Buddhism, which originated in ancient India, was introduced to China around the Han and Han dynasties. After Buddhism was introduced to China, it quickly became one of the most influential religions on the mainland. Most of the ancient emperors of the mainland were very worshipful of the Buddha, why did the "three martial arts and one sect" risk the world's disapproval and destroy the Buddha?
1. Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty destroyed the Buddha
Tuoba Tao was the third emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty during the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
During Tuoba Tao's reign in the Northern Wei Dynasty, he was surrounded by strong enemies, and there were many opponents such as Rouran, Hu Xia, Northern Yan, Northern Liang, and Liu Song. If the Northern Wei Dynasty did not destroy them, they might be destroyed by them, so during the reign of Tuoba Tao, there were constant soldiers and a large number of troops were needed. The Northern Wei Dynasty implemented a system in which all the people were soldiers, and every adult male had to serve in the military, which made the people bear a heavy burden of military service and suffered unspeakably.
Monks do not need to pay taxes, and they do military service and hard labor, which makes many people become monks in order to avoid taxes, military service, and hard labor.
During his reign, Buddhism developed rapidly, and the number of monks increased dramatically, which led to a decrease in the country's military resources, making Tuoba Tao feel more and more short of manpower in military operations. In 438, Tuoba Tao directly ordered all monks under the age of 50 in the country to return to the laity, serve in the military, and follow the army to the west to conquer Northern Liang. After that, Tuoba Tao accused the Shamen followers, fake Xirong is false, and give birth to demons, and began to order the destruction of Buddha, burning Buddha statues and Buddhist scriptures all over the country, and prohibiting the spread of Buddhism, so that the development of Buddhism in the mainland fell into decline for a while.
Tuoba Tao broke through Rouran and defeated Hu Xia, Northern Yan, and Northern Liang, which was a great achievement. At the same time, he fought for many years, resulting in heavy burdens on the people, sharp domestic contradictions, and continuous national revolts and peasant uprisings. In 452, Tuoba Tao was murdered by a conspiracy by Nakatsune Shizong Ai.
Second, Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Buddha
Yu Wenyong, the fourth son of Yu Wentai, a powerful minister of the Western Wei Dynasty.
In 578, when Yuwentai was dying, he asked his nephew Yuwenhu to succeed him as a powerful minister of the Western Wei Dynasty, and asked Yuwenhu to take care of his son.
After Yuwentai's death, the powerful Yuwenhu deposed the Western Wei Emperor Tuoba Kuo, and made Yuwentai's third son, Yuwenjue, the emperor, and established the Northern Zhou Dynasty.
Yuwen Jue didn't want to be Yuwen Go's puppet emperor, so he tried to resist, but was deposed by Yuwen Hu, and Yuwen Taishu's eldest son, Yuwen Yu, was renamed emperor. In 557, Yuwen Hu killed Yuwen Jue and Tuoba Kuo. Yuwen Yu also doesn't want to be Yuwen Hu's puppet. In 560, Yuwen Hu killed Yuwen Yu and renamed Yuwen Tai's fourth son, Yu Wen Yong, as emperor. The three emperors were killed by Yuwen Hu, which made Yu Wen Yong afraid to confront him because he was afraid of Yu Wen Hu. Yuwen Yong obeyed Yuwen Hu's words, and also made Yuwen Hu gradually relax his guard against Yuwen Yong.
In 572, Yuwen Yong persuaded Yuwen to enter the palace to persuade the Empress Dowager on the grounds that the Empress Dowager was drunk. When Yuwen Hu read "Wine Message" to the Queen Mother, Yu Wen Yong suddenly attacked from behind and killed Yu Wen Hu. After Yuwen Hu's death, Yuwen Yong took power back into his own hands. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, there were many monk uprisings such as the Mahayana Uprising and the Six Towns Uprising. In the Northern Zhou Dynasty, there were more than 30,000 temples in the country, and the number of monks and nuns was as high as 3 million, accounting for 1/16 of the total population of the country.
At the same time, the people who originally belonged to the state fled into the empty door in order to escape the harsh labor and heavy taxes, which made the number of monks in the Northern Zhou Dynasty continue to increase, and the number of people in the state household became smaller and smaller, which affected the military resources and foreign wars of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. The temple also enjoyed privileges such as tax exemption and land, which led to the concentration of the country's wealth in the temple and affected the economic development of the society, which eventually made Emperor Wu of Zhou determined to destroy the Buddha.
In 574, Emperor Wu of Zhou issued an edict to "cut off the two religions of Buddha and Taoism, destroy the scriptures, strike Shamen and Taoist priests, and order the return of the people." For a time, all parts of the Northern Zhou Dynasty "melted the Buddha and burned the scriptures, drove the monks to break the tower", and forced the monks to return to the world. The Northern Zhou Dynasty destroyed a total of 40,000 temples and forced more than 3 million monks and nuns to return to the laity, which significantly enhanced the national strength of the Northern Zhou Dynasty and laid a solid foundation for the Northern Zhou Dynasty to destroy the Northern Qi Dynasty and even the Northern Zhou Dynasty to unify the north.
In 578, Emperor Wu of Zhou died of illness during a crusade against the Turks.
3. Tang Wuzong destroyed the Buddha
In 819, Tang Xianzong welcomed the Buddha's bones in Fengxiang Famen Temple. He first welcomed the Buddha's bones into the palace, offered them for three days, and then sent them to various temples in the capital for monks and laymen to pay respects. This incident set off a religious upsurge throughout the Tang Dynasty. For a time, "the princes and the people were willing to give alms, but they were afraid of it." There are those who do their best to give alms, and there are those who burn incense and offer on the top of their arms", which also made the power of Buddhism reach its peak in the Tang Dynasty, and there were many believers.
Tang Muzong, Tang Jingzong, and Tang Wenzong continued to promote Buddhism, which led to an increasing number of monks in the Tang Dynasty and a concentration of wealth in monasteries. The monastic economy continued to develop, while the Tang Dynasty's economy continued to decline, which increased the burden on the state. After Tang Wuzong succeeded to the throne, he rectified the dynasty, recovered the lost territory, and stabilized the frontier, while "punishing the source of the eternal beetle, becoming the law of a hundred kings, and helping people and benefiting the public", and began to destroy the Buddha.
In 842, Tang Wuzong ordered that the offenders and violators among the monks and nuns be returned to the laity and their property confiscated. In 845, Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty ordered that temples in various places were not allowed to build manors, and began to count the property of monasteries, monks and nuns. In April of the same year, Tang Wuzong began the campaign to destroy Buddhism, he ordered all monks and nuns with or without monks and nuns to return to the laity, and began to destroy the temple. In that year, more than 4,600 temples were demolished, 260,000 monks and nuns were forced to return to the laity, and countless properties were confiscated. Tang Wuzong's destruction of Buddha dealt a heavy blow to Buddhism, resulting in "the monk's room was broken and the Buddha statue was exposed".
In 820, Tang Wuzong was murdered by the eunuchs Chen Hongzhi, Wang Shoucheng and others, who announced that Tang Wuzong "mistakenly ingested Danshi and collapsed with poison".
Fourth, after Zhou Shizong destroyed the Buddha
Chai Rong is the nephew of Guo Wei, the Taizu of the Later Zhou Dynasty. Guo Wei was a general under Liu Zhiyuan, the ancestor of the Later Han Dynasty. After Liu Zhiyuan's death, his son Liu Chengyou succeeded him.
Liu Chengyou didn't trust Guo Wei and wanted to kill Guo Wei. After Guo Wei learned of this, in order to protect himself, he could only lead his troops to rebel and seize Liu Chengyou's throne. After Guo Wei rebelled, Liu Chengyou killed Guo Wei's family, resulting in Guo Wei having no son and could only pass the throne to his nephew Chai Rong.
During Chai Rong's reign, Buddhism experienced the peak of the Tang Dynasty and had declined by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Due to the war, all the large and small sects of Buddhism have disappeared into oblivion, and only Zen Buddhism lives in seclusion in the mountains, not affected by the war, and develops better. There are not many Buddhist monks, less wealth, and there is no threat to the national economy, Chai Rong's rule, and the reason why Chai Rong wants to destroy Buddhism is purely because he personally does not like Buddhism.
Chai Rong's destruction of the Buddha was relatively mild, he did not massacre a large number of monks and nuns, burned Buddhist scriptures, but forbade the people to become monks and nuns privately, limited the number of monks and nuns, and abolished more than 30,000 monasteries without a quota, and purchased Buddha statues to mint money, which made Buddhism suffer a major blow and gradually declined.
In 959, Chai Rong died of illness during the Northern Expedition to the Khitan, and after his death, his general Zhao Kuangyin and Chen Qiao mutinied and seized the throne of his son Chai Zongxun.