Chapter 13 Section 6 Illusions of Buddhism, Taoism, and Alchemists

During the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties, warlords fought for a long time, the society was extremely turbulent, and people's lives were extremely unstable.Due to political darkness, social turmoil, people's lives are difficult and their spirits are depressed, some intellectuals often seek relief from religion.At this time, not only the influence of the alchemists that emerged in the pre-Qin period of our country was extended, and Taoism was established by combining Huang Lao, the theory of the five elements, and the theory of Confucian prophecy, but also the Buddhism of ancient Tianzhu, after it flowed into the east, gradually merged with the psychology of our people. Buddhism, upbringing, culture, and customs are fused together to form Chinese-style Buddhism.

In order to expand their power and influence, Buddhist and Taoist believers, in addition to fabricating a large number of supernatural stories and legends to confuse the king and the masses, often use illusions to win the trust of the king and the people, and cover themselves with a layer of magic. Mysterious color, as if he is a worldly expert who has attained the Tao. Fan Ye's "Book of the Later Han·Zuo Ci Biography" records that Zuo Ci, an alchemist in the late Han Dynasty, was an illusionist who appeared in the form of a fairy: Judging from this historical record, Zuo Ci performed three illusions in front of Cao Cao:

First, fishing with a hanging pole and an empty plate.He fished with a bamboo pole, and caught several three-foot-long, fresh live bass from the empty pan for people to taste. Second, ginger in the pot.After Zuo Ci caught fish, Cao Cao challenged him and asked for ginger from Xishu, so Zuo Ci turned into ginger in an instant. Third, the preserved wine is greatly removed.He went on an outing with Cao Cao, took out wine and meat, and invited Cao Cao's officials to eat and drink. After eating all the wine and meat, he returned and made everyone drunk. Zuo Ci's exquisite illusion performance terrified Cao Cao, and he wanted to kill Zuo Ci.Unexpectedly, Zuo Ci escaped from the tiger's mouth by relying on his "escape technique", that is, the method of blinding eyes.

In "Taiping Guangji" Volume 71 "Ge Xuan", it is recorded in Jin Dynasty Ge Hong's "Shen Xian Zhuan" records his grandfather Ge Xuan's illusion: In this section, it is recorded that Ge Xuan performed four illusions: One, it breathes fire from its mouth.Ge Xuan breathed fire out of his mouth to warm the guests, increasing the temperature in the room.This kind of illusion is common on the opera stage today, and Sichuan opera is especially good at it. Second, the rice grains turn into wasps and fly away. Third, fishing in water.This technique is the same as Zuo Ci's method, and it is similar to today's aerial fishing acrobatics.

Fourth, the empty cup is juice. Ge Hong said in "The Legend of the Immortals" that his grandfather "disassembled" his body and became a fairy. In fact, he is not ignorant of human fireworks, and the illusions he performed are all "hand-painted acrobatics". In the first and third volumes of "Chu San Zang Ji Ji", Kang Senghui was an illusionist during the Three Kingdoms period.He traveled to Soochow to meet Sun Quan. In order to gain Sun Quan's trust, he performed illusions in public and conjured up a shining "relic".This "relic" was so hard that Sun Quan ordered someone to smash it violently with an anvil without any damage.Therefore, Sun Quan believed that he was an eminent monk, believed that the "relic" was a Buddhist relic, and built a pagoda in Soochow.The "relics" recorded here are likely to be minerals such as diamonds. They are extremely hard and have a special luster, and they are not Buddhist supernatural things.

Fotucheng, a monk in Zhao Dynasty after the Western Jin Dynasty, won the trust of Shi Le and Shi Hu, the kings of the two later Zhao dynasties, because of his smooth debating skills and superb illusion skills.According to the "Book of Jin Art Biography" written by Fang Xuanling of the Tang Dynasty, once Shi Le summoned Fotucheng to try his "Taoist skills", so he took out a bowl, filled it with water, and said "burning incense" ", in a short period of time, suddenly "green lotus flowers were born from the bowl, shining brightly on the sun".When Shi Le saw this wonderful scene, he was greatly admired, and "believed it from this".After Shi Le died, Shi Hu usurped the throne.Although Shi Hu also reused Fotucheng, he was suspicious, so he used many methods to test Fotucheng's magical powers.Although Fo Tucheng escaped from the danger several times by relying on his smooth rhetoric and brilliant illusion, he finally felt that it was difficult to deal with it any longer, so he feigned death and fled.According to "Ye Zhong Ji", after Fo Tucheng faked his death and escaped with a blindfold, he also used illusion to warn Shi Hu.He first showed up occasionally in "Longshang" to show his miraculous powers, and then quickly disappeared.Shi Hu was already very suspicious, he heard rumors that Fotucheng was still there, and wanted to open his coffin to see what happened.As a result, after the coffin was opened, there was no body of Fotucheng, "only one stone (only one stone)".Shi Hu's real surname is Shi, and when he saw Fotucheng burying the stone and went away, it seemed to imply that his death was approaching, and he was terrified in his heart.In the second year, Shi Hu died of illness, and then Zhao was in chaos.

Master Kumarajiva, a famous monk in the Western Jin Dynasty, was one of the four major translators of Buddhist scriptures.According to the "Book of Jin Art Biography", Kumarajiva performed a set of illusions for Zhongshu supervisor Zhang Zi in order to break the "foreign Taoist Luocha" and falsely claim to be able to cure diseases.He used "five-color silk as a knot", and "burned the rope to ashes" and threw it into the water. After a while, "the ashes gathered and floated out" and turned into a rope again.Emperor Yao Xing of the Later Qin Dynasty sent people to welcome Kumarajiva into the capital and treated him as a national teacher.But Yao Xing is a very weird person. I don’t know what kind of thoughts he has. He used coercive means to force Kumarajiva to have sex with "ten prostitutes" one after another, causing many mediocre monks to follow Kumarajiva one after another. And break the precept.Seeing this, Kumarajiva was very guilty, so he had to use illusion to warn the monks.He first used hand-painted illusions to "gather needles and fill the bowl", and then solemnly said to the monks that only those who can swallow the iron needles in the bowl can marry a wife and break the precept.After saying that, he "raised the dagger to insert the needle, which is no different from regular food." When the monks saw that Kumarajiva ate the iron needle as if eating food, they all exclaimed "ashamed to obey", so they dared not marry a wife.