On the first day of the first lunar month of the fifth year of Huichang (845), under the leadership of Li Deyu, the courtiers entered the palace to congratulate Li Mao, looking forward to the new year of the Tang Dynasty, the smooth wind and rain, the national Tai Min'an, the emperor's long life without boundaries, and the emperor's eternal life.
Not only that, Qunchen also added a high-end honorific title to Li Mao: Rensheng Wenwu Zhangtian Successful God Deming Dao Emperor Daxiao. According to historical records, the first edition of the honorific title drawn up by the Ministry of Rites did not have the word "Dao", and Li Hao believed in Taoism, so he forcibly added a "Dao".
Although it was a small detail, Li Wei wanted to tell everyone that Taoism was very important to him. Subsequently, Li Yu spent a huge amount of money to build a large-scale Wangxiantai and Wangxian Tower in Chang'an. The courtiers were all experienced, and they had a premonition that Li Yu would not be untargeted, and that something big might happen in datang.
In June of the fifth year of Huichang (845), at an ordinary court meeting, Li Yu asked a question to the officials of the Ceremonial Department. Li Mao: "How many temples and monks are there in the country?" Official of the Ministry of Rites: "Your Majesty, there are 4,600 Buddhist monasteries in the country, more than 40,000 Zhaoti and Lan Ruo (privately built places of practice and the resting places of the four wandering monks), and 260,500 monks and nuns. ”
The group of ministers looked at Li Hao, hoping to get further instructions, but Li Hao diverged from the topic. In July of the fifth year of Huichang (845), Li Yu suddenly issued an edict: demolish Buddhist temples throughout the country. One temple remains in each state, but it is divided into grades, with twenty monks in upper temples, ten monks in medium temples, and five monks in lower temples.
Chang'an and Luoyang each retain two Buddhist temples, and each monastery leaves thirty monks. All monks, nuns, Great Qin Muhu (Manichaeanism), and Yuanjiao monks were also reclusive. The imperial court recovered tens of millions of acres of fertile land belonging to Buddhist temples and 150,000 monastery slaves. Temple buildings were demolished and wood was used to repair the buildings of the government mansion and the post office.
Buddhist bronze statues, bells and other utensils were all melted and used to make money. This incident is called "Tang Wuzong destroyed the Buddha" in history, and the history of Buddhism calls it "Huichang Fa Difficulty". In the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism was the spiritual belief of many people. According to normal logic, if the imperial court wanted to destroy the Buddha, it would certainly be resisted by countless people, and perhaps violent conflicts would break out.
However, after Li Ying issued the edict, the ministers raised their hands in approval, and the common people were indifferent and watched the anti-Buddhist movement spread like a cloud throughout the country.
This can only illustrate one problem: the anti-Buddhist movement can bring benefits to bureaucrats and ordinary people. So the question is, what was the fundamental motive of Tang Wuzong Li Yi to destroy the Buddha? The answer is simple: Li Yu has a crush on the land, population, and money of Buddhist temples.
In the case of land, Buddhist monasteries had become the most feared landlords of the Tang Dynasty. The land rewarded by the imperial court, the land that the temple annexed to the people, the land occupied by the magnates (the owners of Buddhist temples), and eventually reached tens of millions of hectares.
In those days, the land was a cash cow, and Li Ying could take it for himself with a holy will, so how could he not be red-eyed? As for the population, during the tang xuanzong period, the national household registration was close to 10 million households, and in the sixth year of Huichang (846), the official national household registration was only 4.5 million households. Because of war, hunger and other reasons, the country has consumed tens of millions of people.
Of course, compared with the total population of the country, 260,000 monks and nuns are nothing, but they are the most direct taxpayers, as long as Li Feng liberates their productive forces, 260,000 people will become Li Mao's printing machines. Not only that, Buddhist monasteries have their own land, and the cultivators of the land are the nearby people, and the larger the territory of the monastery, the more people are attached. Unfortunately, these people were all migrant workers in the temple and had little to do with the imperial court.
With a holy decree, Li Yi can make the people work for themselves, so why not do it. As for money, Buddhist temples have land and population, which can be described as a steady stream. In addition, the bronze cast Buddha statues of the temple can be recycled to mint copper coins, and the gold and silver ware of the temple can also be directly recycled.
Li Yi made a holy decree, and the wealth of Buddhism changed its owner in an instant. Objectively speaking, we can't blame Li Ying for not paying attention, but population, land, and silver money are the most important resources of the empire, and they are also Li Hao's hope for realizing the Prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.
History is so interesting: Tang Wuzong Li Wei had his own ambitions, but he had no money. The buddhist power reached its peak during the Tang Wuzong period and can be called the upstart of the times.
Compared with the landlord class, the Buddhist forces are soft persimmons, and there is no pressure to bully them. Li Yan is also a fan of Taoism, and there are Taoist forces next to him to stir up trouble. Li Yan took the Buddhist forces to open the knife, as if it were justified.
In Chinese history, there have been a total of four extinctions of Buddhism.
In the fifth year of the Taiping Zhenjun (444), the Northern Wei Emperor Tuoba Tao issued an edict to destroy the Buddha.
In the third year of The Northern Zhou Dynasty (574), the Northern Zhou Emperor Yuwen Yong ordered the destruction of the Buddha.
In the sixth year of Huichang (846), Emperor Wuzong of Tang ordered Li Yan to destroy the Buddha.
In the first year of the Later Zhou Dynasty (954), Later Zhou Shizong Chai Rong ordered the destruction of the Buddha.
If we sum up the laws of history, it is that the anti-Buddhist movements all occurred in the most prosperous period of Buddhism, and it was because the power of Buddhism swelled rapidly and became a thorn in the eyes of the ruling clique, coupled with the emperor's closeness to Taoism, so the extermination of Buddhism was launched.
What is more interesting is that their purpose is to suppress Buddhism, not to eliminate Buddhism, and often the father destroys the Buddha, and the children and grandchildren will make Buddhism stand firm and continue to develop.
The political logic behind it is indeed worth pondering.