Why did an emperor become a monk four times? He built countless temples throughout his life, why did Patriarch Bodhidharma still say that he had no merit at all? After 36 years of age, he also stipulated that monks should not eat meat. This is such an emperor called "Bodhisattva"

Why did an emperor become a monk four times? He built countless temples throughout his life, why did the Bodhidharma Patriarch still say that he had no merit at all? After 36 years of age, he also stipulated that monks should not eat meat. This is such an emperor called "Bodhisattva". Why did he die of thirst in the end?

Northern and Northern Dynasties , The founding emperor of Liang Dynasty , is said to be the 25th generation grandson of Xiao He . In 495 AD, a 100,000 army of Northern Wei invaded Southern Qi . Xiao Yan was responsible for the task of resisting foreign enemies this time, and finally repelled the Northern Wei army under his leadership. With his prominent background and outstanding military achievements, Xiao Yan quickly became the governor of Yongzhou , and he had his own "base".

Later, the throne of Southern Qi was passed into the hands of Xiao Baojuan, but this person had a flaw in his personality. He was a little stuttering and liked to catch mice and play with it. What's more, this person liked to kill ministers randomly, which made people in the court panic. Seeing that this guy was hopeless, Xiao Yan launched a mutiny, killed Xiao Baojuan, and supported Xiao Baojuan's younger brother Xiao Baorong to succeed him. But just a year later, Xiao Yan, who held great power, couldn't sit still. He wanted to be the emperor, so he forced Xiao Baorong to abdicate to himself. After Xiao Yan usurped the throne and called himself the emperor, he changed the country's name to "Liang". However, Xiao Yan did not let the previous emperor abdicate to him, but instead sent someone to brutally kill Xiao Baorong, who was only 15 years old. Speaking of which, Xiao Baojuan and Xiao Baorong are both Xiao Yan's nephews. This family killed each other. For Xiao Yan personally, this may be a crime that he will never redeem in his life.

At this time, for Xiao Yan, in addition to how to atone for his sins, there is another bigger problem, which is how to maintain the new Liang Chao. After all, from the Three Kingdoms period to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the changes of dynasties of all sizes were as fast as 's lantern . At this time, Buddhism was becoming more and more prosperous on the land of China, so Xiao Yan found a point of conformity between self-salvation and national governance. He decided to define Buddhism as the state religion, so that he could not only practice Buddhism in order to atone for sins committed, but also use Buddhism to control people's thoughts to stabilize the new regime.

In this way, under the advocacy of the state, temples rose one after another. Xiao Yan not only wanted to build a temple, but he also became a monk himself. Xiao Yan entered Tongtai Temple four times and became a monk. The ministers had no choice but to go to the temple to invite him to court. But Xiao Yan said that I had become a monk and had no chance of anything in the world again, which made everyone very anxious. Finally, the ministers came up with a good idea together, donating money to the temple, and then redeem the emperor. But such a drama has been performed four times, which is really jaw-dropping.

Xiao Yan made contributions and made contributions to the country. Southern Dynasties was once powerful under his governance, but the construction of temples was crazily, which eventually led to the deficit of the treasury. Tang Dynasty Du Mu has a poem, which describes that period in this way: " Southern Dynasties 480 temples , how many towers and rain were built", which shows how many temples were built at that time.

For Xiao Yan, he seems to be practicing sincerely, but he may just want to atone for his sins or stabilize the regime. During his practice, he strictly followed the Buddhist rules and regulations to demand himself. He has not been close to women for 36 years, did not drink alcohol, only ate one meal a day, and only ate vegetarian food and not meat. It is said that the monk's food and accommodation regulations come from Liang Wudi .

Did he really get the Buddha’s forgiveness? You will know if you look at his ending. It was finally time for Xiao Yan, who was 84 years old, to welcome the trial. He accepted a traitor from Eastern Wei Hou Jing . Sure enough, Hou Jing rebelled again and captured the capital of Nanliang Jiankang in one fell swoop.

Before Emperor Wu of Liang could react, he became Hou Jing's prisoner, was placed under house arrest in the palace, and lived an inhuman life. Once, Emperor Wu of Liang begged the soldiers to give him a sip of water, but the soldiers didn't give him any. In the end, he died in the palace at the age of 86.

So many Buddhist temples were built in his life and kowtowed to the Buddha so much. Can Emperor Wu of Liang not compare with his merits and deeds? Perhaps merit is merit, and fault is fault. "My merit" allowed him to live at the age of 86, and "My merit" made him not have a good end.

It is said that Emperor Wu of Liang once asked the first ancestor of Zen Buddhism Bodhidharma if he had any merits. Bodhidharma replied: "No." Emperor Wu of Liang asked, I have built so many temples, is there no merit at all? But Bodhidharma shook his head firmly. Perhaps the things that Emperor Wu of Liang can be called blessings, but not merits. Merit is truly from the heart, without asking for rewards, and is naturally natural and has nothing to ask for. However, practicing with a purpose is often just deceiving oneself.