Chapter 46 four

On April 8th of the Yangtiema Year (1270) in the Tibetan calendar, Kublai Khan decreed that Phagspa, the Dharma Master of the Western Land, be granted the title of Emperor Phagpa under the Heaven, above the Earth, as the son of the Buddha in the West, as the incarnation of the Buddha, as the emperor who created characters and assisted in governing the country. , Bestow jade seal. In May of the eighth year of Zhiyuan (1271), outside the city of Dadu, the court staff and others prepared the servants, music, Caiyu and Xiangyu and went out of the city for ten miles to welcome the emperor Basiba.

Not long after, I saw the imperial master Basiba's retinue coming eastward towards the Marco Polo Bridge in the west.The prince Zhenjin, acting as the regent, dismounted from his horse by the side of the road, and together with his concubines, civil and military officials, placed a throne decorated with treasures on the back of an Indian elephant, and fluttered umbrellas with precious brocade and tassels, prayer flags, banners and gongs The grand drum music led by drum music grandly welcomed the emperor into the palace. On this day, the Daming Hall was resplendent and resplendent. The Dharma is like the moon rising in the lotus garden, which is very vivid.

Kublai Khan is wearing a brocade dragon robe and sitting on a dragon chair. On the left is Empress Chabi, and on the right is Emperor Basiba.All the officials in the audience congratulated the emperor and teacher on his return to court according to the etiquette. However, as the emperor's teacher, Basiba, who is in charge of the world's Buddhism and political and religious affairs in Tubo, returned to Beijing. The first major thing he did was not to preach Buddhism or impart empowerment, but to offer Kublai Khan the Buddhist scriptures created by him. A new type of script - a timeless and elegant Mongolian script that no one has ever seen: Basiba script.

"Emperor Basipa was ordered to create Mongolian characters, which is a sign of the longevity of our dynasty." Kublai Khan examined Basipa's writing for a long time and said excitedly. "At the beginning of the establishment of the Mongol Khanate, when sending information, issuing orders, and narrating historical events, we could only send emissaries with quick words and strong memories to memorize them in their hearts, and then gallop thousands of miles to convey them to the other party. Until Genghis Khan wiped out the Naiman tribe Tayang Genghis Khan captured Tata Tonga, the official of Tayang Khan and a Uighur, and then he knew the purpose of the cashier's money and the seal of the appointed talent. Therefore, Genghis Khan ordered Tata Tonga to teach the princes to write in Uighur. National language (Mongolian)."

After being separated for several years, Phagpa and Kublai Khan seemed to have a lot to say.In the eyes of Ba Siba, Kublai Khan was still full of energy and charming. "Some people call the Uighur Mongolian script an old Mongolian character. In fact, this is not a real creation of a script, but borrowing the Uighur script to spell the Mongolian script. Years of wars, Mongolian noble youths have no time to learn Uighur Mongolian. However, this method of borrowing has been extended to other languages. In addition to using Uighur characters to spell Mongolian, Genghis Khan, Ogotai Khan, Guiyu Khan, and Mengge Khan also used Chinese characters and Hui palindrome (Persian) and Xixia script to mark the Mongolian language."

"This is what the late emperor needed to consider in the wars of destroying Xixia, Jin and the western conquest of Khwarazmo." Kublai Khan interjected, "When dealing with Central Asia during the Western Expedition, we used palindrome, and when we destroyed Jin and Song Dynasty, we used palindrome. Today, the new Mongolian characters created by the emperor have little influence from the Mongolian script created by Tata Tonga." He unfolded a roll of rice paper, facing all the civil and military officials, and the princes Nayan, with Basiba's imperial edict written in Neo-Mongolian script.

"Oh--" There was an exclamation in the hall. Kublai Khan put away the edict and handed it to Queen Chabi.Empress Chabi respectfully asked Basiba: "It is said that after the Lord Saban arrived in Liangzhou at the call of King Kuoduan, he deeply felt that there were many ethnic groups under the rule of the Mongolian Khanate, and the language was complex, and Mongolia did not have its own language. It is extremely detrimental to the spread of Buddhism, isn’t it?” "As the queen said, King Kuoduan then asked Master Saban to create Mongolian characters. The Master responded and thought hard all night. At dawn the next morning, he saw a Tibetan woman kneeling on the ground holding grass and scratching a tree. Seeing this sign, The master suddenly realized that the Mongolian alphabet was created according to the shape of scratching wood, divided into three types: yang, yin, and middle; strong, weak, and weak, that is, male, female, and neutral. It is a pity that the Buddhist scriptures were not translated in this Mongolian language due to lack of opportunity at that time. Later, the Dharma Master Sakya Pandita passed away, and this matter was put aside for the time being. Now, I offer Today's Holy Majesty's order has finally completed the unfinished business of uncle."

Kublai Khan was overjoyed, and immediately issued an edict to the world: Zhenwei words are written in books, and words are used to record events. This is the same system from ancient to modern times.Our country Zhaoji Shuofang, the custom is still simple and ancient, and it has not been produced. Whenever the characters are used, Han Kai and Uighur characters are used to achieve the words of the dynasty.Examining the Liao, Jin, and Yafang countries, each of the examples has its own characters. Today, Wenzhi is flourishing, but there is a shortage of characters and books. In the system of one generation, it is really unprepared.Therefore, the emperor Basiba was specially ordered to create new Mongolian characters, and to translate and write all the characters, which is just to make things happen.From now on, all those who have issued a seal book and use the new Mongolian characters are still replaced by their own national characters.