Where does "the mountains and rivers are different, but the moon is the same" come from? What is the historical background of this sentence?

Today, I want to bring you the historical background of "different mountains and rivers, the same moon". I hope I can help you.

Recently, many people have heard the phrase "the mountains and rivers are exotic and the moon is romantic". This is a sentence that appeared on Japanese medical materials donated to China. Many people should have heard of it for the first time. Although the sentence is beautiful, many people don't really understand what it means. In fact, there is a profound history behind this sentence. So today, let's learn about this history and why the Japanese use this sentence.

1. The origin of exotic mountains and rivers is romantic and the same day.

Let's start with the poem "the mountains and rivers are in different places, and the sun and the moon are in the same sky".

The author of this poem is Prince Nagaya of Japan, and the annotation of the whole Tang poem is "Hasegawa, Prime Minister of Japan". He was the grandson of Emperor Tianwu and the eldest son of Prince Takashi. He was born and died in 684 -729 and was a heavyweight in Japanese politics at that time. Prince Nagaya once made a batch of cassock and presented it to monks in China, and embroidered this poem on the cassock, which was about the early period of the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. The full text of the poem is as follows: the mountains and rivers are exotic, and the wind and the moon are the same. Send Buddha, * * * become attached.

The greatest influence of this poem in history is that monk Jian Zhen has a very friendly impression of Japanese. In 742 AD, Zuo Rong and Pu Zhao, Japanese monks studying in Tang Dynasty, visited Jian Zhen in Yangzhou and asked Jian Zhen to send outstanding children to Japan. Jian Zhen replied: "I heard that after the relocation of the Zen master of Nanyue Temple, he was entrusted to give birth to the King of Japan, prosper Buddhism and help all sentient beings. I also heard that Prince Nagaya in Japan respected Buddhism and made thousands of robes to teach Japanese monks. Four sentences were embroidered on the hem of the robe:' Mountains and rivers are exotic, and the sun and the moon are the same as the sky; Send Buddha, * * * become attached'. From this point of view, sincerity is a prosperous country of Buddhism. "

2. What is the historical background behind it?

This record can be found in Yuan Kai, a famous Japanese monk, The Journey to the East of the Tang River. Prince Nagaya's kindness to the cassock undoubtedly strengthened Jian Zhen's determination to accept the invitation and cross the sea to Japan. He asked if any disciples were willing to respond to this "far invitation" to go to Japan to preach the Dharma, and all the disciples were silent-in the eyes of the Tang people at that time, Japan was located in a remote and barbaric place. According to disciple Xiang Yan, "The other country is too far away to survive, the sea is boundless, the population is sparse, and China is difficult to live in." Crossing the sea is too risky, and rebirth is not easy. Seeing this situation, Jian Zhen turned to Zuo Rong and Pu Zhao and replied, "If you don't go, I will."

Rong Chauo and Pu Zhao invited Jian Zhen to visit Du Dong to carry out the Japanese mission. After they came to the Tang Dynasty in 733 AD, they visited and invited eminent monks from Luoyang and Chang 'an, but they failed until they met Jian Zhen.

Japan sent people to the Tang Dynasty to invite monks for two reasons. First, after Buddhism was introduced into Japan, it failed to form a complete abstinence system for a long time, especially there was no "three teachers and seven certificates" (*** 10 monk) with formal abstinence system qualification. Therefore, Yuanxing Temple made a request to hire foreign monks with amulet qualifications (not only in the Tang Dynasty, but also in Korea and India) and obtained the permission of the emperor. Secondly, at that time, in Japan, many monks reduced their salaries for tax avoidance and labor, which affected the country's fiscal revenue and labor recruitment. Hiring qualified instructors and establishing a complete system of examination, acceptance, evaluation and public examination will help to change the social phenomenon of private shaving.

In the second year of Tianbao, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, that is, in 743 AD, Jian Zhen and 2 1 voluntary followers first crossed to the east. Accompanying them were Daohang (the "monk" of the elder brother of the powerful minister Li) and Ruhai (the monk of North Korea), who were invited by Rongsao and others. Daoxing thinks highly of himself, despises the sea and opposes crossing the sea with him on the grounds of "insufficient reading". The enraged Ruhai reported to the local yamen that he had built a ship into the sea to collude with pirates and planned to bring "500 pirates into the city". The local government arrested Rongsao, Pu Zhao, Daoxing and others. After four months of investigation, if Hein was falsely accused and sentenced to 60 lashes, Daohang and others were released and the ship was confiscated as official property.

In the same year1February, Jian Zhen went to the East for the second time, accompanied by more than 80 monks, craftsmen and painters. Shortly after the departure, the ship was broken by the wind and waves, and everyone had no choice but to go ashore to repair the ship. After the ship was repaired, we started the third eastward crossing, but when we arrived in Zhoushan, we hit the rocks again, so we had to go ashore again and stay at Asoka Temple in Mingzhou (now Ningbo). During this period, some "Yuezhou monks" reported to the government that Rong Chui and others had lured China monks to Japan, and Rong Chui was arrested by the local authorities and taken to the capital, and feigned death when passing through Hangzhou.

In the third year of Tianbao, people are going to cross the east for the fourth time and go to Fuzhou to buy food and take a boat. Disciple You Ling and others don't want Jian Zhen to report this to the government. Everyone was chased by the government in Huangyan County and escorted back to their hometown.

In the seventh year of Tianbao, Zuo Rong and Pu Zhao once again went to Yangzhou to visit Jian Zhen and plan the fifth eastward crossing. Everyone set out from Yangzhou in June, and as a result, they were hit by a hurricane and drifted at sea for more than ten days to Hainan Island. In Hainan, Jian Zhen and his party stayed for more than a year, and it was not until the ninth year of Tianbao that they bypassed Guangxi via Leizhou Peninsula and returned to the north via Guangdong and Jiangxi. On the way back to the north, Jian Zhen met a semi-finalist who claimed to be able to treat eye diseases. Quack doctor cured Jian Zhen. He was just "blind", but he was completely blind. Rong Chui also died on his way home from the north, which was a great blow to the public. He didn't want to go to Yangzhou and be arrested by local officials (the crime of luring and surrendering Jian Zhen), and he couldn't bear to continue to encourage Jian Zhen, who was old and frail, to continue to try to cross to the east (he was 63 years old and his most dependent disciple Xiang Yan had passed away), so he said goodbye to Jian Zhen halfway.

In October of the 12th year of Tianbao (753), Japanese envoy Fujiwara Qinghe and his party went to Yangzhou to visit Jian Zhen. Fujiwara and others told Jian Zhen that they knew that Jian Zhen had traveled eastward five times, so when he was in the capital, the mission tried to get permission from Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty to travel eastward. However, Emperor Xuanzong's will was to "order Taoist priests to go", and it was Taoist priests, not monks, who hoped to bring the mission back to Japan. Fujiwara let Jian Zhen decide for himself whether to risk smuggling and go to Japan for the sixth time. Jian Zhen gave a positive answer. 1October 19, Jian Zhen and his party left Yangzhou quietly with the group and arrived in Japan on1February 10. Six trips to the East lasted twelve years.

In 754 AD, Jian Zhen entered Pingcheng, Beijing, and spent money in the Great Buddha Hall of Dongda Temple, where he was ordained by more than 400 people including Emperor Shengwu, Kejsarinnan Koken and monks and nuns. In 758 AD, the Japanese court commended Jian Zhen's achievements, awarded him the title of "Great Monk", and presented the former residence of the Prince as a special Dojo to Jian Zhen, which is now the famous Tang and Zhao Temple.

Why did Japan write this sentence?

Jian Zhen has lived in Japan for ten years. There are some differences in academic circles about the specific situation (mainly political situation) during this decade. Wang Xiangrong's book "Jian Zhen" holds that due to the difference of ideas, Jian Zhen was snubbed by the Japanese imperial court and excluded by the "Nara Old Religion". One of the important evidences is that in 758 AD, on the same day when he ascended the throne, Emperor Chunren dismissed the monk capital of Jian Zhen. Wang Jinlin believes that "Jian Zhen is supported and revered in Japan", and his dismissal "was first requested by Jian Zhen himself". The evidence is that there is a record in Yuan Heng Interpretation that "Jian Zhen was awarded the (Yamato) Medal on this day". As a new monk, I really suffer from complicated affairs, so I have this explanation. Therefore, "if Jian Zhen didn't mention it himself, the court might not dismiss him. "

In fact, the historical truth is not necessarily one of these two opinions. As mentioned above, it is reasonable for the Japanese court to hire eminent monks abroad for secular political purposes and to arouse opposition from some forces at the political level. The purpose of Jian Zhen's visit to Japan is to spread and exchange culture, not to pursue political status. However, for the Japanese imperial court, how to treat Jian Zhen is not just a simple cultural issue. Looking at Jian Zhen's ten years in Japan, two points are worth noting: (1) Japan's respect for Jian Zhen's cultural status and living conditions has never weakened; (2) The political stance has indeed been adjusted, but the way of adjustment has given Jian Zhen great respect-according to the imperial edict of Emperor Chunren, the public reason for exempting the great monk Jianzhen is "impatient with political affairs and afraid to work hard". Considering that Jian Zhen is 70 years old and blind, his energy and physical condition should not be entangled in specific government affairs. At the same time, Emperor Chunren gave Jian Zhen residence, paddy fields and dry land, and palaces as lecture halls.

In 763, Jian Zhen died in a foreign land. The 76-year-old man set sail in the rough sea after hardships, and spent the rest of his life responding to Prince Nagaya's "mountains and rivers are different, the sun and the moon are the same".

This is a simple and great "respond to goodwill with goodwill".