Seeking Buddha statue for sutra

Emperor Guangwu of Han reached the age of sixty-three and died of an illness. Prince Liu Zhuang reigned as Emperor Ming of Han.

　　Once, Emperor Ming of Han had a dream in which he saw a golden man with a white light on his head, flying around the palace, suddenly rising into the sky and going west.

　　The next day, he told his ministers about the dream, and many of them could not tell who the golden man with the glowing head was.

　　One doctor, Fu Yi, said, "There is a god in the sky named Buddha. The golden man that Your Majesty dreamed of must be the Buddha of Tianzhu."

　　The Tianzhu that Fu Yi referred to, also called Body Poison (pronounced yuán-dú), is the place where Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, was born (Tianzhu is an alias for ancient India, where Siddhartha Gautama was born in the ancient Indian kingdom of Kabylia, in present-day Nepal). Siddhartha Gautama was born around 565 B.C.) and was originally a prince. Legend has it that at the age of twenty-nine, he abandoned the comforts of royalty and became a monk. He founded a religion called Buddhism.

　　Siddhartha Gautama went around preaching the teachings of Buddhism. He preached for more than forty years and gained many followers, who called him "Buddha". After his death, his disciples wrote down his teachings during his lifetime and compiled them into sutras, which are called Buddhist scriptures.

　　Fu Yi's words aroused the curiosity of Emperor Ming of Han. He then sent two officials, Cai solemn (yǐn) and Qin Jing, to Tianzhu to seek Buddhist scriptures.

　　Cai solemn and Qin Jing finally reached the country of Tianzhu after traveling through thousands of mountains and rivers. When the people of Tianzhu heard that China had sent messengers to ask for Buddhist scriptures, they welcomed them. There were two Buddhist monks in Tianzhu, one named Regent Morten and the other named Zhu Fanfan, who helped Cai solemnly and Qin Jing understand some Buddhist doctrines. Cai solemnly and Qin Jing then invited them to come to China.

　　In 67 A.D., Cai solemnly and Qin Jing returned to Luoyang with two shamans carrying an image of Buddha and forty-two chapters of Buddhist scriptures on white horses through the West.

　　Emperor Ming of Han did not know the sutras, nor did he have a clear understanding of Buddhist doctrine, but he respected the two Shamans who came with the sutras. In the next year, he ordered to build a Buddhist temple in the west of Luoyang city in the style of Tianzhu, and the white horse that delivered the sutras was also kept there, and the temple was called White Horse Temple (in the east of present-day Luoyang City).

　　Emperor Ming of Han did not know the Buddhist scriptures, and the princes and ministers did not believe in Buddhism, so not many people went to the White Horse Temple to burn incense. Only Liu Ying, the king of Chu, attached great importance to it and sent an emissary to Luoyang to ask two Shamans for advice. The two Shamans drew a picture of Buddha and copied a chapter of Buddhist scriptures and gave it to the messenger.

　　When the messengers returned to the feudal state of the king of Chu, the king of Chu, Liu Ying, really put up a statue of Buddha in his palace and worshiped it morning and evening.

　　Liu Ying, the king of Chu, was an ambitious man, and under the name of believing in Buddha, he befriended a group of Buddhist monks and also used various superstitious tricks to deceive people.

　　In 70 A.D., someone denounced to Emperor Ming of Han that King Liu Ying of Chu had gathered his party members and set up his officials to rebel. When Emperor Ming of Han sent someone to investigate, he thought that Liu Ying had indeed plotted a rebellion, so he sacked the throne of King Chu and sent him to Danyang. When Liu Ying arrived there, he felt that his crime was serious and committed suicide.

　　Emperor Ming of Han also sent people to investigate people who had dealings with Liu Ying. Liu Ying, the king of Chu, once compiled a list of famous people in the country. After the roster was searched, the government arrested them one by one according the roster, and many people were implicated. After a year of this, many people were forced to die.

　　Later, a minister persuaded Emperor Ming of Han that most of those arrested were wronged, people. Emperor Ming of Han personally inquired and found that there were more than 1,000 innocent people in Luoyang prison. Only then did he issue an edict to pardon them.

　　Although Emperor Ming of Han sent people to ask for scriptures to get the Buddha statue, he did not believe in Buddhism but rather advocated Confucianism. He also personally went to Taixue (the ancient university of China) to lecture on the scriptures (in this case, the classical books of Confucianism). It is said that as many as 100,000 people went to listen to the lecture and watch it.