When Fan Zhen was a teenager, his family was poor and his study conditions were not good. But he worked hard and became a well-read and famous scholar in his twenties. Wang Xiaoliang of Qi Jingling asked Fan Zhen: "If there is no karma, why are there rich and poor in the world?" Fan Zhen pointed to the blooming flowers on the tree and said, "Life is like a flower on a tree. Some fell in the hall, and some were blown into the toilet. It is completely accidental. " This vivid metaphor makes Xiaoliangzi speechless. Liang Wudi mobilized more than 60 outstanding people and wrote more than 70 articles to refute Fan Zhen, but failed to refute him.
Unable to exert pressure on Fan Zhen, the rulers tried to impress Fan Zhen with their high officials and generous salaries. Xiao sent someone to see Fan Zhen: "A talent like you is even a senior official like Zhong. Why stick to your own opinions and hinder your future? " Fan Ju said with a smile, "If I sold my opinion to get an official position, I would be more than a scholar. I would have become a prime minister."
2. Liang Wudi and Buddhism.
The peak of Buddhism development in the Southern Dynasties was in the Liang Dynasty, which lasted for four emperors and fifty-six years, with the longest reign and the most outstanding deeds of serving Buddhism.
Xiao Yan (464-549) was born in Duli, Nanlanling (now Wujin County, Jiangsu Province). His learning route is to learn Confucianism first, then serve Taoism, and then enter Buddhism. Childhood is the stage of learning Confucianism. "When I was young, I learned from Kong Zhou, and I was weak and poor through six classics" (Hong Guangming Ji, Volume 31, Poems on Three Religions). After the age of twenty, he converted to Taoism and never gave up Taoism until he became an emperor. "Sui Shu's Annals of Classics and Records" states, "When Emperor Wu did more good deeds, he was first accepted by Taoism and acceded to the throne, so he took the first chapter" (Annals of Classics and Records of Classics and Sui Shu, Volume 35). After Xiao Yan proclaimed himself emperor, he had a good relationship with Taoist Tao Hongjing. Whenever he met with state affairs, he often sent people to Maoshan to consult Tao Hongjing, so that Tao Hongjing was called "Prime Minister in the Mountain". However, in the second year after his accession to the throne, that is, in the third year of Tian Jian (504), Xiao Yan promulgated the imperial edict of "abandoning the Tao and returning to the Buddha". According to his "Poems on Three Religions", "When you publish a book in your later years, the moon still reflects the stars". I didn't start studying Buddhist scriptures until my later years. This may show that although he issued Buddhist edicts, he did not really give up Taoism completely. But generally speaking, after the imperial edict was issued, he mainly served the Buddha (the authenticity of this imperial edict is in doubt in academic circles, but whether it is true or not, it is a fact that Xiao Yan worships Buddha).
Xiao Yan's support for Buddhism is manifested in two aspects: one is to practice Buddhism personally, and the other is to support the development of Buddhism from all aspects.
After Xiao Yan himself returned to Buddhism, he gradually lived a Buddhist life. He promulgated the "article on abstaining from wine and meat", forbidding monks from eating meat, and he himself was a vegetarian. In his later years, he often ate a meal in the sun, and all he ate was thick rice soup and bean soup. He used secular criminal law to punish those who dared to drink and eat meat. He also issued an imperial edict to kill ancestral temples, which was against Confucian etiquette, but he insisted on it. He was also formally appointed. According to the record in Volume 6 of Continued Biography of Monks, Tian Jian was in prison for eighteen years (5 19), and he "made a big oath and was ordained by the Bodhisattva" (Biography of Yue Hui). One of his most prominent acts of worshipping Buddha is that he laid down his life for the temple slave many times and for the Thai temple four times. Every time, the court spent a lot of money to redeem him. His fourth sacrifice was in March of the first year of Taiqing (547), which lasted for one month and cost "100 million yuan", which brought huge funds to Tongtai Temple.
Xiao Yan himself can be classified as "Yi Xue". He is very good at studying Buddhist scriptures, especially Prajna Sutra, Nirvana Sutra and critical eye. He often lectured for everyone, held various dharma meetings, held thousands of monks' meetings and naked meetings. In the first year of China Datong (529), the number of participants reached more than 50,000. His Buddhist works include Notes on the Maha Prajna Paramita Sutra (the only remaining preface), Notes on the Three Wisdom Sutra (the Three Wisdom Sutra is the product of the three wisdom in the Maha Prajna Sutra, and Xiao Yan thinks this product is the most important, so it is listed separately), Notes on Nirvana Sutra, Notes on the Justice of the Pure Name, and Records of Rectification.
Xiao Yan's contribution to China's Buddhist righteousness is manifested in the combination of China's traditional theory of mind and nature, the theory of immortality of the soul and the theory of nirvana of Buddhism. He belongs to Nirvana School and advocates "Immortals become Buddhas". The so-called "God" refers to the eternal spiritual entity and is the internal basis for all beings to become Buddhas. He also put forward the homology theory of the three religions, arguing that Confucianism and Taoism both originated from Buddhism, and that Laozi and Confucius were both disciples of Sakyamuni, so from this perspective, the three religions can be interlinked, and their social functions are the same, all for educating people to be good.
In addition to his own worship of Buddhism, Xiao Yan also strongly supported the development of Buddhism. He is very supportive of translating the scriptures of foreign monks. He called the Sanskrit to five translation sites to translate the classics, and asked Bao Sang and others to write them for him. He even "bowed to his knees, accepted his writings, and then paid the translator" (Volume I of the Biography of the Sangha-gita. The true meaning is also treated with courtesy under Xiao Yanmen, but the translation of the true meaning is difficult to apply because of the Hou Jing Rebellion. Xiao Yan is also closely related to domestic monks, such as Baoliang, Zhizang, Fayun and Minsheng, all of whom are highly valued by ZSZSZSZ. He organized monks to compile Buddhist works, and compiled at least twelve kinds. He also built a wide range of temples, including eleven temples, such as Da Ai Jing Temple, Du Zhi Temple, Guangzhai Temple and Tongtai Temple. Every temple has a statue of Buddha, the Great Aijing Temple has a bronze statue of gold, the main hall of Du Zhi Temple has a statue of Buddha with infinite life, and Tongtai Temple has ten silver statues.
With the support of Xiao Yan, Buddhism in the Liang Dynasty reached its peak in the Southern Dynasties. For Buddhism, Xiao Yan is a monk. He died of hunger and disease in the Hou Jing uprising.
After Xiao Yan, Jian Wendi and Yuan Di also worshipped Buddha.