Monks eat meat and drink wine, and hide stolen goods for corrupt officials; There are even hidden women for yin chaos.

Emperor Taiwu, who was called "today's Rulai" by Buddhists, would have issued an edict banning Buddha even if he had no Taoist background.

When Tang Wuzong banned Buddhism, the situation in Buddhist monasteries was even worse; The monks were mixed, and the monasteries of Chang'an almost became entertainment venues; Hiding dirt and dirt is completely different from the Xuanzang period.

There is also a theory that the ban on Buddha is a dispute between Confucianism and Buddhism; This argument also makes no sense.

Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Yuwen Yong, respected Confucianism and once arranged 8 debates on Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism; The Buddhists involved in the debate never pointed the finger at Confucianism, but desperately competed with Taoism for the second place, and even insulted and slandered Taoism.

Han Yu, a famous literati of the Tang Dynasty, was an important Confucian figure who was staunchly opposed to Buddhism.

In the first month of 819 A.D. (the fourteenth year of Tang Yuanhe), Tang Xianzong ordered the eunuchs to welcome a section of the finger bones of the so-called Shakyamun Buddha into the palace from the true body tower of Famen Temple in Fengxiang Mansion and send it to the temples to ask the officials and people to worship incense.

Han Yu, who was the waiter of the Criminal Department at the time, saw this kind of belief in Buddhism, so he wrote a "Greeting the Buddha's Bone Table".

exhorted Tang Xianzong to stop him, pointing out that believing in Buddhism is not beneficial to the country; Moreover, since the Eastern Han Dynasty, the emperors who believed in Buddhism were short-lived, which angered Tang Xianzong.

Han Yu was almost executed, and after Pei Du and others interceded, Han Yu was finally demoted to Chaozhou Assassin Shi and asked to go to the road on the same day. Han Yu spent most of his life as a eunuch, and at the age of fifty, he was promoted to the squire of the Criminal Department because of his participation in Pinghuai. Two years later, he suffered this again, and his mood was very low, full of grievances, indignation, and sadness.

Chaozhou Prefecture governs Chaoyang in the east of Guangdong, thousands of miles away from Chang'an, Beijing; Han Yu hurriedly went on the road alone, and when he walked to the Lantian Pass, his wife and children had not followed, only his nephew and grandson followed, so he wrote the poem "Moving Left to Languan to Show Nephew Sun Xiang":

A pilgrimage to the Nine Heavens,

Eight thousand Chaozhou roads in the evening.

To remove the evils of the Holy Pilgrimage,

Ken will decay and cherish the old age!

Where is Yunheng Qinling's home?

The snow hugs the blue pass, and the horse does not move forward.

The Confucian scholar Du Mu after Han Yu also fiercely opposed Buddhism, but Buddhism was restored after Tang Wuzong.

Confucian figures were not all opposed to Buddhism like Di Renjie, Han Yu, and Du Mu.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Liu Xian, the author of "Wenxin Carving Dragon", vigorously defended Buddhism, and the great Confucian Wang Tong of the Sui Dynasty also highly respected Buddhism, and Liu Zongyuan, who was the same as Han Yu, also criticized Han Yu's attitude towards Buddhism.

After Zhou Shizong banned Buddhism for the fourth time, Song and Ming Dynasty science integrated many Buddhist thoughts.

Another theory holds that the ban on Buddha was for economic reasons.

This view is basically correct, but it is not comprehensive. Before Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty banned Buddhism, there were about 1,400 monasteries and tens of thousands of monks and nuns in Luoyang alone. Historical records record that "the temple seized the people's dwellings, three points and one", "invaded the small people, and occupied the fields and houses".

These monks and nuns earn their own money for nothing, and rely on others to support them. When Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty Yuwen Yong banned Buddha, there were more than 30,000 Buddhist temples and 2 million monks and nuns.

After Yuwen Yong conquered the Northern Qi Dynasty, he insisted on banning Buddhism, because there were more than 40,000 Buddhist temples in the Northern Qi Dynasty, and the number of monks and nuns exceeded 3 million, accounting for one-tenth of the total population.

When Tang Wuzong banned Buddhism, history recorded that "ten of the world's wealth, and the Buddha has seven or eight", and there were still 150,000 slaves in the temples across the country. The economic situation at the time of Zhou Shizong's ban on Buddhism was similar.

Why is it bad for Buddhist monasteries to be over-inflated? Monks and nuns are exempt from conscription and military service, but they need to be supported by others.

In other words, they have no output, only the consumption of social wealth.

In order to secure support, monasteries have to occupy a large amount of farmland and real estate, and even lend usury, so that ordinary people can easily lose their livelihood security. The monks are all adults, and they enjoy the blessings in the monastery, but who will raise the children and parents? This can cause serious social problems.

Moreover, the fact that one-tenth of the people in a country are justified in earning something for nothing is bound to have a great impact on the country's economy. Millions of people leaving home would also have a serious impact on population growth, which was an important indicator of national strength in those days.

The reason why the view of banning Buddhism for economic reasons is not comprehensive is that economics is ultimately political.

However, politics here is not a struggle for the rights of religious groups, but a struggle between secular politics and religion.

Before Tang Wuzong banned Buddhism, Du Mu once criticized Buddhism, he pointed out that Buddhism at that time did not achieve the purpose of teaching people to be good.

Many people who believe in Buddhism are traitors in their daily lives. Knowing that he was guilty, he donated money to the monastery, hoping that "the guilty and sinful will be destroyed, and there will be no blessings."

And the monasteries also actively cooperate with the mentality of such people, and make a lot of money.

As a result, the crime of "buying and selling blessings, such as holding a left deed, hand in hand".

This situation is reminiscent of the "indulgences" issued by the medieval churches in Europe, which can be used to atone for sins, even homicide.

It was only in the 16th century that Martin Luther began to change this religious practice in Europe, and it was a great blessing that China had been able to put an end to this phenomenon early on.

Regarding the four bans on Buddhism in Chinese history, some people say that it is the consistent religious persecution of the Chinese people; This view is a big fallacy.

In the process of banning Buddhism four times, Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty killed some people for the first time; But that's because of the alleged rebellion, not the faith.

The second time Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Yuwen Yong, banned the Buddha, but only forced millions of monks and nuns to return to the laity, but did not force them to change their faith; Being a layman at home can also believe in Buddhism.

For the third time, Tang Wuzong banned the Buddha, and the recorded death toll was only more than 300.

The deaths of these people were also due to rumors that spies had infiltrated the monastery and that there were fights, which had nothing to do with faith.

When Tang Wuzong began to ban Buddhism, his policy was very mild: if he wanted to continue to be a monk or nun, he had to adhere to the precept of not owning property (Tian Zhai); If you don't want to give up your property, you have to give it back; Those who commit adultery, those who marry wives, and those who do not take the precepts are ordered to be reinstated; Bhikshus and nuns are even allowed to keep one or two slaves.

However, the monks and nuns who are accustomed to arrogance and lasciviousness do not pay attention to it at all; Tang Wuzong had to force 260,000 monks to return to the world.

However, Tang Wuzong still retained some monasteries and stipulated the number of monks and nuns in these monasteries.

When Zhou Shizong banned Buddhism, he stipulated that before becoming a monk, he had to obtain the consent of his parents and relatives, set up a unified ordination altar, and did not allow private monks and nuns, and also prohibited some cruel ways of harming the body in religious customs.

It should be said that these four incidents of banning Buddhism in history are several norms for the blind development of Buddhism; There is no such thing as persecution purely for faith.

Compared with the religious persecution in European history, the four bans on Buddhism in China seem too merciful; Compare it with some people who stand on a religious standpoint, and their attitude towards these four bans on Buddhism is very unobjective.

Words such as "destroying the Buddha", "destroying the Buddha", and "Dharma difficulty" show implicit hatred.

Some people even say that the fate of these four emperors who forbade the Buddha is very bad, and they are all karma of "destroying the Buddha", and they fell into hell because of the "destruction of the Buddha". This mentality is extremely vulgar.

These four major Buddhist bans in history are typical of the rational attitude of the Chinese tradition towards religion.

Religion cannot become a supra-secular world, and secular politics can cooperate with religion, but it also strives to maintain its own non-religious nature and maintain effective control over religion at all times.

This tradition distinguishes the traditional politics of China from other countries in the world and has obvious secular characteristics. As a result, in Chinese history, there was rarely a large-scale religious fanaticism. These characteristics have also become the common norms that are universally recognized in the politics of all countries in the world today.

After the four bans on Buddhism, the most thriving sect of Buddhism in China was Zen Buddhism; It makes sense.

In the history of Zen Buddhism, there is a famous Baizhang Huaihai Zen master, who lived in roughly the same era as Han Yu, who opposed Buddhism.

In addition to requiring monks to swear to abide by the precepts, Baizhang Zen Master also requires: not to sit on a high bed, not to sing and dance and prostitutes, not to apply incense to the body, not to save money and jewelry, etc. The most important thing is that the phrase that people are most likely to remember now: "If you don't do a day, you don't eat a day". He changed the Indian Buddhist tradition of eating hand-held rice and asked the monks to support themselves and not be parasites of society.

Prior to this, Buddhism from India despised labor and opposed monk labor, believing that monks should only receive offerings or regard begging as a merit.

Moreover, Zen Buddhism does not rely on scriptures, does not rely on Buddha statues, and does not advocate the construction of Buddha halls.

From the Zen temple to the individual Zen master, they are all proud of their simplicity. All of the above characteristics seem to be reflections and corrections on the various strange phenomena that existed in Buddhism during the period of the ban on Buddhism, so that Zen Buddhism was basically unaffected in the ban on Buddhism, and was able to flourish in China in the future. Compared with some religious phenomena today, Baizhang Zen Master is indeed admirable.

The self-reliance of the monks and nuns of the Song Dynasty must have been inspired by the Baizhang Zen Master's "Baizhang Qing Rules"; It was also the influence of the political and economic realities of the Song Dynasty.

Liu Min was moved and continued to look forward, only to see that the front of the holy gate behind the main hall was full of books, good plays, pictures, and the soil and incense of the dismissed officials of all roads, which was roughly a cultural market.

The back corridor is full of diviners, goods and other things such as divination, as well as divination and fortune-telling.

"Ten thousand surname transactions" are often literati rioters, these literati bachelors come to Daxiangguo Temple to "Taobao"; If you find the baby, you will be happy to return and come back another day.

Liu Min, Wang Zhou, Gong Huangxing, and Granny Shen continued to stroll, and the place where the monks showed their cooking skills appeared in front of them.

The monks of the Great Song Dynasty were self-reliant and had a strong sense of being willing to do business; It is no different than the monks of other dynasties who sit and eat empty mountains, carrying wooden fish in their hands and pretending to chant sutras; In fact, he has long been lazy in his bones, and he lives like a strange worm by relying on the offerings of pilgrims all day long.

The monks of the Song Dynasty did not rely on pilgrims to worship, but relied on the feng shui treasure of Daxiangguo Temple provided by the imperial court and their exquisite craftsmanship to earn a lot of money.

The embroidery of the nuns is red, and the cooking skills and juggling of the male monks are a highlight of the Daxiangguo Temple.