272 Part IV: East Asian Civilization
being. Ironically, the anti-intellectualism of this approach was of great interest
to intellectuals, while uneducated people found it unfathomable. Known as
Chan Buddhism in China, it still exists and has tremendous cross-cultural
appeal today as Japanese Zen Buddhism.
Despite the glory days of Buddhism during the Sui and the Tang dynasties,
Buddhism eventually began to fade. It never really stood a chance against Con-
fucianism. It did not end because of persecution, though there were major per-
secutions in 446, 574, and 845 when stupas were destroyed, monasteries were
looted, and monks and nuns were “secularized” or killed. Even at its height,
and with the support of many emperors, state and sangha had a natural antipa-
thy. For one thing, the conceptual structure of the Chinese state did not leave
room for institutions existing outside it, as Buddhist monasticism claimed to
do. The life of idleness and begging for food was much criticized as parasitic on
society; monasteries were criticized for hoarding copper, silver, and gold in rit-
ual objects. The monasteries amassed enormous wealth through gifts from rich
donors; they owned huge tracts of land that produced income through the
labor of temple serfs and slaves. Using this wealth for moneylending and pawn-
broking, monks who had taken vows of poverty played a significant role in the
development of banking and established commercial enterprises like oil presses
and water-powered mills. In Tang times Buddhists responded to these criti-
cisms with practical ways of enacting Buddhist compassion; they founded clin-
ics and hospitals, provided aid for the poor, and distributed food in famine
times. Though the vinaya rules forbade manual labor, gathering firewood and
drawing water became a central feature of Chan Buddhism.
With all this wealth, and close ties to emperors and rich patrons, it was
inevitable that the sangha would be used for political purposes. Most notori-
ous, perhaps, was Empress Wu, the only woman in all of Chinese history to
rule as the supreme monarch. She spent seven years after her husband’s death
inventing ways to justify her succession (rather than her sons’), then finally did
rule from 690 to 705. First, she had a white stone “discovered” in the Luo
River that, when cracked open, contained an inscription: “A sage Mother shall
come to rule mankind; her rule shall bring eternal prosperity.” She then
installed her commoner lover as the abbot of the venerable White Horse Mon-
astery. He proceeded to recruit a thousand bodyguards whom he ordained as
monks. As abbot, her lover proclaimed that the Great Cloud Sutra had prophe-
sied the reincarnation of the Bodhisattva Maitreya as a woman, who would
bring an era of peace and plenty. “All her subjects will give their allegiance to
this woman as the successor to the imperial throne. Once she has taken the
Right Way, the world will be awed into submission.” She immediately ordered
a Great Cloud Temple to be built in every prefecture of the empire (Wills
1994:142–143). Although Empress Wu appears to have been a good adminis-
trator, she was loathed by Confucians for the intolerable innovation of a
woman ruling, executing her competitors, having affairs in old age just like a
man, and of course her patronage of Buddhism. That she could manipulate