diymy Chapter 113 A Nation's Impending Demise Inevitably Produces Monsters
Chapter 113 A Nation's Impending Demise Inevitably Produces Monsters
Chapter 113 A Nation's Impending Demise Inevitably Produces Monsters
"Fifth Brother Qin,"
The middle-aged woman turned to Qin Jisheng and questioned him in a deep voice, "I'll say it again: you're an official, and we're thieves. How can we trust you?"
"Ha, believe it or not, it's up to you!"
Qin Jisheng sneered and said sternly to the middle-aged woman, "I am not pointing out a way out for you, but demanding your submission—to put it bluntly, your surrender!"
"If you do not surrender, a large contingent of government troops is already waiting several hundred paces away, ready to attack at any moment!"
"Go to hell!"
The goatee stood up, drew his sword, pointed it at Qin Jisheng, and shouted, "I'll kill you, you dog, first!"
"Kill me if you want! My life is already under my control!"
Qin Jisheng turned to the man with the goatee, patted his chest, and threatened with a cold laugh, "But if you kill me, you and your wife and children will die with me!"
"stop!"
Wu Daozhen, the leader of Huaizhen Dao, stood up and ordered the man with the goatee, "Eleventh brother, put away your knife!"
The goatee took two steps back, then suddenly let out a long sigh and sheathed his sword.
Wu Daozhen then looked at the scarred man and ordered, "Fourteen, take your hand off the hilt of the knife!"
Scarface, however, went from gripping the hilt of his sword to drawing it, and sternly questioned Wu Daozhen: "You, surnamed Wu, do you want to be Song Jiang? Don't you know what happened to Song Jiang?!"
"Gentlemen, kill him!"
Qin Jisheng pulled a short knife from his pocket with his left hand, pointed it at the scarred man, and shouted to everyone present, "This bastard wants to drag us all down with him!"
"You traitor, shut up!"
The man with the goatee shouted at Qin Jisheng, then pleaded with the scarred man, "Fourteenth Brother, put down the knife quickly!"
Scarface let out a bitter laugh and lunged at Qin Jisheng, brandishing his knife!
Qin Jisheng stepped forward and raised his left arm, using the iron arm hidden inside his clothes to block the slash.
At the same time, he punched Scarface in the face with his right hand, shattering his nose bone!
He then snatched the knife from Scarface's waist, moved behind Scarface, grabbed his clothes, and dragged him to the ground.
He switched the dagger to his right hand, slit open Scarface's throat, and then cut off his head!
Qin Daohua, back then, worked as a night watchman in Liaodong and was the number one fighter in Huaizhen Dao.
"Gentlemen!"
Qin Jisheng slammed the scarred man's head to the ground and threatened the crowd, "Anyone who refuses to submit to my command will suffer this fate!"
Zhang Kun cooperated with Longtiandao and Huaizhendao because heretical sects are currently a stubborn problem that is difficult to eradicate.
The origins of heterodox practices in the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, and even modern times can be traced back to the flaws in the religious policies of the Hongwu Emperor:
Taking Buddhism as an example, the Hongwu Emperor divided monasteries and monks into three categories: Chan (Zen), Jiao (Lecture), and Jiao (Teaching).
Zen monks, who follow the Zen school of Buddhism, must wear brownish-brown everyday clothes and blue-striped jade-colored robes.
Monks who follow sects other than Zen Buddhism must wear jade-colored robes and dark red striped light red kasaya.
The former two must live in seclusion, not wander, and stay away from the secular world and the masses, eventually becoming mountain forest religions and religions of the dead.
The impression of reclusive masters in later generations largely stems from this.
A charitable monk, also known as a yogic monk, a monk who performs various religious ceremonies, is a monk who conducts various religious services.
They must wear dark brown everyday clothes and black-striped light red robes; their freedom of movement is unrestricted and even supported.
The Hongwu Emperor also personally inquired about the prices of various religious ceremonies and formulated a standardized price list.
Monastic officials and Taoist officials were established in various prefectures and counties to regulate monasteries and monks.
This division did not appear out of thin air; Buddhism at that time also had a distinction between Chan (Zen), Teachings (doctrine), and Vinaya (monastic rules).
However, after Emperor Hongwu completely divided the territories through administrative orders, a very serious problem arose:
The only monasteries that can interact with the public are those where monks conduct religious ceremonies.
They neither meditate nor study scriptures, and their character and knowledge are generally not very good.
In order to please the employer who organizes the religious ceremony and earn more money.
They constantly mix various folk customs and even folk beliefs into the rituals, including white lotus, inaction, and incense smelling.
This problem has two effects:
First, orthodox Buddhist and Taoist teachings are becoming increasingly secularized.
On the bright side, it brings us closer to the grassroots; on the other hand, it makes us more vulgar, mercenary, and profit-driven.
Secondly, heretical sects are flourishing, and they can even rival orthodox Buddhism and Taoism!
After all, no matter how perfect or profound your Buddhist or Taoist theories are, the monks who come out to interact with the public don't necessarily understand them.
Many of the monks also steal, deceive, commit adultery... they do all sorts of evil deeds, and are even worse than some heretics.
One example will illustrate just how severe the impact can be:
Wang Xijue, who once served as the Grand Secretary, had a daughter named Wang Gui. Before she was married, her fiancé died of illness.
Wang Gui used the excuse of remaining chaste to become a female Taoist priest, taking the name Taozhen and calling herself Xianyangzi.
She also claimed to be the "incarnation of Bodhisattva Tanluan" and spread her methods of cultivating immortality everywhere.
At that time, someone found a "dragon sand prophecy" in the "Ten Books on Cultivating Truth" from the Southern Song Dynasty.
He is said to be Xu Xun, the magistrate of Jingyang County in the Jin Dynasty, the founder of the Jingming sect of Taoism, and the Xu Zhenjun in Journey to the West.
They slew a rebellious dragon, but the dragon's offspring escaped.
Xu Xun prophesied that 1,200 years from now, "within the territory of Yuzhang and the Five Mausoleums," eight hundred earth immortals would appear.
They emerged to quell the chaos and slay the dragon's offspring.
If I do the math, it's been almost 1,200 years, and the location is pretty much the same.
Could it be that this Tan Yangzi Wang Taozhen is the one who descended to earth to guide eight hundred earth immortals, fulfilling the prophecy of Longsha?
At the time, many officials and gentry believed this wholeheartedly, to the point of fanaticism.
For example, Tu Long, one of the Seven Masters of the Later Period, was "leaning on his bed and gazing into the distance" until his death, waiting for guidance.
Another of the Seven Masters of the Later Period, the renowned Wang Shizhen, even directly became Wang Taozhen's disciple.
Together with his younger brother Wang Shimao, he wrote articles and biographies about Wang Taozhen and promoted her everywhere.
There was also Xu Wei (Xu Wenchang), a staff member of Hu Zongxian, the Governor-General of Zhejiang and Zhili, who had assisted Hu Zongxian in capturing Xu Hai and luring Wang Zhi...
Later on, even Wang Xijue and his younger brother Wang Dingjue recognized Wang Taozhen as their teacher!
These officials and gentry were not ignorant men and women; many of them were learned scholars.
Moreover, judging from his various actions, it doesn't seem like he completely disbelieves and just wants to use this as an excuse to do something.
Or rather, these guys are like heretics; they got so caught up in it that they actually started to believe in it themselves!
Finally, on the ninth day of the ninth month of the seventh year of the Wanli reign, Wang Taozhen ascended to heaven in front of hundreds of thousands of people at the young age of twenty-three.
However, Wang Taozhen's death did not end this farce.
Then, figures like Hengshan Erdao and Peng Youshuo jumped out to continue promoting the Dragon Sand Prophecy and the methods of cultivating immortality.
Some people have even written articles claiming that Toyotomi Hideyoshi of Japan was the son of that dragon and was killed by the ascended Wang Taozhen!
The saying "When a country is about to perish, monsters and evil will inevitably arise" describes this kind of chaotic situation.
In Zhang Kun's view, these guys were not even as good as Gu Xiancheng of the Donglin Party or Zhang Pu of the Fushe Society.
At least they are openly engaging in political associations and putting their ambitions on the table.
Instead of getting caught up in all this mystical stuff and fooling yourself.
If officials and gentry behave this way, one can only imagine how ignorant and uninformed the lower classes are.