Four Buddhist Persecutions in China

The Four Buddhist Persecutions in China were the wholesale suppression of Buddhism carried out on four occasions from the 5th through the 10th century by four Chinese emperors, during the Northern Wei, Northern Zhou, Tang and Later Zhou dynasties. The first three events are collectively known as the Three Disasters of Wu (); they were named as such because the posthumous names or temple names of all three emperors who carried out the persecutions included the character "Wu" (武). The first Disaster of Wu started in 446, when Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei, a devout Taoist who followed the Northern Celestial Masters, was fighting the Xiongnu rebel Gai Wu (蓋吳). During the campaign, weapons were located in Buddhist temples, and he therefore believed that Buddhists were against him. With encouragement from his also devoutly Taoist prime minister Cui Hao, Emperor Taiwu ordered Buddhism abolished under penalty of death, and slaughtered the Buddhists in the Guanzhong region, the center of Gai's rebellion. The ban against Buddhism was relaxed in Emperor Taiwu's later years, and formally ended after his grandson Emperor Wencheng of Northern Wei, a Buddhist, took the throne in 452. In 567, former Buddhist priest Wei Yuansong (衛元嵩) submitted a memorial to the Emperor Wu (r. 561-578) of the Northern Zhou dynasty calling for the "abolition of Buddhism". In 574 and again in 577, Emperor Wu had Buddhist and Taoist images destroyed and their clergy returned to lay life. He believed the temples had become too rich and powerful, so he confiscated their land and gave it to his own soldiers. During this time, the Shaolin Monastery was closed but later reopened after the Emperor Xuan of Northern Zhou had the monastery renovated. Compared to the first Disaster of Wu, the second was relatively bloodless. When it officially ended was difficult to gauge, but it was probably over by the time that his son Emperor Xuan of Northern Zhou took the throne in 578.