Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The day when the Dunhuang manuscripts arrived in Beijing, there was no commotion.

The next day, the doctor of the Monk and Taoist Department was called.

The Monk and Taoist Department of the Song Dynasty were merged into the Monk and Taoist Department by Zhu Guoxiang. It was affiliated to the Ministry of Rites and was at the same level as the Honglu Temple. It was in charge of religious affairs across the country, including Manichaeism and Nestorianism.

The top leader was the doctor, who was in charge of all religions.

There were Monk Record Office, Taoist Record Office, and Miscellaneous Record Office. The chief officer of each office was a Yuanwailang, all of whom were regular Jinshi officials. The deputy second officials of each office were practitioners of various religions.

The doctor of the Monk and Taoist Department was named Mao Kui. He was almost eighty years old and refused to retire.

When Li Bao attacked Fujian, Mao Kui was already the Fujian Transport Envoy of the former Song Dynasty.

He linked up with Fuzhou officials to surrender to the Ming Dynasty, but he was never valued. He also avoided corruption cases again and again, and he was still alive and kicking in his seventies and eighties.

This man practices Buddhism and Taoism, and advocates that Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism are one family. Zhu Ming has asked him to manage religious affairs for more than five years.

If the six-year term is up, he should really retire.

Even if he does not apply, Zhu Ming will force him to retire. Why does he still occupy an official position at such an old age?

Mao Kui came to the Hanlin Academy with a cane. When he saw Zhu Guoxiang, he was obviously stunned, and then bowed and greeted: "Your Majesty, I, Mao Kui, pay my respects to His Majesty the Emperor!"

Zhu Guoxiang smiled kindly: "Old sir, please sit down."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

A clerk from the Hanlin Academy had already brought a chair and took Mao Kui's cane to help hold it.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Here are some scriptures of various religions. You can ask the Buddhist and Taoist Department to copy a copy and decide whether to publish it after studying it. Some scriptures may cause controversy."

"Controversy?" Mao Kui did not understand.

Zhu Guoxiang took out a stack of scriptures: "For example, these are the scriptures of the Three-Level Religion, which were banned many times during the Sui and Tang dynasties."

Mao Kui had been managing religious affairs for many years, so he naturally knew what the Three-Level Religion was. It was a branch of Buddhism in the Sui and Tang dynasties.

This religion advocates asceticism. Monks can only eat one meal a day, and it must be food begged. When monks see pedestrians, they must worship them. They call on the world to give alms to monks. After the monks die, their bodies are placed in the wild for birds and beasts to eat, and they use their bodies to give alms to living beings. They oppose the creation of Buddha statues. All sentient beings are true Buddhas. Only Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva can be chanted...

Because the scriptures of the Three-Level Religion were banned, Mao Kui only heard of it and did not know the specific doctrines.

A Hanlin official handed over the scriptures. Mao Kui took them in both hands and read them carefully. Before he finished reading, he was shocked and said: "No wonder the Sui and Tang dynasties banned this religion. This is a heresy in Buddhism."

What I said before was just the rules and practice methods of the Three-Level Religion.

The real reason why the Three-Level Religion was banned was that it believed that it had entered the Age of the End of the Dharma since the Sui Dynasty, and that it belonged to the filthy world after the destruction of the Pure Land... It was a bit weird.

In the Tang Dynasty, although the Three-Level Religion was banned from spreading, it was still regarded as a branch of Buddhism in the "Zhenyuan Shijiao Lu". Since the Song Dynasty, the Three-Level Religion has been officially expelled from Buddhism.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "The scriptures of the Three-Level Religion, as well as the Manichean and Nestorian scriptures such as "The Brief of the Buddhist Ritual of Manichaeism" and "The Three Powers of the Nestorian Religion of the Great Qin Dynasty", even if the Monks and Taoists Bureau does not take them out for dissemination, they must copy a copy and keep it."

"Yes!" Mao Kui stood up tremblingly.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Take them all. Even if the scriptures of various religions are not unique, the contents must be carefully compared. There may be individual words and sentences that are different from the current ones, which are worthy of the practitioners of various religions to study and verify."

Mao Kui naturally couldn't take it away by himself. There were a full twenty carts of Dunhuang manuscripts, more than 90% of which were Buddhist scriptures.

The imperial guards helped the Hanlin Academy clerks to move boxes of scriptures of various religions onto the cart and transport them to the Buddhist and Taoist Office.

The painters and the monks of Shazhou had already sorted them out and classified the rare scriptures separately.

Back at the Buddhist and Taoist Office, Mao Kui first read by himself.

He picked up a copy of the "Ten-Recitation Bhikkhu Precepts" and didn't care much at first, but when he saw the year and month of copying the sutras, he immediately sat up straight and became cautious.

This is a handwritten copy from the first year of Jianchu in Xiliang (405 AD)!

Even if the content is the same as the current precepts, the year of copying alone is enough to be a treasure of the temple or a family heirloom.

Putting the book away, Mao Kui picked up another one.

More than ten minutes later, Mao Kui's hands were already shaking.

There were two Taoist scriptures in front of him, one was "Laozi Xianger Notes" and the other was "Laozi Huahu Sutra".

All of them were Taoist books that had long been lost and only existed in legends!

Mao Kui opened his mouth to call for someone, but found that his mouth was dry and he couldn't speak. He drank a mouthful of cold tea, moistened his throat, and then said: "Call all the chief and deputy officials of each department, immediately!"

The chief officials of each department of the Buddhist and Taoist Department were all Jinshi graduates, so they naturally worked in the government office every day.

The deputy officials were all practitioners, and they usually lived in Buddhist temples and Taoist temples. It would take some time to call them.

An hour later, all the officials of the Buddhist and Taoist Department gathered in front of Mao Kui.

The current deputy official of the Taoist Records Office of the Buddhist and Taoist Department is called Huangfu Tan, who is considered to be the second-generation disciple of Xue Daoguang. He was originally a famous doctor in Shandong. He fled to the southeast for refuge. While practicing Taoism in Tiantai Mountain, he went down the mountain to treat people.

In history, Zhao Gou's biological mother suffered from eye disease, and none of the imperial doctors could cure it. In the end, it was Huangfu Tan who cured her. He didn't want to stay in Hangzhou, so Zhao Gou sent him to Qingcheng Mountain to manage Shangqing Palace. After his death, he was buried in the Tianshi Pool of Shangqing Palace in Qingcheng Mountain (a tombstone was unearthed in later generations).

There are many great Taoists nowadays, such as Master Sadhu Gyatso.

But Master Sa Tian was so mysterious that Zhu Ming didn't like him very much. Master Sa Tian also understood this, so he took the initiative to leave the capital and went to the south to continue practicing Taoism. His chemistry became more and more advanced. He was especially good at gunpowder and thunder, and practiced various illusions!

Huangfu Tan was a disciple of the Southern School of the Golden Elixir School, and had some incense and incense with Emperor Zhu. Because of his superb medical skills, he was appointed to the Imperial Hospital and even a professor at Luoyang Medical College.

With all the buffs, Huangfu Tan became an official of the Buddhist and Taoist Department. Because his superiors were all civil servants, he himself was the highest-ranking Taoist in the country.

"I want you to write an inscription?"

"I want to translate the Hu Sutra?"

Huangfu Tan, who was profound in Taoism, usually behaved calmly, but at this moment he was dumbfounded and stunned by the two Taoist scriptures.

Mao Kui said: "These two Taoist scriptures come from the secret room of the Buddhist cave in Shazhou. In addition, there are some Taoist scriptures. You can find some Taoists to copy them together and send them to all the Taoist temples in the country for study."

Next to him was a monk Zhenhui from Mount Wutai, who was the junior brother of the anti-Jin leader of Mount Wutai, Monk Zhenbao. At this moment, he was critically reading the scriptures of the Three-Level Sect.

"All are heresy! All are false scriptures!"

Master Zhenhui tore the Three-Level Sect scriptures into pieces with great force.

When he was about to tear the book, Mao Kui hurriedly stopped him, grabbed Master Zhenhui's hand and said: "Master, you are obsessed."

Master Zhenhui stopped and put his palms together and said: "Amitabha, I have violated the precept of anger."

Mao Kui said: "His Majesty has ordered that although the Three-Level Sect scriptures are not convenient to spread, copies must be copied and stored in the Monks and Taoists Department. As for the originals, they must be sent back to the palace for collection. The ones you tore off... can only be glued together again."

Send them back to the palace for collection?

Master Zhenhui looked a little embarrassed when he saw the pages of scriptures he had torn up.

Mao Kui added, "We have brought back more than ten carts of Buddhist scriptures from Shazhou. Please call the monks to compare them. After all, many of them are ancient scriptures. If there are differences in words and sentences, the monks of various Buddhist sects can understand and debate."

"That's the truth." Master Zhenhui said.

There was also a religious figure at the scene, who was a Nestorian monk from Liangzhou. He not only assisted the civil officials in managing Nestorianism, but also managed other religions such as Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism.

Nestorianism is very important. After all, the Kerey tribe, the largest force in Mobei, has most of its people as Nestorian believers. Moreover, there are also many people who believe in Nestorianism in the Hexi Corridor and Xinjiang.

The Ming Dynasty court is reforming Nestorianism.

Good Nestorian doctrines can be retained, such as not recognizing Mary as the Virgin Mary, not worshipping statues but only the cross, not recognizing any purgatory, religious staff not eating meat, allowing ancestor worship, opposing transubstantiation, and Christ having human nature, etc.

The most needed reform is that the chief religious officer should be elected. The chief religious officer should be elected first, and then reported to the court for approval before it can take effect. The religious affairs system of each diocese must be under the jurisdiction of the court!

This reform must be written into the scriptures of Nestorianism. All Nestorians must know that the Chinese emperor is the ruler of the world and has the right to appoint chief religious officers at all levels.

As for where the emperor's power comes from, let the Nestorian monks make up their own stories, and they must make them reasonable.

The Nestorian monks from the former Xixia Kingdom have now compiled several versions, but Zhu Ming is not very satisfied with them.

If they can't compile them well, the Nestorian officials in the Buddhist and Taoist Department will have to get out!

Master Zhenhui quickly sent a telegram, asking the monks from all provinces in the country to come to Luoyang to study the ancient scriptures together. More than ten carts of Buddhist scriptures are enough for them to slowly sort out and study.

Huangfu Tan summoned the Taoist priests in Luoyang to first copy "Laozi Xianger Zhu" and "Laozi Huahu Jing", and then use movable type printing to distribute them to major Taoist temples across the country. There were not many Taoist scriptures left, so he would study them with the Luoyang Taoists first. If there were any special points, he would call Taoists from all over the country to discuss them.

As for other religions, the monks could study them, but they could not publish them.

Whether it was Nestorianism, Zoroastrianism, or Manichaeism, they must all be reformed according to the Emperor Zhu's wishes.

After the reform, the scriptures of each religion would be printed uniformly by the court and spread through local religious affairs personnel. They would even be sent to the Anxi Protectorate and the Mobei Kerey tribe who believed in Nestorianism.

Zhu Ming originally planned to ban all these religions, but later found that it was not necessary.

The various religions had coexisted harmoniously in the local area for hundreds of years, with believers intermarrying, doctrines blending with each other, and even uniting to fight against the expansion of desert religions.

In such a situation, only guidance is needed, and forced banning would be bad.

With the imperial examination opening the way, could the various religions still compete with Confucianism?

In the future, there will definitely be such a scene where a Nestorian Christian puts down the Bible, picks up the Analects and reads by lamplight at night, and comprehends the benevolent and righteous gentleman of Confucius.

Or a Zoroastrian who has the Avesta on his bookshelf but is buried in the Book of Songs at his desk, trying to understand why "Guan Guan Ju Jiu" is not about love, but about Zhou Li, and why it is related to the Qian Kun hexagram.

That scene is too outrageous, but also very realistic.