1、Chapter 5： Chang an and Chinese BuddhistLiteratureSection 6: The Buddhist Persecutions and the Anti-Buddhist Poetryin Chang an of Tang DynastySince Buddhism was introduced to China in Han Dynasty,it was spread more and more widely inChina. It had a huge influence on the Chinese society after Wei and
2、 Jin Dynasties.Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism got into an intense struggle in order to gain more space tothrive and to get more followers.During the process of transmission, Buddhism suffered from all kinds of skepticism andaccusations. Since Sui and Tang Dynasties, the voice of anti-Buddhism had
3、 never stopped in the courtof Chang an. In all periods of Buddhist Persecutions of Tang Dynasty, there were many anti-Buddhist fighters, the famous ones were Fu Yi, Han Yu and Du Mu.Fu Yi s Anti-Buddhist Memorial to the emperorFu Yi was the first influential anti-Buddhist fighter. He was a famous as
4、tronomer. In thebeginning of Tang Dynasty, he was all up against Buddhism.During the time of Emperor Gaozu, Fu Yi once submitted his memorials seven times to theemperor. His memorials, like Please Abolish Buddhist Dharma and Memorial of Removing Buddhism,asked the Emperor to abolish Buddhism. The re
5、ason was that Buddhism tempted people to wastemoney and it was harmful to the country.Under the influence of his continuous submitting memorials to the Emperor, At the Ninth Yearof Emperor Wude (6 2 6 ) ， Emperor Gaozu of Tang Dynasty finally established an imperial edict calledSadi monk Daozhao. He
6、 prepared to carry out some extreme approaches to control Buddhism. LaterEmperor Gaozu gave his title to Li Shimin, and this imperial edict was no longer implemented.During the time of Emperor Taizong, he said to Fu Yi on the court a lot that,“ the thoughts ofBuddhism are very interesting and magica
7、l, The karmas are real, too. Why don t you agree with this?” Fu Yi answered,“ Buddhismisawitchcraft.Itdoesnothingbutharmtothepeopleandthecountry.”Then it went, EmperorTaizongfinallyunderstood.（ Book of Tang Dynasty Biography of Fu Yi）Emperor Taizong thought that Fu Yi made sense. But he didn t put a
8、ctual approaches intopractice to persecute Buddhism. Or once the approach became real, it would be a total disaster forBuddhism.Han Yu s Anti-Buddhist PoetryHan Yu advocated and protected Confucianism and Taoism, and he was always againstBuddhism. Han Yu once said in his poem called Gift to Buddhist
9、 Scripture Translators,YoutraveledlongenoughtoarriveinChina,Didanyoneinviteyoutocome?ThethoughtsinChinanowhavebeenreallychaotic.Wedon tneedyouheretoincreasetheconfusion.(HanYuGifttoBuddhistScriptureTranslators)The poem means oh, you don t have to tell me how far of distance you ve traveled or howhar
10、d it was to get here. Honestly, no one actually invited you to come and spread all your Buddhistculture. Right now, China is in the middle of a situation with chaotic thoughts and separatism. I mbegging you, please don t come to China. There is no need to translate Buddhist Scriptures for us,please
11、don t increase any confusion for us.Han Yu regarded the translation of Buddhist Scriptures as messing up the whole system of thecountry. It s as severe as the damage done by northern nomads invading China. It showed that hewas worried and angry about the Buddhism messing up the whole society orders
12、and the system ofthe country.Han Yu criticized Buddhism and Taoism with no exception in his The Girl from Mount Hua. Thefirst four lines of the poem wrote about Buddhism that,ThespreadingofBuddhismwaseverywhere.Makingnoisesbyringingthebellandblowingthesnailanditwassoloudthatitwentallthewaytothecourt
13、.Buddhists used stories to tempt and scare the audience; more and more people came to listenanditwascrowdedlikeduckweeds. (HanYuTheGirlfromMountHua)Han Yu used caricature style writing. He vividly described the thriving situation of Buddhistspreaching.He said that in Chang an, the Buddhists were eve
14、rywhere. They made a lot of noises byringing the bell, blowing the snail and telling Buddhist stories. The noises were so loud that it went allthe way to the court.The Buddhists used stories to claim the benefits and rewards of believing in Buddhism, it alsostressed about the sins in the common worl
15、d. They tempted and scared the audience so as to attractmore and more attention from people, who sat together like duckweeds.This four-line poem vividly depicts the flourishing of Buddhism and the fanaticism of thefollowers in the middle of Tang Dynasty.The Event of Han Yu s Remonstration on Relics
16、of BuddhaThe most famous anti-Buddhist behavior of Han Yu was the event happened in the 1 4 th year ofEmperor Xianzong of Tang Dynasty (8 1 9 ) about the remonstration on relics of Buddha.In the spring of the 1 4 th year of Emperor Xianzong of Tang Dynasty (8 1 9 ), Emperor Xianzongwanted to enshrin
17、e and worship relics of Buddha in the Palace. When the message was out,everyone was shock in Chang an.Han Yu was always against Buddhism. That s why he submitted the harsh Remonstration onWelcoming the Relics of Buddha. In this remonstration, Han Yu proposed five reasons against thisdecision passion
18、ately.First of all, Emperors who believed in Buddhism and had relics of Buddha in the Palace alwaysended up dying in a very early age. Han Yu said that after Buddhism was introduced in China, themore the Emperors believed, the less of time for them to live.Second of all, the crazy admiration for Bud
19、dhism was a disgrace to the society, everyone wouldlaughatyou.( Han Yu Remonstration on Welcoming the Relics of Buddha )Third of all, Buddhism was against the main idea of Chinese Confucianism. Buddhism has noconnection with the imperial laws.It does not obey all the imperial rules. It couldn t feel
20、 the relationsbetweenEmperorsandsubjects,fathersandsons.Forth of all, believing Buddhism blindly would cause a lot of troubles.Han Yu wanted Emperor Xianzong to get rid of the relics of Buddha decisively.I havemyreasonstoconvinceyoutogetridoftherelicsofBuddha.Puttingyourmindsonwaterandfireisnottheso
21、lutiontoanything.It sbettertocutitoffrightnowandleavenobadconsequencestoourfuturegenerations.(Han Yu Remonstration on Welcoming the Relics of Buddha )Fifth of all, I was willing to take responsibilities of the severe consequence by damaging therelics of Buddha. If the Buddhism is so magical that it
22、can cast out karmas and punishments, leteverything bad happen to me, just go for it. I swear myself truly, I would not regret! ( Han YuRemonstration on Welcoming the Relics of Buddha )Han Yu s Famous Poems about His Demotion Due to Anti-BuddhismThe attitude of Remonstration on Welcoming the Relics o
23、f Buddha was very clear and the wordsand phrases in it were super intense and harsh. Emperor Xianzong got really furious and was ready topunish Han Yu after reading the remonstration. Luckily, chancellors Fei Du and others begged theEmperor Xianzong not to, so Han Yu was free from death penalty in t
24、he end.Even though he was free from the death penalty, the Emperor still had other punishments forhis harsh comments on Buddhism. Emperor Xianzong exiled him to a distant place, Chaozhou, to bethe governor there.When he was on his way to Chaozhou, He wrote a poem called A Letter to My Deargrandnephe
25、w Sun Xiang to express his feelings.TheEmperor simperialedictissomethingwecan tsaynoto,Igotexiledtoadistantplacetobeagovernor,andit s8,000milesaway.IjustwantedtohelptheEmperor;Ireallymeantnoharmbutkindness.The fog and clouds are all over the place, looking backwards, it is hard to see Chang anclearl
26、y.ThicksnowisinthewayofLanguan,whichmakesthefurtherroadverydifficulttowalkon.I come all this way to Chaozhou, if anything happens to me, please come to this road andcollectmydeadbody. (HanYuALettertoMyDearNephewSunXiang)The poem wrote that he just submitted a memorial to the Emperor in the morning,
27、he wasimmediately punished and exiled to Chaozhou in the very evening. Even though, he still believed thathe was doing something good for the country. In this case, he would not regret about anything.The fog and clouds are all over the place, looking backwards, it is hard to see Chang an clearly.Thi
28、ck snow is in the way of Languan, which makes the further road very difficult to walk on.The firsttwo lines described the heavy fog and clouds over the Qingling Mountain. When the poet lookedbackwards to Chang an, it was already not able to see his hometown clearly. The heavy snow wasin the way of L
29、anguan, which made the further road very difficult to walk on. Even the horses wererearing loudly and couldn t not endure moving forward. These two lines were adding Han Yu spersonal emotions to the present scenery,which indicated his nostalgia to his hometown and hiscountry.And they became the most
30、 famous lines throughout the history.Du Mu s Anti-Buddhist PoetryDu Mu lived in the late Tang Dynasty. He wrote a poem called A New South Pavilion in Hangzhou.This poem revealed the harms and dangers of believing in Buddhism. He extolled The Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution initiated by Emperor Wuzon
31、g. Some people thought that this poem can beregarded as a twin of Han Yu s Remonstration on Welcoming the Relics of Buddha.Du Mu criticized the negative impacts of Buddhism from three aspects,Firstly, he was skeptical about the idea of going to a limitless hell advocated by Buddhism. Hethought that
32、Buddhism exaggerated about this idea by using very tempting words to make ordinarypeople fall for it.Secondly, he started with the fact that believing in Buddhism was a waste of money. Peoplewanted to spend much money to avoid bad luck and disasters. There were so many bad people in thesociety, who
33、wanted to use money to clean their sins by believing in Buddhism. This was anextremely greedy and treacherous behaviors.Thirdly, Buddhism encouraged people to build more temples, which put so much pressure onthe national economy, and trapped people in Buddhism.During the time of Emperor Wuzong, ther
34、e was a very intense Anti-Buddhist Persecution.Taoism repulses Buddhism, and it got the support from Emperor Wuzong who started to persecuteBuddhism.In the fifth year of Emperor Wuzong (8 4 5 ), the Buddhism Persecution reached its climax.Emperor Wuzong ordered to demolish all the temples. This even
35、t was known as the Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution initiated by Tang Emperor Wuzong or Huichang Calamity in history.In this huge anti-Buddhist persecution, around 4 ,6 0 0 temples and 4 0 ,0 0 0 Zhaoti and Lanruowere demolished. Around 2 6 0 ,0 0 0 monks were forced to resume secular life. It was a
36、heavy strike tothe development of Buddhism.Chinese Buddhism was thriving in Sui and Tang Dynasties. There were over 4 0 ,0 0 0 Buddhisttemples and 3 0 0 ,0 0 0 monks in Tang Dynasty. With the increasing amount of monks and the inflationof the monastery economy, it didn t only put more burdens on far
37、mers, but also severely affectedthe financial situation of the country.If ten was all the money that the country had, then Buddhism would take up seven or eight.(TangHuiYaoVol.48)This was the economic reason why the persecution on anti-Buddhist never stopped. Consideringthe Buddhism Persecution in T
38、ang Dynasty, it focused more on the economic and political reasons.As for political reasons, Han Yu regarded Buddhism as some witchcraft. He wanted to helpConfucianism regain its position. He used all of his strength going against Buddhism. However,criticizing Buddhism from only economic and political reasons is rather limited. Du Mu s Poetry, onthe contrary, started from criticizing the theories of Buddhism. He got right down to the heart of thematter, which was worthy for all Buddhists to reflect on themselves deeply.
