What is "it is difficult to make peace with the law"?
After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Taoism became the state religion, but the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism never stopped. Wu Zongshen loved Taoism when he was in office, and even advocated Taoism after he acceded to the throne. He consecrated the birthday of Lao Tzu, the emperor's father Xuanyuan, and put a day off as a national holiday. He also set up Dojo in the palace, built Wang Sendai in Daming Palace, worshipped Taoist Zhao Guizhen as a teacher, and was superstitious about their elixir.
The main reason why Wuzong destroyed Buddhism was that Taoist Zhao Guizhen and others were trusted and preached that Buddhism and Taoism could not coexist. Wu Zong also believes that the existence of Buddhist monks has influenced his cultivation of immortals. At that time, the Taoist priest also spread public opinion: "The eighteen sons of Li, when the prosperity is exhausted, there must be a black emperor to govern the country." They explained, "The man in black is also a monk." In other words, monks will replace Li Tang and Guo Tong. Under such circumstances, it is natural for Wu Zong to destroy Buddha. It is said that in order to maintain Taoism, one-legged vehicles are not allowed to be used in the world, because one-legged vehicles will run over the center of the road, causing anxiety among Taoist priests. In order to prevent the rise of black gas and the birth of "the son of heaven in black", Wu Zong also banned folk breeding of black pigs, black dogs, black donkeys and black cattle. These statements may not be credible, but they reflect the psychological state of Wu Zong's efforts to destroy Buddhism.
Since October of the second year of Huichang (842), Wuzong ordered all monks who violated Buddhist precepts to be secularized and their property confiscated. During this period, a monk claimed to be able to build a "sword wheel" and defeat the enemy. Wu Zongyun allowed him to try, but he couldn't, so he was killed. Since then, Wu Zong has ordered to limit the number of Buddhist monks, not to shave their heads privately, and to limit the number of handmaiden kept by monks. Many monasteries were demolished and a large number of monks were forced to return to secular life. In February, the 4th year of Huichang (844), Wuzong issued a edict that "it is forbidden to support Buddha's teeth", and at the same time stipulated that it is forbidden to support and worship Buddha's bones in Wutai Mountain in Daizhou, Puguang Temple in Sizhou, Wutai Temple in Zhong Nanshan and Famen Temple in Fengxiang. If a person gives a sum of money, he will give a stick to twenty people. If monks and nuns receive alms in these places, they will carry 20 sticks. In the fifth year of Huichang (845), the Buddha was exterminated on a larger scale. He ordered all monks under the age of 40 to be secular, and soon stipulated that they should be under 50. Soon, even people over 50 years old will be secularized without genealogy, and even Buddhist monks in Tianzhu and Japan will be forced to secularize. Hirohito, a Japanese monk, recorded this "difficult method" in detail in the book of seeking dharma in Datang.
According to the will of Wu Zong, in the autumn and July of this year, all the Buddhist temples in the world were cut down. There is a temple in Shangzhou. If the temple is in ruins, it will be ruined. All the temples in Zhou Xia have been demolished. Changan and Luoyang began to allow the preservation of 10 monasteries, each with 10 monks. Later, it was stipulated that each temple should have two temples, and each temple should have 30 monks. Shi Jing left Ji 'en Temple and Jianfu Temple on the street on the left, and Ximing Temple and Zhuang Yan Temple on the street on the right. All over the world, octagonal silver cups are gilded, temples, bronze statues and clocks are demolished, and all the gold, silver and copper obtained are delivered to salt and iron envoys for casting money, while iron is delivered to our state for casting as agricultural tools, and secularized monks return to their hometowns to serve as national taxpayers. If you are a foreigner, return it to this office for safekeeping.
Since the large-scale extinction of Buddhism, more than 4,600 temples around the world have been demolished, and more than 40,000 temples in Lan Ruo have been demolished. More than 260,000 monks and nuns were secularized, tens of millions of hectares of fertile land owned by temples were confiscated, and handmaiden was confiscated as150,000 people. In addition, it forced Daqin Muhu to protect and only cover. The destruction of Buddhism by Wuzong dealt a heavy blow to the temple economy, increased the government's tax-paying population and expanded the national economic source.