Four Buddhist Persecutions in China

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The Four Buddhist Persecutions in China (Chinese: 三武一宗法難) were the wholesale suppression of Buddhism carried out on four occasions from the 5th through the 10th century by four Chinese emperors: Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou dynasty, Emperor Wuzong of the Tang dynasty, and Emperor Shizong of the Later Zhou dynasty. The first three events are collectively known as the Three Disasters of Wu (Chinese: 三武之禍; pinyin: sān wǔ zhī huò); they were named as such because the posthumous names or temple names of all three emperors who carried out the persecutions included the character "Wu" (武).

First

The first Disaster of Wu started in 446, when

the Northern Celestial Masters, was fighting the Xiongnu rebel Gai Wu (蓋吳). During the campaign, weapons were located in Buddhist temples, and he therefore believed that Buddhists were against him. With encouragement from his also devoutly Taoist prime minister Cui Hao, Emperor Taiwu ordered Buddhism abolished under penalty of death, and slaughtered the Buddhists in the Guanzhong region, the center of Gai's rebellion.[1] The ban against Buddhism was relaxed in Emperor Taiwu's later years, and formally ended after his grandson Emperor Wencheng of Northern Wei
, a Buddhist, took the throne in 452.

Second

In 567, former Buddhist priest

Taoist images destroyed and their clergy returned to lay life. He believed the temples had become too rich and powerful, so he confiscated their land and gave it to his own soldiers.[2] During this time, the Shaolin Monastery was closed but later reopened after the Emperor Xuan of Northern Zhou had the monastery renovated.[3][4] Compared to the first Disaster of Wu, the second was relatively bloodless. When it officially ended was difficult to gauge, but it was probably over by the time that his son Emperor Xuan of Northern Zhou
took the throne in 578.

Third

Main article:
Huichang Persecution of Buddhism

In 845, Taoist

Emperor Xuanzong
ascended the throne and put forth a policy of tolerance in 846.

Several reasons led to the proscriptions, among them the accumulated wealth by the monasteries

classes.[10]

Fourth

In 955, the

New History of the Five Dynasties suggest the lack of suppression of doctrines and practices, although the New History indicated that people who had dependents were disallowed from becoming monks or nuns.[11][12] The Old History of the Five Dynasties indicates that there were destructions of temples, and forced return to civilian life for monks and nuns whose vows were not approved of by their parents.[13]

According to the Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism, Emperor Shizong destroyed 3,336 of China's 6,030 Buddhist temples.[9]

Regulation

Song Dynasty
(960-1279 AD)

A report from the late 920s, on heretical Buddhist believers, comments that “sometimes Buddhist clergy and laity are ignorant and thoughtless. Men and women live together illicitly, forming themselves into groups, gathering at night and dispersing at dawn, speciously proclaiming and handing down a ‘Buddhist law society’ [fa-huai], clandestinely being loose in their morals.” An edict in 1035 offered a substantial reward, thirty strings of cash, to anyone who was able to seize such sectaries or who informed on them leading to their capture. (Note that thirty strings of cash was the estimated cost to the state of supporting a postal worker for one year.) This report concerned the western

circuits but people accused of similar practices could also be found in the east.[14]

Constant wars drained China of money. This forced the court to raise taxes and to sell Buddhist “ordination certificates" (to prove a monk's tax, work, and military exempt status) in order to boost revenue. In 1067 these certificates became official policy. As a result, rich members of the lay community began to appropriate Buddhist temples in an attempt to build "cloisters" of tax exempt wealth. (But in 1109, an imperial decree stopped wealthy laymen from funding these temples and four years later in 1113 these temples lost their tax-exempt status. By 1129 it was estimated that 5,000 of these certificates were sold on an annual basis.) Some laymen even purchased their own ordination to avoid taxes. This way they would not have to pay money to the state, nor keep the Buddhist precepts since they were not real clergy. With an uneven balance of clergy and civilians, the state lost a major source of taxes and military personnel.

better source needed
]

During the Prime-Ministry of "Reformer" Wang Anshi (1021–1086), the state began to take on social welfare functions previously provided by Buddhist monasteries, instituting public orphanages, hospitals, dispensaries, hospices, cemeteries, and reserve granaries.[15]

See also

Sources

  1. Wei Shu
    (《魏书·释老志》):“世祖初继位，亦遵太祖、太宗之业，每引高德沙门，与共谈论。……及得寇谦之道，帝以清净无为，有仙化之证，遂信行其术。时司徒崔浩，博学多闻，帝每访以大事。浩奉谦之道，尤不信佛，与帝言，数加非毁，常谓虚诞，为世费害，帝以其辩博，颇信之。”
  2. ^ Wei Yüan-sung
  3. ^ History of the Shaolin Kung Fu Temple Archived September 18, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ 《续高僧传》（卷二十三）：“数百年来官私佛寺，扫地并尽！融刮圣容，焚烧经典。禹贡八州见成寺庙，出四十千，并赐王公，充为第宅；三方释子，减三百万，皆复为民，还为编户。三宝福财，其赀无数，簿录入官，登即赏费，分散荡尽。”
  5. ISBN 0-595-37340-2
  6. ^ Chinese records state Zoroastrianism and Christianity were regarded as heretical forms of Buddhism during this time. (see Chapter 5: Christianity in China)
  7. ^ Old Book of Tang 《旧唐书·武宗纪》（卷一八上）：“还俗僧尼二十六万五百人，收充两税户”“收奴婢为两税户十五万人”。
  8. ^ Ch'en, Kenneth (1956). The Economic Background of The Hui-ch'ang Suppression of Buddhism, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 19, (1/2), 67-105  – via JSTOR (subscription required)
  9. ^ a b four imperial persecutions of Buddhism in China
  10. ^ Chinese History - Tang 唐 (618–907), Five Dynasties 五代 (907–960), Ten States 十國 (902–979) religion and customs
  11. ^ s:zh:資治通鑑:第292卷.
  12. ^ New History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 12 [1]. Archived October 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ Old History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 5 [2]. Archived February 18, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ISBN 0-521-41121-1
    )
  15. ^ a b Song Dynasty Renaissance 960-1279

Further reading

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