After putting the Buddha statue into the storage space, Yang Jing began to clean the tomb.
In just a few minutes, Yang Jing collected all the gilded bronze Buddha statues, which would be considered priceless treasures in the future. It is worth mentioning that the eighteen Buddha statues in the middle of the 108 Buddha statues, which were of different shapes, were even heavier after they were collected.
Although these eighteen Buddha statues are the smallest in size, they are the heaviest. There is no doubt that these eighteen Buddha statues are not gilded, but made of pure gold.
Although pure gold Buddha statues are rare in Chinese history, especially the older they are, this is after all the only mausoleum built by an empress for herself in Chinese history, and these Buddha statues were all burial objects arranged by Wu Zetian for herself. With the wealth of the Wu Zhou era, Yang Jing would not find it rare even if all 108 Buddha statues were made of pure gold, let alone 18.
These eighteen Buddha statues are all Buddha statues, some are smiling with flowers in their hands, and some are meditating with their eyes closed. Anyway, they have different shapes, and when you put them together, it looks like the bald Guo Jing is performing the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms...
After clearing this tomb chamber, Yang Jing did the same thing again and opened another sealed tomb chamber.
This tomb shocked Yang Jing even more, because when Yang Jing figured out what the burial objects in this tomb were, he immediately realized that no matter from which perspective, the value of the burial objects in this tomb was definitely far greater than those gilded bronze Buddha statues.
Because what was placed in this tomb chamber were all translated hand-copied Buddhist scriptures!
At first, Yang Jing didn't know what was in the many pale yellow brocade boxes placed on the huge stone tables. The brocade boxes had faded a lot due to time. They must have been bright yellow when they were first placed here. But after nearly 1,500 years, even though the tomb was airtight, the color of these bright yellow brocade boxes had dimmed a lot.
After opening one of the brocade boxes, Yang Jing realized that these hundreds of brocade boxes were filled with hand-copied Buddhist scriptures.
Just like the Buddhist scripture in his hand, it was actually a handwritten volume of the Great Prajna Sutra!
The Great Prajna Sutra is a Buddhist classic, with the full name of the Great Prajnaparamita Sutra, or the Prajna Sutra for short. The earliest Mahayana Prajna Sutra introduced to China was the 10-volume Prajnaparamita Sutra (later titled the Prajnaparamita Sutra) translated by Zhu Fushuo and Zhiloujianchen in the Eastern Han Dynasty (equivalent to the fourth session of this sutra), which is known as the "Prajnaparamita Sutra".
After that, Wu Zhiqian, Zhu Shixing and others of the Three Kingdoms period retranslated this sutra, and Kumarajiva retranslated the 20,000 verses of the Great Chapter of the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra in the sixth year of Hongshi in the Later Qin Dynasty, and the 8,000 verses of the Great Chapter of the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra and the Diamond Sutra in the tenth year of Hongshi.
These Buddhist predecessors had all translated this sutra, but none of them were complete. It was not until the early Tang Dynasty that Master Xuanzang, the prototype of Tang Monk in "Journey to the West", went to India to obtain Buddhist scriptures. He brought back to China the complete Sanskrit version of the "Great Prajna Sutra" with a total of 200,000 verses in three volumes. He also personally translated this sutra with his disciples at a cost of great effort.
Wu Zetian respected Buddhism. The presence of so many gilded bronze Buddha statues in the tomb just now was enough to prove this. It is not surprising that so many Buddhist scriptures were found in this tomb as burial objects.
However, these Buddhist scriptures made Yang Jing very happy. Because Yang Jing knew from the answers given by the Holy Ring that these Buddhist scriptures were not only extremely precious hand-copied Buddhist scriptures, but also that the people who copied them were actually great calligraphers in the early Tang Dynasty and the Wu Zhou Dynasty.
For example, the set of "Great Prajna Sutra" in his hand was actually copied by Ouyang Xun, the leader of the Four Great Masters of the Early Tang Dynasty. If it weren't for the fact that Shengjie couldn't give a wrong answer, Yang Jing really couldn't believe that the set of "Great Prajna Sutra" in his hand was actually the original copy of that master.
Such a complete copy of the Great Prajna Sutra, plus it is the original work of Ouyang Xun, the value of this copy is extremely high. It is absolutely priceless.
This thing is not an inscription on a stele, nor is it a rubbing or a later copy. It is an authentic work of Ouyang Xun, and it is a complete set of the "Great Prajna Sutra"!
A page of Song Dynasty book was worth one tael of gold, but it was far less than that in the Song Dynasty.
Since Bi Sheng invented movable type printing, Song Dynasty books have been called rare ancient books, and the few remaining pages from the Tang Dynasty are all handwritten copies. No matter from which aspect, the value of Tang Dynasty books, even the remaining pages, is far greater than that of Song Dynasty books.
What’s more, this “Great Prajna Sutra” is the authentic work of Ouyang Xun!
Now that the authentic works of Mr. Ouyang Xun have appeared, how far can the other famous artists be?
Sure enough, Yang Jing selected one after another and discovered handwritten copies of other calligraphy masters from the early Tang Dynasty and even the Sui Dynasty, such as the authentic works of Chu Suiliang, Yu Shinan, and Xue Ji.
As for the authentic works of Liu Gongquan or Yan Zhenqing, Yang Jing did not expect to find them here. When Wu Zetian died, neither Liu Gongquan nor Yan Zhenqing were born yet...
In addition to the authentic works of these masters, there are also authentic works of some other less famous calligraphers from the Sui and Tang dynasties.
Anyway, no matter what, the value of these hand-copied Buddhist scriptures far exceeds that of the gilded bronze Buddha statues mentioned earlier, and is definitely not inferior to the inscriptions left in Yuechengzi.
These Buddhist scriptures are well protected. After all, the tomb itself is airtight. Moreover, these Buddhist scriptures are placed in a brocade box made of golden nanmu wood, which is said to be "incorruptible for a thousand years and immortal for ten thousand years".
Not to mention the Buddhist scriptures, even the bright yellow silk wrapped in the brocade box has not faded much, which is enough to prove how well the Buddhist scriptures are protected.
This time I’m definitely going to make a fortune!
First, those extremely precious inscriptions were discovered, then those priceless Tang Dynasty gilded bronze Buddha statues were discovered, and now these priceless Buddhist manuscripts have been discovered. If this is not considered making a fortune, then I guess there is probably nothing in this world that can make a fortune.
No wonder tomb robbing has been rampant throughout history and is the same all over the world. It is true that one can make a lot of money from this kind of thing.
As the saying goes, "A horse cannot grow fat without night grass, and a man cannot become rich without unexpected wealth." Even Cao Cao set up a group of tomb raiders to raise military funds, which is enough to prove that such an unethical act as tomb robbing can really make people rich overnight.
"Haha, buddy, is this considered a tomb robber?" Yang Jing began to get a little confused...
However, after hesitating for a while, Yang Jing simply put this problem behind him and continued to explore the only remaining tomb chamber on this floor.
ps: I bow to thank "First Kiss Was Given to the Hand" for the reward of 1,000.
In two days, things here will be completely dealt with, and I can go back. I have been so busy these days that I really have no time to write. These chapters were written until one or two o'clock in the morning. When Lao Mo returns home, I will be able to resume the previous update volume. I hope all book friends will forgive me.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
