"Around the time of the Gregorian era, Buddhism was introduced to China." Buddhism was introduced to China very early, but it did not spread at first. At that time, people were basically self-sufficient and able to maintain basic food and clothing. But with the advent of the Xiaoice River period, first there were problems with the harvest, followed by wars.
"From 56 million to 1.4 million." After the Battle of Chibi, the population plummeted. The upheavals and displacements of life and the misery that seemed to be out of sight allowed religion to spread very quickly in this land, and people desperately needed a faith to support themselves. In this case, by the time of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Buddhism spread throughout the country.
During the Ming Dynasty, Buddhism already had a very high status in China. Yao Guangxiao became a monk at a young age at The Miaozhi Nunnery in Suzhou, and later became acquainted with Zhu Di and soon became Zhu Di's main adviser. With the help of Yao Guangxiao and others, Zhu Di sat all the way to the throne. When Zhu Di finally asked him what reward he wanted, Yao Guangxiao only asked for one person to be released.
Rulers and religions
"Since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, monks have been given free of charge." From ancient times to the present, looking at all countries in the world, if a religion wants to develop by leaps and bounds, the support and help of the rulers of the country is crucial.
Without the support of rulers, religion often had difficulty developing. As a ruler, when education is not fully popularized, religion is very much needed to maintain and stabilize people's minds.
The needs between the two sides have led to the development of many different relationships in the course of history. These relationships can be mainly divided into two categories, one is the unity of church and state, and the other is the separation of church and state. Theocracy refers to "the head of state and the religious leader are the same person, and the political power and the clerical power are held by one person." ”
In the case of theocracy, the leader does not need to consider the checks and balances on religion, because he is a religious leader himself, and while gaining the support of the people with the help of religion, he can use the power in his hands to vigorously expand the influence of religion. Even to this day, there are still many countries that are theocratic, such as the Vatican and Iran.
Corresponding to the combination of church and state is the separation of church and state. However, in many countries, although they ostensibly declare the separation of church and state, many political parties have strong religious backgrounds because of their wide religious coverage. In this case, religious groups influence the government in a powerful way, either explicitly or implicitly.
In the United States, although the First Amendment to the Constitution clearly stipulates that Congress cannot "establish the state religion or prohibit freedom of religious belief", because of the wide influence of Christianity in North and South America, some American political parties have a Christian background. In a realistic context, the U.S. religious and political system "has a close relationship." ”
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when the people were suffering from natural disasters and man-made disasters, Zhang Lu in Hanzhong had developed the unity of religion and state, and successfully occupied Hanzhong for nearly thirty years, which was supported by many people.
Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang could not survive in 1344 AD and went to Huangjue Temple as a monk. Later, he developed all the way to found the Ming Dynasty and became the ruler of the Ming Dynasty.
Road to Attack
"In July of the first year of Jianwen (1399), Zhu Di, the King of Yan, took the opportunity to rebel." Zhu Yuanzhang took pains to choose an heir, and although the originally selected crown prince Zhu Biao, although he had a kind and generous personality and was very friendly to his brothers, he dared to confront and argue with Zhu Yuanzhang in the things he insisted on.
Zhu Yuanzhang admired this very much, but Zhu Biao was not in good health and died of wind and cold in 1392 AD. After Zhu Biao's death, Zhu Biao's child Zhu Yunjiao became the first heir, and in the same year "was made the emperor's grandson by Zhu Yuanzhang." ”
In order to make Zhu Yunjiao's ruling road smooth, Zhu Yuanzhang deliberately left Zhu Yunjiao three ministers, but these three ministers were relatively insufficient in military ability.
Without a firm seat, Zhu Yunjiao began a vigorous road to regain military power under the advice of the chancellor. The kings of the great clans were forced to be helpless, exiled or committed suicide. In this case, Zhu Di, who did not want to end up with the previous king of the clan, came up with a trick to pretend to be crazy and sell stupid in order to accumulate strength to survive.
Although he had deceived Zhu Yunjiao by pretending to be crazy and foolish, Zhu Di had not yet made up his mind to rebel at this time. After all, Zhu Yunjiao is the ruler who has inherited the orthodoxy on the surface, with the most troops and support, and once the rebellion fails, not only will he die without a place to die, but his family and relatives will also be implicated.
When Zhu Di hesitated, Yao Guangxiao gave Zhu Di a strong heart needle. Yao Guangxiao was very persistent, and after following Zhu Di, he always focused on one thing - instigating Zhu Di to rebel.
During Zhu Di's period of pretending to be crazy and selling stupidity, Yao Guangxiao entered zhu Di's Beiping palace a very high number of times. Under the tragic situation of the previous king of the domain and the great pressure of Zhu Yunjiao, Zhu Di finally accepted Yao Guangxiao's suggestion.
Under Yao Guangxiao's advice, Zhu Di secretly accumulated his own strength step by step. When the time was ripe, Zhu Di began his own path of attack. Zhu Di himself had excellent combat ability, and his previous battle achievements were outstanding, and on the road of attack, Zhu Di went through five levels and slashed six generals, and finally "directly approached Nanjing" in 1402 AD. After the fall of Nanjing, Zhu Di took the throne as emperor.
A knot in my heart
"The fire in the palace is raging, and Zhu Yunjiao doesn't know the end." After Zhu Di became emperor, there was always a knot in his heart that could not be solved, that is, Zhu Yunjiao, who was missing.
Fearing a resurgence of Zhu Yunjiao's power, Zhu Di's first thing to do was to uproot Zhu Yunjiao's forces, first by killing and exterminating Huang Zicheng and Qi Tai, who were loyal to Zhu Yunjiao, and then restoring all the kings who had been deposed during Zhu Yunjiao's reign.
In addition, Zhu Di also locked up Pu Qia, a monk who was said to have saved Zhu Yunjiao at a critical moment, for 15 years. Bo Qia was a well-known monk in the Ming Dynasty, and had a good relationship with Yao Guangxiao, and the two met and became friends when Yao Guangxiao was a monk in his early years when he traveled around the ancient temple.
Although Zhu Di was not sure whether Bo Qia really knew zhu Yunjiao's whereabouts, Zhu Di would never allow any accidents to happen. In fact, after Zhu Di ascended the throne, a courtier was specially sent around to find Zhu Yunjiao's whereabouts.
Later, the courtier had a long conversation with Zhu Di late one night many years later, and no one knew whether the courtier had found Zhu Yunjiao's whereabouts, but after this night, the courtier finally stopped the task.
As a monk who had greatly helped Zhu Di on the road of rebellion, Zhu Di originally wanted to make "Yao Guangxiao grow his hair and return to the world", but Yao Guangxiao refused. When facing Yao Guangxiao, Zhu Di insisted on calling him a young master, with great respect.
Later, when Zhu Di invaded Mongolia several times, Yao Guangxiao was responsible for staying in Nanjing to assist the crown prince. This is enough to prove that Zhu Di attaches importance to and trusts him. In 1407, Yao Guangxiao was again appointed to teach the emperor's eldest grandson, Zhu Zhanji.
Yao Guangxiao was crucial in Zhu Di's path of rebellion and rulership, not only contributing to Zhu Di's determination to rebel, but also helping Zhu Di stabilize the government many times later.
Yao Guangxiao, who had made great contributions, became seriously ill in 1418. Worried, Zhu Di went to visit the sick several times, and when asked about Yao Guangxiao's last wishes, Yao Guangxiao only said one person- Bo Qia.
It was precisely because he knew Zhu Di's heart knot that Yao Guangxiao had not mentioned it before, and it was precisely because he understood that the current situation was already determined and that he was already a dying person that Yao Guangxiao dared to put forward this last wish.
brief summary:
"Cheng Zu agreed to Yao Guangxiao's request and immediately ordered his release." The full understanding and caution of Zhu Di allowed Yao Guangxiao to live safely to his old age, and before his death, let Zhu Di release his former friend, Bo Qia. Yao Guangxiao's support for Zhu Di played a positive role in the development of Buddhism during the Ming Dynasty.
Yao Guangxiao, known as the "demon monk", always insisted on one thing when following Zhu Di - to persuade Zhu Di to rebel. It can be seen from the fact that Zhu Di did not expel Yao Guangxiao that Zhu Di had this kind of thought in his heart.
Later, under the severe situation, Zhu Di made up his mind and successfully rebelled. For Yao Guangxiao, who helped him ascend to the throne, when asked about his last wishes, Yao Guangxiao only mentioned one person, and he was imprisoned for more than ten years.