The relationship between Wu Zetian and Buddhism is far more than this. After Wu Zetian ascended the throne and became emperor, she promoted the spread and promotion of Buddhism in China with practical actions.

There are two short stories about the "ban on slaughter order" that can indirectly illustrate Wu Zetian's contribution to promoting the development of Buddhism.

Wu Zetian believed in Buddhism, so after she became emperor, she issued a ban on slaughter, which was that she was not allowed to kill animals or eat big fish and meat. As a life creed that everyone abides by, it was not easy. So many people felt it was uncomfortable not to eat meat at that time. So what should I do if the emperor did not allow him to eat meat and wanted to eat meat? So many things that had policies and countermeasures occurred.

Wu Zetian sent the prime minister to inspect the dynasty and walked from the post station one by one. When the postmaster saw that the big shot was coming, he wanted to curry favor with the prime minister and wanted to give the prime minister some good food, so he brought him a pot of mutton.

The official secretary was very clever and said that the sheep was bitten to death by a wolf. When the prime minister heard that it was bitten to death by a wolf. It doesn’t matter, eat it. After eating, he brought a plate of fish and said that it was not right. The emperor said that the fish could not be salvaged. The official secretary had no words at all and said that the fish was also bitten to death by a wolf. The prime minister said, why are you so stupid? You have to say that the fish was bitten to death by an otter.

The second story tells that during the issuance of the ban on slaughter, a small official gave birth to a son. The small official was very happy and wanted to invite his colleagues to dinner. He secretly slaughtered a sheep and distributed some mutton to each colleague.

A colleague was particularly unauthentic. He ate it too. After eating, he stuffed a piece of meat into his sleeves. After returning home, he repaired a memorial to Wu Zetian, saying that his colleague XXX had violated the ban on slaughtering order and privately slaughtered a sheep. The evidence was here and he brought the mutton up.

The next day, Wu Zetian went to court to call the official who gave birth to a son and said, "I heard that you gave birth to a son, so I was very happy and took a piece of meat out, and said, "Where did this thing come from?" The little official was so scared that his face looked like a slut, and he couldn't get up when he knelt there.

At this time, Wu Zetian spoke. She said that I had issued a ban on slaughter. I hope everyone would be compassionate and not kill animals for no reason. However, when encountering weddings and weddings, I would not interfere. So whether you kill sheep or eat meat, I will not blame you. But when you treat guests in the future, you must pick up the guests, and that person told me. The informant was blushing and the whole court wanted to spit on him.

In fact, it is not just these short stories circulating among the people. After becoming emperor, Wu Zetian really did many things that are very beneficial to the promotion of Buddhism. Among them, the introduction and translation of Buddhist scriptures is an important measure.

Everyone knows that Tang Sanzang went through 81 difficulties and finally recovered a large number of Buddhist scriptures in the West. But I am afraid that few people know that Wu Zetian's introduction and promotion of Buddhist scriptures was even more effective than Tang Sanzang.

The most important reason for this is that there was a Buddhist scripture that gave Wu Zetian the excuse to be the emperor, or that Wu Zetian found a theoretical basis to support her as the queen in a Buddhist scripture.

This Buddhist scripture is the famous "Great Cloud Sutra".

Wu Zetian became emperor as a woman, which has never been in Chinese history. In order to prove the rationality of her ascending the throne, she could only find a basis outside of Confucian and Taoist classics. Therefore, when she saw the doctrine of Buddhism supporting women as emperors, she was naturally overjoyed and promulgated the relevant doctrines throughout the world, and vigorously promoted Buddhism. This Buddhist scripture is the "Great Cloud Sutra".

The Great Cloud Sutra tells this story. The Heavenly Girl of Jingguang once heard the Mahapra Nirvana Sutra from the same-sex Lamp Buddha. Later, when Shakyamuni Buddha was alive, she was born in the human world as an ordinary womb, and once again heard the profound meaning of Buddhism. Although she was a woman, she later became a king and obtained a quarter of the territory ruled by the Wheel Turning King, and educated men, women, old and young in her field to eliminate all kinds of evil views and disagreements, and widely practiced the Bodhisattva career.

In the first year of Tianshu, that is, in the July of the year when Wu Zetian changed Tang to Zhou, monks Huaiyi and Faming wrote the "Dayun Jingshu" and attached the above story as the "Body" of "The Buddha" to Wu Zetian as the Empress, which is a prophecy.

With this prophecy, Wu Zetian could become the emperor in a noble way. Therefore, Wu Zetian promulgated the "Dayun Sutra" to the world. He also ordered Chang'an, Luoyang and each state to set up a Dayun Temple, each of which was kept in the temple, and explained it by monks.

In this way, everyone in the world knew that Wu Zetian was Maitreya and should replace Li Tang as the emperor. Later, Wu Zetian officially became emperor in September of this year and changed the country's name to Zhou.

Confucianism in China strongly opposed women's interference in politics, so after the Tang Dynasty, people often used the "Dayun Sutra" to explain things, and they all used it to criticize Wu Zetian for forging Buddhist scriptures and deceive the world.

So is there a doctrine of women becoming emperors in Buddhist scriptures? The answer is: There is a story about women becoming kings in the next life.

The Buddha said that seven hundred years after his Nirvana, there would be a small country in southern India called Wuming; there was a river called Heizha; there was a city called Jingshu on the south bank of this river; there was a king called Shuncheng; there was a king and his wife had a daughter named Changcheng. One day in the future, the king would die suddenly. At that time, the ministers would let his daughter Changcheng inherit the throne. After she ascended the throne, the situation would appear that the world would be overwhelming, and all countries in Jambudvipa would come to worship her, without rejection or disobeying.

This story shows that at least from the time of the Buddhist scriptures, the doctrine that women can be emperors has been clarified.

After being suppressed by Emperor Taizong of Tang, Buddhism completely restored its lost position when Wu Zetian was in power. It is said that Wu Zetian was the sect leader who revived Buddhism.

After Wu Zetian became emperor, she sent someone to take Shen Xiu, the leader of the Northern Sect of Zen, to Luoyang, and then carried him into a sedan chair and kneeled down to worship herself. Her behavior attracted the followers of high officials and the people, and tens of thousands of people came to worship the monk every day.

She also personally welcomed another eminent monk who returned from overseas. Wu Zetian became associated with Buddhism, which meant that her legitimacy gradually increased. Chinese Buddhism has also entered a stage of comprehensive prosperity, the most prosperous was in Wu Zetian's Wu Zhou Dynasty.

When Buddhism flourished, there were three manifestations: the first was that Buddhist scriptures were translated in large quantities.

During the reign of Wu Zetian, she translated the most important Buddhist scripture, "Avatamsaka Sutra". At that time, Her Majesty the Empress always felt that there were too many "Avatamsaka Sutra" translated during the Jin Dynasty, and felt very regretful, so she sent a special envoy to India to seek the complete book of this sutra.

A monk from Khotan happened to have this book in his hand. She even invited the monk to China. This monk was Shicha Nanda. After inviting the monk, he asked him to preside over the translation of the "Avatamsaka Sutra".

When Master Shicha Nanda came, the "Avatamsaka Sutra" he brought was not complete. However, there were nine thousand verses more than the sutras translated by Jin, with a total of 45,000 verses. The teachings of the Great Sutra can be seen. At that time, the translation site was very large, and Wu Zetian himself often participated. After the translation was translated, she even wrote the preface for the "Avatamsaka Sutra" and preached the sutra.

This is the famous "Opening Sutra": "The supreme and profound subtle Dharma is difficult to encounter in hundreds of thousands of kalpas; I have seen, heard, received and upheld it now, and I wish to understand the true meaning of the Tathagata."

The "Avatamsaka Sutra" advocates that all things will flourish and coexist in the ages, and is a very bold classic. There were dozens of masters known for translating scriptures in the Tang Dynasty, and fifteen lived in the Wuzhou era.

The second is that the Wu Zetian period also made important contributions to the construction of temples. She established a Dayun Temple in all states across the country. Historical records show that there were 38 famous temples in the Tang Dynasty, of which more than 30% were established during the Wuzhou period. If there were Buddhist temples, there must be monks. Xue Huaiyi became the abbot of the White Horse Temple. There were originally more than 300 monks in the White Horse Temple, but during the Wuzhou period, there were more than 1,000 attendants of the abbot Xue Huaiyi.

The third contribution is statue creation. Among all the statue arts in the Tang Dynasty, Wu Zetian was the most wisest, and the propaganda of Buddhism reached its peak. Wu Zetian became associated with Buddhism and played a great role in Buddhism. Wu Zetian himself and Buddhism reached his peak.

Wu Zetian respects Buddhism so much, so it is not surprising that she arranges so many Buddha statues for her tomb to bury her!
Chapter completed!