Around the time Yoshinobu arranged for Kosaka Masanobu to take Takeda Yoshinobu back to Takeda to visit relatives, Akechi Mitsuhide also returned to Kyoto.
He originally wanted to meet Mitsuhide Akechi, give him a few words and then set off, but he didn't want to be taken advantage of by Mitsuhide Akechi, so he took the opportunity to hold a small tea party.
In the main seat, Yoshigage remained calm, while Mitsuhide Akechi, who was sitting next to him, watched with interest as the tea master performed the wonderful tea ceremony.
At the end of the day, Enryakuji Temple Tenkai and Nanzenji Temple Shoden have their own solemn Dharma, and they both look like attained enlightenment.
Before the tea man entered the room, a debate had already taken place between the two nuns, ranging from the worldly world to the worldly world, and from ancient scriptures to the present day.
Yoshigan was a little helpless and glared at Mitsuhide Akechi, who was smiling playfully.
When the tea man presented the tea soup and bowed to leave, the two nuns were about to start the war again, but Yiyin knocked on the side of the tea soup impatiently. He had really had enough.
"That's it for now. Let's discuss the difference between Mingshen and Quanxian later."
The island nation’s own Shinto religion is a typical animistic polytheistic belief that worships the heaven, earth, plants, animals, and even the spirits of the dead, and is known as the eight million gods.
Named gods, naturally they must have a god's name before they can be worshiped. These are divided into Mingshen and Quanxian.
Myojin is a spirit that appears in a clear form, while Gongen is a Buddhist spirit that appears in the form of an island nation.
To put it simply, Myojin is the original deity, and Gongen is the incarnation of Buddha and Bodhisattva as the island god.
This seemingly trivial difference represents the integration of island Buddhism and island Shintoism.
After the third generation of shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu massacred the emperor's court, the Shinto religion, which was too closely involved with the emperor's ministers, was destroyed by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.
Shinto endorses the emperor's divine right and recognizes the emperor's identity as a descendant of Amaterasu. Shintoism is immortal, and the stain of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu's regicide and regicide is enough to shake the political stability of the Ashikaga shogunate.
Therefore, Shintoism must die.
Now, Yoshigan has once again raised the banner of theocracy, and Buddhism has replaced Shintoism to endorse his theocratic status.
The two nuns seemed to be debating the difference between Myojin and Gongen in front of Yiyin, but in fact they were fighting for the right to interpret the divine power. It was a battle of faith between the Rinzai Sect and the Tendai Sect for the favor of the ruler of the island country.
Nanzenji Temple worships the God of Myojin because it believes that Bishamonten should be worshiped alone as a new god to overthrow the divine power of Gosho Yoshigin.
After all, Bishamonten's true form is just the Buddha's learned king. He looks noble, but in fact he is a protector at the temple gate to ward off evil spirits. His essence is similar to the two door gods Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong.
Nanzenji Soden felt that this Buddhist identity was too low-level and not worthy of the noble living god Yoshigami, so it was better to change his appearance and create a main god like Amaterasu.
However, Enryakuji Temple Tenkai has a different view. From now on, the island country will only have and only allow one god to exist. Bishamonten is the most noble saint, and there is no need to add any extraneous details.
Although it is noble to praise Bishamonten as the main god, Buddhism has been passed down for thousands of years. It is not a secret that Bishamonten is the king of hearing. If he insists on changing his appearance, it is a sign of guilty conscience.
Bishamonten should be the manifestation of the power of King Tawen, representing the belief that Buddhism has taken root in the island country. This is a unique divine power and has special benefits that cannot be replaced by outsiders.
Yiyin heard it funny.
There are two attained nuns in front of me, one is the abbot of the highest temple of the Linji Sect, and the other is the newly appointed master of the Tiantai Sect. They are both the most powerful nuns in Buddhism.
But now, they are talking about Shintoism in front of themselves.
To put it nicely, the nuns know how to adapt to changes and seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. To put it bluntly, they are a group of bastards who follow the trend and can change the doctrine at any time as long as the ruler is happy.
Yiyin is not very interested in Myojin or Gongen because the samurai group does not understand the difference between them. What the samurai Ji cares about is status, dignity, money and food.
As long as the Shiba family can guarantee the interests of the Wu family group, the Ji warriors will bow to them and shout that the saint is here and the gods are blessing them. They don't care about the power of the gods, they don't understand it, and they don't care.
As for the interpretation of religious scriptures, it is a religious tool used by the rulers to deceive the common people by using these poor nuns.
If we don’t use Mingshen and use Quanxian, will the sky fall apart? Or, conversely, if we don’t use Quanxian and use Mingshen, will the sky collapse?
In the final analysis, this is the Rinzai Sect and the Tiantai Sect competing for the right to speak in religion, and Yiyin does not care about this.
Yiyin is concerned about how Buddhism views the liberalization of Nanman trade and the penetration of Nanman religion into the island country. Will the Buddhist sects become dissatisfied with the Sibo family as a result.
What he was concerned about was whether the Buddhist sects would think that when Oda Nobunaga attacked the Ichiko sect, the Shiba family would burn bridges by crossing the river, and that the name of Buddhist protector of the Dharma would not be worthy of the name.
Judging from the flattering performance of the two top Buddhist leaders in front of him, Yiyin found that he was worrying too much.
Without the restraint of Shintoism, the Buddhist faith has been dominant in the island country for two hundred years, and this group of nuns has long been rotten.
In addition to flattering the rulers and clinging to the powerful, they no longer have any ambition to make progress. They are just a bunch of mud that cannot hold up the wall.
In comparison, the Yixiang Sect, which resisted the invasion of the Nanman Sect on the front line of Shishan and at the same time carried out Yixiangyi in various places to establish an earthly Buddhist kingdom, was simply an anomaly in Buddhism.
As Dharma Masters, the previous masters of Honganji Temple do not just lie back and enjoy themselves, but are still fighting to expand their faith. This is so inspiring!
However, Yi Xiangzong's inspirational path is coming to an end soon.
Oda Nobunaga was never a patient person. She was too lazy to deal with complicated religious relationships, but she knew how to deal with religious troubles.
Massacre relieves thousands of sorrows. No matter how loyal your faith is, it will disappear without flesh and blood as its carrier.
Kill all the staunchest believers of Yixiang Zong, kill all the nuns group at the core of the organization, and kill until Yixiang Zong completely disappears, or Yixiang Zong bows his head and admits defeat, it's that simple.
Yoshigan listened for a long time, but could not hear the worries of Nanzenji Soden and Enryakuji Tenkai about the Nanman Sect and their sympathy for the Ichijo Sect, so he naturally lost interest in continuing to talk nonsense with them.
He was about to leave for Yiyin in Kanto. He was very busy and had no time to waste time with these nuns who liked to talk.
After the two nuns respectfully left, Yoshigami glanced at the smiling Akechi Mitsuhide and hummed.
"Why are you laughing? I kindly gave you half a day, but you arranged for these guys to bother me."
Akechi Mitsuhide smiled.
"The saint's words made me sad.
The saint has been doing a lot of political things recently, and I thought you would be worried about the dissatisfaction of the Buddhist sects, so I arranged a good show for you to watch so that you can feel at ease."
Yiyin snorted.
"A bunch of mud."
Akechi Mitsuhide shook his head and said.
"We only have to worry if they are not bad enough. The fact that Buddhist sects are as bad as they are is also the result of the efforts of two generations of shogunate.
The Kamakura shogunate has the Kamakura Five Mountains, and the Ashikaga shogunate has the Kyoto Five Mountains. They both smashed the Buddhist sects to pieces so that they could not form a joint force, and then selected obedient nuns to take care of them.
When you unify the world, new monastery laws will surely appear. They all know this in their hearts, and they will naturally want to please you and compete for the position of nun in the future.
As for the Yixiang Sect and the Nanman Sect, they are all troubles for you, the lord of the world. They just need to be obedient. These are the real smart people."
Yoshihiro shook his head helplessly, Akechi Mitsuhide was right.
The Buddhist sect that the rulers are most afraid of is the nun system of the Yixiang Sect, which takes root in the countryside, organizes believers, and forms a fighting force.
And people like Tiantai Sect and Linji Sect have completely said goodbye to the mud-legged people in the village.
De Daogoni, who relied on the monastery's structure and seniority, opened the door to collect incense money, and fell in the eyes of money, was indeed the ruler's favorite type.
As for religion, as long as you sit in the temple and collect money, appease the people and be willing to accept their fate and endure hardship, that is the best religion.
Religions like Yi Xiangzong who went to the countryside, wrote and read letters to farmers, treated illnesses and saved lives, and even accompanied farmers to work in the fields and organized them to attend lectures in monasteries, were what the rulers feared the most.
If you dare to go deep into the masses today, I can't imagine what you can do tomorrow. Kill, must kill, until Yixiang Zong doesn't dare to go to the countryside!
From Yoshihiro himself to the entire samurai group, everyone was very fond of Oda Nobunaga's attack on the Ichikai clan.
Therefore, Yoshigan made concessions to Oda Nobunaga in both directions of Echizen Province and Settsu Province, and the emotions of the Kinki samurai family were all stable, except for the unlucky Araki Murashige.
Because the past of Echizen Province is Kaga Ichikui Ike, and the past of Settsu Province is Ishiyama Honganji Temple. They are both the territory of the Ichiko sect.
No Wu family will have any objection to killing all these thieves and nuns who are fighting for territory with the Wu family and talking about themselves and trying to destroy the Buddhist kingdom on earth.
Yiyin twitched the corner of his mouth and said.
"An Xin is relieved, but I still feel uncomfortable. The culture of the Wu family is low. Since the fall of Gongqing, the essence of the island country's culture can be found in the temples.
I always feel a little unspeakably uncomfortable when I think that these nuns who represent the culture of the island country are all just like dogs and dressed like animals."
Akechi Mitsuhide smiled.
"Intellectuals have that kind of virtue. The backbone is always in the minority. Most of the scholars are smart people who know how to assess the situation. If they are not smart, they cannot read.
In fact, there are also Gaoni in the monastery who are reserved and self-cultivated, but these people cannot take up leadership positions in the monastery. They are too principled, how can they fight with their colleagues who have no bottom line?"
Yiyin nodded.
"I'm paranoid."
After talking about the sect, Yoshigan looked at Akechi Mitsuhide and warned.
"I should have already set off for Kanto, but I deliberately waited for you to come back before leaving. Do you understand what I mean?"
Akechi Mitsuhide pretended to be surprised.
To be continued...