Continued above).In the hall of Maitreya Temple, Huijing asked the host: "What does the transmission of Buddhism have to do with the statue of Maitreya?" ”
The abbot replied, "Since the statue of Maitreya was carved, there have often been miraculous appearances. Every fasting day, the statue of Maitreya will emit light, and the people of the four directions have any diseases and troubles, as long as they come here to worship on the fasting day, the pain and troubles can be cured immediately. ”
The kings of the neighboring countries also rushed to offer Maitreya Bodhisattva when they heard the news, and since then, there have been Tianzhu Shamen, carrying sutras, to worship here, and then go east, saying that they have been guided by Maitreya Bodhisattva. ”
Fa Xian asked thoughtfully, "When was this statue carved?" ”
The abbot said: "The predecessors rumored that the descendants, and the descendants re-rumored the descendants, until it reached the old monk, knowing that this statue stood more than 300 years after the Buddha's Nirvana. ”
Fa Xian counted his fingers and said with emotion: "When King Zhou Ping was king, so to speak, Buddhism spread eastward, that is, from this statue. If it weren't for Maitreya to inherit the Buddha's throne, who would allow the Three Jewels to be passed on to the east? Who in the East can fully understand the Dharma? It can be seen that there is a fate in the dark. Buddhism spread eastward, has nothing to do with personnel, but only providence; It can be seen that the dream of Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty is also the will of heaven. ”
The "Three Jewels" mentioned by Fa Xian refer to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, and it is not difficult for the abbot to understand. But when Fa Xian talked about the "dream of Han Ming", the abbot couldn't figure it out.
What is 'Hamming's Dream'? The abbot was desperate to find out.
Fa Xian explained with a smile: "More than a thousand years after the Buddha's Nirvana, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Han Ming, .......
Fa Xian suddenly realized how the word "emperor" could be understood by the Tianzhu people, so he immediately changed his words and said, "The king of Han Di dreamed of a golden man at night, and there was a circle of white light above his head, which flew from the distant sky in the west, and then landed in front of the palace court. The golden man is six feet long and covered in gold. ”
The next day, the king summoned a painter to paint the image of the golden man, and then summoned a hundred officials. Among the hundred officials, there is a person named Fu Yi, who came out to play a gift, saying that there is a god in the West, and his name is Buddha, and what His Majesty dreams of may be Buddha. ”
The king was extremely convinced, and sent Langzhong Cai Bei and others to depict the appearance of the Buddha and brought back two sand gates in Tianzhu, one was called Se Moteng and the other was called Zhu Falang. At that time, Cai Langzhong also brought back many Buddhist scriptures and carried them on white horses. After returning to Luoyang, the capital of the Han Dynasty, the king was very happy, so he specially built a Yugaran for the scriptures carried back by the two Tianzhu monks and the white horse, called the White Horse Temple. ”
The abbot was fascinated by what he heard, he became a monk since he was a child, chanting and worshipping Buddha for more than 70 years, but he never knew how Buddhism spread eastward and how far Buddhism spread.
The abbot asked again: "How long has it been since Emperor Ming of Han had this dream?" Obviously, the abbot did not understand the time of the spread of Buddhism to the east.
Fa Xian was holding a water bowl and tasting the taste of Somo water.
Seeing this, Baoyun said, "It's probably more than three hundred and fifty years from now. ”
The abbot is even more confused now, "More than three hundred and fifty years? The statue of Maitreya Bodhisattva was completed and the Dharma went east, and the statue of Maitreya was carved to this day for more than 1,200 years. Why is there such a difference between the Han and Tianzhu theories on the time of the eastward transmission of Buddhism? ”
Fa Xian put down the water bowl and replied: "The popularity of Buddhism in Han is after Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty. But the Han people knew that there were Buddhas in the West, and it was much earlier. ”
Huijing and the others didn't know much about this, so Huijing asked: "Senior Brother Fa Xian is well-informed, you might as well talk about it, so that we can also have a long insight." ”
Fa Xian did not shirk, and said calmly: "About fifty years before Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty, he was Emperor Ai of the Han Dynasty, and in the first year of Yuanshou, there was a doctor** Qin Jingxian, who was ordered to learn Buddhist scriptures from Yicun, the envoy of the King of the Great Moon Clan. ”
More than 100 years earlier than Emperor Han Ai, it was Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu sent Zhang Qian to envoy to the Western Regions of Great Xia, Zhang Qian returned to China and reported that there was a poisonous country next to the Great Xia Kingdom, and the poisonous country was Tianzhu, and Tianzhu had the teaching of Futu. ”
Emperor Wu also sent the general Huo to fight against the Huns, and obtained a golden person, mistaken for a great god, listed in the Ganquan Palace, and learned from the Hu people to burn incense and worship, in fact, this golden person is a Buddha statue. ”
About 400 years earlier than Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, there was Lao Tzu and his person, Taoism recommended him as the master, but many people did not know, Lao Tzu also entered the state of Yidi in the Western Regions to learn Buddhism. Later generations did not know about this matter, but said, 'Lao Tzu entered Yidi, for the floating slaughter', in fact, Lao Tzu is to learn Buddhism, not to become a Buddha. ”
Before Lao Tzu, I don't know if there was anyone in Han China who had anything to do with Buddhism. But as far as Lao Tzu is concerned, Buddhism has been spreading eastward for more than 900 years, so since the statue of Maitreya was carved, Buddhism has spread eastward to Han China, and it has not been imagined for one or two hundred years. Therefore, according to the legends and records of Tianzhu and Han land, there is not much difference between the time when Buddhism spread eastward between the two places. ”
The abbot is a native of Tianzhu, and he can't understand the emperor of the Han land, this person and that person, and what Laozi Taoism is, but he can see from the incessant nods of Huijing, Dao Quan, Baoyun and others that what Fa Xian said can be believed.
Huijing, Dao Cheng and others have been with Fa Xian for a long time, and they know that Fa Xian is a learned monk, and he has a wide range of knowledge on weekdays, not only reading many Buddhist scriptures, but also books about Confucianism and Taoism, Sima Qian's "Historical Records" and Ban Gu's "Book of Han", all of which are familiar with their hearts.
As for Baoyun and others, they didn't know Fa Xian, and they only became friends in trouble in Zhangye and Dunhuang. Baoyun and others admired Fa Xian's spirit of aspiring to the west, and they also understood that Fa Xian had a very high level of understanding and was very hard to learn new knowledge.
They often saw that on the lonely westward journey, Fa Xian often had words in his mouth, and asked Huijing, Daoquan and others, only to know that he was learning to speak Tianzhu. Now that I hear him talk about the spread of Buddhism to the East, I know that he has a wide range of knowledge and profound knowledge, and although he is over the age of six, his mind is still very agile.
Looking at Fa Xian's weather-beaten face, the face covered with traces of time, and the resolute and wise face, Baoyun and the others felt admiration and admiration from the bottom of their hearts.
After living in Tuoli Country for a while, Fa Xian and others went on the road again.
The old abbot of Maitreya Temple naturally sent Fa Xian and others out of the city without giving up.
The next destination is the country of Wuchang.
Update tomorrow. 