In Chinese history, there were five emperors who challenged Buddhism, causing disasters four times, known in history as "three martial arts and one sect to destroy the Buddha". The plots are different, but the endings are somewhat similar.
First: Northern Wei Taiwu Emperor Tuoba Tao
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Tuoba Tao, the Taiwu Emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty, personally led an iron horse to flatten the four kingdoms and unify the north. At that time, the Dharma was widely spread, and many people practiced monasticism. In 438, he issued an edict ordering monks under the age of 50 to return to the common people in order to solve the problem of soldiers; in 444, he expelled the monks on the grounds that Buddhism was engaged in "superstitious activities". In 446, under the advice of the important minister Cui Hao, the most severe edict was issued: to break the burning of Buddha statues and Buddhist scriptures, demolish the monastery, and bury the monks alive. The prince, who was a firm believer in Buddhism at the time, repeatedly offered advice and delayed the promulgation of the edict, and some monks were able to escape. Within a few days, they began to smash stupas, destroy Buddha statues (mint money), burn Buddhist scriptures, kill monks and nuns... All over the country, the wind is roaring.
Perhaps in response to the law that "If God wants to destroy it, he must first make it crazy", Cui Hao, who did not listen to the bitter advice of his colleagues and vigorously promoted the campaign to destroy Buddhism, embarked on a tragic end. Cui Hao, a Han Chinese who despised the Xianbei nobles with great self-esteem, used huge sums of money to carve his books and the history of the country he had edited into a forest of stele, exposing the ugliness of the country and angering the magnates. The emperor personally interrogated him, and Cui Hao, who was more talented than Zhang Liang, was confused and could not cope with it except to admit corruption. In 450, this old minister of the Three Dynasties and his three in-laws were exterminated, and before his death, he was tortured, humiliated, and shouted all the way, when people said that he had suffered retribution for destroying the Buddha.
Two years later, Emperor Taiwu was killed by eunuchs at the age of 44. Two of his sons also died at the hands of eunuchs.
After Emperor Wencheng succeeded to the throne in 452, he redeemed his grandfather's mistakes and revived the Dharma, and the Yungang Grottoes were built by his edict. From then on, Guotai Min'an laid the foundation for the future Wei Xiaowen Emperor Zhongxing.
Second place: Northern Zhou Wu Emperor Yuwen Yong
At the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Northern Zhou Wu Emperor Yuwen Yong (yin: Yong, Xianbei) was a heroic warrior who personally conquered Northern Qi in 575 (at the age of 32) and unified the north again at the age of 34.
In 574, Yuwen Yong threatened not to be afraid of going to hell, and the Buddha and Dao were destroyed, destroying the Buddhist Scriptures and statues, and making the monks and Taoists return to the world. After the destruction of Northern Qi, it also banned Buddhism and Taoism in the territory of the former Northern Qi, seized 40,000 monasteries as residences, burned Buddhist relics, and forced 3 million monks and nuns to return to the world, so that northern Buddhism was almost extinct. In June of the following year, the Northern Expedition to the Turks, the large army arrived, but Emperor Wu died of a violent illness at the age of 35.
The Northern Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Buddha, and the disaster did not stop there! The 19-year-old crown prince Yuwen Yun (pronounced: halo) succeeded to the throne, brutal and absurd, and the following year gave way to his 6-year-old son, who devoted himself to harem indulgence, and died of illness at the age of 22. The younger son succeeded to the throne, and the power fell into the hands of his maternal grandfather Yang Jian. In 581, Yang Jian abolished Northern Zhou and established the Sui Dynasty. In less than two years, 43 families of the Yuwen Imperial Family were exterminated, and the rest of the Yuwen Clan was basically killed.
Third place: Tang Gaozu Li Yuan
At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the war was chaotic, and history repeated itself. In 618, Li Yuan replaced the Sui Dynasty to establish the Tang Dynasty, just like a copy of his uncle Yang Jiandai Zhou Jiansui, but Li Yuan did not have the tradition of his uncle's belief in Buddhism.
In 626, Taishi ordered Fu Yi to play the script seven times to destroy the Buddha, and his words were fierce, and Li Yuan ignored the opposition of most of his courtiers and issued an edict in May: "The capital city stays in the temple three and two temples." One in each of the other states. "Other temples and Taoist temples were demolished, and only the diligent Buddhas and Taoist disciples were provided, and the rest were rehabilitated. At that time, the Tang Dynasty only had more than 300 state capitals, while there were more than 5,000 temples, 500,000 monks and nuns, and nearly 100 Buddha Cave Grottoes in the country, which meant that more than 90% of the temples were destroyed and 460,000 monks and nuns were deprived of their faith.
However, in June, the Xuanwumen Incident occurred, and Li Shimin was pro-government, and the edict could not be implemented. If this were not the case, and then the Dharma would be destroyed, the history of the Tang Dynasty would have to be rewritten.
Fourth place: Tang Wuzong Li Yan
Emperor Wuzong of Tang believed in Taoism and ascended the throne at the age of 26. In 845 AD, after an in-depth investigation, the Buddhist temple began to be destroyed, the edict explicitly ordered the demolition of more than 4,600 temples, more than 40,000 small monasteries, a large number of Buddhist scriptures were burned, Buddha statues were burned and smelted, and more than 260,000 monks and nuns were forced to return to the world, and ancient Indian and Japanese monks were not spared. Foreign Muslims, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Jingjiao, and Uighurism also suffered together, and the corresponding monasteries were demolished, and 70 female Manis in the capital committed suicide without shelter; most of the Uighurs died on the way to being expelled... History says that Huichang destroyed the Buddha.
The prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty is also the prosperity of Buddhism, and in the late Decline of the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism is still deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Emperor Wuzong greatly lost the hearts of the people when he destroyed the Buddha, and some of the feudal envoys did not carry it out at all, and even said: "The Son of Heaven has come to destroy and burn it." In the early days of political turmoil, there was stability, and the "Huichang Zhongxing" that improved slightly in society gradually faded in the midst of the rising public resentment. The following year, it was rumored that Emperor Wuzong had exterminated the Buddha's life expectancy for 10 years and that Yin Cao had asked for his life. Soon Emperor Wuzong suddenly fell ill and died at the age of 32.
The law of the historical cycle is reproduced at this time. The first major event after ascending the throne was to issue an edict to "rehabilitate" the monks and nuns of the monastery, and from then on, the axe and pounds of the world repaired the abandoned temple were heard endlessly.
Emperor Xuanzong liked to emulate Emperor Taizong. He restored the Dharma, just as Emperor Taizong abolished the policy of exterminating the Buddha after Emperor Taizong ascended the throne. Emperor Xuanzong reigned for 13 years, exerting great efforts to govern, enriching the people and rejuvenating the country, and undertaking peace and stability, which is known in history as the "rule of the Great Middle". Xuanzong also received the reputation of "Little Taizong", and the history books remained fang and were sung by the people.
Fifth place: Later Zhou Shizong Chai Rong
Chai Rong, who was known as the first Ming Emperor of the Five Dynasties, was comprehensively reformed, expanded his territory, and was invincible, but why was he so short-lived? What about the ruin of the loser??
In fact, history has already given the answer, and the later Song Taizu and Song Taizong took it as a warning and created the prosperity of the Song Dynasty.
In May 955, the second year of Chai Rong's succession, he issued a major edict destroying the Buddhist temple. In addition to the Buddhist temples in the territory, except for those with the inscription of the emperor, only one temple is left in each county, and the others are destroyed. A total of 30,360 temples were demolished nationwide, Buddha statues were destroyed to cast money, and nearly one million monks and nuns were forced to return to the world.
In the era when Buddhism flourished, many people did not dare to destroy Buddha statues, and Chai Rong explained: "Buddhas are Buddhas, like images." The Buddha could give alms even to the flesh and eyes on his body, and smash the statue of the Buddha to cast money, and the Buddha would agree." Zhenzhou Great Compassion Temple has a bronze statue of the Great Guanyin Bodhisattva is extremely magical, to smash the Buddha statue people broke their wrists and died, no one dared to move again, Chai Rong personally used a large axe to cut the bodhisattva's chest statue to cast money.
Chai Rong once asked Wang Pu, who was proficient in magic numbers, "How many years can You live?" Wang Pu replied, "Thirty years later, I don't know." Chai Rong mistakenly thought that he could live for 30 years and was very happy. Wang Pu, on the other hand, has another meaning, Chai Rong reigned for five years and six months, five six positive and thirty meanings.
In 959, Chai Rong's army took Youzhou, and the Khitans looked down at the wind along the border fortifications, and the Khitans fled at night. Driving to Waqiao Pass, Chai Rong ascended to the Sixth Division of The High Temple and asked the people who had come to offer wine and meat: "What is the name of this place?" "It has been passed down through the generations, and it is called the Sick Dragon Platform." Chai Rong was silent and immediately got on his horse and ran back. Onset of illness that night, with malignant sores on the chest.
Chai Rong had previously dreamed that the gods had given him a large golden umbrella and a volume of the Tao Jing before he could win the world. On the night of his illness, he dreamed that the god-man had taken away the golden umbrella and the Tao Jing, and when he woke up, he said, "My dream is unknown, is it not the destiny of heaven that will go to Yahweh!" Soon, the chest sores festered and died. At that time, people rumored that it was a reward for destroying the statue of the Buddha. Less than a year after Chai Rong's 5-year-old son succeeded to the throne, he was taken by his commander-in-chief of the Forbidden Army, Zhao Kuangyin, and fell into the defeat of the country.
A few years ago, when Chai Rong destroyed the Buddha, Zhao Kuangyin, the commander of the Forbidden Army, visited the priest Mai, and Zhao Kuangyin said: "Destroying the Buddha and destroying the statue now is not a blessing for the society." Mai said, "Have you forgotten the calamity caused by the destruction of the Buddha by the Three Martial Arts?" Zhao asked when the world would be calm? Mai said, "When there is a Allah in Tatsumi, the Dharma is also flourishing." Later, Zhao Kuangyindeng fulfilled the prophecy based on the first month of the gengshen year.
After learning the lessons of the three martial arts to destroy the Buddha, and personally witnessing Chai Rong's retribution, Zhao Kuangyin abolished Chai Rong's policy of destroying the Buddha when he first ascended the throne, and repeatedly built Buddhist temples and Buddha statues. In 971, Zhao Kuangyin ordered the expansion of Longxing Temple and cast a bronze statue of Guanyin with a thousand hands and a thousand eyes (a total of 42 arms and a height of 22 meters) that is taller than the original, which is the origin of the Great Buddha of zhengding Great Buddha Temple today. The successor Emperor Taizong of Song, Zhao Guangyi, was even more reverent of Buddhism. With the revival of Buddhism, the economy of the Song Dynasty went to unprecedented prosperity.