BUDDHISM FALLS

Ben Derrigo

In 845 A.D. Buddhist temples were destroyed by Emperor Wu Zong. Buddhism is a religion based on the afterlife. In Buddhism, if a person has done good deeds his life after death should be great. But if the person has done bad deeds it is believed, by Buddhists, that they will be punished in the afterlife. So whoever studied Buddhism wanted to do good deeds so his afterlife was successful. Buddhism also was noted as a release of suffering for good people. Buddhism was spread across the Tang’s kingdom. There were many towers and temples seen all across the Tang’s land. The temples even were given support by the Tang Empire. Many people gave the temples money and donations. This was because they wanted to seem like good people and wanted to have a great afterlife. Many people didn’t pay taxes because they gave donations to the Buddhist temples. Emperor Wu Zong was very mad and disappointed that people would give donations to the Buddhists but they didn’t pay taxes for his Emperor. So Emperor Wu Zong destroyed all the temples and towers that the Buddhists owned. He destroyed the temples because they were very valuable. The temples metal and material was melted and turned into currency. Also, the emperor had the temples destroyed so the people donating money to the temples would start paying taxes. Lastly, he did this so the Buddhists will start paying the general tax base. Even though the temples were destroyed by Emperor Wu Zong, Buddhism thrived through the Chinese population. Soon temples were rebuilt throughout China after the Tang Dynasty.