Yao Ying returned to her own yard, looked at the large plate of naan and snow-white warm soup that the waiter had just brought to the long table, and thought of the barbecue that had just passed by her.

If she had known that eating meat was not prohibited, she wouldn't have to eat vegetarian food every day these days.

On the way back, Yuanjue explained to her that the monks in the royal court were not prohibited from eating meat. Most monks in the Western Regions did so. There are three kinds of pure meat and five kinds of pure meat. The three kinds of pure meat are meat that has not been seen killed, meat that has not been heard killed, and meat that has not been killed for me. The five kinds of pure meat are meat that has been added to the former: meat that died naturally and meat that has been left behind by birds.

In other words, if you did not see the animals being killed with your own eyes, did not hear the animals being killed or heard that the animals were killed for you, and did not kill them for your own consumption, then the meat was clean and edible.

However, no seasonings can be added when cooking pure meat, as monks do not eat spicy food. "Spicy" refers to seasonings with pungent flavors such as scallions, ginger, and garlic.

In addition, if a monk is sick and needs to eat meat, he can make an exception and eat meat.

Yao Ying suddenly understood.

It is not uncommon for the precepts to differ slightly from region to region.

For example, in the past, monks had a rule that they could not eat after noon. After lunch, they could not eat until the next day, which was called "fasting". After Buddhism was introduced to the Central Plains, this rule changed. Many Central Plains monks gave up fasting after noon and started eating three meals a day, otherwise they would not be able to maintain their physical strength.

Buddhism originated in India. Initially, most monks were from Indian noble families. The basic principles of Buddhism were closely related to Indian society. When it first spread to the Central Plains, it was not accepted because it conflicted with the traditional patriarchal ethics and Confucianism of the Central Plains. Later, Buddhism adapted to local conditions and made appropriate adjustments and changes based on the patriarchal ethics of the Central Plains. It continued to develop and evolve, absorbing ordinary people from the lower classes, and was able to spread and popularize in the Central Plains.

The national conditions of the Western Regions were different from those of the Central Plains, so the development of Buddhism naturally took on a different look. In some countries in the Western Regions, all the people were believers, monks had a very high status, and had close relations with the nobles. Sometimes, both secular royal power and religious power could even be controlled by one person.

In short, different regions have different customs.

The Central Plains had strict monastic discipline. An emperor of the Northern and Southern Dynasties issued the "Abstinence from Alcohol" to forbid killing and require monks to abstain from meat. In addition, monks in the Central Plains did not rely on begging for food. They received land as gifts, cultivated the land, and planted it themselves. They were completely self-sufficient, so they did not need to eat meat.

Yao Ying remembered that when Master Xuanzang went to the West to seek Buddhist scriptures, the monks in the Western Regions ate meat. She thought that the sutras advocated by the royal court had the sign of transitioning from Hinayana to Mahayana, and should not eat fishy food. She thought that she should respect the monks and follow the local customs. After moving into the Buddhist temple, she did not eat any fishy food. Unexpectedly, the monks in the temple did not abstain from eating meat.

She told her personal soldiers, and they jumped three feet high with joy - they were warriors, and they were vegetarians every day, and they were almost going crazy!

…

On the other side, Yuanjue returned to the meditation room and reported the matter to Tanmaraka, smiling, "Your Majesty, the abbot did not neglect Princess Wen Zhao. When the princess moved in, she took the initiative to eat only vegetarian food, so the abbot did not send her any other food."

Tanmarajiva lowered his head and flipped through the parchment scroll. The stunned look of the girl appeared in front of him. Her eyes were wide open, and she stared at the barbecue on his plate with a look of grievance.

I thought she was being neglected.

It turned out that it was not grievance, but pure shock, a kind of astonishment of "How can you eat meat?"

Did she think he could live without food?

Tanmarajiva's eyebrows and eyes are delicate, and her slender fingers gently stroke the beads.

…

The next day, the meal delivered to Yaoying's yard included a few more plates of barbecue.

Unfortunately, the barbecue was not carefully prepared and was only sprinkled with salt.

However, the soldiers who had been hungry for many days still ate the barbecue excitedly, finishing every bone and residue left.

After dinner, Yao Ying assigned her personal soldiers to go about their business.

She had asked Yuanjue about it. The royal court had large tracts of vineyards, and most of the grapes were picked to make wine. Gaochang's wine was famous far and wide and sold well on the East-West trade route. The royal court's wine was not as mellow as Gaochang's, but it could be stored for a long time without spoiling.

The land Yaoying bought happened to have several grape vineyards.

Qi Nian had mentioned before that he could make wine, so she asked him to try making some first, since she didn't expect them to make money anyway. Shepherding and tanning were both physical jobs, and most of them were sold because they couldn't do the work, so she had been thinking about how to find some easy jobs for them.

Teach them how to dry grapes?

This thought flashed through Yao Ying's mind, and she ordered her soldiers to go to the market to buy some dried grapes and find out the local method of drying the grapes.

The personal guards responded.

Yaoying sat in front of the courtyard, looking at the bunches of grapes hanging down in front of the flower wall, and was lost in thought for a while.

She once had a quarrel with Li Zhongqian because she wanted to drink wine.

In Chang'an, wine is expensive.

When the Tang army conquered Gaochang, they brought back the grapes and winemaking methods from Gaochang to the Central Plains. Emperor Taizong Li Shimin planted grapes in the royal garden, brewed wine himself, and gave it to his ministers to share. Later, wine was popularized among the people and was common in the market. However, due to years of war, fresh grapes became a rarity, and the grape brewing method was lost, so wine naturally became even more difficult to find.

Once, a royal doctor said that drinking wine in moderation was good for women. Yao Ying was just craving for wine and wanted to drink a few cups. Li Zhongqian scolded her with a fierce face. She had been taking Ninglu pills, and the doctor had warned her not to drink alcohol while taking the medicine.

Thinking of this, Yao Ying suddenly remembered something.

Tanmarajiva is now taking water hyacinth. Does he know about this taboo?

She thought for a while, shook her head and laughed: Tanmarajiva is a monk, how could he drink?

At night, the guards brought back a few bags of grapes and spread them on the table.

Yao Ying knew at first glance that these brown dried grapes were not of top quality.

The guard said, "Princess, these are the best grapes in the city. People in the market said that they also supply the grapes to the palace. The merchants said that the weather in the royal court is hot and dry in summer and autumn, with long sunshine and little rain. They pick the grapes and expose them to the sun directly without going through other processes."

Yaoying picked up a few dried grapes, looked at their color, smelled them, tasted a few, and pondered for a moment. It seemed that the current method of drying grapes was very crude.

She ordered her personal soldiers: "Go out of the city tomorrow and tell Lao Qi not to be reluctant to part with the grapes that have grown. Clear them all away and plant the Qishi Mishi, Maer, and Black Pearl grapes in all the gardens. If you can't buy grape seeds, tell him to go to the south of the city to find the Hu merchant Kang Da and give him more tea and silk."

The guard agreed and said something else: "Lao Qi said that he contacted some people from Shazhou who were exiled to various places. Most of them were without food and clothing. He asked me to ask the princess if we could take them in."

Yao Ying frowned.

After all, the royal court was only protecting her temporarily, and they couldn't bring trouble to the royal court. In the future, there would be more and more people to take in, and they couldn't bring all of them to the royal court.

"There aren't that many people right now, so we'll take in whoever we can. Remember to tell Lao Qi to make a list and not leave anyone out, so I can pay taxes according to the list when the time comes."

The ministers in the royal court were corrupt, so she paid taxes based on the number of people so as not to attract too much criticism. Compiling a list also made it easier to manage and screen the population, laying a solid foundation for training soldiers.

She is short of people, and the more people she can recruit now, the better.

The guard nodded, wrote down everything, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Some people from Shazhou... Lao Qi doesn't know whether he should accept them."

Yao Ying asked: "Since he is from Shazhou, why can't we accept him?"

The guard replied, "They are not Han people, but Hu women. They drifted to the Western Regions and were sold several times by caravans. Finally, they drifted to the royal court. I heard that Lao Qi took in many people from Hexi, so they came to seek refuge there."

Yao Ying frowned, glanced at her personal soldiers, called all of them over, and scanned their faces one by one.

She looked a little serious. Xie Chong, Xie Peng and the others didn't dare to joke and stood by with their hands hanging down.

Yao Ying said word by word: "Shazhou and Guazhou both belong to the Hexi area. The local people, regardless of whether they are Han or Hu, are all citizens of the Great Wei. Have you remembered this?"

Everyone responded in a deep voice.

Yao Ying then instructed the personal soldier who had just asked the question: "Since he is from Shazhou and has come here to seek refuge, we should try to take him in if we can."

He added: "If there are people who do not follow the rules, they must not be tolerated and must be driven out immediately. We can only save others if we save ourselves first. Let Lao Qi be more careful and do not cause any trouble."

The personal guards responded.

After a few days of chaos, Yao Ying estimated that Ashina Bisu would be back soon and began to prepare for going to Gaochang. Tanmarajiva had previously said that she would let Bisu accompany her on the mission to Gaochang.

During this period, she insisted on attending the morning classes every morning. Although she could not understand the lectures, she could still sit quietly for half an hour and recite scriptures with the monks.

Tanmarajava helped her, and she couldn't let him down.

The monks did not speak the same language as Yaoying, but seeing how pious and respectful she was, and how she was so young and beautiful, yet she washed away all her makeup and did not put on any make-up, and got up before dawn every day to do her homework, the monks became much kinder to her than before.

However, no one dared to talk to Yao Ying. Wherever she passed, all the monks immediately looked away, not daring to look at her for too long. Some closed their eyes and recited scriptures, some meditated, and some turned their heads away.

Prajna was furious: It is obvious that these monks lack self-control and are moved by Yaoying's beauty, so they treat her as a monster and avoid her!

He secretly complained to Yuanjue: "Every time Princess Wen Zhao passes by the front hall, the eyes of the little nuns are about to pop out! What should we do if this continues?"

Yuanjue smiled and said, "The princess only came to the palace to chant during the morning class. She never walked around the temple at other times. She didn't deliberately seduce anyone, nor did she dress up and wander around. The princes and noble ladies in the city often came to the front hall to listen to the Zen masters' lectures. They all wore heavy makeup, with strings of gold and jade on their heads and bodies, afraid of being outdone by others. They also had to bring four or five maids to serve them. So many women came to listen to the lectures, why did you only target Princess Wen Zhao?"

Prajna was speechless and remained silent for a while. Then she stamped her feet in anger and said, "Princess Wen Zhao looks like a goddess. She is more beautiful than any of them!"

Yuan Jue was amused and helpless. "The princess's beauty is a gift, not a sin. This is also the Buddha's test for the little novices. If they can pass the test, it means they are pious. If they are haunted by it every day, it means their piety is not enough. This is a good opportunity to sharpen them."

He paused for a moment and said solemnly, "The same is true for the king."

Prajna thought about it and agreed with it, so she gave up.

Yaoying had no idea that Yuanjue really regarded her as a test from the Buddha to Tanmaragha, and she attended morning classes regularly every day.

Normally she kept to herself, but on this day a few monks stopped her after they finished their sermon and began speaking in a long string of Sanskrit.

She didn't understand and looked puzzled.

The monk spoke a bunch of nonsense that she couldn't understand. Another monk nearby was dissatisfied and pulled the monk aside to start a heated argument. The two of them became more and more excited, and several monks nearby joined in, which soon attracted the attention of the temple master.

"What's going on?"

The abbot rushed over to mediate.

The quarreling monks did not lower their voices, but instead their voices grew louder and louder. They even pulled each other with their hands, patted each other on the shoulders, and argued until their faces turned red.

The temple master was furious, but when he understood what the others were arguing about, he did not scold them. Instead, he frowned and said, "I cannot make the decision on this matter. The Master must make the decision."

Before Yao Ying could hear what the monks were arguing about, she and the quarreling monks were sent to Tanmarajiva's meditation room by the temple abbot.

The silvery-white flowers of the jujube trees in the yard were almost all fallen, and the ground was covered with petals.

Tanmarajiva was handling official business, wearing a shoulder-baring cassock, and her honey-colored shoulders were soft and shiny.

The abbot first bowed respectfully and reported to the guards. When Yuanjue signaled him to go in, he immediately took a few monks into the meditation room to report what had happened.

After listening to his report, Tanmaragha raised his eyes and looked at Yaoying who was standing in front of the door.

Yaoying understood and walked in.

Tanmaraka told Yuanjue: "Get some paper and pen."

Yuanjue brought a small desk, took out paper and pen, and placed them on the right side of Tanmaragha.

Tanmaraka asked Yaoying: "Princess, can you write down from memory the Heart Sutra that you recited some time ago?"

He looked at her, his eyes like a pool of clear water, cold and gentle.

Although there is no deliberate intention to soothe, it can make people calm down immediately.

Yao Ying calmed herself down, nodded, walked to the small desk, sat down with legs crossed, picked up the pen and began to write from memory.

The room was quiet, with only the rustling sound of pens scratching on paper.

After a while, Yaoying finished copying and handed it to Yuanjue, who brought it to Tanmarajiva's desk.

Tanmarajiva read ten lines at a glance, first scanning it once, and then starting over from the beginning again, this time reading it very carefully.

After reading it, he put the paper down.

"Princess, do you have a Sanskrit version of the Heart Sutra?"

Yaoying shook her head. The original versions of Buddhist scriptures were mostly in Sanskrit, and then there were different translations. There were many Sanskrit versions of Buddhist scriptures in her dowry, but there was no Sanskrit version of the Heart Sutra.

When several monks heard this, they began to whisper to each other, and one of them looked quite excited.

Tanmaraka glanced at him indifferently.

The monk's face turned red, he stopped arguing and lowered his head.

Tanmarajiva asked Yuanjue to fetch a piece of paper and a pen, and began to write according to the Chinese text that Yaoying had just written down.

Yaoying was a little curious, her eyes fell on his pen, and she found that he was writing in Sanskrit, which she could not understand.

Was he translating directly from what she recited?

She looked at it for a while but still couldn't understand it. Suddenly, Tanmarajiva raised his head and met her eyes.

Yao Ying was startled, then smiled at him, her eyebrows slightly curved, her eyes dark and shiny.

Like the flowers on the branches, blooming brilliantly, full of youthful pride, and eyes full of trust.

Don't you care about him eating meat now?

Tanmarajiva lowered his eyes, pointed at a sentence on the paper, and asked softly about the sentence that Yaoying had written down.

Yao Ying came back to her senses and answered in a low voice.

Tanmarajiva nodded, picked up the pen to revise what he had written before, and asked again after a while. Yaoying answered seriously.

They spoke Chinese, which the guards and monks on duty could not understand or say a word. They could only stare at them with bated breath, observing their expressions.

Yaoying sat next to Tanmarajiva, and she answered every question he asked.

She glanced at the monks who were looking nervous and eager, and said honestly, "Master, I don't really understand the meaning of the scriptures. Would you like to ask a few more people?"

Tanmaraka lowered his eyebrows and said, "It's okay, Princess, just repeat the original text."

It was unknown how much time had passed, but when he finished translating, he took another piece of paper to copy it, and then handed it to Yuanjue.

Yuanjue handed the paper to several waiting monks. The monks passed it around and started arguing with each other. Finally, they saluted to Tanmaraka, apparently waiting for his judgment.

Tanmaraka said a few words.

Several monks were stunned for a long time, looking thoughtful, some had a look of sudden enlightenment, and some were still a little confused. After a while, everyone put their hands together in front of Tanmarajiva and retreated.

Yao Ying was left sitting at the desk in a daze: What happened?

She looked at Tanmarajiva and whispered in Chinese: "Master, I am not causing you any trouble, am I? Why are they arguing over the Heart Sutra?"

Tanmaraka shook his head slightly, indicating that it was nothing, and said, "They have never read the Sanskrit version of the Heart Sutra, and they have not found any record of it in the scriptures. They suspect that this is a fake sutra, so they quarreled. It has nothing to do with the princess."

Yao Ying was surprised, thought for a moment, and said decisively, "Then I won't recite it anymore."

There are many Buddhist sects. The Buddhist teachings in the Western Regions are more deeply influenced by India and are integrated with local customs and traditions, mixed with many things she does not understand. She does not want to offend others because of her unintentional actions.

Tanmarajiva looked down at the Heart Sutra that Yaoying had just written silently and said, "Princess, don't worry about it. Whether the Heart Sutra is true or false does not depend on their recognition or the existence of the original Sanskrit text. It depends on the Buddhist principles in the text. Since the Buddha's death, over the past thousand years, various sects have explained the meaning of the sutra and written a vast number of Buddhist scriptures. Are all the sutras they have not seen false?"

Yao Ying suddenly realized that the monks had different opinions on the origin of the Heart Sutra and asked Tanmarajiva to judge. This was the answer he gave.

No wonder the monks were convinced.