Chen Jingke didn't know when he fell asleep. He rowed all night in his dream, so that his biological clock failed the next morning and he didn't even go for morning exercises.
Today's task is still to tidy up the interior, with each steward leading his men to clean, learn to receive believers, etc.
Chen Jingke and Sun Simiao worked together to formulate the rules of the Zixiao Temple. The process was very simple. They took the rules of other Taoist temples and modified them.
In addition to watching the rules, there are also fasting rituals and the like, which also need to be determined in advance. After a detailed discussion with Sun Simiao, Chen Jingke learned that currently Taoism is mainly divided into two major factions.
One sect is the northern sect headed by Maoshan, and the other is the southern sect headed by Longhushan. The two sects have different emphases and different rituals.
Chen Jingke naturally would not copy other people's rules. He said: "We at Zixiaoguan want to be the third sect."
Sun Simiao already knew that his apprentice was a person unwilling to be left alone, and that they had fallen into this quagmire and could not get out again. He simply let him do what he did and saw how far he could go.
So he did not object, but said: "Do you have any ideas on how to change it?"
"Yes." Chen Jingke recounted some of the fasting rituals he knew about in the future.
It draws heavily on the rituals of the Quanzhen Sect, the Wudang Sect and modern Taoism, and also draws on some of the advantages of Buddhism and Christianity.
Some simple and clear verbal terms have been formulated, such as God bless, which is the term used when praying to Haotian God. Blessings and Infinite Heavenly Lord, is the term used when praying to Sanqing Heavenly Lord.
These mantras may seem inconspicuous, but they are actually very helpful in preaching.
Most people in this era are illiterate. It is impossible for ordinary people to recite Taoist scriptures and the like. How should they express their belief in gods?
If you stand on the street and shout that I believe in Taoism, will the Taoist gods bless me? If you do this, you will only be regarded as a madman.
Besides, it is not certain whether the people know what Taoism is.
The advantages of Buddhism are reflected in the fact that one sentence, Amitabha, represents everything. With these four words, Buddhism has always surpassed Taoism among the people.
Now that Chen Jingke has traveled through time, he naturally wants to change this situation. As for whether someone will ridicule him for imitating Buddhism, it doesn't matter.
Preaching? It's not shabby.
In order to increase the sense of ritual, he also created a Taoist version of baptism.
When taking refuge, other believers or Taoist priests need to sprinkle some water on him. In fact, he just pinches his lotus fingers and flicks a few drops of water on him. There is no need to actually splash it all over.
The sense of ritual is equally important to religion and can increase the believers' sense of belonging.
Seeing this, Sun Simiao was surprised by his disciple's fantastic ideas, and finally believed that this disciple could really start another sect.
Of course, founding a sect is not as simple as setting up a different set of fasting rituals, but also requires the support of relevant doctrines.
Sun Simiao had no doubt about this. He had read the completed part of Journey to the West and knew that this disciple did have new ideas.
Especially with regard to the book Tao Te Ching, I already have my own set of understandings. The Tao Te Ching is precisely the most core book of Taoism, one of its kind.
Having a unique understanding of it may not necessarily lead to the founding of a sect, but those who do not have a unique understanding of it must not be qualified to found a sect.
Chen Jingke is still some way away from obtaining this qualification, at least until his annotation of the Tao Te Ching is published and disseminated.
But don’t forget who his master is. If Sun Simiao said that he wanted to establish a mountain sect, few people would dare to stand up and say no, right?
This is called the fox pretending to be the tiger's power.
Let us first use Sun Simiao's power to put up a front, and then when his annotated version of the Tao Te Ching is published, we can go to the stage openly and openly.
In addition to the above, Chen Jingke also has a complete religious mythology system that no one else has.
Three realms: heaven, human world, and underworld.
At this time, people already had the concept of heaven, but the thirty-three heavens and the gods in heaven had not yet taken shape.
The concept of the underworld is still at the stage of nine springs, underworld, and the afterlife. The ten palaces of Yama, the bull-headed horse-faced, black and white impermanence, the judge, the six reincarnations, and the eighteen levels of hell are also not yet formed.
This mythological system can fully support many theories, such as the merit theory system. Accumulating virtue and doing good deeds to seek the next life is the best spiritual comfort for the people who are struggling at the bottom.
For the religion at this time, this system is crushing... All sects must take the initiative to learn from him, otherwise there will be only a dead end.
This is where Chen Jingke’s true confidence lies. Journey to the West is just a part of all his plans.
Moreover, Chen Jingke has planted a minefield for Buddhism here, just waiting for them to step on it.
The master and the apprentice worked hard from dawn to dusk for two days, and finally compiled the rules, fasting rituals and mythology system. Chen Jingke was mainly responsible for coming up with ideas, and Sun Simiao was responsible for sorting out and improving them.
In fact, it is two thin booklets, one is Zixiao Guangui, and the full text only has more than 1,200 words.
The other is the Daomen Illustrated Sutra, with a total of more than 14,000 words and more than 50 simple drawings. The first part introduces the system of the gods of the three realms, the middle part is the merit system, and the last part is the fasting ceremony.
The simple paintings were painted by Chen Jingke, and they are gods such as Haotian God, Sanqing, Liuyu, Nuwa, Yama, Black and White Wuchang, etc.
Once the book is written, the next step is to publish it. Distribution is actually very simple. Everyone who comes to offer incense will receive a copy, and it won't take long for the entire Chang'an City to know about it.
The people in Chang'an City know about it, and almost all the major Taoist sects should also be able to see it. I believe they will make the right choice.
Yes, Chen Jingke is fishing.
When commentators from various Taoist sects can no longer sit still and come to him, promotion will not be a problem at all.
The difficulty lies in printing. Originally, he wanted to find a printing house and pay for it to be printed. After communicating with Yang Tianlu, he realized that there is no such thing as a printing house in this world.
When I asked about printing again, no one knew about it.
This surprised him. He didn't expect that woodblock printing had not been invented yet during the Du Zhenguan period.
In fact, the prototype of block printing already existed at this time, but the technology was not mature enough. It was not until the reign of Emperor Gaozong and Wu Zetian that mature printing technology was developed.
The oldest existing printed book in China is a Buddhist scripture from the Wu Zetian period. From this Buddhist scripture, we can see that the technology has become relatively mature.
It was not until the middle and late Tang Dynasty that printing became popular and private printing workshops were generally established. This was still the Zhenguan period, and it was normal for there to be no printing workshops.
But this is actually good news for Chen Jingke.
Printing technology, if he now comes up with mature printing technology and builds a printing house, he will gain great reputation in the circle of scholars.
The key is that you can still make money.
But instead of doing it himself, he went to the palace to find Changsun Wugou.
Which is more important, earning prestige for himself or pleasing the emperor and queen? He decided to do both.