Why does Bodhidharma negate the merit of Luong Vu De?VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=THICH CHAN TANH.

 Luong Vu De, Tu Tieu Dien, came to the throne at the age of 37, at the age of 49 years, was 86 years old ¹ .As the founding king of the Liang Dynasty (502-556) in the period of North and North Dynasty (420-589) of China.

Luong Vu De was recognized by the history of Buddhism as the king with many merits to develop Buddhism. He Fee Room School, author of the  Calendar University signed the Three Treasures 2 ,  extolling the inconceivable confidence of a King Bodhisattva (信不思議菩薩君也). Some researchers even believe that Luong Vu De's Buddhist maintenance career can match King Ashoka in ancient India.

However, in the historical meeting with Bodhidharma in the first year of Dai Thong (527), King Luong Vu De raised his concern: I thought of a life of self-creation, an increase in the level of a son, and how much merit? To Dat Ma replied:  No merit ³ .

Painting of Bodhidharma.

Bodhidharma's answer is like the sound of thunder in the sky, making Luong Vu De and the whole court quiet. After the unsuccessful question, Bodhidharma passed the Yangtze River to the north.

In the research projects that are gathered in the Great Tripitaka, the new monastic order (CCC), depending on the rules and sects, there are many different interpretations about Bo De Dat Ma's answer to Luong Vu. Empire. Here, based on the works of the Emperor Wu of Liang, as well as records in  Luong mail  (梁書) and many works relating scattered in DTKDCTT, we try to outline a few things about his portrait , as well as giving initial explanations about a historical case.

Dissatisfaction in dealing with Tam Giao

Luong Vu De wall of Tam Dao (Grapes, Buddha, Lao). Reading the narrative of Luong Vu De in  the ^Fourth Art Contest  can clearly see that: Lack of study in Confucianism, Chu and Confucianism (少 時 學 周 孔, 弱 冠 窮 六 經) ⁵ ... Middle-aged Taoist bridge / Am wall magic / Renowned name, Anonymous (中 復 觀 道 書, 有 名 與 無 名, 妙 術 鏤 金 版) ⁶  ... When senior silver hair, New seek Buddha's path (cầu年 開 釋 卷) ^7. From the above acknowledgment, it can be seen that Luong Vu De has a deep relationship with Tam Dao thought.

First of all, with Confucianism, being a monarch, of course the influence of Confucianism is somewhat outstanding. He is considered one of the eight famous poets of poetry in the North and South dynasties. Reading the  Song about the water between the Yellow River  (河 中 之 水 歌)  can see his poetic soul before the unidentified, unruly status of the young women.

In the fourth year of Heavenly Astronomy, he gave a screening for the formation of the Confucius Temple throughout the world (梁 武 帝 天 監 四 年 詔 天 下 立 孔 子 廟) ⁹ . The view of Confucianism also shows quite a lot in his commentaries on Buddhism. Even in the first lines of his work  , Rich Business , he used the  Conversation to cite ⁹ . The influence of the Confucianist thought is also manifested in the heavenly treatise, there  is also the filial piety  (皇 德 好生) ¹⁰  when he calls for vegetarianism and does not kill beings. Not only that, he also led  the Ceremony  on how the military should stay away from the kitchen (君子 遠 庖廚), ¹¹ to call for the vegetarian offering to the temple. It can be said that, with the confession of the six basic sutras of the Confucianism at the age of adulthood (弱冠 窮 六 經) recorded in the  Third Testament , it has proved that knowledge of Confucianism has penetrated deeply into him. right from the beginning.

For Taoism, although recognizing himself capable of communicating basic philosophies and magic of Taoism, but, after directing the Buddha, he had strong attitudes towards this religion. Specifically, the king said that Dao has 96 things, only Buddhism is the right path, and the other 95 religions are evil (道 有 九 十 六 種 惟 佛 一 道 是 於 正 道. 其 餘 餘十 五 種 名 為 邪 道) ¹² . Moreover, having called a pure Buddha disciple, the beliefs other than Buddha are evil views (故 言 清 信 佛 弟 子 其 餘 諸 信 皆 是 邪 見) ¹³ . Later, in the 16th year of the Year of the Magistrate (518), the king decreed to abolish the Taoist monasteries in the country, forcing the Taoist to complete (十 六 年. 敕 廢 天 下 道 觀. 道 士 皆 反俗) ¹⁴. King Luong Vu De's attitude towards Taoism, too hard and far from the Buddha's behavior in relation to the religions of the same time ¹⁵ .

Having a close tradition of the Three Jewels from the family, Luong Vu De had a special attitude towards Buddhism. Opening, on the eighth day of April, the third year of Heavenly Astronomy (504) after taking the throne, Luong Quoc Lan Lang Tieu Dien Emperor has become the threshold of ten directions of the Buddhas, the ten French deities, ten saints of the Sangha. (維天鑒三年四月八日.梁國皇帝蘭陵蕭衍稽首和南.十方諸佛十方尊法十方聖僧) ¹⁶ . Not only do I orient myself to the Three Jewels, upstairs and the same buildings of the same room, he and Tao Tao and his followers wrote their own vow to develop Bodhi mind with the number of two thousand people (于 時 帝 與 道俗 二 萬 人 於 重 雲 殿 重 閣 上 手 書 此 文 發 菩 提 心) ¹⁷. From the interest in the direction of the Three Jewels, Luong Vu De actively built the pagoda pagoda, interested in preaching the sutras, setting up sacrifices and diagnoses. It can be said that Luong Vu De devoted much attention and devoted a part of his life to Buddhism in China.

Solemnity is itself but inadequate in the precepts

In terms of self-ethics, Luong Vu De is a layman who has a standard life, if not too strict with himself. The policy of fasting, not drinking, listening to music, simple clothes, simple sleeping, diligent ceremony ... The facilities in Luong Vu De's life are similar to those of an exporter. Ideal family. In the last years of his life, he ate only one meal a day with simple, frugal food ¹⁸ .

With the higher ups, he had a glass of worship. The Buddhist Patriarch  recorded that, when  Hue Chuan  shaman (also known as the Testament) entered the court, Luong Vu De set up a solemn seat for the Dharma Master in the middle, and himself sat on one side to hear France ¹⁹ . In particular, there was a Tibetan shaman, in the first year of Thai Thanh, who suddenly broke into the palace, abruptly sat on the throne and was prosecuted by the guards, the king was also happy to pass through ²⁰ .

However, there are many things that need to be discussed in terms of the life expectancy of King Luong Vu De. During the King's vow to take refuge in the Three Jewels, we have yet to discover any material that shows Luong Vu De sustaining the five precepts, as well as no monk who presided over this Buddha. This is something important. Therefore, refuge in the Three Jewels can be done by themselves, and the precepts are due to the transmission of the Sangha. Not only that, the data is also heterogeneous about the time he received the Bodhisattva ordination.

In the real context, from the heat into the king's dharma guard, the number of monks at Luong Vu De Dynasty increased in number and showed signs of deterioration in quality. Meanwhile, responsible Sangha cannot manage Sang's affairs (時 釋 子 多 縱 逸 主 僧 不 能 制) ²¹ . This is a fact that leads to inadequacies in the behavior of the law of Luong Vu De.

Here, in front of the deteriorating situation of virtue of a part of ordained people, Luong Vu De wanted to be directly involved in Tang's work. Knowing the zeal of the emperor, the Tibetan shaman advised the king not to do it. However, with the determination to carry out the revision of Tang, Luong Vu De himself took the ordained ordination (帝 自 受 具戒) ²² . This was an illegal and illegal act of King Luong Vu De which took place in the first year of Thai Thanh (547), and thereby demonstrated certain limitations of the king in the awareness of the precepts.

This event has been mentioned many times in  the ^23rd century Buddha . As in the book 53 of the work affirmed, Luong Vu De life of the full world with  Hue Covenant  monks, especially the prince, the public religion, including four thousand eight thousand people, life expectancy Bodhisattva. Especially in this phase, there are older monks who are also fully ordained (梁 武 帝.千 人 (此 應 受 菩 薩 戒) 沙 門 耆 艾 亦 重 受 戒 法 (此 受 具 足 戒) From here shows that there is a clear schism in the ordination between the king and the Sa Elder, royal family and a large number of people, not only that, in the 51st volume, Luong Vu De also encompassed blessings and feasts for the longevity of the ordained Master (sư 服 田 衣 禮 婁 約 法師 受 具 足 戒).

The fact that ordained monks have revealed certain limitations in the behavior of Luong Vu De's precepts, because according to the above-mentioned documents, the conditions for working into the monks have not been ensured. At the same time, from this work shows that sometimes Luong Vu De fluctuates between the position of a secular leader and a spiritual leader. The presentation and prompting, directing the monks to practice Buddhism, examining the level of Buddhist studies of the monks ²⁴ ... are typical cases. In the introduction of the first part of the essay on "  Abandonment of meat and wine"  (肉 酒 肉 文), Luong Vu De expressed this view when he said that: The  Dharma is sent to kings  (佛 法 寄 囑 人 王) ²⁵. Just as in the case of the teacher who taught Prince Chieu Minh, Luu Hiep (通 事 舍 人 劉 勰), a literary author with a famous work that remains until today is  "Van Tam Dieu Long", giving his heart ordained in the fourth year of the Great Bronze, he gracefully gave the name of the name Tue Dia (賜 名 慧 地) ²⁶ . Although it was just a custom of giving names to gods, it showed that Luong Vu De showed his spiritual and spiritual leadership.

Painting Luong Vu De .

The section of preventing and defending vegetarianism

Luong Vu De is a king with many special things. Two of the special things of this king are the end of male and female relationships at a young age and advocate absolute vegetarianism.

According to  Luong  Thu (梁 書), in addition to fifty years old, the king terminated the defense ( ²⁷ ) . This is a difficult task for an ordinary person, let alone a king. Therefore, King Luong Vu De was interested in many Buddhist studies and devoted many sympathies.

However, in the autobiography of King Luong Vu De in  Pure Land, revealed something about the passage of King Luong Vu De's room: when I was more than forty years old, my body was sick and my limbs fell apart. Should ask about the name of Liu Bei Bodhisattva about the cause of the disease. Mr. Luu Cheng answered, the reason for such illness was due to eating too much. Luong Vu De admits, it is true that we are wearing warm and delicious clothes. Mr. Luu Cheng continued to speak, the school party was partying all morning. He tilted his head and laughed and said: There is one thing Bodhi knows for sure that the king defends so much that it leads to such a disease. At that time, I did not eat meat and fish and also finished the retreat (四 十 餘 年 矣 于 時 四 體 小 惡 問 上 省 師 劉 澄 之 姚 菩 提 疾 候 候 以 劉 澄 之 云.澄 之 知 是 飲 食 過 所 致 答 劉 澄 之 云 我 是 布 衣 甘 肥 恣 口 澄 之 云 官 昔 日 日 食 那 得 及 今 日 食 姚 菩 提 含 笑 搖 頭 頭 云 云唯 菩 提 知. 官 房 室 過 多 所 以 致 爾 于 時 久 不 食 魚 肉 亦 斷 房 室) ²⁸. From this acknowledgment, it is clear that the vegetarian diet as well as the termination of the furniture room are related to the health factor of Luong Vu De. Agreeing with this view, author Phuong Phuong ²⁹ said that the phrase 四 體 小 惡, proving that King Luong Vu De has the ability to inflame prostate and even impotence (的 陽 痿). Based on  Luong  Thu (梁 書), Luong Vu De admitted about his illness in the screening only issued in the sixth year of the Heavenly Astronomy, when he said that he was always immersed in illness (兇荒 疾 疬) ³⁰ .

After volunteering to become a vegetarian, Luong Vu De promoted vegetarianism almost to become a practice in practice. The decrees related to the vegetarian diet that the king gave out: Ending killing in the worship of the temple (斷 殺 絕 宗 廟 犧 牲 詔) ³¹ ; ordered Thai medicine not to use medicinal plant varieties (勅 太 醫 不 得 以 生 類 為 藥) ³² . In particular, the culmination of the promotion of vegetarianism is the essay on  Alcohol Abandonment (斷 酒 肉 文) ³³ . In this essay, in addition to the positive content to call for monks and nuns to be vegetarian and keep the precepts; The text also shows the overwhelmingness when it comes to von Buddhist monks who are not equal to nine pagan classes and not equal to nine laymen at home while eating meat and drinking alcohol.

It should be seen that vegetarianism is a humanistic way of life and chosen by many religions. Even in the time of Buddha, Jainism also advocated absolute vegetarianism and limited the killing to the maximum with the famous Ahimsa (harmless) theory. The Buddha analyzed the inadequacies in this sectarian policy and he had satisfactory explanations of harmless theory on the basis of equality and compassion. With the Buddha, because of the historical context, he did not put too much emphasis on eating and behaving everything in the spirit of the Middle Way and depending on the conditions. During the Episcopal  Order  of the Minor, he had fairly detailed justification of the eating of the monks in the early period of ³⁴ .

Above all, the Buddha still called for the protection of living beings by his ability; He even advocated calling for sacrifices not to kill ³⁵ . However, when promoting non-killing and watching vegetarianism become like a practice, keeping it rigid as a prohibitor, it is too far from the basic principle of Buddhism.

Admire power and bigotry

In the first year of his enthronement, the king dreamed of the Buddha statue of King Uu Dien in Thien Truc create, his country (天 監 元 年 帝 夢 釋 迦 檀 像 入 國 王 所 造. ) ^36. In his whole life, the king had many dreams related to Buddhism and had deep concerns about these dreams, by doing specific things such as building a tower to worship Buddha, preach sutras, father experiment.

In the variations of natural disasters, heaven and earth, King Luong Vu De had very special beliefs. Specifically, the old house of the king gave light seven nights continuously, the king changed his family to become Quang Trach pagoda (舊宅 七 夜 放光 敕建 光 宅 寺) ³⁷ . In particular, in the third year of the Dai Dong, while repairing the foundation of Truong Can tower, he discovered a collection of glass vessels for Buddha's hair and nails (詔 修長 干 塔 掘 基 得 石 凾.有 金 罌 流離 瓶 盛 舍 利爪 髮) ³⁸ . This event caused the king to increase his faith in the Three Jewels and to conduct many Buddha's important matters as soon as he created the ten-Buddha statue of the Buddha at the Dong Thai Temple and pardoned the sinners in the world. In the first year of Central Dai Dong, the tower of Dong Thai pagoda was burned. The king said that due to demons breaking and then rebuilding the tower of the twenty-storey ³⁹ .

With King Luong Vu De, the sacrifice ceremony is important. He continuously organized Buddhist conferences. He himself composed  Thuy Nguyen suspected writing ⁴⁰ . Surveying only the work of the  Buddhist Patriarch Ky , showed that Luong Vu De organized:   Venerable congress (Panca Andrsika Maha),   Save the suffering of the son,  The great path of the great boy, The shame of the real Dharma, Vu spreads the boy's body, Nhan Prince, Thuy Luc Dai Trai  ... with tens of thousands of people attending each meeting. It is said that sacrifices are necessary, but when the leader of the country takes the organization of sacrifices and festivals to a new and regular level, it will create inadequacies in belief and conduct. .

With Buddhism, belief is very important. Luong Vu De had a firm belief in the Three Jewels. It is the blessing of himself and the truth that is recognized by history. However, going deeply into the belief of Luong Vu De, in addition to the firm faith in the Trinity of the Three Jewels, sometimes his faith is also expressed as a variant of bigotry.

From the intolerance of belief in seeing Buddhism as the righteous path, he not only converted himself, the royal family, but also captured the morality of the completed Taoism, discarding all the foundations of Taoism. across the country. This is a stubborn and rigid overreaction. The experience of dealing with religions nearly a thousand years ago by Buddha, ⁴¹  of the great Emperor Ashoka ⁴²  shows that Buddhism is always tolerant, tolerant and clever with other religions.

Just like building temples, Luong Vu De did not have necessary considerations when using the common property of the country. Objectively, Luong Vu De contributed to the development of Buddhism through the image of a temple in China. Even so, in some cases, Luong Vu De was slightly inclined to an extreme in creating Buddhist works. The construction of Dong Thai pagoda is a typical example, because the cost of construction of the project has caused the nation to run out (窮 竭 帑 藏) ⁴³ .

Besides, from history shows that, up to the time of Luong Vu De, Buddhist scriptures are still incomplete and abundant. It was not until the Tang Dynasty (618-906), Buddhist sutras still gaps should Xuanzang vows new Journey to the West ⁴⁴ . Survey of Luong Vu De's theoretical basis in his works shows that the Buddhist material is still not much, if not, it is also the mark of Nho and Lao. Even the promotion of vegetarianism in the essay  of Alcohol Abandonment  (斷 酒 肉 文) also shows a lame, obstinate attitude in his argument. Religious news is a precious thing, but overreacting about unpublished and recruited religions is an easy faith to create incalculable relics for yourself and for the whole generation.

It is also a very straightforward and strong feeling of the great poet Nguyen Du, when he went to China and stood by  the stone monument  of Luong Chieu Minh Crown Prince:  Si si according to Buddha, Buddha into ghost. A foolish father and son  (癡 心 歸 佛 佛 生 魔, 一 門 父 子 多 膠 蔽) ⁴⁵ .

Conclude

Weakness of predestination is always present in all forms of life. The operation of this principle is extremely subtle and not simple. Contemplating an event, a person, need to clearly see the small elements, both hidden and dominant inside, to partially grasp the truth of a person or thing, phenomenon.

The construction of pagodas, creation of statues, degrees of increase and almsgiving ... of course, there are still blessings and high and low levels depending on the mind and the specific conditions of the practitioner. The simple roof of poor Ghatikara potters offered Buddha Kassaspa ⁴⁶ , still contains much higher values ​​than the magnificent radio, if that work is the result of exhausting the people and cultivating themselves. falling, even though it is  a spiritual self . Bodhidharma Patriarch, a Sangha with internal evidence, so his statement is based on the truthfulness of the truths of the dhammas. Surveying the hidden corners of Luong Vu De's life, showed the objectivity and authenticity in the Master's answer.

There have been many studies of competent Buddhists writing about life as well as aspects of King Luong Vu De's contribution. Through what has just been presented, the writer only wishes to contribute a questionable explanation about the historical meeting between Bodhidharma and Luong Vu De. In the spirit of marketing, the writer longs for the joint contribution of the interested pseudo, to clarify more about a suspect in the history of Buddhism.  END=NAM MO SAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.GOLDEN AMITABHA MONASTERY=AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.2/6/2019.