- Three Disasters of Wu
The Three Disasters of Wu (
Chinese language : 三武之禍;pinyin Sān Wǔ Zhīhuò) were three major persecutions againstBuddhism in Chinese history. They were named as such because theposthumous name s ortemple name s of all three emperors who carried out the persecutions had the character "Wu" (武) in them.The first Disaster of Wu started in
446 , whenEmperor Taiwu of Northern Wei , a devoutTaoist who followedthe Northern Celestial Masters , was fighting theXiongnu rebelGai 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 ministerCui Hao , Emperor Taiwu ordered Buddhism abolished under penalty of death, and slaughtered the Buddhists in theGuanzhong region, the center of Gai's rebellion. The ban against Buddhism was relaxed in Emperor Taiwu's later years, and formally ended after his grandsonEmperor Wencheng of Northern Wei , a Buddhist, took the throne in452 .The second Disaster of Wu was carried out in two separate attempts, one in
574 and one in577 , whenEmperor Wu of Northern Zhou banned both Buddhism and Taoism, for he believed that they had become too wealthy and powerful. He ordered the monks of both religions to return to civilian life, to add to the military manpower supply and the economy. 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 sonEmperor Xuan of Northern Zhou took the throne in578 .The third Disaster of Wu started in
845 , whenEmperor Wuzong of Tang , a devout Taoist, ordered that Buddhist temples and statues be destroyed and their properties confiscated to state treasury. The ban was not a complete ban; two Buddhist temples were permitted in both the main capitalChang'an and the subsidiary capitalLuoyang , and the large municipalities and each circuit were each allowed to maintain one temple with no more than 20 monks. More than 4,600 temples were destroyed empirewide, and more than 260,000 monks and nuns were forced to return to civilian life. The disaster affected not only Buddhism, but also Nestorian Christianity andZoroastrianism . It appeared to end after Emperor Wuzong was succeeded by his uncleEmperor Xuānzong of Tang in846 .
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