Pawn Crossing the River

There is a saying in Buddhism called "consecration", which means that after the statues of Buddha and gods are made, they need to be consecrated by eminent monks, so that the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas can be invited to come and receive their blessings. Generally speaking, people in the world only know that it is not easy to send gifts to gods, but they do not know how to invite gods. It is also very important to note that if the Buddha statues are not consecrated, the true gods will not come and the evil spirits will live in them. Therefore, many of the places worshiped are not protected by immortals and Buddhas, but evils are everywhere, and ghosts and demons have taken over the magpie nests.

It is precisely because of this that the Taoist sect and the imperial court severely cracked down on obscene temples that did not comply with regulations and etiquette.

Apparently the Buddha statues here have never been consecrated.

Just when Qi Xuansu looked up at the Buddha statue, the Buddha statue came to life, and then he lowered his head and stared at Qi Xuansu.

Then the corners of the statue's mouth raised slightly, revealing a sarcastic smile, which was very strange.

One person and one god looked at each other.

The next moment, Zhang Yuelu's figure rose up, and the "photo paper" in his hand turned into a soft whip, sweeping up like a comet, directly cutting the statue in half.

Qi Xuansu was startled, and just now he almost got caught. He couldn't help but said with a bit of fear: "Sure enough, there is something weird."

Zhang Yuelu turned the paper whip into a paper umbrella and was ready.

The two people left the side hall one after another. There was no one outside, and they came to the main hall unimpeded.

I saw two "people" fighting fiercely, or in other words, one was a human and the other was a statue of Buddha.

It's just that this Buddha statue doesn't have any Buddhist aura at all. Instead, it exudes a demonic aura. Its eyes are blood red, and its whole body is covered with a faint blood light. It sits on the throne of the god, but its two arms are extremely flexible. They look like clay sculptures and stone statues, but more like living people.

Wherever the huge palm touches, the palm wind is fierce and the power is extraordinary.

The person who fought fiercely with the Buddha statue was a young monk. He had no weapons and only relied on his hands. Every time he touched the Buddha's palm, there was a loud bang.

Before Qi Xuansu could ask, Zhang Yuelu had already taken the initiative and said: "This monk should be an orthodox Buddhist disciple, with the Golden Immortal inheritance, and is already at the stage of returning to his true form."

The so-called "Golden Immortal" is not among the five Taoist immortals. It is said that the Golden Immortal is the Taoist Immortal, and it is also said that the Taoist Immortal is equivalent to the Buddhist Golden Immortal.

This title comes from a koan in Taoism and Buddhism.

Before Daxuan there was Dawei, and before Dawei there was Dajin.

The Jin Dynasty was destroyed when the Golden Horde army moved south. Before that, the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism during the Jin Dynasty was particularly fierce.

Lin Lingsu, the founder of Quanzhen Taoism Shenxiao, Mr. Tongzhen Daling, fought with Buddhist monks. Lin Lingsu advised the Emperor of the Jin Dynasty: "Buddhism has harmed Taoism. Although it cannot be destroyed now, it can be corrected by joining forces and converting Buddhist temples into palaces. Sakyamuni was transformed into a deity, Bodhisattva was transformed into a great scholar, Arhat was transformed into a venerable person, and monks were transformed into virtuous people, all with their hair crowned and carrying slips.

In accordance with the memorial, the emperor issued an edict to change Buddhism to Taoism, change clothes, and change surnames. The Left and Right Street Recording Academy was changed to the Moral Academy, and the Seng Recording Department was changed to the Deshi Department, which was affiliated to the Moral Academy. Soon the nun was changed to a female deity.

The crown prince went to the palace to fight, and the twelve monks including Hu monk Li Zang, two monks from Wutai, Dao Jian and others fought with Lin Lingsu. As a result, the monks were defeated and preferred to wear the crown and hold the slip. The Buddhist and Taoist families began to merge during the Jin Dynasty, but this was only interrupted when the Golden Horde army moved south.

When the Wei Dynasty conquered the world, Buddhism and Taoism formally formed an alliance, collectively known as Taoism, to jointly fight against Confucianism. In the end, the Confucian sect surrendered the world with the defeat of the Wei Dynasty. The defeated Confucian sect surrendered to the Taoist sect. Although the Confucian sect's high priests refused to surrender to the Taoist sect's Da Zhenren, they declared their allegiance to Xuansheng. Therefore, it is said that Xuansheng had been in For quite some time, he became the de facto co-leader of the three religions. This is also the reason why the secret society that separated from Taoism was named after the "Eight Tribes" of Buddhism, because Buddhism was still part of Taoism at that time.

It was only later that Lord Buddha was born that Xuansheng lost Buddhism, which directly led to a war between Taoism and Buddhism in the Western Regions.

One of the results of this confluence of Buddhism and Taoism is the "Taoistization" of Buddhism. The great monk is called the eminent monk and the great virtue, and Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva is called Avalokitesvara, which is also where it comes from.

Although today's Buddhism has separated from the Taoist system, it has not completely erased the traces of Taoism. Many names are still used today. The Jinxian inheritance is the Buddha's inheritance.

If we don’t count Sanren, the imitations of relegated immortals pieced together by Taoism, Taoism has the inheritance of the five immortals of heaven, earth, humans, gods, and ghosts, and Buddhism has three major inheritances, namely the Great Enlightenment Golden Immortal, the Mahayana Bodhisattva, and the Great Arhat.

Just as the inheritance of immortals is also called the banished immortal, Buddhism also has similar names. The lineage of the Great Enlightenment Golden Immortal is called the Buddha, the lineage of the Mahayana Bodhisattva is called the Brahma, and the great Arhat is called the Bhikkhu.

There is an obvious distinction between the five immortals in the Taoist sect, with the banished immortals taking the lead. The same is true for Buddhism. The three major lineages are headed by Buddhists, followed by Brahma and monks.

In addition, Buddhism is influenced by Taoism and is also divided into nine grades and twelve levels internally.

The monk corresponds to the Taoist priest, the nun corresponds to the crowned woman, the beggar monk corresponds to the wine-sacrifice Taoist priest, the monk breaking confusion corresponds to the secluded Taoist priest, the pure holding monk corresponds to the Taiyi Taoist priest, and the terrifying demon monk corresponds to the innocent Taoist priest.

In terms of titles, Zen Master corresponds to the Dharma Master, Senior Master corresponds to the High-Gong Dharma Master, Virtue corresponds to Zhen Zhen, Great Virtue corresponds to Zhen Zhi Zhen, Venerable corresponds to Pingzhang Da Zhen, Da Shi corresponds to Deputy Chief Teach Da Zhen, and The first seat corresponds to the real person in charge of the hall, the second seat corresponds to the deputy head of the hall, the minister corresponds to the chief, the governor corresponds to the deacon, the garland corresponds to the spiritual official, and the Buddha corresponds to the great chief.

This young monk is a disciple of Buddhism, equivalent to the Taoist relegated immortal.

I saw the young monk's attacks getting faster and faster, and the golden light continued to surge.

Qi Xuansu couldn't help but ask: "Buddha, Brahma, and Bhikkhu, I have only heard of these three names. How are they different from the Five Immortals inheritance of our Taoist sect?"

Zhang Yuelu said: "Except for the banished immortals and Sanren, the other four immortals in our Taoist sect always specialize in a certain direction. For example, the martial artist concentrates on tempering the body and condensing the acupoints, but does not cultivate the true energy. The qi refiner concentrates on accumulating the true energy. True Qi penetrates the whole body and enhances the body by the way, but it does not deliberately temper the body through various means like martial arts. They pay more attention to both. For example, the Vatican is equivalent to the alchemist and the shaman, and is good at both. Spells and the power of incense can be used to summon dharma and condense the golden body. As for monks, they are somewhat similar to warriors and qigong practitioners, who both temper their bodies and accumulate qi. The difference between Bubo and Bo is that each has its own pros and cons.”

"As for the Buddha, who claims to be omnipotent, he is the sum total of Brahmas and Bhikkhus. I have heard about it, but I have never seen it with my own eyes."

"It's a pity that today we have to focus on annihilating the evil cult. Otherwise, I really want to learn the methods of the Buddha."

Qi Xuansu saw that Zhang Yuelu showed a bit of eagerness to try at the end, and hurriedly said: "You once said that Buddhism colludes with these secret societies, and even supports these secret societies behind the scenes. Why is this young monk here?"

Zhang Yuelu said: "Secret associations such as Qingpinghui and Babuzhong are inextricably linked to Taoism. There are even real people and great people secretly supporting these secret associations behind the scenes, but this does not prevent Taoism from suppressing these secret associations."

"Tianyuan, you have to know that whether it is a Taoist sect or a Buddhist sect, if a family has a big business, it will not be monolithic within it, and there will definitely be various demands and voices, and even these voices are hostile to each other, so There is no conflict between Buddhism’s support of secret societies and Buddhism’s suppression of secret societies. When Xuan Sheng issued the edict to crack down on secret societies, all three religions agreed, and it was also called a decision among the three religions.”

Zhang Yuelu paused for a moment and then said: "Furthermore, some things must not be said openly. Secret societies have harmed countless people. Even if secret societies are to be used as weapons to attack opponents, they can only be done in secret. , can't end up openly and personally. What's more, the two came together because of their own interests, and they naturally separated. It was only because of the common enemy of Dao Sect that they could reluctantly join forces. In fact, they were in the same bed but had different plans. "

Qi Xuansu heard this and said: "In this way, the Taoist and Buddhist sects joined forces to fight against the Confucian sect because of their own interests. Once the Confucian sect was defeated, the two sects of Buddhism and Taoism immediately went to war with each other."

Zhang Yuelu gave him a strange look, and although he did not refute, he still said: "Let's just talk about these things in private. Don't say it in public, as it is easy for someone with serious intentions to take advantage of it, and you will be in ruins. "

Although Zhang Yuelu has great ambitions to change the Taoist sect, he is not a single-minded young man. He has been in the ancestral court for a long time, so he is naturally very familiar with these methods.

Qi Xuansu is familiar with the Jianghu, and Zhang Yuelu is familiar with the ancestral court. It is precisely because the ruler is short and the inch is strong.

At this moment, Qi Xuansu suddenly said: "Woman."

Zhang Yuelu was startled and asked: "Me?"

She did say that Qi Xuansu said that she liked the word "xia" very much, but she didn't quite understand what Qi Xuansu meant by complimenting herself as "female" for no reason at this time.

Qi Xuansu shook his head and said, "Behind you."

Zhang Yuelu turned around suddenly and saw a figure walking towards this side. This figure was very strange. Neither his true energy nor his spiritual thoughts could be sensed. He could only see it with the naked eye, because Zhang Yuelu had his back to this figure. So I didn't notice it at all. On the contrary, Qi Xuansu would look at Zhang Yuelu when he spoke and was able to spot this figure through the corner of his eye.

I saw this figure wearing a bamboo hat on her head, a green robe and a plain robe, and a long sword on her waist. She had a graceful figure and was dressed in a standard heroine style.

However, Zhang Yuelu's face showed a bit of displeasure.

She said she didn't like others to compliment her, but there were exceptions to everything, and there was inevitably some duplicity.

If Qi Xuansu compliments her, she may not be happy. But when she found out that the person Qi Xuansu was complimenting was not her, she would be unhappy.

Zhang Yuelu said calmly: "The identity of a knight should be determined by his actions, not his appearance."

"Ah?" Qi Xuansu was stunned for a moment, "Yes!"