"Everyone has been listening for so long. Let's take a break. After the incense burns out, we can continue."
...
The time for one stick of incense passed quickly.
The people who had just been free to move around also returned to their places. Some people wanted to leave, but they were afraid that the emperor would settle accounts with them in the future, so they could only sit back with a smile on their face and a heartache.
"Alright, it's almost time. Please be quiet, everyone, and ask the master to answer the question I just asked."
"Your Majesty is ridiculous. I think the temple and Monk Daolu have no problem. The problem is the society that Your Majesty dreamed of. As the saying goes, the poison of a tiger will not eat its seeds. Those who are parents, no matter who they are, For any reason, it is wrong to abandon one's own children.
Such a society needs our Buddhist guidance. "
The old monk said that although there were only two options for the question that the emperor just asked, he could not choose either. After all, if he said that the abbot was wrong, it would directly put Buddhism in a disadvantageous position.
If we say that Monk Daolu is wrong, then we are saying that Buddhism is a place of hypocrisy.
No matter which one it is, it is not good for the reputation of Buddhism, so the old monk said it is society's fault.
"But Buddhism was very prosperous in that world. There were so many Buddhist disciples, but the rules of Buddhism had long since become useless. Many monks were still like that in the temple during the day, but who knows what happened to them at night?"
Zhu Youjian said on the city wall.
"As we all know, there is no rule without rules.
During the Taizu period, Emperor Taizu killed corrupt officials like dogs, but only 50 million people could easily feed a million troops. After decades of war, the treasury was still full. People can also live and work in peace and contentment.
But later, when the butcher's knife was put down against corrupt officials, and when I ascended the throne, the Ming Dynasty's 20 million people could not support the Ming Dynasty's millions of miscellaneous soldiers. The aliens wantonly slaughtered the people of our Ming Dynasty, but the officials above are like blind men, still sitting around dreaming of the heaven. The bottom line is that the law is unreasonable. In the face of the powerful and wealthy, the law has long become a piece of waste paper.
All the officials shouted all day long, asking the emperor to be a benevolent king, but secretly they did so many things that even a beast would be embarrassed to see?
Everyone says that it is better to be a peace dog than a person in troubled times.
But how to be peaceful? Should we rely on those corrupt officials who are eager to destroy the country as soon as possible, or those traitors who collaborate with the enemy and betray the country?
In fact, everyone knows in their hearts that depending on them, there is only one possibility for everyone to die and annihilate the species. @ESSENTIAL\/SHUKEG·No mistake first release~~
But many people pretend not to know, or are unwilling to think that way. In the eyes of corrupt officials, they just embezzled a little money.
But what they can't see is.
If it is a project, it is destroying the project.
If it is a natural disaster, they are taking the lives of those affected.
If it is a war, it is killing the country! Want the lives of the people in the world.
Those dog officials worked hard to turn the emperor into a blind man, and then wantonly framed those loyal and patriotic people. They just wanted to turn the entire Ming Dynasty into the kind of ruins like Liaodong.
They all want to be slaves to the subjugation of their country, do I still need to be kind and righteous to them?
This is why we legislated that those who commit corruption will be punished with death, and their families must repay the amount of corruption several times.
As for the question you just asked, why I did what I did, you probably have the answer in your mind.
I just don’t want to admit it.
I previously planned to save face for Buddhism and didn’t want to say anything, but since you asked, I’ll just say it.
Because I feel that no matter how good the words are, they are far less noble than those who work hard.
Everyone is equal under the law, and you Buddhists should not have any privileges.
Secondly, Buddhism is too false. It claims to save all sentient beings, but what has it done? I collected so much money for incense and spent it on your Buddha's gold-plated clothes. Is this to save all sentient beings?
Third, in Tianzhu Buddhism, most of the practitioners are ascetics.
The monks of Duashu give up worldly desires such as good clothes, three meals, and too much sleep, and work diligently on the path, practicing selfless "right path" asceticism.
But when it reaches our heavenly dynasty, why are they all plating gilded clothes on your Buddha? Where is the temple repaired?
In my opinion, instead of using the incense money on such superficial projects, it would be better to repair the houses of those elderly people with limited mobility.
. (This chapter is not finished yet!)
538No matter how good the words are, they are far less noble than those who work hard 02
How about building bridges where bridges need to be built?
Third, this is the source of the incense money. Ordinary people may have one or two copper coins at a time, but those officials and gentry can easily get dozens or hundreds of taels of silver.
How much of this money is clean money? Don’t you know how much the salary of our Ming officials was before?
In addition, the government's finances were tight and officials were frequently in arrears with their salaries. So where did they get the money?
After you accepted the incense money, you called those corrupt officials who harmed the country and suddenly turned into good men and women. Tell me, is this still reasonable?
Some wealthy gentry are indeed generous, and the money they give is indeed clean, but there are quite a few wealthy gentry. Even if I don't say it, you know it.
But have you ever reported this to the court?
Those corrupt officials and some wealthy gentry who went to incense took advantage of the Ming Dynasty's blood money. Donate it to the temple. If your temple covers the Buddhist door with gold, isn't it just covering the Buddha statue with a layer of stone?
Fourthly, many Buddhists invest their believers’ money into certain people and engage in loan sharking.
Nine out and thirteen back. How many people’s blood is it stained with?
How many crimes are buried under brothels and brothels? "
Zhu Youjian on the city wall asked rhetorically.
Many people think that a temple is just a place where people burn incense and pray for blessings.
But this is just the appearance of those temples. The core of many large temples is the financial industry.
Temple finance began in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, flourished in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, maintained before the middle of the Tang Dynasty, and accelerated its decline after the middle of the Tang Dynasty.
Hundreds of years of war and division after the Wei and Jin Dynasties not only destroyed private commerce, but also reduced government credit and Confucian ethical credit to the extreme. The traditional lending entities, the government and wealthy merchants, could no longer continue, but instead relied on family and clan relationships. The finance of gentry landlords and the finance of temples based on religious credit suddenly emerged and became the main body of finance in troubled times. Among them, the role of temple finance is more prominent.
By the Northern and Southern Dynasties, as the temple economy developed, temple finance also showed rapid development. The "Temple Treasury", an institution that specializes in managing temple property, is no longer just a simple warehouse for keeping property, but has become a base for the temple to practice the concepts of self-interest and altruism, saving the world and saving all sentient beings, and also provides paid loans to the temple. , creating favorable conditions for carrying out financial activities.
As the earliest financial institution engaged in various types of businesses on a large scale in the history of Chinese finance, "Secoo" pioneered the pawn industry, money depository and custody industry, exchange industry, auction industry, etc. in the Ming Dynasty. The originator of the institution. Collins regarded monks as collective entrepreneurs who managed the public property of monasteries. He believed that monks not only opened up the market for land transactions, but also organized the earliest financial market in China.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the scale of temple finance was even greater. Master Xinxing (AD 540-594), who founded the "Three-Level Sect", founded a new financial institution in Huadu Temple in Chang'an - "Endless Tibetan Courtyard" to lend the property donated by believers to others for emergency relief. Faith and practice believes that although the amount of charity performed alone is large, the merit is small. If the power is gathered through the infinite treasure, no matter how small the donation is, it can be integrated with each other regardless of the rich or poor, the monks and the laity.
There are sixteen kinds of endless Tibetan alms (the content of alms given by believers) in Endless Treasures, which are not limited to money and grains. They can also give incense, candles, bells, houses, beds, and even labor. The food item alone includes japonica rice, glutinous rice, flour, firewood, kitchen utensils, seasonings, honey, cheese, vegetables, etc. He combined the small offerings of various believers and multiplied their value and religious efficacy. It is this kind of extensive charity that has accumulated a large amount of wealth for the Third Order Cult and laid the foundation for its financial "endless possession", that is, to perform functions similar to modern banks.
After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the power of the unified country increased. The imperial power could not tolerate the expansion and development of the temple economy. The emerging commoner landowners could not tolerate the various privileges of the noble landowners, including temples. The operating environment of Buddhist temples seriously deteriorated, which directly led to the collapse of the temple economy. The decline of finance and the resurgence of private finance. The establishment of a unified state in the Sui and Tang Dynasties effectively maintained social order, brought unprecedented prosperity to commerce, and further promoted the development of private finance.
On the basis of studying monastery finance, private finance has been widely carried out. Update without errors@(This chapter is not finished yet!)
538No matter how good the words are, they are far less noble than those who work hard 02
Businesses such as pawnbroking, safekeeping, deposit payment, and "flying money" exchange, replaced temple finance as the mainstay of finance in the new era after the mid-Tang Dynasty, and established a stronger competitive advantage than temple finance.
The core of temple finance - lending
Although the five major businesses of deposits, loans, guarantees, remittances, and exchanges had taken shape in temple finance during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, their main business was lending. There are two main forms of temple loans: "pledge" and "loan".
"Pledge", which is often referred to as pawn in later generations, and "pledge money in the cabinet" in the Tang Dynasty, is a form of lending in which the creditor requires the debtor to provide a certain amount of property as security in order to reduce the risk of money lending. At the same time, pledged lending gave rise to the earliest credit institution - Qiku, also known as Changshengku, pawnshop, pawn, etc., with different names in the past dynasties.
"Lending", also known as "liability", is a common form of borrowing through contracts without collateral. It is based on the personal credit of the debtor and is only backed by the bond deed. The maintenance of the relationship between debt and creditor's rights is predicated on the existence of the bond deed. Once the bond deed is destroyed, the creditor's rights and debts will be settled. @ESSENTIAL\/SHUKEG·No mistake first release~~
Credit lending in monastery loans mostly occurs between individual monks and borrowers, while pledge lending mostly occurs between monasteries and borrowers. This is very reasonable, because operating pledge lending requires space and a large number of management and technical personnel, and the operating costs for individuals are too high.
At the same time, pledge lending faces a wider group of people, which makes the asset risks caused by lending very complex and unbearable for individual operators. Therefore, pledge lending represented by "pawn" is only suitable for collective operation of monasteries. Although credit lending has very high requirements for the development of social and personal credit, its execution cost is not high and it is more suitable for individual monks. to operate.
It seems that this result is beneficial to the country and the people, but after the unification of the Ming Dynasty, and more than 200 years until now, most of the classes have been solidified, and all serious industries are overcrowded.
Those serious industries will not be short of money, but many gray industries are indeed quite short of money.
Of course, on the surface, they are respectable big shots, good men and women, and good people. Those brothels, brothels, casinos, loans, etc. have nothing to do with them directly. It was the servants in their mansion who had eaten the guts of a bear and a leopard that made him choke to death.
But anyone with any brains knows who is behind it. After all, no matter how awesome a servant is, where did his initial capital come from?
With just the little income of those servants, less than three to five thousand years, how could they be able to start these shady activities?
If you have this capital and background, do you still need to be a servant?
You must know that this thing is indeed a sales bank, but similarly, if you want to start it, you also need to spend money.
According to Jin Yiwei's information, a considerable part of the money came from the temple.
In the eyes of others, this has nothing to do with the temple, but for Zhu Youjian who wants to renovate the temple, this is evidence and an important basis for renovating the temple.
After all, without their investment, the other party would not be able to harm the people so smoothly.
"If you think this reason is not enough, I would like to add another one. Is it okay for some temples to harbor Jiannu spies? If you don't believe it, I can publish the evidence that Jinyiwei has found and let your confidants know it.
Your so-called Buddhist Pure Land uses the banner of Buddhism to help establish slaves. What should you do? "
Zhu Youjian asked angrily.
Although this is just an example, there are only a few temples that really helped establish slaves, accounting for only one thousandth of the temples in the Ming Dynasty. But it is precisely because of the help of the temple. With the help of some dog officers and the Jiannu spies, they could pass the news to Jiannu without knowing it.
But this also shows that if religions do not accept the supervision of the court and rely on their own self-awareness, they will sooner or later become a scourge to the country.
In Zhu Youjian's mind, religion has become a spiritual refuge for people. It only needs to persuade people to be patriotic and do good. Other functions are unnecessary.
Of course, there is another reason Zhu Youjian did not mention, that is, Zhu Youjian was worried about a religious rebellion war. .
538No matter how good the words are, they are far less noble than those who work hard 02
