Since ancient times, the relationship between religion and the imperial court has always been somewhat delicate, in general, the imperial court represents the attitude of the government, and Buddhism has a closer relationship with the people, which is mainly determined by their religious teachings. Of course, Buddhism still has some real materials, otherwise it wouldn't have been established in China for so long. Some problems that have puzzled ordinary people for a long time can be solved in one or two sentences in front of the enlightened monks of Buddhism, which is enough to show that monks still have many people of great wisdom.
For example, there has been a debate among the people about whether a monk can break his vows by eating eggs, some people think that eggs are not living creatures, and of course monks can eat them, but some people think that eggs can give birth to life, and they are meaty, and eating eggs is considered a crime of killing. A good deed person sent some eggs to a Zen master, wanting to test the Zen master. Unexpectedly, the Zen master said while eating eggs: "Chaos Qiankun is a shell, and there is no skin, bone and hair, and the old monk takes Erxi to the sky to avoid being stabbed in the world." ”。
The Zen master solved this problem in a few words, if everyone in the world had the wisdom of a Zen master, where would there be such a boring problem. We know that in addition to the precepts and rules, Buddhism also involves the relationship with the imperial court. When Buddhism first came to China, there was a special rule that one should not worship the monarch. That is to say, when the monks see the emperor, they don't have to kneel down and worship Dali like ordinary people. This is mainly because the monk is a disciple of the Buddha, the Buddha is an immortal, and the emperor is only a folk king, and he can't control the immortals. Therefore, the monk is a disciple of the Buddha, so naturally he does not need to kneel and worship.
However, as Buddhism spread more and more widely in China, they also knew that the Chinese emperor was not to be messed with. If you are not happy, you can come to the Buddha extermination movement a few times, which is enough for Buddhists to eat a pot, so when the later monks see the emperor, most of them will kneel and bow in a funny way, which is enough to avoid unnecessary trouble.
So since the monk, as a disciple of the Buddha, is to bow down to the emperor, so when the emperor sees the Buddha, should he bow down? Next, I will use a small story by Zhu Yuanzhang to tell you the answer to this question. We know that Zhu Yuanzhang was a very murderous emperor, and he once entered the temple to worship the Buddha, and there was a huge Buddha statue in the middle of the hall. At this time, a great monk happened to pass by, and he asked directly: "I am the emperor, do you worship or not worship when you see the Buddha?"
If an ordinary monk saw Zhu Yuanzhang and didn't talk back, the emperor's majesty could directly scare him to death. However, this monk is not an ordinary person, he replied directly: "Don't worship?" Zhu Yuanzhang deliberately made things difficult and asked: "Why don't you worship?" If the monk can't say a reason, Zhu Yuanzhang will think that this is a perfunctory remark by the monk, and I am afraid that he will commit the crime of bullying the king and fall directly to the ground. I saw that the monk said unhurriedly: "Now the Buddha does not worship the past Buddha." This sentence not only gave Zhu Yuanzhang enough face, but also did not insult the prestige of Buddhism, it can be said to be a very witty response.