The above articles are all about the Japanese stealing the skulls of "Beijingers" during the war of aggression against China, and this article still talks about the Japanese stealing treasures in China, but this time the incident occurred in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, and the theft was "Xuanzang Spirit Bone".
Pictured: Inside the glass cover is enshrined xuanzang parietal relics
Xuanzang is the protagonist of the well-known "Journey to the West" in China, the original "Tang Monk".
Involved in the theft were the Japanese Takamori troops. In November of the 31st year of the Republic of China (1942), the unit stolen a stone letter containing Xuanzang's spirit bone near Yuhuatai in the south of Nanjing. This was also one of the great discoveries of the Japanese army in China to steal treasures, which caused a sensation in the Buddhist circles of China and Japan and became the biggest news in the media at that time.
What the hell is going on here? This article is about this matter, first talk about Tang Monk and his people.
Photo: The scene of the Japanese digging treasure in China (Old photo taken by the Japanese)
"Xuanzang" (玄奘), the legal name of the Tang monk, was born in the second year of the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui (602 AD) and died in the first year of Emperor Gaozong of Tang's reign (664 CE). Xuanzang's common name before his ordination was "Chen Yuan", and he was a native of Chen He Village, Luozhou County (present-day Yanshi City, Henan Province). In the social context of worshiping Buddhism, at the age of 13, Chen Yuan followed his second brother to luoyang Pure Land Temple to become a monk.
The author has visited Luoyang and Yanshi, and there are many sacred relics of Xuanzang, the former residence of Xuanzang, the Tang monk temple, the tomb of the Tang monk, and the monument of the Three Sacred Sects of the Tang Dynasty... The locals are proud.
After Xuanzang left home, he was preoccupied with Buddha. In the first year of The Tang Dynasty Li Shimin Zhenguan (627 AD), he traveled to Tianzhu (present-day India), experienced countless hardships, reached the kingdom of heaven in his mind, and carefully studied the Buddhist scriptures.
Pictured: Tang monks go west to get the scriptures on the way (new "Journey to the West" shot)
Wu Cheng'en, the author of Journey to the West, made a literary description of Xuanzang's trip to the West to learn the scriptures according to folklore, when Tang Taizong Li Shimin hoped to go to the Mahayana Sutra and wanted to send someone to the Western Heavens to take it- "Who is willing to receive the will of the Western Heavens and go to the Western Heavens to worship the Buddha and ask for the scriptures?" ”
Unable to ask, the mage flashed next to him, and the emperor said, "The poor monk is not talented, and he is willing to follow the work of the dog and the horse, and ask His Majesty for the true scriptures, and pray for the eternal solidity of my king Jiangshan." ”
The Tang King was overjoyed, and went forward to support the royal hand and said, "Master Guo can do his best to be loyal, not afraid of the long journey, trekking through the mountains and rivers, and is willing to worship you as a brother." ”
Xuanzang gave thanks. Tang Wangguo was very virtuous, so he went to the temple in front of the Buddha, and prayed with Xuanzang for four times, calling him "Royal Brother Holy Monk".
Xuanzang thanked him endlessly: "Your Majesty, what virtue and ability does a poor monk have, and dare to receive such favor from heaven?" When I go, I will dedicate my life to the western heavens. If you do not reach the Western Heavens, you will not be able to read the True Scriptures, and even if you die, you will not dare to return to your country, and you will fall into hell forever. ”
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Pictured: Xuanzang was instructed to translate the scriptures
In the 17th year of the calendar, Xuanzang attained enlightenment and returned to Chang'an, becoming a well-respected and highly respected monk and Sanzang master at that time, writing books and translating scriptures in Hongfu Temple, Daci'en Temple, and other places to promote Buddhism.
After Xuanzang's death, the spirit bones were buried on the white deer plains on the east bank of the Xun River in the eastern suburbs of Chang'an. But during the Republic of China, how could its spiritual bones appear in Nanjing and be stolen by the Japanese army? Here's the story again.
It turned out that Xuanzang's spirit bones were not peaceful after they were buried on the White Deer Plain. Five years later, in the second year of Emperor Gaozong's reign (669 CE), Li Zhi decided to build a pagoda for Xuanzang, which was located in the northern plains of Fanchuan on the shore of the Shaoling Plains in the east of Chang'an Duqu, and relocated Xuanzang's spirit bones here. When Emperor Suzong of Tang li heng was emperor, he inscribed the inscription for Xuanzang's tibetan bone pagoda, named "Xingjiao", and Xuanzang Temple was renamed "Xingjiao Temple" from then on, which was one of the eight major monasteries in Fanchuan in the Tang Dynasty.
Pictured: Xuanzang Pagoda in Xingjiao Temple, Xi'an
At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Huangchao Rebellion, in order to raise military salaries, went everywhere to find wealth and robbed tombs and treasures. At that time, Xuanzang's bone pagoda was also dug up, Xuanzang's remains were exposed, and the skull was also broken. Later, the monks carried the parietal bone to the Zige Temple of Zhongnan Mountain for burial.
However, Xuanzang was not able to settle down for long at Zhongnan Mountain, and in the first year of the Song Dynasty Emperor Zhao Jiongduan Gong (988 AD), Xuanzang's parietal bone was rediscovered at the Zige Temple. In the fifth year of the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song (1027 Song), a senior monk of tianxi temple in Jinling (present-day Nanjing), passed on Xuanzang's spiritual bones and welcomed him back to Nanjing Tianxi Temple.
Pictured: The Northern Song Dynasty Xuanzang Pagoda Chronicle
Tianxi Temple, formerly known as Changgan Temple, began during the Taikang period of the Western Jin Dynasty, and was restored by Xiao Yan, emperor of Liangwu in the Southern Dynasty, in 543 (the eighth year of Datong). Earlier, sun Quan built the "Jianchu Temple", which was also the first temple in Nanjing, and also built the earliest stupa in Nanjing, "Ashoka Pagoda".
After Emperor Wu of Liang restored the Changgan Temple, he transformed the pagoda and renamed it "Changgan Pagoda". During the Song Dynasty, Changgan Temple was renamed Tianxi Temple, and later the Shenggan Pagoda was built. Xuanzang's bones were buried in the Donggang Stone Pagoda. At that time, the incense was in full swing, and groups of good men and women came to pay their respects.
At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the temple and pagoda were destroyed.
Pictured: 19th-century British hand-painted Nanjing Bao'en Temple
During the Reign of Ming Hongwu, Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang spent 25,000 taels of gold to rebuild the Tianxi Temple, relocated Xuanzang's bones to Nangang, and built the Lama Pagoda-style Sanzang Tomb Pagoda. However, in the sixth year of Yongle (1408 AD) during Zhu Di's reign as emperor, the temple and pagoda were set on fire.
In the tenth year of Yongle (1411), Zhu Di built the Bao'en Temple here in honor of his birth mother, incorporated the area around the Sanzang Tomb Pagoda into the temple, and also built the Sanzang Hall on the east side of the Dabao'en Temple Pagoda. But later, especially in the Qing Dynasty, people did not believe that Xuanzang's spiritual bone would really be under the Sanzang Tomb Tower.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the pagoda of Dabao'en Temple was burned down in the war of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and the upper part of the Sanzang Pagoda was also destroyed, and then it was covered with soil, and finally even the authenticity of the Sanzang Tomb Pagoda became a problem.
Pictured: The rebuilt Dabao'en Temple in Nanjing, decorated with steel structure and glass, was criticized for "spoofing" and insulting Ming Chengzu Zhu Di
Later, Li Hongzhang, a minister at the end of the Qing Dynasty, built the Jinling Machinery Bureau Gun Factory in the area of the temple site. Where Xuanzang's spirit bone was, no one knew.
By the twenty-sixth year of the Republic of China (1937), Nanjing was occupied by the Japanese army, and people were even less likely to think that There would still be Xuanzang spirit bones in Nanjing. However, in the thirty-first year of the Republic of China (1942), Xuanzang's spiritual bone suddenly appeared.
How did it come about? This was due to the Japanese army's excavations. Specific experience, the next article will be said, the end of the class.