Taiping Inn

As the night deepened, an autumn rain became more and more dense, covering the Jinling Prefecture City and the Da Baoen Temple in the south city.

Since the old Tianshi Zhang Jingxiu killed the Tiger Zen Master here, the reputation of Da Baoen Temple has plummeted, and half of the temple has been destroyed. Now only the front temple is still well preserved.

In a remote courtyard of Da Baoen Temple, there is a pond, which ripples in the autumn rain. The old tree beside the pond is swaying, and countless yellow leaves are blown down by the wind, falling on the surface of the pond, drifting back and forth with the ripples.

In the side hall not far from the pond, the lights are swaying, and two monks are sitting opposite each other in front of the dim and blurred Buddha statue.

One of the monks, who looks about forty years old, turned his head to look at the rain curtain outside the house, gently twisted his long beard, and said, "What a good autumn rain."

The other old monk looked at the three copper coins with the word "Tianbao" in his hand, and was stunned.

The old monk threw three Tianbao copper coins casually, which scattered on the ground and kept spinning.

After a long time, the dust settled, and the old monk looked at the three copper coins, his face was bright and dark under the reflection of the jumping lights.

The middle-aged monk asked softly: "Master, what is this hexagram?"

The old monk stared at the copper coins in front of him, and suddenly smiled: "Some unexpected surprises."

The middle-aged monk asked: "What unexpected surprises?"

The old monk did not answer, but said: "There are guests coming."

Before the voice fell, someone walked into this side yard with a group of wind and rain.

The middle-aged monk frowned, turned his head to look at the person, and instantly felt like he was facing a great enemy.

The old monk who was good at fortune-telling and looking at the air was not too nervous, still staring at the three Tianbao copper coins, and said calmly: "It's okay, it's our own people."

An old man wearing a hood strode out of the wind and rain and entered the side hall.

Judging from the old man's dress, he was not a Buddhist, but a Confucian.

This is not surprising. Since the first year of Taiping, there have been many people in the Confucian school who have escaped from Zen.

The so-called "escape from Zen" originally refers to escaping from Zen Buddhism.

The second sage said: "Escape from Mo will return to Yang, and escape from Yang will return to Confucianism."

Mo refers to the Mohist school, and Yang refers to Yang Zhu. The sage of Neo-Confucianism explained that the reason why the second sage said so about the relationship between escaping from Mo, escaping from Yang and returning to Confucianism is because "Yang and Mo are both heretical, and there is no big difference. But Mo's theory is especially hypocritical, unhuman and difficult to practice, so the second sage said so, not because Yang is acceptable." Therefore, escaping from Mo and escaping from Yang refers to avoiding Mo and Yang's theories and returning to Confucianism, which contains the meaning of "getting rid of evil and returning to righteousness."

Therefore, later, Confucians who dabble in Buddhist teachings and eventually abandon Buddhism and return to Confucianism are called escaping from Zen. Escaping from Zen to return to Confucianism, changing from falsehood to truth, that is, escaping from Zen and returning to Confucianism.

When the Neo-Confucian sage was young, he also paid attention to Zen and read Confucian books, thinking that they were compatible with Buddhism, but he finally chose to escape from Zen and return to Confucianism. As his poem says: "Don't escape from Zen so quickly, and finish your relationship in the district." Therefore, in this kind of learning path between Buddhism and Taoism, escaping from Zen and Buddhism to avoid Buddhism is called "escaping from Zen".

However, later, when Buddhism rose, in order to eliminate the influence of escaping from Zen and confuse the Confucianism, escaping from Zen was called learning Buddhism or entering the Buddhist world. The word "escape" no longer means "escape", but becomes "escape", which means to escape from reality and hide in the Buddhist world.

After the defeat of Confucianism, Taoism began to "castrate" Confucianism, abolished the academy, and restricted Confucian disciples. Many Confucianists could not accept it, but were powerless to resist. They were deeply disappointed with the high priests in power and simply left Confucianism.

After they left Confucianism, they could not go to Taoism, so they could only go to Buddhism, which was "escaping from Zen".

The addition of these people has enhanced the strength of Buddhism in disguise, and laid the groundwork for the future hostility between Buddhism and Taoism.

The white-haired old man took off his outer robe, pulled out an envelope from his wide sleeves, and said: "I met a man on the way here, and he asked me to pass this letter to you."

The old monk waved his hand and said: "We are all family, just read it directly."

The white-haired old man nodded, took out the letter from the envelope, and read it word by word: "Brother Yang, the matter we are planning is of great importance. I will not disappoint Brother Yang and will discuss with you to go to Jinling and plan a big event together."

The white-haired old man paused, looked up at the old monk, "No signature."

The old monk put his hands behind his back, looked at a curtain of autumn rain, and murmured: "What a beautiful autumn rain."

The middle-aged monk looked solemn and said slowly: "As far as I know, the great priest of Neo-Confucianism stationed in Jinling Prefecture has set off to Xuandu to participate in the Taoist Jin There is no meeting to discuss matters, and Li Xuan is unable to escape. This is a rare opportunity. "

The old monk did not comment, turned his back to the white-haired old man, and asked: "I wonder what brother Shi thinks?"

The white-haired old man said: "This is a risky move. If it works, I am afraid that the Taoist sect will really fall. But if it fails, all our hard work over the years will be wasted. That's fine. The Taoist sect is prepared. It will be extremely difficult for us to take any action in the future. "

The middle-aged monk stood up and said: "The arrow is on the string and has to be shot. Even if we want to retreat, the Taoist sect will not allow us to retreat. The so-called corruption case has made the Taoist sect vigilant, otherwise Li Taiyi would not hold on to this matter and make a fuss about it. "

The old monk nodded and said: "What you said makes sense. "

The old man with white hair sat down slowly and sighed, "Over the years, Li Xuan has let Li Taiyi take charge of human affairs. Li Taiyi has killed many of us. Li Taiyi is a sword in Li Xuandu's hand. If there is any change in Jinling , Li Taiyi would definitely come forward to suppress it in person. Some old men meant to simply turn Jinling into a trap, lure Li Taiyi to come, and then kill him in one fell swoop."

The old monk did not turn around and said lightly, "Take revenge."

The white-haired old man stared at the old monk's back and slowly spit out a word: "Yes."

"If I remember correctly, Qin Su is still in the world." The old monk said suddenly.

The face of the white-haired old man changed slightly.

The old monk continued, "The Taoist sect is not the Confucian sect that was not accepted by the young and yellow at the time. Even if we kill Li Taiyi, so what? At worst, Qin Su will continue to be the great master of Taiping Dao, and this move will completely anger Li Xuandu. Are you Do you think Li Xuan is better at dealing with it than Li Taiyi? Don’t forget who integrated the Taoist sect and who defeated the Confucian sect? When Li Xuan died, Li Taiyi was still a child."

The middle-aged monk also said, "Li Xuandu has been practicing for a long time, but I don't know what level he has reached."

The old monk said softly: "As long as you don't anger Li Xuandu, according to the decree given by the Buddha, Li Xuandu will not appear and take action for a while. The key is what attitude will our Emperor Majesty be in the court. "" "

The white-haired old man said, "There are only a few years left before the emperor passes away. Will he still make a big fight at this time?"

The old monk said, "If you seek stability, it is best to wait until the emperor ascends and take action, otherwise you will add variables."

The autumn rain outside the door is getting more and more urgent.

The three people in the hall fell into silence.

After a long time, the white-haired old man said, "Let's wait for the outcome of the matter in Jinque."