introduction
In the classical Chinese work "Journey to the West", as the protagonist, the Tang monk, under the will of Tang Taizong, traveled thousands of miles to the Western Heavens to seek the true scriptures. The three disciples he received along the way, Sun Wukong, the Eight Precepts of pigs, and Sha Wujing, under their escort, went through 9981 difficulties and finally obtained the True Scriptures. After returning to Datang, he won countless honors.
In fact, the prototype of the Tang monk is xuanzang, a high monk of the Tang Dynasty. In real history, Xuanzang also had the same highlight moments as the Tang monks, but in his later years, he was put under house arrest by the emperor, and he was plagued by illness and eventually died tragically. Why? Let's listen to the lifebuoy.
After returning from the scriptures, he was appreciated by Emperor Taizong of Tang
In the nineteenth year of Zhenguan, Xuanzang appeared in Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Empire, and the scene in front of him made him trance. Crowded with people, countless people shouted to welcome him, Xuanzang, who had just returned from India. Under the reception of the prime minister, Fang Xuanling, Xuanzang stayed at Hongfu Temple. The next day, Xuanzang brought back 657 Buddhist scriptures, 150 grains of Rulai meat relic, and 7 statues of Buddha carved in gold, silver or sandalwood. If the imperial court obtained the most precious treasure, it hurriedly displayed it one by one, did a good job of defense, and then offered it to the officials to pay attention to.
A few days later, Xuanzang met with Emperor Taizong of Tang at the Luoyang Imperial Palace. Tang Taizong deliberately left him into the inner temple for secret talks, and this talk was more than 20 days. No one knows what the two talked about, but Tang Taizong's courtesy to Xuanzang was visible to everyone. However, in the eyes of Tang Taizong, he did not care about Buddhism, and after successively pacifying Gaochang and Yanqi (yān qí), he wanted to know more about the real situation of the countries in the Western Regions. Therefore, the content of the chat between the two should be generally related to it.
Guiyin Shanlin was rejected and forced to be appointed by the imperial court
To this end, he had persuaded Xuanzang to return to the world and become an official in the court, but Xuanzang obviously did not want to be here, so he politely refused. The contradiction between the two is vividly reflected at this time. Xuanzang originally wanted to live in seclusion in the mountains and concentrate on translating the scriptures, but was rejected by Emperor Taizong of Tang. As a last resort, he had to re-enter Hongfuku-ji Temple, so that although he needed to compromise to complete some of the tasks assigned by the imperial court, he could also continue his work of translating scriptures.
At the request of Emperor Taizong of Tang, he wrote the Records of the Western Regions of the Great Tang Dynasty and translated Laozi's Tao Te Ching into Sanskrit. These tasks, although instructed by Emperor Taizong of Tang, were roughly similar to Xuanzang's original intentions. Perhaps under the influence of Xuanzang, In his later years, Tang Taizong became extremely interested in Buddhism and wrote the "Order of the Three Sacred Teachings of the Great Tang Dynasty", which made Xuanzang's life much better. Before Tang Taizong died of illness, he was also accompanied by Xuanzang.
Emperor Gaozong of Tang ascended the throne and restricted Xuanzang's freedom
However, The ascension of Emperor Gaozong of Tang made Xuanzang's fate even more difficult. In order to please his father, Tang Gaozong seemed to be a firm believer in Buddhism, but after Tang Taizong's death, Tang Gaozong's embrace of Taoism gradually became apparent, and his attitude toward Xuanzang also changed.
In the sixth year of Yonghui, Shang Yaofeng Yulu openly questioned Xuanzang's Buddhism, and he even got into trouble in front of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, and Xuanzang had to come forward and confront him face to face. The academic lawsuit eventually led to Lü Cai's defeat, but Xuanzang's situation plummeted after this incident.
Lonely and silent, no one attended the funeral
Emperor Gaozong of Tang began to restrict Xuanzang's movements and sent people to monitor him all day. He also transferred all the officials who had originally helped Xuanzang, and Xuanzang gradually fell into a situation of isolation and helplessness. Xuanzang knew that he had lost his position, and in desperation, he requested to stay away from the beijing master and go to the remote Yuhua Temple in Shaanxi to translate the scriptures. But at this time, he was old, and in order to speed up the progress, he encouraged his disciples day and night to grasp the translation. In the first year of Lin De, Xuanzang was plagued by diseases and lonely.
It is worth noting that after Xuanzang's death, the imperial doctor set off for the Yuhua Temple. From here, it can be seen that Tang Gaozong was not very kind to Xuanzang and was not very concerned about his death. However, because Xuanzang's reputation in the minds of the people was extremely high, Emperor Gaozong of Tang still went on strike for three days on the surface, and hundreds of people cried bitterly in the streets and mourned Xuanzang.
When Xuanzang was buried, Emperor Gaozong of Tang did not write an inscription for him, did not engrave a pagoda inscription, or even let any officials attend his funeral. A generation of senior monks, Xuanzang, died in the official arena that seemed to be lively, but in fact indifferent.