Chapter 361: Xuanzang's Controversy Against the Tibetan Lamas
After a while, the carriage finally arrived at Daci'en Temple.
The three women went straight to the Main Hall, where they saw a group of lamas in red clothes and yellow hats sitting in one pile, and a group of gray-clothed monks sitting in another pile.
Both parties sat with their eyes closed, forming a circle around them with screens, and all spectators stayed outside the circle.
To the west of the circle, there is another area separated by screens and guards, which is filled with women.
Li Zhiying and the other three walked toward the west.
While waiting, Xue Yujin started selling her clothes and jewelry.
Many of the clothes have only been worn once or twice, and the jewelry is all brand new, and the price is only about half of the original price.
Together with Li Zhiying and Cheng Caiyi making recommendations, the items were quickly sold out.
Just at this time, a bell rang, and Xuanzang slowly opened his eyes and looked towards the leader of the lamas, Padmasambhava.
The lama leader was in his forties, dark and thin, with small eyes and a big nose. He was much different from the image of Xuanzang's eminent monk.
Xuanzang traveled westward to Tianzhu and knew that the Tubo Lama came from Tianzhu.
Although they are not impressive in appearance, they have a tradition of debating scriptures and are very good at debating, so they never dare to underestimate each other.
"The Zen master is a guest from afar, so the Zen master invites you first." Xuanzang said with his hands clasped together.
Padmasambhava smiled slightly, and without being polite, he asked: "What religion does Zen Master believe in?"
Xuanzang replied: "Believe in Buddhism."
“What should I do first to believe in Buddhism?”
"You should first take refuge in the Three Jewels and take refuge in the same place."
"What are the Three Jewels?"
"The three are Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. They can benefit the world. They are rare to encounter, so they are called treasures."
"Who is Buddha?"
"Buddha is a person who has attained supreme perfect knowledge and is the virtuous name of the leader. Its meaning is the enlightened one. The so-called self-consciousness means to be aware of him and to achieve perfect enlightenment."
"What is law?"
"The Dharma's way of saving the world and saving people is recorded in the Tibetan scriptures. This is why the Buddha taught it. Its meaning is track holding. It is said that if you hold on to your own nature, you can understand it by the track."
"Who is a monk?"
"A monk who learns the words and deeds of Buddhism and spreads the teachings of Buddhism is to harmonize and unite the people. They have the same realization of liberation, live together in body, have no disagreement with each other, agree with each other in mind, have the same understanding in view, practice together in precepts, and have the same benefit.
."
Xue Yujin was stunned when he heard this and shouted: "Is this a Buddhist debate?"
Li Zhiying nodded and said: "Yes, I heard that both sides will keep asking questions until one party cannot answer the question. If one party cannot answer the question, the other party will ask the question."
Xue Yujin hummed: "The question asked by the lama is not very clever. He must not be the opponent of Master Xuanzang."
Cheng Caiyi said: "I heard people say that this kind of debate will start by asking each other some simple questions to test, and then look for flaws in the other party's Dharma, and then attack the flaws fiercely!"
Xue Yujin smiled and said: "It's almost the same as a martial arts competition."
The three of them listened for a long time, and sure enough, the questions asked by Lianhuasheng became more and more difficult. Even Li Zhiying, the most knowledgeable among the three, could not understand the questions and answers.
At this time, the outside audience found that the debate was not as interesting as they imagined, and left the hall one after another.
Xue Yujin frowned and said, "I feel like I'm listening to barbarian language, my head is buzzing."
Li Zhiying smiled and said: "How about we go out for a walk and come back later to see the results."
The other two women nodded in agreement, so the three of them left the Main Hall and wandered around several nearby temples.
The three of them went to the Arhat Hall first. After worshiping all the eighteen Arhats, Li Zhiying proposed to worship Guanyin and Maitreya Buddha.
The second daughter knew that she wanted a son and went with her.
After the circle of worship was over, they returned to the Main Hall, where the debate had just ended.
In the end, Xuanzang defeated Padmasambhava with his superb debating skills.
In fact, normally speaking, Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty was mostly Zen Buddhism, which emphasized sudden enlightenment and understanding. Each school practiced its own way and rarely argued with each other.
Tubo Buddhism, which came from Tianzhu, likes to argue with each other, so their logical debate ability is even better.
Padmasambhava was the best debater in Tubo. Even if Hongren, the fifth ancestor of Zen, was here, he might not be able to defeat him.
However, Xuanzang was an anomaly. When he was young, he traveled to the West. When the lamas saw him, a monk from the Tang Dynasty, they couldn't help but argue with him.
It is said that along the way, Xuanzang went through more than 80 debates and fought for hundreds of years.
Ten years after he traveled west, no Tianzhu lama could defeat him.
Even though Padmasambhava's tongue shines like a lotus flower, Xuanzang's Buddhism has already been perfect and without any flaws. Padmasambhava was doomed to fail from the beginning.
Xue Yujin was not interested in Buddhism itself. As long as the master of this dynasty could win, he would be satisfied and said with a smile:
"I knew Master Xuanzang could win, but what kind of Dharma can those barbarian lamas have?"
Cheng Caiyi said: "Okay, now that the results are out, let's go back."
Xue Yujin said: "Don't be busy. My brother's job is at Daci'en Temple. Let's go and see him."
"Yu Jin, if we go there like this, it will only cause trouble for your brother, so it's better not to go." Li Zhiying persuaded.
Xue Yujin thought about it and nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, a monk ran in outside the door and said anxiously: "Master, it's not good, someone is dead in the back mountain!"
Xuanzang's expression changed slightly, but his tone remained calm as he ordered:
"Huili, you take the Tubo Zen masters to the west courtyard to rest. Dharma treasure, you go report to the official, then close the temple gate, and the other disciples will follow me to the back mountain!"
All the monks left. Some of the remaining guests in the main hall followed the monks to the back mountain, and some left the temple directly.
Li Zhiying and the other three also headed towards the back mountain.
Xue Yujin walked in a hurry, and Li Zhiying had to jog to keep up with her.
When the three women came to the back mountain, they saw a group of monks and craftsmen forming a circle with a corpse lying in the middle.
After discovering that the body was not that of Xue Ne, Xue Yujin finally breathed a sigh of relief, looked around, and soon found Xue Ne's figure in the crowd.
She was about to go over when suddenly, two people rushed towards her from a distance. One of them shouted: "Everyone spread out and keep your distance from the corpse. I am the Shaoqing of Dali, Zhugenan!"
The ones who came were Nie Ziyun and Zhuge Nan.
The two of them were investigating Cai Yang's whereabouts in the temple, but suddenly they heard that there was a death, so they hurried over.
After Nie Ziyun asked about the identity of the deceased, he was stunned.
It was Tong An who died.
Zhuge Nan was also shocked and said: "We have arrested Cai Yang's men and the murderers he bribed, how come Tong An is still dead?"
Nie Ziyun looked at the corpse quietly and remained silent.
Zhuge Nan said loudly: "Who is in charge here?"
Xuanzang took two steps forward, clasped his hands together and said, "The poor monk is in charge here."
Zhuge Nan asked: "How did this man die?"
Xuanzang said: "Shentai, tell Zhuge Shaoqing in detail what happened here."
A monk responded, stepped forward and said, "Go back to Master Chai, Tong An accidentally fell down the stone staircase and died."
While the two were asking questions, Xue Yujin and the three women came to Xue Ne's side.
Seeing Xue Ne's gloomy face, Xue Yujin asked with concern: "Brother, are you okay?"
Xue Ne shook his head and said: "It's okay, I just didn't expect to die like this."
"What boss?" Xue Yujin asked curiously.
"This is the deceased. He was the foreman of our masonry. He was the person that Brother Zhang took me to see that day."
Li Zhiying said: "Mr. Xue, did this foreman really fall to death accidentally?"
Xue Ne shook his head and said: "I was transporting the stone to another place, not here, but..."
"But what?" Li Zhiying asked hurriedly.
"The other masons found it unbelievable. They said that Mr. Tong had been a mason for more than 20 years and could walk on the stone steps with his eyes closed. He shouldn't have stumbled and fallen."
Cheng Caiyi looked at the steep stone stairs and said: "In a place like that, as long as someone pushes from behind, you can push people down."
Xue Yujin's eyes lit up and he said, "Was there anyone else around him before he fell?"
When she asked this question, Zhuge Nan also asked Shentai the same question.
Hearing Xue Yujin's voice, he turned around and after recognizing a few people, he hurried over and said respectfully: "I have met Her Royal Highness."
Nie Ziyun also came to see him.
Li Zhiying said softly: "You two don't have to be polite, please continue investigating and don't pay attention to me."
Zhugenan agreed and returned to Monk Shentai to ask him.
Shentai replied: "I heard from those masons that there was no one else around when the deceased fell."
A stonemason interjected: "My lord, Mr. Tong is our food and clothing parent. No one can harm him. He fell down because a piece of the stone step collapsed."
Zhuge Nan glared and said, "Don't speak before I ask you questions!"
The mason responded in a low voice.
Nie Ziyun came to Zhugenan and said: "There is something wrong with this matter. I will inform His Royal Highness the King of Zhou. You stay here to investigate the scene."
Zhuge Nan hummed: "My official position is obviously higher than yours, how come you are the one commanding me?"
Nie Ziyun said: "Then you go and inform His Highness King Zhou, and I will come to survey the scene?"
Zhuge Nan waved his left hand and said: "Forget it, you should go find His Royal Highness King Zhou. My ability to survey the scene is a little better than yours."
Nie Ziyun said no more, turned and left.
Li Zhiying and the other three were a little surprised when they heard that they were going to find Wu Chengsi.
Li Zhiying immediately said: "Let's go back too."
Seeing her expression, Xue Yujin knew that she was afraid that Wu Chengsi would find her out in public and be unhappy, so she wanted to leave.
In fact, she felt that Wu Chengsi wouldn't care about such trivial matters, but Li Zhiying had always been cautious, so she couldn't persuade him much.
After saying hello to Xue Ne, the three women left together.
The guests who came with him lost interest and left one after another when they saw that the dead man was just a mason, and that he died in an accident.
When Wu Chengsi came to Da Ci'en Temple with his personal guards, only monks and stonemasons were left in front of the Buddha statue.
Zhuge Nan stepped forward quickly and said excitedly: "Your Highness, I have investigated clearly and found that the deceased was killed by someone else!"
He had been investigating silently without saying a word, so when he said these words, the monks and craftsmen were shocked.
Wu Chengsi first bowed to Master Xuanzang, and then asked: "How was the deceased killed?"
"I checked the stone steps where the deceased was standing when he fell. The deceased was stepping on that stone step. The stone step suddenly collapsed and then he slipped down. After my detailed inspection, I can conclude that the collapse was caused by man!"
A stonemason shouted: "This is impossible. If that stone step is man-made, why is it okay for others to step on it?"
Zhuge Nan was impressed and said: "There is a hole under the stone steps. The criminal inserted a wooden board or something else into the hole in advance to support the stone steps. If you step on it, nothing will happen."
Wu Chengsi nodded and said: "In other words, when the criminal saw Tong An coming up, he took away the wooden plank, and then Tong An stepped on the collapsed stone steps and fell down."
Nie Ziyun glanced at the stonemasons with his cold eyes and said: "The murderer must be the craftsman who climbed the stone steps before Tong An!"
Zhuge Nan shouted: "Whoever goes up the stone steps before the deceased should stand up!"
The masons looked at me and I looked at you, and then more than twenty people came forward at once, accounting for almost half of them.
Zhugenan stared and said, "Why are there so many people?"
A more senior mason smiled bitterly and said: "Master, Mr. Tong is always the last one to come up."
Zhuge Nan shouted: "Then what happened to the people who didn't come forward?"
The mason said: "They are all low-level masons. They are not allowed to go up the stone steps. They are only responsible for transporting sand and gravel."
Zhuge Nan had no choice but to question the masons one by one.
Wu Chengsi stood aside with his hands folded, silently thinking about the murderer's motive for the murder.
He was just an ordinary stonemason, so it was unusual for Cai Yang to kill him. Who would have thought that after Cai Yang's men were caught, someone else would actually kill him!
What on earth did he do that led to his death?
Of course, there is another possibility.
After Cai Yang learned that one of his men had been captured, he bribed a mason to kill Tong An.
However, this possibility is very slim. If Cai Yang could really bribe the stonemason, there would be no need for his subordinates to pay for the murder.
There is also the previous monk from Daci'en Temple. Why did Cai Yang kill this person?
The two murder cases were minor and inconspicuous cases, but Wu Chengsi had an intuition that there was a huge conspiracy hidden behind these two cases.
After a long time, Nie Ziyun and Zhuge Nan interrogated the masons, but they didn't find much.
When there are more suspects, the murderer's mood will be more stable and it will be less likely to reveal flaws. At this time, the interrogation effect will generally not be very good.
At this time, a guard from the palace suddenly came over and reported to Wu Chengsi: "Your Highness, Miss Qinghe asked me to tell you that the cat has made some moves."
Wu Chengsi was overjoyed and asked Zhugenan to continue investigating the case. He ordered Nie Ziyun to search for Cai Yang's whereabouts and then return to the palace.
The captured black cat was handed over by Wu Chengsi to Qing He, a maid with experience in taking care of dogs.
Qinghe's method of domesticating pets is quite clever, and he established a good relationship with the black cat in just two days.
Not only was the black cat willing to be hugged by her, he was also willing to let her follow him every time he left the house.
But every time the black cat went to the Wei Mansion, Wu Chengsi gradually lost hope in the black cat and almost forgot about it.
Unexpectedly, it suddenly brought unexpected gains.
When Wu Chengsi returned to the palace's back house, he saw Qing He feeding a black cat and a white dog in a stone pavilion.
Maogu pushed the dog bowl to Qinghe's heel to eat. After a few mouthfuls, he would look up at the black cat, as if he was afraid that the black cat would come and snatch the food.
When the black cat first came to the house, Mao Gu planned to bully the black cat because he was bigger.
However, it has lived in the royal palace since childhood, and the black cat has received special training.
After a cat-dog fight, the white dog was severely beaten by the black cat.
However, Mao Gu did not admit defeat, and often followed Black Cat quietly, and would attack the opponent if there was any weakness.
However, I still get hammered every time, and I never win.
Wu Chengsi looked at the black cat eating on the ground. The cat immediately raised his head, his green eyes full of warning.
Wu Chengsi looked away and asked Qing He: "Didn't it go to the Wei Mansion this time?"
Qinghe bowed and saluted, and replied:
"Yes, this morning, it didn't even eat breakfast and went out to the mansion. I took the hair drum to follow. I thought it was going to the Wei mansion again, but unexpectedly it went all the way west."
Wu Chengsi's eyes flashed and he asked: "Where did it go?"
"Tubo Consulate in Beijing!"
Wu Chengsi was surprised.
He originally thought that the Daci'en Temple where Black Cat went to meant that the person who killed Tong An was probably someone from that organization, or even the same person who killed Yan Yaosheng.
Unexpectedly, it went to the Tibetan Consulate in Beijing.
Is it a coincidence? Or is that organization secretly communicating with the Tibetan Office in Beijing?
After thinking for a long time, Wu Chengsi decided to pay a visit to the Tibetan Embassy in Beijing. If the other party really colluded with foreign forces, it would be very harmful and must be treated with caution.
After leaving the palace, Wu Chengsi walked west and asked the guard captain next to him: "Feng Wu, do you have any special opinions on this matter?"
Feng Wu looked at him quietly, tilting her head slightly, as if asking: "What are you referring to?"
"You have always been by my side and have a complete understanding of the case. As the saying goes, three cobblers are worth as much as one Zhuge Liang. You should have some opinions, right?"
Feng Wu said silently: "I am not a cobbler."
"It's just an analogy. Everyone has their own strengths, and in these areas, they can see more than others, so I want to hear your opinion."
Feng Wu was silent for a while and said, "I didn't think about this."
Wu Chengsi glared and said, "Then what are you thinking about when you are by my side?"
"I'm observing." Feng Wu said seriously.
"Observe what?"
"Are there any enemies around?"
Wu Chengsi was a little speechless and said: "There are always times when you don't have to observe the enemy, such as when you are in the palace."
Feng Wu nodded.
Wu Chengsi asked curiously: "Then what were you doing at that time?"
"Still observing."
"You observe even when there are no enemies? What are you observing? Stupid human beings?" Wu Chengsi couldn't help but complain.
Feng Wu glanced at him sideways and said slowly: "Observe the clouds in the sky, the trees on the ground, the vases in the study, the spiders on the beams..."
Wu Chengsi stared at her for a long time and said, "Are those things interesting?"
Feng Wu nodded again.
Wu Chengsi said nothing more.
The environment creates a person's habits. Feng Wu's habits must be closely related to her training experience since she was a child.
Thinking of her experience, Wu Chengsi could only sympathize and pity her and no longer found it ridiculous.
When we arrived at the Tibetan Embassy in Beijing, the Golden Crow was slanting to the west and the sky was getting dark.
Wu Chengsi did not wait for the guard to inform him, and rushed in with his personal guards.
When we arrived at the lobby, Dagu had just walked from the lobby to the door, and there was a famous lama beside him.
Dagu said angrily: "Your Highness, King Zhou, this is the official office of our country, how can you break in without permission?"
Wu Chengsi said coldly: "You mean, this land is already owned by you Tubo people?"
"No, no, I just think you should inform me before you come in. Don't you people in the Tang Dynasty claim to be a country of etiquette?"
Wu Chengsi said coldly: "Etiquette is used to treat friends. To treat enemies, we Tang Dynasty people only use swords and guns."
Dagu said hurriedly: "We in Tubo have always respected the Tang Dynasty and have no intention of going to war with you. How can you call us enemies?"
Wu Chengsi glanced at the lama and said, "I wonder who this master is?"
Dagu introduced: "He is our most eminent monk in Tibet, Master Padmasambhava."
The lama said with a grimace: "Pastorm Padmasambhava pays homage to the prince of the Tang Dynasty."
Wu Chengsi's heart moved. He had heard many times about the Tibetan lama's challenge to the Daci'en Temple.
At first, he only thought that the Tubo people were using this method to weaken the Tang Dynasty before the war.
However, since the black cat is chasing here, it means that the organization that stole the treasury has also been here.
If they colluded with the Tibetan people, then the purpose of these Tibetan lamas is also questionable.
A series of things that have happened recently are all related to Da Ci'en Temple. Could it be that they are planning something in Da Ci'en Temple?
Wu Chengsi wanted to arrest these Tibetans directly and torture them, but this would probably lead to a war between the two countries.
Now that Xue Rengui has been dismissed and the treasury has no money, now is the worst time to start a war.
Dagu narrowed his eyes and said, "His Royal Highness, King Zhou, I wonder why you are here today?"
Wu Chengsi snorted coldly and said: "It's nothing. I heard that there is a Zen master in your country who discussed Buddhism with Master Xuanzang. Master Xuanzang highly respected the Zen master, so he came to visit."
Padmasambhava said with a bitter face: "The Buddhist teachings of this young monk are far less profound than those of your country's master Xuanzang. I feel ashamed."
Wu Chengsi said calmly: "Zen Master is too humble, so I'll take my leave."
When Wu Chengsi led the people away, Dagu's expression became extremely cold.
"Those people are so unreliable that they actually lured Wu Chengsi here. After we cooperate with them this time, we should not contact them again."
Lianhuasheng said with a bitter face: "From the look on that person's face, he has already become suspicious of us. I'm afraid something will go wrong this time."
Dagu said: "Then we have to take a risk. As long as the plan of those Tang people succeeds, it will be of great benefit to our Tubo country!"