The Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution initiated by Tang Emperor Wuzong reached its height in the year 845 CE. 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.
Reasons for the Persecution
'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 lay life.
Social reasons: Confucian intellectuals such as Han Yu railed against Buddhism for undermining the social structure of China. They claimed 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 economic activity such as agriculture and weaving, and live from the support of others. The persecution sought to return monks and nuns to the ranks of tax-paying commoners engaged in what was perceived to be more useful economic activity.
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.
An imperial edict of 845 stated the case against Buddhism as follows:
Events of the Persecution
The first phase of the persecution was one aimed at purifying or reforming the Buddhist establishment 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 some Taoists, 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 princess. In addition, as time went by the emperor became more irascible and more erratic 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, 260,500 monks and nuns. The emperor issued edicts that Buddhist temples and shrines be destroyed, that all monks 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. 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.
Effects on 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. Below is from an edict concerning the two religions: 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.
