of civil service examinations alongside the Confucian texts; but this policy
lapsed with the crisis of the empire in 755 (Needham, 1956: 31–32; Welch,
1965: 153; Cleary, 1986: xii; CHC, 1979: 411–412).
None of these attempts to usurp the power of rival religions lasted long
enough to be effective through the shifts of political faction and dynastic
change. The intermittent pattern of Buddhist persecution is reminiscent of the
growth of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Occasional massive persecutions
broke out when the insurgent organization was becoming threateningly large.
The north China persecution of 574–577, just before the unifying Sui dynasty
(589–618) shifted favor to Buddhism, is reminiscent of the great persecution
of Christianity in 303–311, just before Constantine shifted imperial favor to
Christianity in 313. Revived Buddhist growth preceded the great persecution
of 845. The large-scale confiscations of property were virtually a matter of
taxation policy, allowing the monasteries breathing space to recover before
being put once again under material contribution. Hard-pressed rulers often
were motivated less by ideological fervor than by fiscal demands for the gold
and jeweled statues of the temples which represented much of the movable
wealth of the realm.
Conflict is the driving force of intellectual change, but in these cases
nothing was created on the level of abstract philosophy. Argument between
Taoists and Buddhists remained at a very low level: Taoists claimed that Lao
Tzu had gone to the West (i.e., to India) in his old age and converted the
barbarians, who misinterpreted his doctrine as Buddhism; Buddhists in turn
replied that Lao Tzu was only a disciple of the Buddha (Demiéville, 1986:
862–864; Welch, 1965: 151–155). Confucianism took no intellectual stimula-
tion from its conflicts with Buddhism and Taoism: Confucians merely accused
their rivals of neglecting family and state duties by their monastic behavior, or
ridiculed meditation as “sitting like a blockhead.” Until the Neo-Confucian
movement emerged in the Sung dynasty, medieval Confucianism took the side
of rationalism and secularism by its opposition to religious opponents. The
debates which took place among the three religions occurred in the external
arena, typically at court before a public of politicians weighing power shifts
and economic interests, not intellectual matters. Lacking insulation for the
autonomy of pure intellectual struggle, the interreligious conflicts remained on
the particularistic level.
Creative Philosophies in Chinese Buddhism
This inner autonomy emerged only within the Buddhist camp. Abstract phi-
losophy developed in the big Buddhist monasteries, typically those at the
Revolutions: Buddhist and Neo-Confucian China • 281