan Yang, who came to the Shangqing Palace, did not agree with the juxtaposition of Tao and Buddha.

What made the fireworkers even more depressed was that the Shangyang Palace, which was originally dedicated to Sanqing, was replaced by three Buddha statues.

Three Buddha statues stand side by side, regardless of priority.

This is really a great spectacle in the Central Plains.

The Buddha statues enshrined in Buddhism are also strange, the most noble Buddhas, including the burning lamp, Sakyamuni, Maitreya, and then the Bodhisattva level, Guanyin, Puxian and so on.

But whether it is the Buddha or the Bodhisattva all the way, it is one person and one hall, where are there three Buddhas sharing one hall, and some of them are primary and secondary!

The pyrotechnics were puzzled, but they didn't dare to say it clearly. The soldiers of Fan Yang who came to burn incense and kowtow were all not good-looking, and if their words were slightly inappropriate, they would be worried about their lives.

And tonight, the people who came to the Shangqing Palace were particularly vicious.

It was a group of monks dressed in grey cloth robes.

The first person was stout, with a fierce face, and a scar on his face, which almost split a face in two in an oblique stab.

The monks who followed the man were also incomplete in their facial features, some were missing an eye, some were missing an ear, and some were missing a nose, which became more and more terrifying and gloomy. In the night, it was like a group of demons released from hell.

Scarface and a group of ten people came to Shangyang Palace, the palace gate opened, and the Fan Yang soldiers guarding the palace gate bowed their heads to this group of hateful monks, but Scarface was like no one around, and went straight into the palace gate, and came to the three Buddha statues standing side by side in the center of the main hall, but they stood but did not worship.

In the shadow on the side of the shrine, a deep voice sounded: "Buddhist disciple, in the face of the Buddha statue, how not to worship!" ”

Scarface sneered and said proudly: "My Buddha is not another Buddha!" ”

"How so?" In the shadows, a military general dressed in Mingguang armor turned out, the military general was only in his early thirties, with a strong figure, vigorous steps, heroic appearance, a beard, blond hair and blue eyes, but a miscellaneous beard.

"My tantric sect has always worshiped Baiyang Maitreya, how can there be a reason for the three Buddhas to be respected together!" Scarface shouted: "Shi Chaoyi, you keep saying that you are the same sect as my Tantric Sect, but now it seems that you are just an evil demon!" ”

The general surnamed Shi laughed: "Master Zhengbo, since Tantra believes in Maitreya, how can it not know the past, present and future!" ”

That scarface is the tantric warrior monk Zaibo, and the young military general is Shi Chaoyi, the son of Shi Siming, the left-behind envoy of Hebei under An Lushan!

"The past, the present and the future, what do you know, what do you know!" Raider shouted.

"Baiyang Maitreya is the future Buddha!" Shi Chaoyi said lightly: "Qingyang Burning Lamp is the Buddha of the past, and Hongyang Shakyamuni is the Buddha of the present world!" There is no past, no present world, how can there be a future! Master Zaoba is a tantric elder who knows the Dharma, and this truth must be known! ”

He was speechless.

Tantra believes in Maitreya, who is the Buddha of the future, the master of the world to come. In other words, Maitreya is the future successor of Shakyamuni Buddha in the present world, and Shakyamuni is the successor of the ancient Buddha of Burning Lamp. Burning lamps, Shakya, and Maitreya symbolize the past, present, and future of the world. Tantra believes in Maitreya, a yearning for the future, and the future cannot come out of nowhere! This is a simple logical relationship.

However, the Esoteric sect to which Zaoba belongs does not seem to pay much attention to this logic, and they only believe in the White Yang Maitreya, which represents the future, and do not mention the past and present. In their teachings, there is no convincing explanation for this, so Shi Chaoyi suddenly said the past, present and future, and he was speechless.

"These three Buddha statues are the Burning Lamp, Shakya and Maitreya!" Shi Chaoyi said: "Tantra has always believed in the three worlds and respects, but Master Zhengbo is disdainful of the past and present worlds, which makes him very puzzled!" ”

"Three generations and honors?" The ignorance on his face, and the rebellious aura on his face, have been reduced a lot.

"My father was taught by a master and believed in Tantra, and there are not a few people who believe in Tantra. Tantric believers all know that the lamp, Shakya and Maitreya are one, regardless of high and low, so the three Buddhas are honored with incense in the world! As for the tantric Buddhism that Master Zabobo believes in, it is incomprehensible that he only worships Maitreya regardless of the burning lamp and Shakya! Perhaps the master did not believe in tantra! ”

"Nonsense!" Zai Bo shouted: "My master is not an empty master! Everyone knows that he is a tantric master! ”

"Perhaps, Master Bukong has another secret legend, and it has not been passed on to Master Zhengbo!" Shi Chaoyi said.

"This ......"

Shi Chaoyi smiled: "The mantle of Buddhism was originally obtained by a fateful person, and Master Zhengbo failed to get the true inheritance of Master Bukong, but it is not surprising that at the beginning, the five ancestors of Zen Buddhism did not also pass on the mantle to Huineng, and the gods would get nothing!" This is a chance, and Master Raider doesn't have to worry about it! ”

Looming Waves.

Shi Chaoyi said with a smile: "Master of Raiding Waves, this tantric mantle is actually just a trivial matter!" Today, I am fortunate to meet with Master Zhengbo, but I don't have to make a fool of what is wrong with this public case in Buddhism. The important thing is that under the Xia, Master Zaobo, they are both tantric sects, the same sect! Master Zheng Bo should be sure of this! ”

He nodded in agreement.

This time, he led the tantric monks and soldiers to Beibi Mountain, and was entrusted by Master Bukong to meet with Shi Chaoyi, the son of Shi Siming, the representative of Fanyang Tantra.

In the Tang Dynasty, Tantra was an illegal religion and was banned by the imperial court. Tantra can only preach secretly, and after a long time, the various branches of Tantra are also isolated from each other and do not belong to each other. In the Central Plains, the tantric branches headed by Bukong are quite famous among the people and are considered to be large sects, while the tantric branches in other regions, although they are small troubles, are also all over the world, and no one can say how many tantric believers there are in the world, let alone how many tantric believers are distributed in those areas.

Three months ago, after Bukong left Changshan, he and other believers came to Chang'an via Hedong and stayed in secret. Five days ago, someone came to Chang'an from Fanyang, claiming to be a follower of Tantra, and was ordered by Shi Siming, the envoy of Pinglu soldiers, to return to the sect.