Great time travel

Chapter 623: Buddha Kingdom Without Buddha

Chapter 23, Buddha Land without Buddha

When he heard that he was going to Bihar on the bus of a domestic Buddhist pilgrimage group, Wang Qiu initially thought he would be with a group of monks and nuns.It turned out that after getting on the bus, I found out that there didn’t seem to be any bald religious people in the Buddhist pilgrimage tour group contacted by Bai Quanyi’s health commissioner. There were only a group of fashionable old men and women who curiously took pictures with their cameras. west beat.In addition, there were a few middle-aged successful people who were bloated, wearing suits or floral shirts, and when they got in the car, they took out their tablet computers and clicked them. Wang Qiu originally secretly praised them for not forgetting their work all the time, but a closer look Look, but found that they were all playing "Angry Birds"... Later, he carefully studied the leaflet that Bai Quanyi had given him, only to find out that the organizer of this tour group was actually a certain Vegetarian Society.

Generally speaking, this tour group should be regarded as quite high-end in India. They took an imported tourist bus with air-conditioning, and the local tour guide was also an Indian beauty in sari who could speak fluent English and bad Chinese... In addition In the car, there are even two waiters who specialize in serving tourists, wearing neat uniforms, standing at the door of the car with a smile to welcome the passengers, helping them with their luggage, and graciously handing them sweat towels.

Then, from the beginning of the bus distribution in the evening, the two waiters are like stewardesses in a civil aviation airliner, delivering various things to the passengers in the bus non-stop. First, they take out several newspapers and travel magazines for tourists to choose from. Come down and deliver a bottle of mineral water to each tourist, and then a small lunch box for each person, which includes a spoon, a bag of biscuits, a piece of sugar, two tea bags and a plastic cup; then ask while delivering boiled water Whether the dinner on the car needs to be vegetarian or non-vegetarian; after the inquiry, the food will be delivered. The non-vegetarian meal is chicken curry and sweet rice, and the vegetarian meal is vegetarian burger and juice. A microwave came out to heat it up.Finally there is ice cream and gum.

After this set of procedures, it takes about two hours before and after. During these two hours, the waiters have been busy all the time, and all the tourists have to do is sit on the chair, choose the food and nod and smile... a body The feeling of being a superior person suddenly arises spontaneously...

——After paying 1000 yuan per person, the tour group leader generously stated that Wang Qiu and others who are just car-lovers can also enjoy the same service.

Since this is a Buddhist pilgrimage tour group, most of the tourists chose vegetarian meals, but Wang Qiu insisted on ordering meat dishes, because he always felt that a hamburger was not enough for dinner, and it was hard to imagine what kind of thing a vegetarian hamburger was. Son - can a hamburger without meat be called a hamburger?

Then, he saw the successful man in the seat next to him who ordered a vegetarian meal, frowning, and got two kinds of vegetarian burgers, one was bread sandwiched with fried potato cakes, and the other was mung bean curry paste stuffed in the bread.Served with some shredded vegetables and tomato sauce, and wrapped in a piece of tin foil in a fake way, it looks like an aborigine saw the space shuttle and built one with wood, thinking that it should also be able to pass through the atmosphere.

And the two veggie burgers tasted just as bad—the successful man shook his head and threw it away after only one bite.

Obviously, such a strange veggie burger will definitely not be sold outside of India...but Wang Qiu's non-vegetarian meal is not much better, the sweet rice seems to be stirred with suet and sugar, half-cooked , and it was so boring that he ended up shamefully left with a lot of it.

By the time dinner was over, it was getting dark.Since it is driving at night, there is nothing to see. If it is on a domestic expressway, the passengers are probably already drowsy, but in India, they are so bumped that they cannot sleep at all-speaking of, the northern Indian Most of the area is an endless plain, and even the small hills (the majestic Himalayas are far away at the other end of the horizon) are rare to see one, and the land is fairly solid. It stands to reason that it should be easy to build roads Yes, at least it is much easier than the Chinese being forced to build bridges and dig tunnels in the valleys of southwest Yunnan and Guizhou.But in fact, the road system in modern India seems to be the same as the Indian Railways. It was left by the British back then. Even the so-called "highways" on which tourist buses travel are actually just ordinary roads with hardened surfaces. Some sections even Simply a dirt road.You can see wandering cows on every section of the road. There are very few completely enclosed expressways, and the expressway on the viaduct is even more legendary... There are so many toll stations that there are one every ten kilometers. Unfortunately, the road surface is poorly maintained, with potholes everywhere...

The tourist bus of the Buddhist pilgrimage tour group stopped and drove like this, and it couldn’t get up. Finally, it stopped at a place similar to the service area of ​​a gas station. Rest overnight in the car, and continue to set off tomorrow morning - it seems that the organizers of the tour group probably already know that, given the road conditions in India, it is impossible for passengers to fall asleep on a moving bus.

So, a car of tourists got off the car just like this, but when they really got outside the door of the toilet, they couldn't help pinching their noses together: because the toilet at the gas station is very dirty, the floor inside There are wet water spots everywhere, and the white tiles have turned into a strange yellow color of excrement. There are all kinds of weird liquids and bugs floating on the water spots, as well as fecal residues that have not been rinsed. As for the toilet seat on the toilet , is covered with dirty shoe prints, presumably because tourists who use it have to step directly on the toilet seat in order to avoid filth.

Faced with such a situation, the men reluctantly endured it and passed it, but the female tourists, especially those wearing long skirts, had a hard time. If they just went in to the toilet like this, I'm afraid The skirt would become an absorbent rag, and even stain the filth on the ground... Wang Qiu didn't know how they solved it in the end, but when they came back, they found that Ju Chuan Shizuka didn't even get out of the car.

"...Uh, don't you need to go down for convenience? You can't hold it all night!" Wang Qiu asked curiously.

Then, the blond and cute female school doctor with an astonishing bust gave Wang Qiu an embarrassing answer.

"...It's okay, people have expected this kind of situation a long time ago, and they have worn adult diapers under the skirt beforehand..."

——It should be said that although Mrs. Ju Chuan Shizuka's bust is seriously beyond the average level of Asians, is she really worthy of Japanese thinking?

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Although this tourist bus is not a sleeper car, as long as the seat is put down, it becomes a reclining chair, which can be used overnight.

——After going to the toilet, some of the tired passengers put on eye masks and earplugs, wrapped themselves in the blankets distributed by the tour guide, and began to fall asleep.And other passengers who were still unable to sleep put on Bluetooth headsets and watched with relish the historical and cultural promotional videos of Indian Buddhism on the car TV.

In East Asian countries, basically anyone knows that Buddhism originated in India.But everyone also knows that as early as nearly a thousand years ago, Buddhism in India had entered the Dharma-ending era.The era when Tang Monk went to the West to learn scriptures was already the last glory of Indian Buddhism, and after that, it went downhill all the way until it collapsed—at the latest when Wu Chengen wrote "Journey to the West" in the Ming Dynasty, the land of Tianzhu was actually without scriptures Desirable.

Speaking of the origin of Indian Buddhism, we have to start with the birth of Indian civilization—the word India originally meant "moon". In the Western Han Dynasty, India was called "Shendu". Known as "Tianzhu", it was not confirmed that it was called India until the Tang Dynasty.Ancient India is one of the four ancient civilizations in the world at the same time as China, ancient Egypt, and Mesopotamia. It has a long history of nearly four to five thousand years.

However, unlike the 5000-year continuity of Chinese civilization, Indian civilization has been interrupted several times, and even the meaning of the concept of "Indian" has undergone tremendous changes-just as no one would compare modern Americans with The ancient North American Indians were grouped together in the same category.

Unlike the yellow races in East Asia who ruled the world, the initial inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent were relatively mixed. There were African-type Negro races, Australian-type dark-brown races, Mongolian races similar to our Chinese, and people from the Mediterranean Sea. The Dravidians of the region and so on.

Before the Aryans invaded, the Dravidians were the earliest civilized race in India. They established a series of splendid and magnificent cities in the Indus River Basin, such as the famous Mohenjodaro ruins, and several others surrounded by deserts and sea water. The submerged mysterious ancient capital.

Around 500 BC, the nomadic "Aryans" who were active in the steppes of Central Asia and Central Europe drove horse-drawn chariots, crossed the Great Plains of Central Asia, and invaded ancient times from the Hindu Kush Pass. India.They conquered the city-states of the Dravidians who originally inhabited the Indus Valley, occupied the plains in northern India, and drove the Dravidians and other tribes to the south or north to the mountains and forests.

At the same time, the Vedic culture of the Aryans was introduced into India, and many Aryan kingdoms with strict class divisions began to be established.

The word "Veda" comes from Sanskrit, and its original meaning is knowledge. It is a great classic created by the Aryans during their long migration.Its content is all-encompassing. Even religious holy books are also a collection of historical materials, literature and poetry, which can be said to be the culmination of the wisdom of the Aryans, and finally even became synonymous with Indian culture.Modern Indians often claim that their culture belongs to the Vedic culture.

Over time, Aryan society formed into three groups, the first was a group of warriors known as the Kshatriyas, and the second was a group of priests known as Brahmins, and these two groups fought for the Aryan People's political rights were fought, and the result was that the Brahmins became the final victors.The third group of Aryans is the agricultural and handicraft producers, they are the Vaisyas.Next, many indigenous Indians were also incorporated into the Aryan social system and became the fourth group of the Aryan society. Owners, landowners, and sudras are farmers working on farms or hired labor in handicraft workshops.

After the Aryan conquest, in order to maintain the status of the Aryans, the Aryans gradually established many social and religious systems and rules, making this class distinction permanently fixed.The caste system emerged from this—in order to exercise long-term and effective dominance over the indigenous peoples of India, the Aryans created the original Brahmanism based on the content of the Veda, and divided the people into four according to the teachings in the classics. Level: First, the one born from the mouth of Brahma, the creator god, is the Brahmin as the priest class; the one born from the arms is the Kshatriya, the royal class; the one born from the thigh is the Vaishya, the commoner class; Those who were born from both feet were Sudras who were slaves.

Skin color was a factor closely tied to the caste system due to the contrast between the light skin of the conqueror Aryans and the dark skin of the natives.The word "caste" that we are familiar with is actually a name coined by Portuguese travelers who came to India in the 16th century.In India, the caste is actually called Varna. The word Varna simply refers to "skin color", and its original meaning has nothing to do with class or status.

However, after 3500 years, the skin color of the Aryans is also changing, because in the tropical sun, only the dark-skinned race can survive better, and the light-skinned people are prone to premature death due to skin diseases. The black components in the Aryan genes were inherited and strengthened, and the light-colored components were constantly eliminated. Therefore, in modern times, it is no longer possible to completely judge the caste of Indians by skin color. Some noble Brahmins may also have very dark skin. The skin color of some untouchables may also be lighter-but, in general, like China, in India, the lighter the skin, the better the origin, especially in some upper-class clubs in India, those who wear suits and ties, The Indian gentleman and lady in long dresses are no different from Western whites except for the smell of curry on their bodies. If you look at the photos, you may even mistake them for Europe...

Regardless of whether the Brahmin's skin is black or white, these four classes are so strictly separated that no one is allowed to provoke and surpass them. Anyone who tries to break this gap will be severely sanctioned by other classes.Therefore, each class performs its own duties, and intermarriage and communication are not allowed. Each caste system forms its own ethnic group, and there is never a chance to stand out.For example, a sudra who was born in the slave class will be a sudra for life. No matter how hard he works, he can't change his status.He was unable to find employment other than menial ones.

If he really crossed this class and engaged in a more noble job that did not conform to his status, his original class and ethnic group would in turn accuse him and curse him for destroying this sacred order.In more serious cases, they may even be expelled from the ethnic group, or be reduced to a lower class, becoming a filthy class "Ayukaba" that everyone cannot touch, also known as untouchables.

The earliest Indian untouchables were some conquered indigenous people who were engaged in dirty work, such as butchers, cleaners, funeral directors... It was already enough to be looked down upon.What's more, high-caste Indians, especially Brahmins, are very obsessed with the concept of "cleanliness", so untouchables are considered untouchable people - ancient Indians believed that diseases can be transmitted not only through contact, but even through the air , so not only can they not contact people of high castes, they even have to keep a considerable distance from them to avoid being occasionally seen by people of high castes.

Because of this caste system with strict class separation, it dominates everyone's every move in terms of behavioral norms. Over time, the vague religious regulations have become a reality, and it still deeply affects the thinking and life of every Indian.The biggest feature of the caste system is its stubbornness and stagnation. There will be no conversion between castes. In East Asia, the Middle East and Europe, people at the bottom of society can become high officials and nobles through their own efforts and opportunities, and they can become cardinals. , Imam, but basically impossible in India.What's more terrible is that after the establishment of the caste system, it not only permanently fixed the status of all social classes, but also fixed their occupations, limiting social interaction and marriage among various castes.

——The classification of the four major castes of Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra is just a very broad concept, which is equivalent to the ancient Chinese scholars, farmers, commerce and industry.Under these four categories, Indian society is further subdivided.Like other societies in the ancient world, it is a tradition in India that the sons of the fathers carry on the job. The family that performs a job will do it for generations. When the number of members of the family increases through the generations, they become a society. Groups, such groups are called jat in India, translated as sub-caste, or sub-caste, each family in each sub-caste performs the same job, establishes close social ties with each other, and forms a social community.Sub-castes are basically produced by occupation, so there are a large number of them. There are more than 3000 sub-castes in India now.For example, Mahatma Gandhi in India. The surname Gandhi shows the meaning of his sub-caste. Gandhi means a vegetable and fruit merchant, or a vegetable vendor.

Just like caste, people born in a certain Jat belong to this Jat for life, and they cannot be changed in theory. When he was in politics, he was once expelled and became a pariah for a while, but after he became a mahatma in the Congress Party, he was respectfully invited back by the elders.Traditionally, even within the four major castes, different Jats cannot intermarry. A certain Jat can only marry a certain Jat, even if they are both Brahmins or Kshatriyas.However, in modern society, this kind of regulation has been enforced less strictly.

It can be seen that traditional India is an extremely rigid and rigid society. Every Indian is a screw in this society. Everyone is determined from birth because his surname is a hereditary occupation—for example, , there is an Indian surnamed Harvi, which means "the person who makes candy".Then they have to make candy to make a living. If they don't have their own shop, they can only work in a candy store.Because when those bosses saw him, they thought: Oh, his surname is Harvey, and he was born to make sugar and tea. Maybe he can't do other jobs well?

So, to put it nicely, traditional Indian society is like a big zoo, a self-sufficient, hierarchical and well-ordered zoo.Everyone performs their duties and enjoys their place.There are artisans, cowherds, and landlords here. Candymakers make candy, cowherds herd cattle, warriors go to war, and untouchables pick dung... Everyone's fate is determined by their surname. If you change your career, you have to reincarnate.

To put it bluntly, this kind of social structure that is so rigid that it has no mobility at all not only cuts off the way for the lower-level Indians to make progress, but also seriously hits their enthusiasm. It is actually very detrimental to the supreme ruler, because in this way, Human resources cannot flow among various industries-not only cannot promote cronies from the bottom people, but even in the same class, there is no way to deploy manpower.

A prince in ancient India, if he wanted to develop the metallurgy industry, he couldn’t make farmers change their careers to become blacksmiths; if he wanted to develop the navigation industry, he couldn’t make craftsmen become sailors either—all Indian occupations are hereditary Yes, and they have formed communities with a strict structure like Western European Jews, or hereditary trade union organizations, and there are religions as the ideological support.Whether the ruler wants to disband the group or insert newcomers, it is very difficult, even almost impossible, and the difficulty is no less than a religious reform.

For example, in the early nineteenth century, during the era of British colonial rule in India, the bones of Indian spinners who starved to death filled Calcutta because the hand-spun Indian cotton cloth was crushed in the market by the British cotton spinning industry after the Industrial Revolution. It’s not that these Indian cotton spinning craftsmen are so stupid and stubborn that they refused to change their careers to make money until they starved to death, but India’s extremely rigid and rigid traditional social system makes it basically impossible for them to change their careers. If the industry is eliminated as a whole, the only way out for practitioners is likely to be collective suicide...

In short, although India's caste system has guaranteed the wealth of Brahmins and Kshatriyas for generations, it has discouraged the enthusiasm of the working people at the bottom, making them addicted to religion because they cannot see hope in this world, and it also makes it difficult for the supreme ruler to centralize power , leading to long-term fragmentation of the country.

For this reason, around the late Spring and Autumn Period in China, about the same time as Lao Tzu and Confucius, in modern Nepal, there was a Sakya prince whose original name was Gautama—that is, the Buddha Sakyamuni. The religious theory of Brahmanism, after practicing assiduously, enlightened under a bodhi tree on the banks of the Ganges, and finally founded Buddhism, playing the banner of equality of all beings, trying to change this long-standing status quo.

It is a pity that under the advocacy of the Buddha, although Buddhism has been fighting against Brahmanism for thousands of years, it even became the state religion with the support of famous kings such as Ashoka and Jieri King—just like Qin Shihuang needed the support of legalism to unify China , These Indian kings cleared the separatists and established an empire. They also needed a set of new ideas that could break the shackles of caste, adapt to the imperial structure, and replace Brahmanism, so they chose to support Buddhism.

However, with the long-term division of India and the change of Brahmanism, Hinduism, which has become a more widespread belief, made a comeback again. In the end, Buddhism in India gradually declined. By the time of British colonial rule in India, Buddhism had basically disappeared in India.It was not until the founding of modern India in 1947 that monks from China, Japan, and Southeast Asia returned to India to preach, revived the incense of Indian Buddhism.

However, the decline of Indian Buddhism does not mean that Buddha Sakyamuni was forgotten by Indians.Because even in the eyes of Hindus, Buddha Sakyamuni is still a very great god, and is regarded as one of the ten incarnations of Vishnu, the supreme god of Hinduism.In India's primary school textbooks, children are told "...we live in a beautiful country. The light of Buddha protects this land. The Ganges is our mother river, the holy water for human beings, animals and plants to survive .Thanks to the gods for allowing us to be born on this land..."

Therefore, many relics left by the Buddha Sakyamuni have been protected by Hindus and have survived until modern times, instead of only half of the Wailing Wall left for worship like the Jews... For example, Wang Qiu and the others Bodh Gaya, the place I went to for the first time, was the place where the Buddha attained enlightenment.

——It is also the place where Mr. Chandra Shukla, who may have contracted the T virus in a different world, is currently...