As one of the seven highest mountains in Japan, Mount Hiei is the headquarters of the Tendai Sect of Japan. Mount Hiei is bounded to the north and Mount Shiga to the south. Since the Heian Dynasty, Mount Hiei and Mount Koya have been the two major jungles of Japanese Buddhism.
The whole mountain is divided into three pagodas and sixteen streams. There have been many monks coming and going since ancient times. There are more than 3,000 monks in the whole mountain and more than 5,000 monk soldiers.
At its peak, the temple was known as the Three Thousand Squares. It was a comprehensive Taoist temple with equal emphasis on perfection, esotericism, precepts, and Zen, and the Pure Land philosophy was especially developed.
However, during the Warring States Period, the monks of Mount Hiei were drunk and lustful and did not abide by the strict rules and precepts of monks.
The monk soldiers even assisted Asakura Yoshikage in resisting Oda Nobunaga, and paid a lot of money to bribe the Tenshin Sect to assassinate Song Xing, which led to the annihilation of the family.
After Nagao Tenkai took off Takeda Shingen's head on Song Xing's order, the coalition forces were defeated. Nobunaga's army began to attack Mount Hiei fiercely. All nine of Song Xing's slaves were dispatched to help Oda Nobunaga. The Enryaku Temple on Mount Hiei without any preparation could only be slaughtered.
The temple's main hall, the Riji Shrine, the Three Kings and Twenty-one Shrines, as well as all the Buddha statues, spiritual shrines, monks' quarters, and scriptures within the temple's gate area were all violently devoured by the blazing tongues of fire and turned into ashes.
Three thousand monks and five thousand monk soldiers suffered heavy casualties under the thousands of fire cannons fired by the Oda army. The river at the foot of Mount Hiei was soaked in blood and turned blood red.
Oda Nobunaga's act of massacring Buddhist holy places caused a great sensation throughout Japan.
The small and medium-sized princes were all silent when mentioning Oda Nobunaga's name. After Takeda Shingen's death, the power of the Takeda family plummeted and they were no longer able to contain Oda Nobunaga.
Oda Nobunaga's power once again expanded unprecedentedly, unifying one-third of the country centered on Kyoto.
In Japan at this moment, only three major feudal lords, Uesugi, Hojo, and Mori, could stand a fight.
Oda Nobunaga's act of exterminating Buddhism angered Echigo's Uesugi Kenshin, who publicly reprimanded Oda Nobunaga for saying, "The destruction of Buddhism, the king's law, and the change of the gods and demons."
But at this moment, Oda Nobunaga's situation was established, and all the lands in the capital were in his hands. Although Uesugi Kenshin was interested in launching an army, he was worried about losing, so he contacted the Hojo clan and the Mori clan to prepare for a joint crusade against the Oda regime.
At this moment, Song Xing was entertaining a special guest on the sixth floor of the castle tower.
On the sixth floor of the castle tower, the surrounding railings are carved with turtles and flying dragons, the outer walls are painted with evil spirits, and the inner walls are painted with images of Sakyamuni and his ten disciples preaching the sermon.
At this moment, Song Xingzheng was sitting opposite a monk who was thin, with a withered face but a kind-hearted look. There was a calligraphy and painting hanging on the wall behind, which read "Tea Zen Yiyi".
On the small tea seat in front of Song Xing were placed a stove, a tea cauldron, a water bottle, white charcoal and other utensils. The old monk watched Song Xing light a fire and boil water. After the water boiled, he ground the tea into fine powder and placed it in a tea cup. In the middle, brew with boiling water, first pour a small amount of boiling water to make the ointment, then measure the tea and pour into the soup, whisking with the tea while pouring.
The movements are smooth and flowing, pleasing to the eye. When the tea is brewed, Song Xing holds the bowl with his left palm and holds the edge of the bowl with the five fingers of his right hand.
He raised the tea bowl and delivered it to the old monk.
The old monk took the tea bowl and couldn't help but admired: "In the Kamakura period of Japan, the tea-ordering culture of the Song Dynasty was introduced to Japan. The tea culture centered on temple teahouses and spread to all parts of Japan. Nowadays, the inheritance of Japanese Buddhism is chaotic, and there are few I saw such an authentic tea-ordering culture.”
Song Xing said with a smile: "Japan is currently in constant war, and the tea ceremony culture has attracted unprecedented attention. Owari's daimyo Oda Nobunaga is even more addicted to tea. He collected tea sets everywhere, and this set of Gutian Mingping Spider Cauldron was donated to him. A treasure, Zuo uses water from Zuo Ushii in Kyoto to make tea, which has a unique taste."
The old monk looked at the tea cauldron that looked like a lying spider on the tea seat, nodded and said: "The body of the cauldron is solid and thick, and the body of the cauldron has no unnecessary decorations. The surrounding images of lions, ghost faces, distant mountains and so on are vivid, and the surface of the cauldron is as rough as granite." The concave and convex texture is truly rare.”
Song Xing picked up the tea bowl in front of him, took a sip and said, "Master knows tea. Japanese tea ceremony pays attention to peace and respect for tranquility. It is similar to the tea Zen of the Song Dynasty. Master, do you know what it means?"
The old monk looked up at the calligraphy and paintings behind Song Xing, pondered for a moment and said: "There is no hatred or love, and there is no choice. My heart is the Buddha, and the Buddha and I are the same."
Song Xing put down his tea bowl, raised his head and looked at the old monk: "Buddha and I are the same. No wonder the five branches of Zen Buddhism could not accommodate the Vajra branch, so it could only be passed down from generation to generation."
The old monk is the sixth-generation mermaid monk of the King Kong lineage who was exiled to Japan by Wan Guizang fifteen years ago.
Monk Yu smiled and said nothing, and did not argue with Song Xing. Looking at Song Xing's young appearance, there was still a trace of surprise in his eyes.
"The poor monk heard that Fire Immortal Jian Ning Bu Kong was a rare talent in the Ministry of Fire decades ago. I didn't expect to see him today. I was even more surprised than when I first met Lord Wan City."
In addition to his youthful appearance, Song Xing's majestic demeanor that was as strong as a mountain was what surprised Monk Yu the most.
Over the years, he had only felt such momentum from one person.
"I didn't expect that besides City Lord Wan, there is such a great talent as your Excellency in the West City."
Ignoring Monk Yu's polite words, Song Xing asked directly: "After the tea, it's time for Master to tell you why you came to my Tianshu Pavilion."
Monk Yu recited the Buddha's name and said, "The poor monk came here to ask for a favor from the benefactor."
Song Xingyi raised his eyebrows: "Master should have nothing to worry about in Japan. Who deserves your mercy?"
The fish monk said: "The Owari Lord Oda burned Mount Hiei, countless Buddhist books were destroyed, and the monks were killed. The old monk was really heartbroken when he heard about it. I came here to ask for your favor, hoping that the Oda Lord can free the Japanese monks. A way out."
Song Xing raised his eyes, and the evil spirit flashed in his eyes: "Did I hear you correctly? Master wants to intercede for those monks on Mount Hiei?"
"If I remember correctly, over the years, Mount Hiei has declared the master an enemy of Buddha. The Koga and Yinga ninjas have been hunting you for the bounty for several years. If you can't kill them, you are considered a great monk. Now you are still Want to plead for them?”
Faced with Song Xing's slightly sarcastic tone, Monk Yu responded with a normal expression: "Buddha said, first realize the wonderful mind, practice the practice without practice, and let go of it together with everyone, then everything will be gone."
Song Xing said indifferently: "Master is kind-hearted, but I am not a Buddhist. Mount Hiei offended me and hired the master's disciples to kill me. Of course, I have to pay a price."
Monk Yu obviously also knew about the death of the Tianshen Sect at the hands of Song Xing. He sighed and said again: "The poor monk taught me poorly, and my disciples cannot cause trouble for decades. Now they die in the hands of your Majesty, and it is also his cause and effect. The monks of Mount Hiei have also paid the price for their mistakes, so why don’t Your Majesty and the Lord Oda please be merciful and merciful."
Song Xing smiled and said: "Buddhism makes people face the world with a tolerant heart and try to treat everything with kindness. How about repaying evil with kindness?"
The fish monk sighed, unable to answer.
How about repaying evil with kindness?
How to repay kindness? Repay vengeance with straightness and repay kindness with kindness.
This is Song Xing's answer.
If someone slaps me, do I have to lick my face and go up to him and give him another slap?
With the strength of the Fish Monk Refining God, he swept across Japan without any resistance.
But just because of his good-natured character, he was hunted down by incompetent Japanese monks and ninjas for fifteen years and still never killed.
The only disciple committed evil. He tried to clean up the family, but the Tianshen Sect took advantage of his compassion and escaped again and again, and then committed even greater evil deeds.
Song Xing could not agree with such mercy.
