Chapter 191 King of Kings

【Xuanzang may be the first person in history who truly "learned from the barbarians to control them".

After the discussion of Buddha at Qunnucheng, Mahayana Buddhism respected Xuanzang as a celestial being who had obtained the great right way, called Mahayana Heaven; Hinayana Buddhism respected Xuanzang as a celestial being who had obtained liberation, called Jietuo Heaven.

The people of Nalanda Monastery believed that Xuanzang was proficient in the Buddhist scriptures of Sutra, Vinaya and Abhidharma, and respected the title of Tripitaka Master. Because he was a Tang person, he was also called Tang Tripitaka. At that time, there were only nine Tripitaka Masters in India.

Before returning to the Tang Dynasty, Xuanzang's teacher Jiexian Tripitaka was about 100 years old. He hoped that Xuanzang could inherit his position and serve as the CEO of Nalanda Monastery, but Xuanzang insisted on returning to his country. At that time, the monks of Nalanda Monastery came to persuade Xuanzang.

"India is the place where Buddha was born... touring and praising is enough to make one's life better... and China is the land of the Milicha, where people are despised and the law is despised... how can it be worth thinking about!"

The meaning is very clear. India is the land of Buddha. Others who come here are unwilling to leave, so why do you want to go back?

At this time, the word "Zhina" had no derogatory meaning. The derogatory meaning was "Meleccha", which means "barbaric and evil" in Sanskrit, and called Tang despised people and despised the Dharma.

In Xuanzang's answer, he had a positive attitude towards the Buddhist teachings in India and a negative attitude towards the prejudices of the monks, and finally sighed:

It is unknown what will happen in the long journey, so how can we say that the Buddha will not go and despise it!

The general meaning is that we will wait and see, and who will be stronger in the future. How can we despise it just because there is no Buddhism there?

Xuanzang returned to China in the 19th year of Zhenguan. At this time, his brother Qu Wentai had just been destroyed for four years, and Erfeng, who was working hard to manage the Western Regions, quickly grasped the importance of Xuanzang.

So Xuanzang, who was taken to Chang'an, received his first task, which was to record all the customs and people he saw along the way, and finally wrote the book "A Record of the Western Regions of the Great Tang Dynasty".

This book introduces the geographical conditions and cultural customs of the Western Regions in detail. Xuanzang hardly mentioned himself in the book, and all what he saw and heard along the way were objectively recorded without any emotional color.

In 646 AD, the "Great Tang Records on the Western Regions" was completed. In 657 AD, the Western Turks, who had hosted Xuanzang and sent troops to escort him to India, were destroyed. The Tang army went west and had no rivals.

So it is reasonable to suspect that Erfeng was very happy to get this book, and immediately sent it to the Tang army's staff department, and listed it as a must-read book for managing the Western Regions.

What is more interesting is that in this book, Xuanzang divided the world into four masters:

The country of human masters in the east, benevolence and justice are bright, and customs are changeable. It is obviously talking about the Great Tang Dynasty.

The country of elephant masters in the south, many people practice strange arts, which can clear their hearts and relieve their burdens. This strange art is Buddhism, which is also the purpose of Xuanzang's going to India, to take the essence of its civilization and embellish the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

The country of treasure masters in the west, people have no courtesy and righteousness. They only value bribes and produce a lot of treasures. This position should refer to the Sassanid Empire of the Persian Empire established by Ardashir, the light of the third century and the king of kings, after the demise of the Parthian Empire in the third century.

The country of horse owners in the north, the people are wild and violent, the land is cold and strong, suitable for horses. Geographically speaking, it should be the Western Turks, which was destroyed ten years after Xuanzang returned to China.

The whole book of "The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions" was dictated by Xuanzang and written by Bianji. Monk Bianji became famous for this. Later, he had an affair with Princess Gaoyang, the daughter-in-law of Fang Xuanling, and was beheaded by Erfeng.

In our modern times, because India has been conquered again and again, its people do not know its history. "The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions" has become the most authoritative material for studying Indian history.

The British who colonized India a hundred years ago sighed: the history of India in the Middle Ages was dark, and Xuanzang was the only light.

Many relics in India, including the most important relics of Nalanda Temple, were excavated based on the records of "The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions".

And the four lions on the Indian national emblem are derived from the stone carvings on the top of the Ashoka Pillar of the Maurya Dynasty, and this stone pillar was also excavated based on the records of "The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions".

Master Xuanzang at that time could never have imagined that the sentence he said casually at the time, "We will travel a long distance together, and it is unknown", would become a reality more than a thousand years later. 】

Looking carefully at the records of the three monks on the light screen, one of them never returned during the turbulent times. This is understandable to everyone. After all, it was a turbulent time and it was difficult to protect oneself. Enjoying the monks' paradise in India was a choice.

The second one made the emperor and his ministers of Zhenguan a little dissatisfied.

"If India is the right way, then where will the Central Plains, China, Zhongxia, and China be placed? Their hearts are worthy of death!"

Wei Zheng's words were the most fierce:

"What is right? The middle way. If there is such a statement, then their China is India, not Huaxia. This is a statement of betrayal and forgetting one's ancestors!"

At this moment, Wei Zheng deeply understood what a spiritual Indian monk was, and he despised it from the bottom of his heart.

Since India is China, why bother staying in the Tang Dynasty? The Western Regions are open, so why bother to make such derogatory remarks in China?

As for the later remarks that Tang was called the Mlekcha, it made the emperor and his ministers frown.

"This India is really ungrateful!"

Li Shimin was still thinking about Empress Wu and the seizure of the throne. He was in a bad mood at this time and immediately got angry and flew into a rage:

"You are a small foreign country, so arrogant! You dare to call me Tang despised by caste slaves?"

"You dare to call yourself China after being conquered eleven times? You have no martial arts and no courage. Sooner or later, you will be in trouble!"

At this time, the emperor and his ministers of Zhenguan needed to persuade their majesty. After all, if they continued to scold him like this, they were very worried that his majesty's headache would relapse.

But I don’t have any good feelings towards India in my heart. After all, the younger generation in the light curtain also said that after the establishment of the country in the future, India was still unwilling to give up and took the initiative to cause trouble. It was only after being dealt with that it could live in peace for a while.

Let’s just conquer it ourselves!

At this moment, several ministers reached a consensus in their hearts.

As for Xuanzang, Li Shimin’s evaluation was simple and there was only one word:

“Good!”

The successful attack on the Western Regions was due to his own wise decision and Xuanzang’s return and active explanation of geographical information. Li Shimin was still clear about this.

Therefore, for Xuanzang, who has not yet set foot on the journey to the west, Li Shimin almost instantly planned several sets of methods.

It is too dangerous for Xuanzang to travel west alone. He should send a dozen good hands to protect him!

But how to pick the right person is also a problem, right? Li Shimin muttered in his heart. Although he did not believe in Buddhism, he also knew that Buddhism was very good at preaching.

Don't let the intelligence not be collected by then, and just add a dozen Arhats to the Buddhist sect to protect the religion, which would be a joke.

Li Shimin, who was wandering in his own thoughts, was pulled back by Changsun Wuji.

When he looked up, he saw Fang Xuanling's face was pale, looking at him with hope.

And after glancing at the light screen, Li Shimin understood, and his face suddenly looked like he had eaten a fly.

Li Shimin knew clearly how much he valued Fang Xuanling, especially after seeing the sculptures of Fang and Du in the never-sleeping Chang'an in later generations, he valued this minister even more.

Therefore, the daughter he married off must be a very precious one, so as to show the grandeur of the Fang family's royal family.

But in the end, it ended up like this...

Shaking his head, Li Shimin promised Fang Xuanling:

"Such a thing will never happen again!"

…………

In the Chengdu government office, everyone's evaluation of the three monks was surprisingly consistent: only praise Xuanzang.

"Haven't you heard of Su Wu's loyalty?"

This is the most direct evaluation of whether to return home or not.

Kong Ming noticed the name of the foreign man, squinted his eyes and recalled:

"The third century...isn't it talking about our time?"

"If the light curtain tells about Rome before, the fall of Parthia may be imminent."

Pang Tong shook his head and felt that the title was a little exaggerated:

"King of Kings? A century is a hundred years, and this Ardashir is the light of a hundred years?"

Zhang Fei didn't quite understand, and asked in confusion:

"Can he compare with the military advisor's glory through the ages?"

"Go away." Pang Tong pushed Zhang Fei away with disdain, pondered for a while and said:

"If we reopen the Western Regions, I'm afraid we will have to deal with this King of Kings sooner or later."

"I wonder what his character is like?"

[The story of Master Xuanzang has been circulating among the people until the Ming Dynasty, when Jiajing was superstitious about Taoism. As the saying goes, if the superior likes something, the subordinates will like it even more. The atmosphere of Jiajing's reign can be imagined.

Wu Chengen, who couldn't stand this trend, resigned in anger and integrated folk legends to create Journey to the West, satirizing Buddhism, Taoism and the Ming officialdom, but that's another story.

It was difficult for Li Shimin in the early Tang Dynasty to predict the impact of Buddhism on the Tang Dynasty. At that time, he had to face a more difficult problem.

That was the struggle between the powerful forces in Guandong and Guanzhong left over from the repeated battles in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties! 】

[Tomorrow's update]

I'm very limited in writing about Buddhism because many people have reminded me that there are too many things I can't write about, so today I'm in a bad state.

I'm going to come back and write about the struggle between the Tang Dynasty's noble families.