Buddhism Banned in CHINA

845
Emperor Wuzong of Tang, reigned 840–846.
The Great Anti-Buddhist
Persecution initiated by Tang Emperor
Wuzong reached its height in the year 845 AD.
Among its purposes were to appropriate war
funds and to cleanse China of foreign
influences. As such, the persecution was directed
not only towards Buddhism but also towards
other religions, such
as Zoroastrianism, Nestorian Christianity,
and Manichaeism.
WHO IS WUZONG of TANG?
• Emperor Wuzong of Tang (July 2, 814 – April 22,
846), né Li Chan, later changed to Li Yan just
before his death, was an emperor of the Tang
Dynasty of China, reigning from 840 to 846.
Emperor Wuzong is mainly known in modern times
for the religious persecution that occurred during his
reign. In addition, he was known for his successful
reactions against incursions by remnants of
the Huigu Khanate and the rebellion by Liu Zhen,
as well as his deep trust in the chancellor Li Deyu.
 Reasons for the Persecution
Emperor Wuzong’s reasons for persecuting the Buddhist organisations and
temples throughout China were economic, social, and religious.
Economic reasons: In 843 the emperor's armies won a decisive battle
against the Uyghur tribes at the cost of almost bankrupting the country.
Wuzong's solution to the financial crisis was to go after the wealth that
had been accumulated in the Buddhist monasteries. Buddhism had
flourished greatly during the Tang period, and its monasteries enjoyed
tax-exempt status. In 845, Wuzong closed many Buddhist shrines,
confiscated their property, and sent the monks and nuns home to laylife.
 Reasons for the Persecution
Social reasons: Confucian intellectuals such as Han Yu railed against
Buddhism for undermining the social structure of China. It eroded the
loyalty of son to father, and subject to ruler, by encouraging people to
leave their families and to become monks and nuns. Once they had been
ordained, they stopped engaging in useful economic activity such as
agriculture and weaving, and became a burden that had to be supported
by the work of others. The persecution sought to return monks and nuns
to the ranks of tax-paying commoners engaged in useful economic
activity.
 Reasons for the Persecution
Religious reasons: While Wuzong saw Buddhism as a
foreign religion that was harmful to Chinese society, he
became a zealous follower of Taoism, a faith which he
regarded as native to China. Buddhism preached the
attainment of non-birth or nirvana, which its critics equated
with death, while Taoism promised immortality, a notion that
increasingly captured the attention of the emperor as he grew
older and less rational.
An imperial edict of 845 stated the case against
Buddhism as follows:
 Buddhist monasteries daily grew higher. Men’s strength was used up in work with plaster and
wood. Men’s gain was taken up in ornaments of gold and precious stones. Imperial and
family relationships were forsaken for obedience to the fees of the priests. The marital
relationship was opposed by the ascetic restraints.
 Destructive of law, injurious to mankind, nothing is worse than this way. Moreover, if one
man does not plough, others feel hunger, if one woman does not tend the silk worms,
others go cold.
 Now in the Empire there are monks and nuns innumerable. All depend on others
to plough that they may eat, on others to raise silk that they may be clad.
Monasteries and Refuges (Homes of ascetics, in Sanskrit) are beyond compute.
Beautifully ornamented; they take for themselves palaces as a dwelling. We will
repress this long-standing pestilence to its roots. In all the Empire more than four
thousand six hundred monasteries are destroyed, two hundred and sixty thousand
five hundred monks and nuns are returning to the world, both (men and women) to
be received as tax paying householders.
Refuges and hermitages which are destroyed number more than forty thousand. We
are resuming fertile land of the first grade, several tens of millions of Ch’ing (1
ching is 15.13 acres).
We are receiving back as tax paying householders, male and female, one hundred
and fifty thousand serfs. The aliens who hold jurisdiction over the monks and nuns
show clearly that this is a foreign religion.
Ta Ch’in (Syrian) and Muh-hu-fo (Zoroastrian) monks to the number of
more than three thousand are compelled to return to the world, lest they
confuse the customs of China.
With simplified and regulated government we will achieve a unification of
our manners, that in future all our youth may together return to the royal
culture.
We are now beginning this reformation; how long it will take we do not
know.
Events of the Persecution
The first phase of the persecution was one aimed at purifying or reforming the
Buddhist church rather than exterminating it. Thus, the persecution began in 842 with
an imperial edict providing that undesirables such as sorcerers or convicts were to be
weeded out from the ranks of the Buddhist monks and nuns and were to be returned
to lay life. In addition, monks and nuns were to turn their wealth over to the
government; those who wished to keep their wealth would be returned to lay life and
forced to pay taxes. During this first phase, Confucian arguments for the reform of
Buddhist institutions and the protection of society from Buddhist influence and
practices were predominant.
Gradually, however, the Emperor Wuzong became more and more
impressed with the claims of Taoist fanatics, and came to develop a severe
dislike for Buddhism The Japanese monk Ennin, who lived in China during
the persecution, even suggested that the emperor had been influenced by his
illicit love of a beautiful Taoist priestess In addition, as time went by the
emperor became more irascible and less sane in his judgments. One of his
edicts banned the use of single-wheeled wheelbarrows, since they break up
"the middle of the road," an important concept of Taoism.
As a result, in 844 the persecution moved into a second phase the objective
of which was the extermination rather than the reformation of Buddhism.
According to the report prepared by the Board of Worship, there were 4,600
monasteries, 40,000 hermitages (places of retreat), 260,500 monks and nuns.
The emperor issued edicts that Buddhist temples and shrines be destroyed,
that all monks (desirables as well as undesirables) be defrocked, that the
property of the monasteries be confiscated, and that Buddhist paraphernalia
be destroyed.
• An edict providing that foreign monks be defrocked and returned to their
homelands resulted in Ennin's expulsion from China. By the edict of AD
845 all the monasteries were abolished with very few exceptions. When the
monasteries were broken up the images of bronze, silver or gold were to be
handed over to the government.
In 846, the Emperor Wuzong died, perhaps on account of the elixirs of life
he had been consuming. It is also possible that he was intentionally poisoned.
Shortly thereafter, his successor proclaimed a general amnesty.

The persecution was over.

 Effects on Buddhism
• The suppression of monasteries and persecution of foreign religions were part of a
reformation undertaken. The persecution lasted for twenty months not long, but
long enough to have permanent effects. Buddhism, for all its strength, never
completely recovered. For centuries afterwards, it was merely a tolerated religion.
The days of its greatest building, sculpture, and painting, and its most vital creative
thought, were past.
• In some aspects while much of traditional Buddhist teachings were later arduously
restored following Emperor Wuzong's reign, some traditional schools of thought
were wiped out. This included the ancient Esoteric school, which barely survived
through the Japanese monk Kūkai, later the founder of the Shingon sect.
 Effects on the other Religions
• In addition to Buddhism, Wuzong persecuted other foreign religions as well.
He all but destroyed Zoroastrianism and Manichaeanism in China, and his
persecution of the growing Nestorian Christian churches sent Nestorian
Christianity into a decline, from which it did not recover until the
establishment of the Yuan dynasty. The arrival of Catholic and Protestant
missionaries gave new life to Christianity in China.
• It most likely led to the disappearance of Zoroastrianism.
 Chinese records state Zoroastrianism and Christianity
were regarded as heretical forms of Buddhism, and were
included within the scope of the edicts.
As for the Tai-Ch’in (Syrian) and Muh-hu (Zoroastrian) forms of worship,
since Buddhism has already been cast out, these heresies alone must not be
allowed to survive. People belonging to these also are to be compelled to
return to the world, belong again to their own districts, and become taxpayers.
As for foreigners, let them be returned to their own countries, there to suffer
restraint.
Islam was brought to China during the Tang dynasty by Arab traders, who
were primarily concerned with trading and commerce. It is thought that this
low profile was the reason that the 845 anti-Buddhist edict ignored Islam.