In history, Wu Zetian was notorious for appointing cool officials to massacre.
Some women think that these accounts are slandered by male historians, but don't forget that male historians still record a large number of atrocities committed by male emperors.
If a record is to be proved to be defamatory, there must be strong evidence to disprove the account, not speculation as a substitute for argumentation.
In Wu Zetian's era, to be able to change from the empress dowager to the emperor, it was necessary to uproot a large number of Li family's royal family and ministers, and thus a large number of political enemies needed to be purged.
In order to cut the grass and eradicate the roots, the ancient emperors and ministers would often engage in plant connections, and it was common for hundreds or thousands of people to die in a case. Wu Zetian was able to climb to that position, and it was strange that he killed fewer people.
Except for succession, that position is not something that a soft-hearted person can squeeze into. In order to climb up and continue to suppress the resistance forces thereafter, Wu Zetian naturally wanted to use those cool officials to achieve the effect of everyone being at risk. After the goal is achieved, these black gloves can be extinguished, and they can also be exchanged for a good reputation for wisdom and martial arts.
I once thought about a question, Wu Zetian has obviously always been a devout Buddhist, but how can Wu Zetian, who believes in Buddhism, kill people so ruthlessly? Does she really believe in Buddhism?
Later, I thought that it was because she really believed in Buddhism that she was so peaceful and tyrannical. Because some theories produced in the process of Buddhism's evolution gave her the confidence to kill.
The Buddhism that circulated in Middle-earth was basically "Mahayana Buddhism". The ideas of Mahayana Buddhism are too vast to be developed here. Let's talk about the part of Mahayana Buddhism about "crime and punishment."
First, Mahayana Buddhism inherited the Theravada theory of cause and effect. Wu Zetian can think that the people she killed were all guilty of crimes in past lives, and those people were killed because they deserved to die, and their results were caused by the causes of past lives.
Don't worry, Mahayana Buddhism also says that reading Buddhist scriptures, sculpting Buddha statues, and donating to temples and monks can erase the sins committed in countless lifetimes in the past.
In this case, wouldn't it be easy to kill tens of thousands of people in this life, and then easily eliminate them by reading Buddhist scriptures, making Buddha statues, and donating money? This is the Buddhist version of "indulgences."
Religion leads people to good, but the promises they give to their followers are what they do. They are only afraid of the laws of the world, and they are not afraid of going to hell after death.
"What about going to hell? I believe in Buddhism so much, I will have the king of the earth and the Bodhisattva to accompany me when I go to hell, and I will never be sinned. ”
Such bad people have no scruples as soon as they can enforce the laws of the world themselves. Wu Zetian believes in Buddhism but is cold-blooded, and some Buddhists have a snake heart, all for this reason. It's just that for most of these people, they are still afraid of the legal punishment in the world, so they don't dare to go too far.
In addition, Buddhism believes that everything is illusory, and that the people in the world and the legendary gods and ghosts are illusory. (Diamond Sutra).
Since it is illusory, killing people is also illusory. This is reflected in the "Huayan Sutra" when the good wealth boy sees the king "the king of insatiable feet".
In the Sutra, King Insatiable says that his people have sinned or have evil opinions, so he has his soldiers torture and even kill. He said to the good wealth boy, "If I am really a bad person, how can I have such a luxurious house and so many assets? This is a blessing, and good people have so many blessings." (If I do it, it will be bad karma.) How can the clouds get such a reward. Such is the color body. If it is a dependent. If so, it is rich. If so, feel at ease. ）
He said that he was "a bodhisattva with illusory liberation" and knew that everything was a dream. "In order to subdue sentient beings, I have turned into wicked people, created all kinds of bad karma, caused them to suffer all kinds of suffering, and made the wicked people feel terrible when they see it, afraid of being punished, and far from their sins. ("I am doing this to subdue other beings.") Become a villain. Create all kinds of sinful karma. Suffering in all kinds. Let all the sentient beings who do evil see that it is a matter of time. I was terrified. Disgusted. Cowardice. Stop all the bad karma they have done. ”）
Wu Zetian likes the "Huayan Sutra" very much, and the "Huayan Sutra" is the basis for the founding of the sect, and the generation of the Huayan Sect's grandmaster, Master Fazang, once entered the palace to preach the "Golden Lion Chapter" of the "Huayan Sutra" for Wu Zetian.
When Wu Zetian saw the words of the Insatiable Foot King in the "Huayan Sutra", he would probably think that he was the new Insatiable Foot King, and killing people was just a convenient way for his Bodhisattva to open a convenient method after he descended to earth, and give a little punishment to those who did bad things in his previous life, maybe she killed people to make her feel that she was the Holy Mother.
This is a loophole in Mahayana Buddhism, which cannot prevent those in power who believe in Buddhism from doing evil, because they will find a "theoretical basis" in the Buddhist scriptures and make themselves feel at ease when they kill people.
Even if they don't consider such an extreme thing as killing people, and say that they enjoy themselves and let the common people suffer, they are still at ease: I am a blessing, and you did not cultivate in your previous life, and now you are suffering.
Naturally, the rulers were happy to believe in such a religion, and they were even more willing to promote it throughout the country, so that the people would believe that their suffering came from the evil of the previous life, and that they would practice "forbearance and humiliation" in this life, not to resist, and to strive for happiness in the next life. This is objectively certainly beneficial to rule. To put it nicely, it is conducive to social stability.
Many ancient emperors were Buddhas, and in fact, they had this kind of motive to some extent.
However, there are not many emperors like Wu Zetian who are as easy to kill. It's not that Buddhism causes Wu Zetian to kill, it's just that some loopholes in the Buddhist system allow her to be a devout Buddha and kill with peace of mind.
Of course, Wu Zetian must also have the time of a sage who has no distractions and is dedicated to goodness. She's not always murderous, she only kills when she needs to.
It must be explained that the idea of believing in Buddhism to eliminate karma is actually the biggest counter-example in the records of Buddhist scriptures.
According to Buddhist scriptures, when King Liuli destroyed the Shakya clan, Shakyamuni Buddha had a headache for three days. The Buddha told his disciples that in a past life, there was a village where people were fishing with all their might, and when a child in the village saw the biggest fish king in the pond, he flicked the fish's head three times with his finger. The fish king was later reincarnated as the Liuli King, the other fish were reincarnated as the soldiers of the Liuli King, and the fishing villagers were reincarnated as the Shakya people, and he was the child.
Because the Buddha flicked the head of the fish three times, he still couldn't escape the cause and effect after becoming a Buddha, and he had a headache for three days. Even a Buddha can't escape cause and effect, so how can a person who believes in Buddha escape cause and effect? If he hits a fish on the head three times, he will have a headache for three days after becoming a Buddha, and if he kills someone, he still wants to eliminate his sins by reciting sutras and giving alms.
Finally, it should be noted that the above discussion is only psychological speculation, not historical conclusions. The author just said that Wu Zetian can both devout and believe in Buddhism and kill people with peace of mind, not that Wu Zetian thinks so.
Wu Zetian's wordless monument
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