Chapter 650: Bald Monk, Little Shamen
After establishing Buddhism as the state religion, Emperor Ashoka began to gather a large number of Buddhist monks to draft Buddhist literature and texts, and it is recorded that 20,000 monks were offered every day.
And the construction of stupas and Buddhist temples, dedicated to the Buddha's relics, a total of a total of 84,000 pagodas and temples around the world have been built, and many still survive today.
Among them, the Ashoka Pagoda of Dabao'en Temple in Nanjing, China, the full name is "Gilded Seven Treasures Ashoka Pagoda". In our Shandong Quancheng, there is also a Yuwang Temple.
In the middle and late years of Ashoka's reign, he also sent his own princes and princesses to foreign lands to intermarry and spread Buddhism.
In this way, Ashoka, whose hands were stained with blood, was gone, and was replaced by a great monarch who was reborn from the ashes, believed in Buddhism, and was generous and benevolent.
Emperor Ashoka made Buddhism the state religion and did not persecute other sects, but instead generously donated to Brahmanism and Jainism.
Because of Ashoka's emphasis on religion, orthodox tolerance and non-violence, he ruled for 41 years to the cheers of the people, and finally came to the title of Buddhist protector.
Even if the stammering monk gave us so much science, I still don't believe that this mausoleum is the so-called tomb of Ashoka.
This is because of religious factors, Buddhism has advocated cremation since ancient times, otherwise there would not be so many relics of Buddhas and monks left in the world.
According to the information I found on the Internet, although Ashoka was the monarch of the Mauryan Dynasty, his ashes were also scattered into the Ganges River after burning, and there could be no tomb.
Besides, although ancient India is not as good as China, there are not many well-known mausoleums in the past dynasties.
For example, the world-famous Taj Mahal, whose full name is "Taj Mahala", is a huge mausoleum mosque made of white marble, built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to commemorate his concubine in Agra.
Known as a world cultural heritage and a pearl of India, the Indian writer Rabindranath Tagore also praised it, calling the Taj Mahal like "a teardrop of love".
In contrast, Ashoka's historical status and achievements are no less than that of a concubine, so why is his tomb so shabby?
The stammering monk shook his head and said that my statement was too arbitrary.
He said that first of all, the builder of the Taj Mahal was Shah Jahan, the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire. The Mughal Empire was founded by descendants of Turkicized Mongols and embraced Brahmanism, which also predates Ashoka by more than 2,000 years.
Both religion and chronology are far apart, and the productivity of building mausoleums is naturally not comparable.
Secondly, he said that this is the tomb of Emperor Ashoka, and this tomb is not the tomb in our impression, and there is no body and ashes of Emperor Ashoka in it, but it is closer to the evil magic circle.
If you think about it, what you say is really reasonable. The discovery of a mausoleum in this remote frontier has attracted a large number of locals and a large number of monks, and there must be a great secret hidden inside.
While we were talking, one of the meditating monks suddenly stood up. Although this man is thin, he is tall, about 1.8 meters tall, and stands out among Indians who are generally short in height.
This man is about fifty years old, his scalp and chin are cleanly shaved, his head is bald and he does not wear a hat, his eyes are introverted, and he holds a strange-shaped magic weapon in his hand.
He wears a set of ginger robes, which are not robes, but they are not like ordinary Indian monks who show one arm, but are draped over his body, similar to Hanfu, with no belt around his waist.
The magic weapon in his hand was even more bizarre, and it looked like a northwest waist drum, flat at both ends, but tightened in the middle, like an hourglass lying horizontally.
Beside the bald monk, there was also a little sand gate who was only a teenager. The little shamen was dressed like a bald monk, bald without a hat and wearing a monk's robe. When he saw the monk standing up, he hurriedly got up, followed closely behind, and walked towards us.
Except for the old and the young, the monks sitting cross-legged on the ground did not make any movements, and the loud, chaotic chanting sound and the aura that permeated the surroundings were inexplicably reduced and became inaudible.
I thought to myself that this bald monk was probably the boss of this group of monks, all of them were cultivators, although they were of different nationalities, they could sense each other through their aura, and he must have sensed our existence.
However, they came well, and took this opportunity to communicate, at least they could understand the matter of the mausoleum.
It's just that they are Indians, we are Chinese, we don't understand each other's language, and my English and the fat man's English are even more at the level of "nodding yes, shaking head no, thank you you are three pieces of meat", and there are communication barriers.
Affection is even more hopeless, he is born to stutter, and it is good to be able to speak Chinese neatly.
Boss Qin reacted quickly, and immediately waved his hand to let the interpreter who followed the car catch up. The translator is a native of India, and Xiao Jun is said to have hired a Chinese expert from New Delhi at a high salary by Boss Qin.
Who knew that the bald monk and Xiao Shamen didn't even look at the translation, and directly bypassed him and came to us.
As the bald monk approached, I sensed a sense of vicissitudes. This aura was similar to the Qi field around the mausoleum before, grand but chaotic, completely different from the various masters we met at the Taishan Summit.
I understand that this bald monk is not small, but the little sand gate is very strange, and he walks with the wind, not like a monk.
The two of them walked to us and stood not far away, and the bald monk looked me up and down, and his gaze was neither humble nor arrogant, and there was a kind of down-and-out generosity everywhere.
Then pinch the thumb and forefinger to make a trick, and the other three fingers are raised to the sky and hung in the ear, as if to greet and salute us.
The Celestial Empire has been a state of etiquette since ancient times, and when we go out, we can't embarrass the motherland, so we are busy clasping our fists and bowing our hands in return for the salute, saying "fortunate meeting", regardless of whether they can understand it or not.
The bald monk leaned over and whispered a few words in the ear of the little shaman, who nodded again and again, and quickly walked a few steps forward to us, clasped his hands together, and performed a standard Buddhist ritual.
"A few donors are polite, are you here for the matter of this royal family's relics?"
We were shocked that what came out of this little shaman's mouth turned out to be pure Chinese. Although it is a little jerky in some tones, and it is a little far from ordinary words, it is absolutely no problem to understand it.
No wonder they directly bypassed our translation, it turned out that they understood Chinese. Look at this little shaman, although he is thin and small, he has red lips and white teeth, and delicate skin, which is obviously different from the common Indians, but similar to our appearance.
Listening to Xiao Shamen say this, I hurriedly replied, saying Little master, how can you speak Chinese and speak so well? That's what we're here for, but isn't this a mausoleum? Why do you call it the Royal Relic?