The ninth day of the third lunar month is the day when the Buddha bone relics are displayed in Ximing Temple in Chang'an City. The new Jinshi's relics have to be postponed this year.

Buddha bones are commonly referred to as sarira, which is the sarira in Sanskrit. Everyone knows the source. The solid objects left by Buddha Sakyamuni after cremation can be divided into three types. The black one is called hair relics, the red one is called meat relics, and the white one is called bone relics. The common points are round, smooth and solid, and not broken. Legend has it that the Buddha passed away and cremated in the land of the Mora, and then seven kings came to ask for relics in India. The Mora divided the Buddha's relics into eight parts and divided them all. There was also a bottle containing the relics, which was asked by the Puluna Kingdom to build a "bottle tower". As for the famous messenger of the Mauryan King, he could only take the Buddha's ashes back to build a pagoda for worship. In this way, in a broad sense, there were ten pagodas for worshipping the Buddha's relics in India.

Originally this was normal, but it was a bit irrelevant by the time of Ashoka. Ashoka took out the relics and ashes of the Buddha in the ten pagodas and divided them into 84,000 treasure troves, and said that one treasure trove and one pagoda would set up 84,000 pagodas around the world.

This can basically be said that the possibility of Buddha bones being left for the Buddha is about 8400, but many monks from later generations would also appear in relics after passing away and cremation. Later, they were no longer strictly distinguished and worshipped.

Buddhism quickly spread to Asia with the wish of Ashoka. At that time, China must have been reluctant to be lonely, so it had the opportunity to "welcome the Buddha's bones", and Sakyamuni's relics were sprinkled onto China's land. By the Tang Dynasty, there were a total of seventeen pagodas in China. The south pagoda of Qishan (which is commonly known as the Famen Temple Pagoda) was the most popular because it was close to the capital Chang'an. The Tang Dynasty rulers' "welcome the Buddha's bones" many times, basically welcoming from the Famen Temple Pagoda.

The so-called welcome is actually to solemnly take out the Buddha bones in the pagoda and send them to the temple in Chang'an City for the public to admire and worship, and then send them into the forbidden area, which is under the supervision of the emperor (actually enjoying it) for a period of time, often accompanied by the enthusiasm of crazy alms.

Of course, the religious behavior of welcoming Buddha bones is definitely inseparable from politics. Emperor Taizong of Tang was wise and wise. During his reign, he was skeptical about Buddha bones because Buddhists stood in the wrong team in the struggle of the crown prince (at that time, Buddhism was on Li Jiancheng's side and Taoism was on Li Shimin's side). Therefore, he was skeptical about Buddha bones. Before welcoming, officials were sent to Famen Temple to check the authenticity. As a result, it made a joke when he left the Buddha bones: Some people said that the Buddha bones shone white, some people said that the Buddha bones shine golden, some people said that the Buddha bones shine green (emmmmm), some people said that it was red, some people said that it was colorful, and only a honest person said that the Buddha bones had no light!

As a result, the honest man was immediately isolated. The monk accused him crazy, saying that he had sinned too much in his life, so he could not see the Buddha's light. Instead, the man was scared to death. In the end, he burned his hair and fingers, and even stabbed his body and blood all over the ground. Then he was probably crazy and said that he had finally been forgiven. Only when I could see the Buddha's light could I escape.

Of course you can see your sincerity, but if you can't see it, you will definitely be dissatisfied. In the end, you can deceive yourself naturally. The tricks of ancient and modern religions in China and abroad are nothing more than that.

So do you believe Li Shimin like this?

Of course not, but Li Shimin is a smart person. He said that the truth is smart and people understand it, but if you want stupid people to understand it, it is better to engage in superstition than to make superstition happen faster. Therefore, Taizong ordered the opening of Buddha bones in the Famen Temple pagoda, and "the capital was broken (running) and going together." This trend became more and more intense in the Wu Zetian era. In order to ascend the throne, Wu created public opinion and said that the Buddha would be reincarnated as a woman in 9,999 years, which means that he was the reincarnation of Buddha and could be the queen. Even in the last year of her rule, he held a grand ceremony to welcome the Buddha bones in Luoyang City. Before the end, the bloody coup began, and the Buddha could not bless Wu Zetian, so he could only give way.

Although the Wu Zhou was overthrown, the Tang Dynasty would welcome the Buddha's bones every thirty years later, forming a convention, but there were also changes. For example, the Xuanzong period did not welcome the Buddha's bones due to political reasons. In the past, Taizong once, Gaozong once, Wu Zetian once, and Tang Suzong welcomed the Buddha's bones for the fourth time in the first year of Shangyuan, 760, and this time it was inseparable from politics. Tang Suzong started his career in Lingwu, relying on the military strength of the northwest vassal states. In order to draw a clear line with his father who believed in Taoism, Suzong could not not welcome the Buddha's bones.

Later on, Emperor Xianzong of Tang also welcomed Buddha bones in 819 AD (the sixth and fifth times were welcomed by Emperor Dezong of Tang). It also achieved great results in the war to pacify the vassal states, so as to create public opinion for the revival of prosperous times. In fact, the intention is good. Isn’t religion the same? But this time it was a bit big. A man named Han Yu wrote a "Ship to Advise the Buddha Bones", which was violently attacked this behavior in an untimely manner, without any sympathy with Xianzong’s intention (even Pei Du said that Han Yu was a nerd).

So Han Yu quickly "reported the nine heavens in the morning, and demoted eight thousand Chaoyang Road in the evening" to Chaozhou to raise crocodiles. If Han Yu was tough, it would be fine, he was also a hero. But after arriving in Chaozhou, he saw poisonous insects all over the ground and crocodiles in groups. The heroic spirit of "I want to collect my bones and miasma on the riverside" was gone. He immediately wrote another article "Thank you for the Thanksgiving of the Chaozhou Governor" and begged for mercy from Emperor Xianzong. His words were so charming that even Han Yu's friends were shocked.

However, Han Yu's remarks against Buddha actually indicate that the competition between the Tang Dynasty's worship of Buddha and the anti-Buddhist forces had begun to surface and became increasingly fierce. Therefore, it was natural that "Wu Zong destroyed Buddha" later.

The Buddha bones of the Famen Temple pagoda have always been claimed to be the finger bones of Sakyamuni, but there are so many temples in Chang'an City and the competition is so fierce that everyone wants to get Buddha bone relics to win a lot of alms, so they have the so-called "shadow bones". To put it bluntly, it is to make a Western shell product to meet the pious needs of good men and women. After all, many people can't stand it when opening a pagoda in Famen Temple every thirty years. The royal family and the military also acquiesced and even support it.

Now, on the ninth day of the third month, Ximing Temple claimed that it had welcomed a new Buddha bone different from the Famen Temple from Puban Pagoda in Hedong. It was placed in a glass cup for Chang'an scholars to come and watch.

For a moment, the news spread throughout Chang'an City and people were in full bloom.

On the seventh day of the lunar month, vehicles that placed "glazed Buddha bones" on the Puban Pagoda in Hedong entered Beijing and headed to Ximing Temple. The people from various yards in Chang'an County placed incense flowers and candles, and knelt on both sides of the streets, worshiped the vehicles, and the sound of chanting scriptures resounded throughout the sky.

In the afternoon, the emperor in the Daming Palace issued an order: to let the princess, princesses and county lords cut off a strand of hair, and personally sent it to Ximing Temple on the eighth day of the lunar month. Then, after the Buddha bones returned to Puban Pagoda, the hair was sealed in the pagoda together to beg for blessings.
Chapter completed!