Emperor Wuzong of Tang唐武宗

Style & Daoist names

Li Yan, Li Chan

Period

Tang

Dates

814 — 846

Role

EmperorsEmperor Who Revered Daoism

Birthplace

Chang'an

Life

Emperor Wuzong of Tang, personal name Li Yan, reigned 840–846. From the moment of his accession he was a devoted believer in Daoism: he summoned eighty-one Daoist priests, including Zhao Guizhen and Liu Xuanjing, into the palace to conduct Golden Register ritual assemblies, personally received a ritual register, built the Watching-for-Immortals Terrace within the palace, and took elixirs. In the fifth year of Huichang (845), driven forward by Zhao Guizhen, Li Deyu, and others, he launched a large-scale persecution of Buddhism, demolishing more than 4,600 monasteries and over 40,000 smaller temples and hermitages, forcing more than 260,000 monks and nuns to return to lay life, and confiscating monastic land holdings — an event known to history as the "Huichang Persecution of the Dharma," one of the "Three Wu and One Zong" persecutions of Buddhism. Its religious background lay in the long-standing rivalry between Daoism and Buddhism as well as the state's fiscal needs. In the sixth year of Huichang (846) Wuzong died of elixir poisoning at the age of thirty-three; after Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (r. 846–859) took the throne, Buddhism was restored and Zhao Guizhen and other Daoist priests were put to death.

Contributions & Influence

• Launched the Huichang Persecution of Buddhism from a Daoist standpoint, a major turning point in Tang religious policy