Chapter 5 Chapter 4 Jade Emperor - The Weak Leaders Control the Heavenly Court

The Jade Emperor, like Emperor Jiajing in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, didn't care about anything except alchemy, medicine, and immortality. Emperor Jiajing's favorite person was not a minister, but a Taoist priest; the most trusted minister was not Hai Rui, but Yan Song. From this point of view, Emperor Jiajing was incompetent and a 250-year-old emperor, but in fact, many of these were illusions. Just look at one point, if Emperor Jiajing is really incompetent, can he firmly control the government and highly centralize the imperial power for more than 40 years, and he has always been emperor, without any major changes in the court?

In the Jiajing Dynasty, eunuchs did not hold power, foreign relatives did not participate in politics, the central government was stable, and the cabinet showed great power. This is the wise and powerful side of Emperor Jiajing. The Jade Emperor is similar to Jiajing, and the same thing is that he is superficially incompetent, but in fact he is not mediocre.But there are also differences between the two. The difference is that Jiajing is the real emperor, who judges life and death with one word, and the imperial power is supreme, while the Jade Emperor is very weak, almost a puppet. He is sandwiched between the leaders of Buddhism and Taoism, and he is careful to survive.

Why is it said that the Jade Emperor is almost a puppet? The criterion for judging whether a ruler is a puppet is not whether he is outstanding in literary and martial arts, nor whether he is wise and powerful, but whether he has enough power to influence the current situation. Then, as the unified ruler of heaven, earth, and the underworld, the Jade Emperor is at least the lord of the three realms on the surface. How much power does he really hold? First of all, the four dragon kings, the ten kings of Hades, and billions of people in the world are all loyal fans of the Jade Emperor. , the number is also very frightening, but the strength is almost negligible, not enough to influence the current situation.

There are a lot of dragon kings, shrimp soldiers and crabs in the four seas. They can't do anything serious except when it rains. Fortunately, it was bought by Tang Seng's father, Chen Guangrui, and then released, otherwise the majestic Dragon King would have been stewed into fish soup. As for the Ten Kings of Hades, it is purely a display. Apart from drawing pictures on the life and death book, they send a bull-headed horse face and black and white impermanence to scare people. They dare not provoke those who have a little strength. , Yan Jun all compromised, and the book of life and death is obediently presented to you, Shangxian, you can draw whatever you want.

Not to mention the little power in the world. Some people may say that the power of the Jade Emperor is in the heavens, and the gods are all his subordinates. However, in the battle of Sun Wukong's havoc in the Heavenly Palace, we can clearly find that the heavenly soldiers and generals are vulnerable, and one hundred thousand can't hold up to Monkey King alone, and those giants such as Taishang Laojun, Yuanshi Tianzun, Lingbao Tianzun, Taiyi Tianzun , Daluo Jinxian, Barefoot Daxian, Zhenyuan Daxian, Fu Lu Shou Samsung, etc., are completely unhandled and do not obey orders at all, otherwise Zhenyuan Daxian alone can clean up Monkey King.

Without exception, these people are all giants of Taoism, but they ignore the Jade Emperor, do not work hard, do not participate in the war, and are almost completely out of the way. So the Jade Emperor has only one power, the Immortal.And Taishang Laojun, Yuanshi Tianzun, Zhenyuan Daxian, etc. are not the power of the Jade Emperor. It is estimated that some readers will be confused, aren't Taishang Laojun and the others gods? Here, it is necessary to clarify the concept. Taishang Laojun and the others are gods in the usual sense, but not in the absolute sense. We often refer to all people who know magic as gods, such as Taishang Laojun, Taibai Jinxing, Tota Heavenly King, Nezha, Yama, Dragon King, and even Tathagata and Guanyin as gods. Strictly speaking, this is wrong. of.

Tathagata once said that there are five kinds of immortals in the world, heaven, earth, gods, humans, and ghosts. Their comprehensive strength ranks are heavenly immortals, earth immortals, immortals, human immortals, and ghost immortals. The super powerful celestial beings are the Taishang Laojun, Yuanshi Tianzun, and Lingbao Daojun, that is, the Taoist faction headed by Sanqing, including Taibai Jinxing and others; Such as Li Jing, the king of Tota, the third prince of Nezha, the four heavenly kings, the Jiuyaoxing Palace, the elders of the five directions, the twenty-eight constellations, etc., the fourth-ranked celestial beings are familiar practitioners, like the four great masters of heaven. The immortals were all alchemists before, and the Zhenwu Emperor who appeared on the way to learn the scriptures was also a human immortal. The ghost immortals ranked last were headed by the ten generations of Hades, including city gods, mountain gods and earth and other insignificant immortals.

As for the Tathagata Buddha, Guanyin Bodhisattva, eighteen arhats, etc., they cannot be called gods at all, but can only be called Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and arhats.Because immortal is only a special title of Taoism. After clarifying the basic concepts, Jade Emperor's strength is very clear. Human immortals and ghost immortals have limited power. The heavenly immortals headed by Sanqing and the earth immortals headed by Zhen Yuanzi are high above them. They usually practice alchemy and Taoism. They seem to live outside the world. The only card that can be drawn here is the god headed by Tota Li Tianwang. He relies on Li Jing's 100,000 heavenly soldiers and generals, and the canopy's 100,000 Tianhe navy.

Immortals are still middle-class in the fairy world, how can the Jade Emperor use them to control the situation?What's more, the only reliable power is the eyeliner placed by the gods. Weak leaders have never had a good end, such as Emperor Xian of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Mao of Wei State, and Guangxu of the late Qing Dynasty, but how could the weak Jade Emperor, who was also at a disadvantage, be safe and sound?Not only that, but he can still sit firmly on the Jade Emperor's throne for a long time, and he will be escorted by an expert at critical moments, which requires political wisdom.

The political wisdom of the Jade Emperor can be listed as follows. First, build momentum.Look at the full title of the Jade Emperor, which is "The Jade Emperor, the Great Sage, the Great Merciful, the Great Heavenly Venerable, the Highest God", he has used up all the good words, such as holy, benevolent, benevolent, tall, big, respectful, emperor, heaven, and emperor. It is to pack itself in the name, highlighting its profound connotation with great tension. It is impossible not to attract people's attention. Guanyin is called "Great Mercy and Great Compassion Guanyin Bodhisattva". With such a short length, can it be compared with the Jade Emperor?As for the Tathagata, it is even more vulgar. What "knows the past and the future, the Western Tathagata Buddha" confines himself to a mountainous area in the west. How can there be the majestic and unparalleled power of the Jade Emperor?

Second, make up your personal resume.The Tathagata Buddha introduced the Jade Emperor in this way: "He has practiced since he was a child and has experienced 1,750 kalpas. Each kalpa should be 129,600 years. Calculate how many years he should have before he can enjoy this The Way of Infinity? How can you, a beast who was born as a human in the first life, make such a big statement!" This shows that the Jade Emperor not only practiced for a long time, but also lived as long as the sky. Don't worry, I've caught up with the world. With this kind of qualifications, I can't be the boss. Isn't it a bit unreasonable? Third, treat people with humility.The Jade Emperor has always been gentle and courteous in his dealings with others, and he seldom gets angry. Except for scolding Sun Wukong, he never swears, especially to the leaders of Buddhism and Taoism, he is respectful.Whether it is the visit of the Taishang Laojun or the visit of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, the Jade Emperor always responds at the lower level, calling his honorary title, never putting on the airs of the emperor, with a humble, warm face, and a warm smile, which makes people feel refreshed and refreshed . Fourth, follow advice like a stream.The Jade Emperor has few confidants, but they are all hard-core, such as Li Jing, who is simply a gold medalist, who will never change his life and death for the Jade Emperor, and Taibai. The emperor made plans and took risks many times, why?Just because the Jade Emperor respected others, he was always admonishing him, just like Liu Bei treated Zhuge Liang, whatever Taibai Jinxing said, the Jade Emperor almost followed suit, and no matter what the consequences would be in the future, the Jade Emperor never blamed him, he was a confidant The dead, with such a good boss who understands righteousness, can the employees not give up? Fifth, be tolerant.The Jade Emperor has always turned a blind eye to the violations of laws and disciplines by Laojun, Tathagata and other factions. After all, they are political giants.The boy of the Taishang Laojun went to be the King of the Golden Horn and Silver Horn, endangering the next generation, but the Jade Emperor held back; The horses descended one after another, and the Jade Emperor also endured it; the Tathagata's uncle Tuguo ate people, but the Jade Emperor still endured it, and never expressed the emotion that he could not bear it anymore, and he did not need to bear it anymore. These methods are necessary for a good politician, but relying on these things alone, I am afraid that it is not enough to control the three worlds with one hand, turn the clouds and rain, and traverse the ancient times and the free and unfettered realm in the state of the existence of the Taishang Laojun and the Tathagata Buddha. The real power of the Jade Emperor is definitely not here. So where is the Jade Emperor's real strength? The author believes that the real power of the Jade Emperor lies in his balance of Taoism and Buddhism. In front of the Taishang Laojun and the Tathagata Buddha, the Jade Emperor is definitely not the strongest in power and skill, because in the whole book, we can't find the shadow of the Jade Emperor showing his talents. But it is not the strongest, only the strongest can be controlled, and leadership has always been like this. The Jade Emperor is the same. First, the Jade Emperor defined the nature of the power of Buddhism and Taoism.The Jade Emperor positioned the nature of Buddhism and Taoism as a religion, and made this concept deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.What is religion for?If you become a monk to meditate, eat fast and chant scriptures, catch ghosts and exorcise evil spirits, and ward off evil spirits, you are either empty of the four elements, or serve the people. When is it your turn to be in power?Therefore, this position has to be done by me! Second, the Jade Emperor was very respectful and humble to the leaders of Buddhism and Taoism. With them, the Jade Emperor was never self-willed or domineering.In the fifth chapter of the original book - four great masters came to play: "The Taishang Daozu has come." The Jade Emperor went out to meet the Queen Mother.In the sixth chapter - the Bodhisattva said: "I want to see the Jade Emperor, and it's a rendition." The celestial master Qiu Hongji immediately entered the Lingxiao Palace and enlightened him.From time to time, there is an old gentleman on the top, and the queen mother is behind.The Bodhisattva led the crowd into the room together, and after paying homage to the Jade Emperor, he met the Laojun and the Queen Mother and sat down.Chapter 7 - After the Tathagata subdued Sun Wukong, the Jade Emperor went up to the Buddha to thank him and said: "Dharma has been used to kill the evil spirits. I hope that the Tathagata will stop for a day, and invite all the immortals to have a banquet to thank you." Tathagata dare not disobey , That is to say, put your palms together and thank you: "The old monk came here under the command of the Great Tianzun, what mana does he have? Or is the Tianzun and the gods Hongfu, dare to thank you?" From the above, it can be seen that the Jade Emperor respects the Taishang Laojun the most, and respects the Tathagata Buddha slightly. Second to the Taishang Laojun, respecting Guanyin Bodhisattva is the last, which is in line with the status of the three.The Taishang Laojun is the ancestor of the gods, Guanyin Bodhisattva is one generation lower than him, the Tathagata does not live in the heavenly court, and the power is not as good as Taoism (detailed later), so the Jade Emperor is very appropriate to do this, and it is very pleasing and reassuring .Tathagata respects the Jade Emperor on the surface, but in fact he is not.There are three points that can be seen. First, the Jade Emperor asked the Tathagata for help. The Tathagata has no humility and no shame in accepting the invitation; Thank you for coming here and please, Tathagata doesn't want to deal with the Jade Emperor at all; third, Guanyin usually calls himself a "poor monk" in front of the Jade Emperor, but Tathagata calls himself an "old monk" carelessly. Are you as old as the Jade Emperor?Therefore, Buddhism and Taoism are both very powerful, and Jade Emperor has to maintain them and dare not offend them. Only by handling them properly can they keep their position, and Jade Emperor did it right. Third, the Jade Emperor is good at balancing power.In terms of the balance of power, the Jade Emperor pays great attention to both Buddhism and Taoism. The Jade Emperor himself is a Taoist, but the Jade Emperor has no trace of pro-Buddhism. The dispatch of Tathagata, Guanyin and others has greatly prevented the situation where the Taoist family dominates, thereby restraining the power of the Buddhist and Taoist families, balancing the situation, and benefiting from it. The author said that it is just not the strongest, but can often restrain the strongest. It seems weak, but it can overcome strength. Leadership has always been like this. Of course, the reason why the Jade Emperor was able to contain Buddhism and Taoism and secure the throne is because there are two strong people around him. If there is no Buddha in the world, can the Jade Emperor protect himself?If the Taoism is destroyed, how can the Jade Emperor survive forever? So, if the leader is weak, don't rely on a strong one. Just like the wise monarchs of the past dynasties, they are about to pass away. If what is left is a stand where the weak and the strong are left behind, the minister who takes care of his life will often not be one. He appointed two ministers - Zhuge Liang and Li Yan. To deal with the strong, use wisdom without force, and the most important wisdom is balance. Balance is not only a technique, but also an art, especially the art of leadership. For example, Liu Beiwen is not as good as Kong Ming, and Wu is not as good as Guan Zhang. For example, Song Jiangzhi relies on Wu Yong and Gongsun, Wu needs Junyi, and Wu Song, but both Liu Bei and Song Jiang can be the boss. Jade Emperor is like this.