Han Khan

Chapter 58, Learning Paganism

As everyone gradually approached the big tent, a large white tent with gold edges came into their sight.

At the top of the tent stood a huge flagpole, on which hung a blue flag with a handsome golden eagle spreading its wings and looking towards the west. There was also a golden hammer-like symbol on its head - the letter T.

This is the emblem of the Holy Religion, the Jinhan Tribe and Zhang Sheng. It represents Zhang Sheng's Holy Religion and the Jinhan Tribe, and demonstrates his identity as the leader of the Jinhan Tribe and the Emperor of the Holy Religion!

The felt tent was placed on a huge cart for easy moving and assembly. It was used for living and meeting when the army was led to an expedition, and served as the core of the Jinhan tribe.

Surrounding the big tent are many other felt tents arranged in a circle. The closest to the big tent are the tents of the four main priests and the various guards.

Next are the slaves' felt tents, and the outermost are the felt tents of each centurion and other centurions under their command. They lead the people in grazing and production, and prevent slaves from escaping.

This is a camping method called Gureyan, which means "circle" or "camp", that is, circular.

Many nomadic tribes and clans on the grassland migrate and graze in this way.

When the Jin Han people moved from Ganquanshui outside Dunhuang to camp outside Yizhou, they arranged their felt tents and horse-drawn carriages into a circle.

Today, the productivity level of the Jinhan tribe is very low, or if plundering can be considered production.

At this time, the Jinhan tribe relied on plundering to increase its strength.

The Jinhan tribe migrated from the banks of Dajingze outside Dunhuang City and now camped outside Yizhou City.

Wherever Zhang Sheng's tent is, that is the center of the Jinhan tribe. His carriages form a circle outside his tent and then continue to radiate outward.

The first outer circle is the shepherd's tent and cart, which form a large circle outside the center, and the sheep farm radiates outward for several kilometers.
The second outer circle is the cattle herders’ tents and covered carts;
The third outer circle is the horse herders, which is also the outermost layer. The horses are fast and have strong self-defense capabilities, which are beneficial for retreat or attack, as well as for defending against attacks by wild beasts and preventing plunder from other clans.

This is the current state of the Jinhan tribe. Wherever they go, it will become like a simple small town.

Zhang Sheng dismounted and walked to the door curtain of his tent.

He turned to look at Huineng and Alonbon, smiled and said, "You two, please come in."

Huineng and Aaron walked into the huge felt tent nervously. When they saw a blue flag with golden religious symbols embroidered on it on the north curtain inside the tent, their eyes were immediately filled with awe.

Zhang Zhongxian accompanied him and walked into the big tent!
Yin Shanxiong led more than 400 guards and stationed outside the tent!

Under the gaze of the three people, Zhang Sheng washed his hands and cheeks in the basin next to the door curtain!

He slowly walked towards the holy flag on the tent, bowed, put his hands together, kowtowed, and chanted solemnly: "Your Majesty the Supreme Haotian, may your glory last forever! The most exalted and noble God, may your light shine upon the world."

Then, he stood up and gazed at the holy flag solemnly, and bowed again: "Supreme Heaven, the only God! You created and control the laws of the universe. I pray to you devoutly.

I pray that you will bless the Jin Han people to live and work in peace and contentment, and that the Jin Han people will live forever in this world.

I pray that you will give me the wisdom and courage to face any challenges and difficulties.

I, your humble servant Zhang Sheng, have been inspired by your to become the Son of Heaven on earth. I am willing to dedicate myself to the holy way and righteousness you have bestowed upon me, to defend your reputation to the death, and to establish a sacred kingdom for you on earth.

Supreme God, you are high above the nine heavens. Please protect the people of Jinhan, your believers and people. The people of Jinhan will always remember your will.

I pray to you that the warriors who fought for your divine will can be honored to ascend to your residence when they die. That will be the most glorious moment for the people of Jinhan.

Good, Your Majesty, the Supreme and One Haotian God!"

Zhang Zhongxian followed closely behind and also prayed solemnly to the holy flag.

The atmosphere was solemn at the moment, and Aaron and Huineng were terrified at being captured, so they bowed and saluted to the holy flag. After all, they truly witnessed a miracle.

After that, Zhang Sheng took off the iron helmet decorated with horsehair on his head, sat on the main seat in the big tent covered with snow leopard skin, and placed the sword at his waist on his knees, stroking the already mottled sword carefully!

He raised his hand and motioned for the three of them to sit down!
Zhang Zhongxian sat on the carpet in front of the left side of Zhang Sheng's main seat, while Huineng and Alonbon sat opposite Zhang Zhongxian.

At this time, Zhang Sheng, who was sitting on the main seat, said gently to Aronben and Huineng: "I know you have many questions about me and the Lord of Heaven that I mentioned.

I happen to have a lot of questions too! Can you two help me solve them?"

Aaron and Huineng looked at each other, both a little confused, but nodded and said, "Honorable envoy of God, please speak."

"I grew up in Dunhuang, a true Buddhist country. Almost everyone around me was a Buddhist believer, and I could always hear people chanting 'Amitabha'. Therefore, I also had some knowledge of Buddhist thought.

Zhang Sheng smiled slightly and continued, "I want to know how you Buddhists view life and death? Do you believe in the afterlife?"

Huineng thought for a moment and replied, "Buddhism believes in reincarnation and retribution for good and evil deeds. If you do good deeds in this life, you will enjoy happiness in the next life; if you do evil deeds in this life, you will suffer in the next life."

Zhang Sheng frowned slightly, "Then, if a person suffers a lot in this life, is it because of the sins in the previous life? Isn't this too unfair?" Huineng hurriedly explained: "No, the sins in the previous life are just a cause and condition, and the efforts and practice in this life are equally important. Everyone has the opportunity to change their destiny......"

Huineng and Zhang Sheng talked a lot about this.

Zhang Sheng even asked him whether being a vegetarian in Buddhism is considered killing.
Does Buddhism have gods?
If everyone becomes a monk and believes in Buddhism, will it lead to the extinction of the ethnic group?

Why didn't the Buddha intervene in the suffering of the world?

Huineng had a hard time answering these questions! Many of these questions were beyond his ability. It seemed that his Buddhist knowledge was still insufficient.

After hearing this, Zhang Sheng nodded slightly, thinking to himself that there were indeed many things in Buddhism that were worth learning and drawing lessons from for the new holy religion.

For example, the many philosophical speculations and concepts such as cause and effect, reincarnation of good and evil, immortality and transcendence of reincarnation, are truly a self-contained system and are quite exquisite!

On the one hand, it warns people to practice well so that they can be reborn into a good life in the next life; on the other hand, it tells people that everything that happens in life is caused by their own circumstances and karma.

At the same time, it also tells people that Buddha cannot save people, but can only enlighten people and enable them to gain wisdom, thereby freeing them from the suffering of reincarnation and becoming a Buddha.

Zhang Sheng nodded and said, "I see! Buddhist thought can really soothe people's hearts. No wonder it has survived till now."

"That's right, Your Highness! The purpose of Buddhism is to give people wisdom so that they can be liberated from this suffering world!" said Monk Huineng.

"Hahaha, so to speak, if you get used to suffering, then suffering will no longer exist? No, suffering still exists, it's just that you have comforted the hearts of the suffering people, right!" Zhang Sheng laughed after hearing this. He thought so in his heart but did not say it out loud.

At this time, the Nestorian monk Alongben saw that Huineng and Zhang Sheng had finished talking, so he said to Huineng beside him in Uighur with a guilty look on his face: "Huineng, my dear friend, now I regret very much that I did not learn Seris with you before!

Now I don't know how to communicate with this honorable messenger of God in front of me. Can you please translate for me and convey what I say to him?"

After hearing this, Huineng nodded and said yes!
So he tidied up his appearance.

With a slightly nervous tone, he bowed to Zhang Sheng and said, "Respected Divine Envoy, I, Aronben, am honored to talk to you!"

Zhang Sheng turned to look at him and asked slowly in Uighur: "Monk Alongben, where are you from? Is it Rome in the far west?"

Huineng and Aronben looked at Zhang Sheng in surprise and shock.

When Aaron heard Zhang Sheng say Rome in Uighur, he was even more surprised and asked, "Respected divine messenger, you actually know Rome? I thought you would say Daqin!"

Zhang Sheng said, "God of Heaven, I also know that the one you believe in is a god named Jesus, whom you call the Anointed One. I heard that he also died and resurrected, right?"

"Yes, Lord God's Messenger, the one I believe in is the god who came back from the dead that you mentioned! Well, I'm sorry, Lord God's Messenger, I seemed to have heard you mention that you had also come back from the dead. What does that mean?" Aaron asked in panic.

Zhang Sheng smiled slightly and continued, "It's okay. I'll tell you later. Just tell me where you're from."

Aaron suppressed his doubts for the time being and continued, "I know that the Great Qin mentioned by the Seres is the Rome mentioned by the messenger of God, although I don't understand how you know that place is called Rome.

But I am not from Rome, but from the city of Bukhara in the Transoxiana region.

That is what the Seres call Anguo. I have heard that it was once a governor's office of the Seres, but now it is ruled by the Persians of the Samanid dynasty who believe in the Arab religion.

I am the Bishop of Yizhou under the jurisdiction of the Gaochang Bishop of the Great Qin Nestorian Church. I am responsible for managing and guiding the Nestorian believers in Yizhou and Gobi Jinshan. "

Gobi Jinshan: Former Shatuo Governor's Office of the Tang Dynasty.

Zhang Sheng nodded. He knew very well that Bukhara, known as the "Dome of the Arabs", was worshipped as "Noble Bukhara" by Arabs. It was world-famous for its reputation of "bringing glory and joy to all Muslims" and was also one of the holy places of Arabs.

Then he asked Aronben:

"Why did you come to the East? Are there many Nestorians in the West?"

Aaron replied:
"My Lord, I grew up in Bukhara. When I was six, my parents and relatives died when the Arabs and Persians used the Arab religion to conquer Bukhara.

Fortunately, the Bishop of Bukhara took me in and educated me. I learned the scriptures and rituals of Christianity. Because I mastered them, I was conferred the position of Nestorian Bishop.

After that, I was sent to Gaochang in the far east to assist the bishop of Gaochang in management and lead the local believers.

I was originally expected to succeed the post of Bishop of Gaochang, but because of my study of the thoughts and rituals of Eastern religions such as Arab Law, Buddhism, Manichaeism and Shamanism, I was accused by another Bishop of Gaochang of advocating paganism.

Thus, I missed the chance to become the bishop of Gaochang, and was subsequently sent to the small town of Yizhou to preach…”

To be continued!

(End of this chapter)