The Tang emperor Wuzong, favoring Daoism and short of revenue, suppresses Buddhism across China: monasteries are destroyed, lands seized, and a quarter of a million monks and nuns are returned to lay life by the official count; the blow falls hardest on the wealthy schools, and Chinese Buddhism never fully regains its Tang standing.
Tagged: Persecution Buddhist Mahayana Pure Land Zen
The Event
- Date
- 845 (exact)
- Also called
- Huichang Persecution
- Era
- Classical; Standard periodization of Buddhist history
- Location
- Chang'an; today Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
- Traditions
- Buddhism
- Streams
- Mahayana, Zen, Pure Land
- Key figures
- Emperor Wuzong of Tang
Primary Sources
- The Tang histories (Jiu Tang Shu)
Secondary Sources
- Buswell and Lopez, The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (Princeton, 2014)
- Dumoulin, Zen Buddhism: A History (Macmillan, 1994)
Provenance: HIST-0419; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-27.
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