Chapter 1240

Su Xuan does not dwell on the question of whether the Buddhist Sect is compassionate with Xu Ziling, but changes the subject and directly talks about another matter.

"Since the Northern and Southern Dynasties, countries like Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen, as well as the two generations of emperors of the current Sui Dynasty, have almost all believed in Buddhism. Therefore, Buddhist temples everywhere do not need to pay corvée taxes, which makes them collect incense money while not engaging in production. Also, because Buddhist people are strictly forbidden from marriage, they have not played any positive role in the growth of the world's population. The money they received for nothing was used by them to build temples, which is why there are magnificent Buddha statues and luxurious palaces and temples. Besides doing these things, they also used the money for loans. Once a war breaks out, natural and man-made disasters appear, and the people suffer, so they borrow from temples. Because they have no money to repay, they can only mortgage their meager farmland."

"As a result, temples have gained tens of thousands of hectares of good farmland for nothing. I said before that Buddhist monks do not engage in production. Of course, they cannot farm so much good farmland themselves. For them, chanting in front of Buddha statues every day is enough. Anyway, the Buddha is compassionate and provides them with all their food and clothing. They will not go to farm like the poorest people at the bottom. But so much farmland is wasted, which is a bit inappropriate, so they recruit poor people to work for them. They give the poor food and drink, and these people farm for them."

"And because these farmlands are registered under the name of the temple, and the temple does not need to pay corvée taxes, for the country, it cannot receive any benefits."

"A temple has thousands or tens of thousands of hectares of good farmland. Adding up the whole country, I don't know how many temples there are. All the monks in these temples do not engage in production, do not marry or have children, and do not pay taxes. Over time, this will only lead to the country becoming poorer and poorer, while the temples become richer and richer. Because the country becomes poor and the national treasury is empty, the king is unable to govern the country, and the country will fall into great chaos. The world is in chaos, and the people are directly affected, becoming destitute. In times of hardship, they can only seek help from gods and Buddhas, and as a result, the temples have become the biggest beneficiaries."

"How could it be like this?"

Xu Ziling's body sways slightly, somewhat incredulous.

If what Su Xuan said is true, the true face of the Buddhist people is truly contemptible.

They are not compassionate at all; they are clearly the parasites of the country.

Kou Zhong, after hearing Su Xuan's words, also ignores Su Xuan's identity as a "Demonic Sect" member and constantly ponders Su Xuan's words. Kou Zhong has to admit that Su Xuan's words are well-founded and not some twisted logic.

"You are very good at speaking!"

Xu Ziling recovers. He sticks to his beliefs, not because he wants to speak for the Buddhist Sect or defend it, but because Su Xuan's words have somewhat overturned the impression of the Buddhist Sect in his heart.

"Whether I am distorting the facts, you can find some famous temples yourselves and investigate secretly, won't you know?"

"Not to mention anything else, you have seen the true appearance of the Jingnian Zen Temple earlier. The vast Jingnian Zen Temple is built like a city. To hide the He's Jade, they even built a huge bronze hall. I don't know how much copper is needed for such a large bronze hall. You must know that in the Central Plains, copper mines are scarce, and copper is the main material for casting coins."

"With so much copper, if it were used to cast money, I don't know how many coins could be cast."

After answering Xu Ziling's words, Su Xuan adds, "A true Buddha, if he really saves the world and is compassionate, does not need luxurious palaces or magnificent statues. Conversely, if it is not a true Buddha, no matter how magnificently decorated it is, it is just a cold statue."

Xu Ziling is silent.

He is a person from the very bottom of the Yangzhou streets and has seen the suffering of the world. He knows how long the poorest people have to work for a few copper coins. The Jingnian Zen Temple using so much copper to build a bronze hall just to place the He's Jade is indeed problematic.

Su Xuan looks at the silent Xu Ziling and says, "It is precisely because the existence of the Buddhist Sect is like a parasite, absorbing nutrients from the people of the world to nourish itself, that I say only by destroying Buddhism can the people of the world be saved."

Su Xuan then talks about another matter.

"About fifty years ago, when the world was not yet unified, the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Wu of Zhou, once ordered the destruction of Buddhism, causing all Buddha statues everywhere to be destroyed and ordering monks everywhere to return to secular life. Everything not recorded in the rites was removed. For a time, in the Northern Zhou territory, Buddhism was melted and scriptures were burned, and monks were driven away and temples were broken. A total of 40,000 temples were burned, and 3 million monks and nuns were forced to return to secular life."

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"This is an extremely terrifying thing. You must know that the population of the world today is only so much, yet there are 3 million monks who do not engage in production, do not work, and do not have children. If everyone in the world were a monk, the world would perish in one generation."

This is not an alarmist thing, but a fact.

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, because they were born at the very bottom of society, although they can read, know nothing about these allusions. At this moment, hearing Su Xuan's words, they cannot help but feel their hearts shaken, shocked beyond measure.

Then they hear Su Xuan continue, "This destruction of Buddhism by Northern Zhou lasted for a long time, and in terms of results, it also had the effect of slightly reducing people's corvée, increasing annual rent and taxes, and strengthening the army, greatly improving social productivity. At that time, some even praised the policy of destroying Buddhism as a top-tier policy to restore the country and strengthen the people."

"Unfortunately, the results of Northern Zhou's destruction of Buddhism were all usurped by Yang Jian. After Yang Jian usurped Zhou, the money obtained from the destruction of Buddhism in the Zhou treasury became the capital for Yang Jian to unify the world. After unifying the world, in order to promote the policy of keeping the people ignorant, the Buddhist Sect, which was suppressed by the Zhou Dynasty, became a sharp weapon in Yang Jian's hands and was reused. Later, Yang Guang succeeded to the throne and also reused the Buddhist Sect. However, Yang Guang's thoughts were ultimately different from Yang Jian's, which is also the reason why the Buddhist Sect abandoned Yang Guang and supported Li Shimin, preparing to use the He's Jade to choose a new emperor by heaven's mandate!"

"So that's how it is!"

Kou Zhong, upon hearing Su Xuan's words, has a look of sudden realization.

He knows his good brother Xu Ziling very well and knows Xu Ziling's previous thoughts, so he looks at Xu Ziling again.

Xu Ziling's expression is very complicated, but unexpectedly, he does not continue to refute Su Xuan's words about destroying Buddhism. Su Xuan's remarks have unknowingly persuaded him somewhat.

Of course, whether the true face of the Buddhist Sect is as Su Xuan said, he will naturally investigate it clearly.