My God, I am the emperor, the lord of mankind.

Chapter 242
As he spoke, Wang Zuo took out a small booklet from his arms, and Zhu Houcong could vaguely see spots on it that must have been blood stains spattered on it during the interrogation.

Obviously, because the conditions here are relatively simple and dangerous, in order to quickly extract the answers they want from these monks, the methods used by the Jinyi guards are not as sophisticated as those in the well-equipped prison.

Zhu Hou opened the booklet, which recorded in detail what the Jinyi guards had interrogated from the monks as to why monks had transformed into Buddhas in Wanfo Temple for thousands of years and why the incense was so prosperous.

"It turns out that this is the case... Zen Master Faneng has suffered so much!"

After reading it, Zhu Houcong sighed.

After the Hou Jing Rebellion, Chen Baxian seized the imperial estate and established the Chen Dynasty.

However, starting from Chen Baxian, the monarchs of the Chen Dynasty did not learn at all the lessons of the previous dynasty's favoring Buddhism, and still favored the monks.

The reason is that Emperor Wu of Liang gathered the power of Tongtai Temple and the monks of the Southern Dynasties during his lifetime to seal the Buddha's head that was sleeping with destiny for the immortality of Zuo in Southern Liang.

At this time, the Southern Dynasties were experiencing repeated uprisings on the Five Pecks of Rice Road.

The evil way of Five Pecks of Rice not only takes advantage of the internal fighting between the ruling and opposition parties, endless wars, and endless taxes.

Gather the refugees among the people and distribute talisman water to drive away diseases and evil spirits, and win over people's hearts.

Among the upper echelons of dignitaries in the Southern Dynasties, they also relied on their sorcery to win over a large number of wealthy and powerful people into the religion, providing them with financial support.

In the old days of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the style of literati discussing mysteries and Taoism still deeply influenced the wealthy scholars of the Southern Dynasties, giving the Taoists of the Five Pecks of Rice Sect many opportunities to take advantage of.

In order to check and balance these people who want to take advantage of the troubled times, they followed the example of the founder Zhang Lu and established the Five Fighting Demon Dao of the Tao Kingdom on the earth.

The rulers then set their sights on the evil monks who rebelled in the name of the true Buddha.

But generally speaking, they prefer Southern Buddhism, which cooperates with the imperial court.

It is intended to use the power of Buddhism to check and balance these rampant evil ways.

Especially when Hou Jing was besieging Jinling, a Beilu Heavenly Master came across the river and set off huge waves in the river to block Wang Zhi's fleet. Hearing that Hou Jing was causing trouble, they rushed to Jinling to help the fleet. Heavy fog also arose to help Hou Jing's troops hide their whereabouts. , so that Jinling was captured instantly without any precautions.

The destruction of Nanliang allowed the southern wealthy families to once again see the real threat to their rule from the Taoist sect.

It became increasingly necessary to win over Buddhist monks as allies to check and balance the Five Dou Rice Road.

During the period of Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty, Nanliang relied on Tongtai Temple to rule the world.

But Tongtai Temple had been burned down in the Hou Jing Rebellion.

The monks among them were even killed.

Therefore, Wanfo Temple, which inherited all the heritage of Tongtai Temple and received the Shui De Tianming left by Tongtai Temple, became a new choice for the rulers of the Southern Dynasties.

After Nanliang, the monks of Wanfo Temple repeatedly relied on the power of destiny to transform into Buddhas. This was not only the intention of the temple to consolidate its status, but also the result of the support of the southern court.

Human nature and interests are intertwined. Presumably some monks are not willing to incarnate as evil Buddhas after death, but they are forced by the temple or unconsciously selected by the subconscious mind of destiny.

Finally, at a certain moment, the flesh and blood body subsides and turns into a Buddha.

If chosen, how many of these monks can escape the coveted destiny?

I'm afraid I can only fold my hands and hope for blessings in the next life.Perhaps this is the reason why many monks hold the Nirvana Sutra before transforming into Buddhas.

But there must be some monks who have practiced cultivation and do not believe in the direct theory of reincarnation of monks after death preached by Wanfo Temple.

Before he died, he angrily wrote, "Not all karma will have its final result, and not all sentient beings will have it."

He strongly opposes the so-called theory of reincarnation of karma and results propagated in the temple, calls on monks to live in the present, and advocates "retribution in this life."

Zhu Houcong closed the yellow book.

These Jin Yiwei must have somehow found the traces of Destiny, but were infected by Destiny's aura and were forced to transform into Buddhas.

Zhu Houcong thought in his mind.

As for the monk's confession, Zhu Houcong also saw a very interesting record.

When Taizu of the Ming Dynasty made Jinling his capital, he seemed to know that the monks of Wanfo Temple used coercion, inducement and other means to guide the monks to transform into Buddhas.

Zhu Yuanzhang ordered that all monks in the temples within the territory must be registered, and Buddhist temples were not allowed to purchase young girls or slaves, force novice monks to become Buddhas, and create miraculous images to defraud pilgrims of their money.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who had really become a monk in Huangjue Temple, naturally knew very well the methods used by these monks to store incense.

Although the law cannot be perfect, after peeling off the skins of a few evil monks who dared to commit crimes, the number of monks and pilgrims becoming Buddhas after the founding of the Ming Dynasty was much less common than in previous dynasties.

At least since King Wu made Jinling his capital, the monks of Wanfo Temple have not seen anyone become a Buddha with their own eyes for a long time. They can only admire the past grand scene in ancient books.

Perhaps this is why Monk Faneng has always served the Ming court so loyally. Even after the Battle of Baigouhe, the war-worthy troops in the south were almost wiped out by King Yan in one fell swoop. The whole world already knew that King Yan was destined to conquer the world. The reason why he tried his best to protect Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Yuanzhang's successor.

Even though he knew that there was already an undercurrent in Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple, he still took the risk and took advantage of the imperial court's Eastern Expedition to write a secret letter to Zhu Houcong requesting the imperial court to send someone to investigate the anomalies that occurred in Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple at this time.

Compared with the Thousand Buddhas Temple's thousand-year tradition of surrendering monks to the mouth of heaven in exchange for incense and blessings, the glorious heyday of the past when it was regarded as the state religion by rulers.

In front of the remnants of the old era and the new generation of monks who pursue glory relentlessly.

There are still too few monks like Faneng who are aware of the danger behind the gift of destiny and take the initiative to give up the power and glory within their reach.

Perhaps the monks at Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple are not ignorant of the dangers of accepting the gift of destiny and becoming a Buddha.

But driven by the desire for profit, even Emperor Wu of Liang could not escape the word greed and hatred for ten thousand years, let alone these ordinary monks in front of him?
"Pass on my order to order Nanzhen Fusi to continue investigating the death of Jin Yiwei at Wanfo Temple in the 11th year of Chenghua, and to place the bodies of the dead soldiers -"

"The imperial court will severely punish the White Lotus in Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple for rebelling against the party... Then let Jinling allocate funds to recruit monks from all over the world to rebuild the ancient Temple of Ten Thousand Buddhas."

The reason why Zhu Houcong wanted to retain the Ten Thousand Buddhas Temple is also very simple.

Taoist and Taoist temples all over the world can only survive under various tax-free policies of the imperial court.

It also assumes the obligation and mission of assisting the government in maintaining public order and exorcising demons.

For Zhu Houcong and Ming Ting, it was equivalent to maintaining a fixed local exorcism force at a very low cost.

Moreover, most of the officials of Qintianjian come from famous mountains and ancient temples all over the world. They are important sources of soldiers for Qintianjian, and due to their deep connection with Qintianjian, they can be regarded as local branches of Qintianjian. .

(End of this chapter)