There are nearly 10,000 temples scattered across the vast land of our country, many of which have experienced thousands of years of ups and downs.
At the southern foot of Taishi Mountain in Songshan Mountain, Henan, there is a thousand-year-old temple - Fawang Temple. According to legend, it was first built in 71 AD, which is nearly two thousand years ago.
In 2000, because Fawang Temple was attacked by a group of tomb robbers, the monks in the temple discovered the secret that had been hidden underground for thousands of years.
Accompanied by experts, people discovered the underground palace of Fawang Temple that had been sealed in dust for more than a thousand years.
When everyone entered the underground palace, they were shocked by the scene in front of them: a mummy sitting on a stone platform with a beautiful box next to it.
Judging from the body shape of the mummy, it was a monk. In the box beside him, experts found a Buddha relic . For a time, many doubts surrounded everyone. Who is this eminent monk? Why is he sitting here alone?
This Fawang Temple is one of the earliest temples in my country. It was only built three years later than the first temple in my country, Baima Temple. was one of the earliest temples built after Buddhism was introduced to my country.
According to legend, Fawang Temple was built by Han Ming Emperor Liu Zhuang for the Indian monks "She Moteng" and " Zhu Flan" to translate scriptures and preach.
In the nearly two thousand years since its completion, Fawang Temple has changed its name many times and experienced countless twists and turns. It was finally named "Songshan Great Fawang Temple" during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song Dynasty, and it has been used ever since.
In 1987, Fawang Temple underwent a large-scale renovation. During this renovation, the existence of the underground palace was not discovered. This also paved the way for Fawang Temple to be targeted by tomb robber gangs thirteen years later.
One day in the spring of 2000, after sending away all the pilgrims and tourists, the monks of Fawang Temple cleaned as usual. The monks gently wiped the dust off the Buddha statue, and then, under the arrangement of the abbot, chanted sutras and worshiped the Buddha in the hall.
After nightfall, the monks went to bed one after another, leaving only a few vigil monks sitting quietly in the hall. What they didn't know at this time was that a tomb robber gang had quietly sneaked into Fawang Temple. Their target was Fawang Temple. Underground palace.
This tomb robbery gang did enough homework before committing the crime. They consulted a lot of information about Fawang Temple. After all, this is a thousand-year-old temple, and there are countless unknown treasures buried in it.
In the middle of the night, while the monk was sleeping, the tomb robbers brought tools to Fawang Temple. After making sure that no one had discovered it, the tomb robbers took the tools and started digging.
After a while, a one-foot-square cave was dug. Several tomb robbers climbed into the hole and groped forward with flashlights.
After marching for a while, the tomb robbers found nothing but loess. Just as a group of people were about to turn around and leave, a stone door appeared in front of everyone under the illumination of a flashlight. The experienced members of the
gang could tell at a glance that this was the stone door of the underground palace, and concluded that behind this stone door was the underground palace of Fawang Temple. The treasure they were looking for on this trip was probably hidden behind the stone door.
After searching around the stone gate, the tomb robbers did not find any mechanism. In order to avoid long nights and dreams, several tomb robbers picked up their tools and tried to forcefully destroy the stone gate and enter the underground palace .
But the sound of the tomb robbers destroying the stone door attracted the attention of several vigilant monks. Several monks quickly ran in the direction of the sound and bumped into the tomb robbers who were watching outside.
The tomb robber who was on guard saw that he had been exposed and hurriedly shouted into the cave. In less than a minute, the tomb robber in cave hurriedly got out of the ground and fled the scene with his tools.
Due to the large number of tomb robbers, the vigil monks were unable to stop them and could only watch the tomb robbers escape.
The vigilant monks quickly woke up the abbot and other monks, and then, under the leadership of the abbot, several monks went down to the cave.
After a while, the abbot and his party discovered the stone door. Looking at the door, even the abbot was stunned, because he had never heard of an underground palace underground in the temple for so many years.
was worried that opening the stone gate rashly would trigger an unknown mechanism. The abbot did not open it in a hurry. Instead, he waited until dawn the next day and chose to call the police and notify the relevant cultural relics department.
This morning, experts and police rushed to the scene and decided to open the underground palace after discussing with the abbot.
Everyone came to the stone door. After repeated confirmation by experts and with the help of professional tools, the stone door was successfully opened.
Behind the stone gate is a narrow corridor several meters long, less than one meter wide, barely enough for two people to walk side by side. The group of people groped forward step by step with lights on.
After passing through the corridor, everyone came to the hall of the underground palace. There was a stone platform in the hall, with a mummy sitting cross-legged on it . There was also a beautiful box beside the mummy. In addition, There was nothing else in the hall, no treasures.
A group of experts observed the mummy for a long time. Based on the posture of the mummy and the torn clothes on its body, the abbot deduced that the mummy should be that of a senior monk, but his identity could not be known for the time being.
The abbot turned his attention to the stone box. He guessed that it should be a tool used to store Buddha relics. Sure enough, after opening the stone box, the abbot found a bone-like object in the box. After careful identification, it was exactly the same thing. It is the Buddha's relic .
Although I don’t know which part of the Buddha’s relic it is from, it is exciting news anyway, because no Buddha’s relic has been found in Fawang Temple in the past few hundred years, and as a possession With a history of thousands of years and one of the earliest Buddhist temples in my country, this is really a pity.
This discovery was quickly reported to the relevant departments and attracted great attention. After research, the relevant departments decided to excavate the underground palace of Fawang Temple to prevent tomb robbery gangs from targeting the tomb again.
After more than a month of cleaning and excavation, the full picture of the underground palace of Fawang Temple has finally been revealed to the world.
This underground palace consists of a hall and several chambers. After careful cleaning, experts found a total of more than 20 utensils, including bronzes, jade, pottery, etc..
Although only more than 20 cultural relics have been discovered, each one has a history of thousands of years and each one is a treasure. Of course, among all the cultural relics discovered in the underground palace, the Buddha's relics are definitely the most exciting and even more valuable. treasures in.
After counting all the cultural relics, the experts immediately focused their attention on the mummy. In order to explore the identity of the mummy, the experts conducted many discussions.
Everyone has different opinions on the identity of the mummy, but when exploring why the mummy appears in the underground palace together with Buddha relics, several experts have unanimous opinions.
Experts speculate that the eminent monk should have encountered changes in Fawang Temple during his lifetime. In order to protect the Buddha's relics, the eminent monk had to choose to sneak into the underground palace with the relics, and finally passed away in the underground palace. Later, the underground palace was buried underground. The King's Temple remained silent for many years. When the King's Temple flourished again, the relics had long been unknown.
In order to completely clarify the identity of the mummy and the reason why the underground palace has been silent for thousands of years, experts once again conducted careful excavations in the underground palace of Fawang Temple. This time, the experts discovered a stone tablet outside the stone gate of the underground palace.
This square stone tablet is densely engraved with some words. Experts believe that this square stone tablet is an important clue to solving the mystery of the mummies in the underground palace, and they immediately conducted research on the stone tablet.
After identification by experts, there are a total of 88 characters engraved on this stone tablet. The top of the inscription is " Sakyamuni Relics of the Relics" . This shows that this stone tablet records the entry of the Buddha's relics into the Fawang Temple. of stone tablets.
The main text of the inscription records that the Buddha's relics were brought to Fawang Temple in the Sui Dynasty Renshou period. " Renshou " is the reign name used by Sui Dynasty Yang Jian from 601 to 604. The inscription on the inscription is "round "Benevolence, Heaven is like" Time is "Datang Huichang Five Years" .
According to the records in the inscriptions, experts consulted relevant historical materials. According to historical records, "Ennin" was not a local eminent monk in my country, but came from Japan. "Tianru" was an eminent monk at Howangji Temple during that period. .
In 838 AD, the 45-year-old Yuanren accompanied the Tang envoys to the Tang Dynasty as a "pleasant monk", and then came to Kaiyuan Temple in Yangzhou to learn Sanskrit. After that, he moved to the Huayan Temple several times. , Zisheng Temple, Daxingshan Temple , Dafawang Temple and other places.
With this square stone tablet, experts initially determined that the identity of the mummy was that of Yuanren. As for why Yuanren took the Buddha's relics and was enthroned in the underground palace, experts found out from the "Five Years of Huichang of the Tang Dynasty" engraved on the stone tablet. Found the answer.
In the fifth year of Huichang in the Tang Dynasty, that is, 845 AD, the reigning emperor of the Tang Dynasty at this time was Tang Wuzong Li Yan. During his reign, he implemented the policy of exterminating Buddhism. Historians call this incident "Wuzong exterminates Buddhism" ” or “ Huichang Destroys Buddha ” .
The reason why Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty launched the campaign to exterminate Buddhism was because during the Tang Dynasty period, temples and monks enjoyed privileges.
First of all, temples do not have to pay taxes. Secondly, monks are also exempted from taxes and servitude. Against this background, the temple economy expanded wildly. By the time of Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty, its scale was very large, which had seriously affected the national finance and threatened the ruling group. Interests.
During the Huichang period, the imperial court was in urgent need of financial support due to its campaign against Zelu (today's east of Huoshan in Shanxi and Shexian County in Hebei). In addition, Li Yan, Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty, believed in Taoism. Li Deyu With the support, Tang Wuzong launched an operation to exterminate the Buddha.
Under the campaign to exterminate Buddhism, temples across the country suffered varying degrees of blows, ranging from layoffs to direct demolition. Monks were also brutally treated. A large number of monks were killed, and the surviving monks were also forced to After returning to secular life, the number of monks dropped sharply, and Buddhism suffered a heavy blow .
According to statistics, Wu Zong’s campaign to exterminate Buddhism demolished nearly 5,000 temples across the country and recovered tens of millions of hectares of land for the Tang royal family. Hundreds of thousands of monks were killed, and a total of more than 260,000 monks were forced to return to secular life. After Buddhism was introduced into our country, it suffered one of the most serious blows.
The "Five Years of Huichang" in the stone tablet was the climax of Wuzong's extermination of Buddhism. At this time, Ennin was spreading Buddhism in Fawang Temple. Under the massive campaign to exterminate Buddhism, both Fawang Temple and Ennin were inevitably hit.
Under the fierce pursuit of the government, many gates and halls of Fawang Temple were destroyed, and the Buddha statues in the temple were also damaged. Some monks were killed, and some were forced to choose to return to secular life. A disaster has come to Fawang Temple.
At this critical moment, in order to protect the Buddha's relics and prevent them from falling into the hands of officers and soldiers, Master Yuanren stood up decisively.
Yuanren knew that he was unable to fight against the officers and soldiers, so he chose to take the Buddha's relics with him. Under the leadership of Master Tianru, he sneaked into the underground palace alone to take refuge. After sending Yuanren into the underground palace, Tianru turned around and left. Continue to fight against with officers and soldiers.
By the time the commotion outside subsided, Enren had already spent several days in the underground palace. Fortunately, the underground palace had food for the temple's daily needs, so Enren was able to persevere.
A few days later, Enren heard that the outside world had calmed down. He originally planned to take the Buddha relics out of the underground palace, but then he thought that in order to eradicate the root cause, the government would definitely send soldiers to wait in the temple. Enren thought for a long time and finally gave up the opportunity to escape. Choose to stay in the underground palace.
A few days later, Enren sat down quietly on the stone platform and passed away. The Buddha's relics were placed beside him. Because many monks of Fawang Temple were killed at that time, the monks who had returned to secular life did not dare to return to Dharma under the high-risk situation. Wangsi, this underground palace has gradually been forgotten.
However, there is true love in the world. Tianru, who brought Yuanren into the underground palace, returned to Fawang Temple after a period of time.
After Tianru returned to Fawang Temple, he went straight to the underground palace. When he opened the stone door of the underground palace, he found that Enren had already passed away.
Master Tianru knew that Yuanren had sacrificed his life to protect the Buddha's relics. He decided to record the incident, so he found a craftsman to carve a stone tablet and erected it outside the stone gate of the underground palace.
Actually, Master Tianru had the opportunity to take the Buddha's relics out of the underground palace, but perhaps due to the current situation, Master Tianru did not choose to do so. Moreover, the Buddha's relics are hidden in the underground palace. This is the best protection. .
After the death of Tang Wuzong Li Yan in the sixth year of Huichang, the successor Tang XuanzongLi Chen respected Buddhism again, which brought an end to the extermination of Buddhism. From then on, Master Yuanren and this Buddha relic were sealed in the In the underground palace of Fawangji Temple, this letter is that is more than a thousand years old.
It was not until 2000 that the tomb robber gang accidentally dug up the stone gate of the underground palace, which made the underground palace of Fawang Temple come to light again. Yuanren and Buddha relics were finally no longer covered in dust, and returned to the public eye after a thousand years..
Since then, Fawang Temple has held many exhibitions. Master Ennin’s body and Buddha relics have also been exhibited as treasures of the temple. However, as the story of the underground palace of Fawang Temple spreads, some scholars have questioned the identity of this mummy. .
Because there are historical records, in the first year of Emperor Xuanzong's reign in the Tang Dynasty, that is, in 847 AD, Master Ennin returned eastward with Buddhist scriptures, magical instruments and other objects, and was received by the emperor at that time. Later he established a temple on Mount Hiei The temple spreads Buddhism .
In 854 AD, Ennin became the third-generation head of Enryaku-ji Temple. Adhering to the legacy of the Japanese eminent monk Saicho, he continued to promote the Mahayana precepts. He died of illness in Japan ten years later.
According to this record, Ennin finally returned to Japan, so the mummy in the underground palace of Hooji Temple cannot be Ennin. As for who he is, there is still no completely convincing statement.
However, the author speculates that this mummy should be the abbot of Fawang Temple at that time, because Ennin just happened to be at Fawang Temple at that time, and he was not a monk of Fawang Temple. Moreover, such an important token of Buddha relics is unlikely to be handed over to an outsider. Monk saves.
Secondly, the inscription on the stone stele of is "Yuanren, Tianru" , these are two names, and the inscription on the stone stele is usually the author of the inscription, and sometimes the engraver of the stele. This shows that The inscription on this stone tablet, , is co-written by Yuanren and Tianru.
If the mummy is Yuanren, then Tianru wrote this inscription for him, then the signature should only be "Tianru". How could he write the object recorded in the inscription in the signature? What's more, Yuanren has already passed away at this time? Isn't this just like a tombstone signed by the owner of the tomb?
So the fact may be this: in order to avoid being pursued by the officials and to protect the Buddha's relics, the then abbot of Fawang Temple took the Buddha's relics and hid in the underground palace under the witness of Enren and Tianru.
Later, after the outside world calmed down, Enren and Tianru found the opportunity to return here. When they opened the stone door of the underground palace, they found that the abbot had passed away. While mourning, the two wrote an inscription together.
After the stone tablet was carved, the two found an opportunity to erect the stone tablet outside the stone gate. In this way, it can be explained why the inscriptions on the tablet were Yuanren and Tianru. It makes sense for Yuanren to return to the country later. .
Unfortunately, we may never know the true identity of this mummy. Whether he is Enren or not, there is no doubt that he dedicated his life to protecting the Buddha's relics.
Because in his heart, as a monk, Buddha's relics are his belief. He devotes himself to his belief and dies without regrets.
