In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, there was such a saying among the people: nuns are like rats and wolves into the depths, this sentence makes modern people feel difficult to understand, because they don't know the meaning of this sentence, so, what does this sentence mean?
All of this has to start from the time when Buddhism entered China.
Picture: Screenshot of the old saying "nuns are like rats and wolves into the depths".
1. The changes of Buddhism in China
Speaking of Buddhism, many people will definitely think that this is a religion from India, in fact, this perception has a certain one-sidedness, because Chinese Buddhism is a product of China, and in the two thousand years since Buddhism was introduced to China, Chinese Buddhism has completed localization and become a part of Chinese culture.
Moreover, Chinese Buddhism and Buddhism in ancient India have undergone great variations, otherwise, Fa Xian of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and Sanzang of the Tang Dynasty would not have traveled thousands of miles to India to find the original teachings of Buddhism, which to a certain extent illustrates the influence of Chinese culture on Chinese Buddhism.
Image: A still from a Buddhist believer during the Tang Dynasty
1. The birth of Buddhism
In fact, Buddhism in ancient India belongs to a very common and relatively small religion, legend has it that about 3,000 years ago, Shakyamuni felt that life is too short and people are not equal, so based on Brahmanism, it can be understood as the basis of Indian traditional culture, integrated into its own world view, so Buddhism was born.
After the emergence of Buddhism, because of the concept of equality of all beings, it was supported by many poor people, and on this basis, many monarchs in ancient India also recognized Buddhism and actively sent people to spread Buddhist ideas in Central Asia and even West Asia.
Image: A still from a messenger spreading Buddhist thought
2. Buddhism in China
There has been no accepted answer to the question of when Buddhism was introduced to China, and although middle school history textbooks believe that Buddhism was introduced to China in the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, this can only be regarded as an era of influence in China, but it is by no means the era of its first introduction.
Because in ancient times, after many foreign religions were introduced into China, they were not paid attention to by mainstream scholars and doctors because they were very small, which led to almost no relevant historical records, and later generations of people who studied history often came to the conclusion that a certain religion was not introduced into China based on the fact that the historical materials did not have this point.
A typical example is Christianity, looking through the historical materials of the Three Kingdoms period, there is no record of the introduction of Christianity into China, therefore, according to the historical data, Christianity must not have been introduced to China in the Three Kingdoms era, but in fact, the unearthed cultural relics deny this.
In modern times, an iron cross has been unearthed in the Jiangnan region of the mainland, with Chinese words praising the grace of Jesus Christ, and this iron cross was cast during the reign of Sun Quan.
Therefore, before the Eastern Han Dynasty, Buddhism is likely to have been introduced to China, but it did not have much impact, for example, in the Western Han Dynasty, there were already many small Buddhist countries in the Western Regions, and a large number of merchants from the Western Regions settled in Chang'an, among them, there will definitely be Buddhist believers. In recent years, some scholars believe that Buddhism first entered China when Lü Buwei was in control of the Qin state, but the credibility of the material evidence for this theory is low.
Image: Screenshot of historical materials
3. The spread of Buddhism
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Buddhism was recognized by the Eastern Han Dynasty emperor and entered China, but there has not been much sense of existence, for the common people, they really can't understand the teachings of Buddhism, until the late Western Jin Dynasty, Buddhist monks realized that if they want to spread Buddhism, they need to seize the market of the bottom society, so they specially formulated a lot of theoretical teachings that cater to the people, and in this way, Buddhism began to spread among the people.
Finally, in the period of the North and the South, Buddhism took the opportunity to expand its social influence due to the continuous wars, and in this way, the scale of Buddhism continued to expand, and eventually, it became the most influential religion.
Image: A still of a monk spreading Buddhism among the people
2. The secular social relationship between Buddhism and the Sui and Tang dynasties
Religion is regarded as a branch of philosophy, in fact, from a certain point of view, religion can be regarded as a special philosophical system, which leads to the division of religion into universal religions and minority religions. The so-called universal religion can be understood as a religion that the general public can believe.
This type of religion is characterized by simplicity and clarity, even people with a very low level of education, or even illiterate people, can also believe, for example, in the countryside of the mainland, many illiterate old people can express their belief in Buddhism through the simplest ritual of burning incense.
Minority religions, on the other hand, tend to focus on the study of advanced theories, but in fact, the Buddhist system that was first introduced into China has the attributes of a minority religion. However, later Buddhist monks formulated a universal version of the doctrine in order to expand their influence in China. Moreover, this reform also made Buddhism have a huge impact on the secular society of China before and after the Sui and Tang dynasties.
Image: Stills of burning incense and worshipping Buddha
1. The deification tool of the Sui and Tang rulers
In the ancient times of the mainland, feudal rulers often needed to concoct some theories to prove that they were different, and in the Sui and Tang dynasties, due to the prosperity of Buddhism, the rulers at that time needed to prove that they should be emperors through the mouths of Buddhist monks.
For example, the Book of Sui records that when Yang Jian, the founding emperor of the Sui Dynasty, was born, there were nuns who claimed that Yang Jian had the life of a true dragon son of heaven, and this nun also showed various abilities of herself. Before Li Yuan plotted to become emperor, he also paid a lot of money to ask the nuns to create public opinion, and the nuns claimed that they had received the enlightenment of the Buddha, and the qi of the Sui Dynasty was gone, and Li Yuan was the true son of heaven.
Even before Wu Zetian became emperor, he also assigned his nephew Wu Sansi to contact monks and nuns who were well-known and socially influential at that time to create public opinion for his ascension to the throne and emperor.
It can be seen from this that because of the strong social influence of Buddhism, in the Sui and Tang dynasties, rulers and careerists wanted to create social influence, they needed to find supporters from Buddhist groups.
Image: Nun stills
2. The influence of nuns
Buddhism's continued involvement in politics also means that Buddhism is no longer simply a religion, and many careerists will choose to create social influence through their monkhood when they have no way out, and then obtain substantial benefits, and nuns are often the most enthusiastic about this.
In ancient times, there was almost no way for a woman to get ahead, and becoming a nun could achieve a class jump as long as she managed it properly and seized the opportunity. As a result, many restless and unwell-born women have become nuns. For example, the nuns who created public opinion for Li Yuan were rewarded handsomely after Li Yuan became emperor.
Image: A still from a nun escaping into an empty door
Over time, the nun group gave the Tang Dynasty people such an impression, that is, as mentioned above: nuns are like rat wolves into the depths. That is, animals like rats and wolves, operating in some hidden places, their ability to drill camps like rats, their lethality like hungry wolves, in short, they cannot afford to offend.