After several years of rejoicing in the lake, I became famous and praised the love of the bamboo stick and gauze scarf.

Sometimes I stay in temples outside the clouds, and there is nothing wrong with the river.

Looking at the flowers in Taoqian County, the moon is bright in Yu Liang's building.

Whoever reads to offer books for thousands of miles? The king is deep in the Jiushu City.

——"The book sent to the Wei envoy of Suzhou and presented to Li Mingfu in Wu County" Cui Dong [Tang Dynasty]

...

The destruction of Buddhism was originally planned by the Crown Prince Li Chu's party.

Seeing that Li Chu was frowning in order to expand his financial and tax revenue, Li Chu's supporter Fu Duodan gave him advice and said, "Your Highness, you will practice in Shaolin for a while.

Shaolin has a large amount of land and is the leader in Luoyang. The donor donated countless gold, silver and treasures. Even the richest man in Luoyang and the prominent Hedong clan are pale in comparison.

The Shaolin monks' group has a large number of people, and their monks' combat power is no less than a regular army.

From the small to the big, it can be seen that the Buddhist temples of the Tang Dynasty occupied countless land and population in the world, causing too much loss.

If the Buddhist temple is closed, the monks are dismissed, and the Buddha statues are minted, the court will no longer have to worry about finance and taxation."

Li Chu said: "What you said is right. It is precisely because of this that Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty and Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty launched two campaigns to destroy Buddhism.

However, although the benefits of destroying Buddhism are great, it will not be worth the loss to attract resentment from Buddhists all over the world."

Suihu Fu Duodan whispered: "If the people are too resentful, after your highness ascends the throne, you can restore Buddhism as appropriate, but there is no need to reassign land and other materials to the Buddhist temple.

In this way, we can not only enjoy the benefits of destroying Buddhas in this dynasty, but also avoid the bad reputation of destroying Buddhas, but also gain the support of believers all over the world. It can be said that we can win three goals in one fell swoop."

A trace of evil light flashed in Li Chu's eyes, and he hurried to find someone to plan.

The right servant Pei Mian is the uncle of the crown princess Dugu Xiaozhong, so he is naturally willing to work for Li Chu. Pei Mian finds his close friend, the Censor Zheng Shuqing, and the two join forces to report the report.

This is why the court meeting happened.

...

Seeing Bai Fu step forward and share his worries. Su Zong was overjoyed and hurriedly said, "Bai Aiqing, what are your opinions?"

According to the main reasons recorded in historical records, the two campaigns of the destruction of Buddhism launched by Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty and Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the two emperors had different motives and different situations, but they were exactly the same. They were nothing more than political and religious reasons; conflicts between Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism; defects in the style of the monks and the Taoism; contradictions between money and interests between monks and laymen.

Since the Censor Zheng Shuqing and the Right Pushe Pei Mian destroyed the Buddha on the grounds of financial and tax revenue, Bai Fu started from here and refuted the two.

Bai Fu said: "The court can order young and strong monks in the temple to farm and produce farms. If necessary, they can also impose taxes on their individuals and order them to serve in military service and corvee service.

The tax burden on temple land can be reduced, but taxes must also be paid truthfully based on the number of land acres.

In this way, there is no need to have extreme events like destroying Buddha, but it can also expand the fiscal and tax revenue of the court."

The Censor Zheng Shuqing laughed and said, "Mr. Bai's words seem reasonable, but it is like a fool to make monks work and pay taxes.

Buddhist rules and precepts extremely despise and reject farming labor, believing that digging ground, cutting grass, planting trees and other labor are all "impurity karma". Monks engage in labor means violating the precepts."

Bai Fu nodded and said, "Yes, many temples are indeed as Master Zheng said.

However, some Buddhist sects led by Zen Buddhism foresaw that the court would impose taxes on the land of temples and order monks and nuns to serve, so these sects took a series of measures to help monks face the severe survival situation.

For example, Master Huaihai, a Zen Master Huaihai in Baizhang Temple in Daxiong Mountain, Xinwu, Hongzhou (now Fengxin, Jiangxi), established his own Zen Temple, led the crowd to practice and practice the farming Zen life of the monks.

Master Huaihai referred to the Mahayana and Hinayana precepts and formulated a new practice and life ritual "Zen Rules" (i.e. "Baizhang Qing Rules"), and advocated the rule that monks would "not do it for a day and not eat for a day" to ensure the development of Zen."

...

At Baima Temple and Shaolin Temple, Bai Fu listened to the great monks and masters such as Kong and Master Kong Jian explaining Buddhism and telling Buddhist stories. He was relatively familiar with the affairs of Buddhism in the world.

Bai Fu talked endlessly, and his eloquent posture made Zheng and Pei unable to argue for the moment.

In addition to the principle of saving all sentient beings by devout religious beliefs and the principle of saving all living beings, Bai Fu knew the importance of Buddhist temples and Taoist temples to the people in contact with Xiong Badou and other lower-level officials.

Bai Fu discussed the matter and said excitedly: "Whether it is a Buddhist temple or a Taoist temple or a Nestorian church, it is not only a pious sustenance of the people, but also an institution for disaster relief and good deeds.

Buddhist temples and Taoist temples are responsible for supporting the elderly, weak, sick and disabled people all year round. Once the Buddhist temple is closed, the poor people will have no food and clothing, and they will have to work harder and sicker, and they will only accelerate their death.

By then, the poor people in the world will be full of resentment towards the court."

When the right servant Pei Mian heard this, he laughed and said, "Mr. Bai is worried too much. The court can order the capital and counties to allocate certain land, use the land rent to support these poor people, and turn the disaster relief acts originally hosted by Buddhist temples into official offices.

In this way, wouldn’t it be the best of both worlds?”

Bai Fu smiled calmly and said, "If all the institutions that preside over disaster relief are official, how efficient is it?

Lord Pei has been an official for many years, and the effect of official articles is clearer than that of the subordinates?

The people are not stupid, how could they not know the principle of stealing bells invisible?"

The right servant Pei Mian changed his expression and glared fiercely.

Of course, the court officials knew what Bai Fu said - the so-called charity official can do it at all. It is just a cover to block the long mouths of scholars all over the world.

In the face of major issues, Bai Fu's stance was firm and did not give Pei Mian any face, even if he was appointed as the right servant!

Although Suzong also felt that Bai Fu's loyal words were harsh, Suzong was more willing to support Bai Fu's proposal than to bear the infatuation of the destruction of Buddhism.

Just as Suzong was about to express his opinion, he met Lu Fu, the minister of the Ministry of War, and the minister of the Ministry of War, and glared at Bai Fu, and said, "I heard that Lord Bai had practiced in Shaolin for a while. When Shanzhou recruited troops, many local heroes also came from Shaolin disciples.

As the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, how could he put his own interests in front of the country?!

Lord Bai, who ignores the overall situation of the court today, openly defends Buddhism, may fail His Majesty's extraordinary grace to promote you!"

Bai Fu's eyes turned cold, and murderous intent suddenly appeared, and he thought to himself: "This old thug has been publicly opposed to me many times. If he endured it again and again, this person would be even more unscrupulous."

As the court officials whispered, Liu Yan made a request to ease the tense atmosphere between Bai and Lu. Liu Yan replied: "Your Majesty, close the temple, the matter is very important, so you can discuss it slowly and not rush to make a conclusion in a moment.

Regarding the source of fiscal and tax revenue, Weichen and Lord Bai also have some ways to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, which can meet the expenses of the court."

After saying that, he introduced the methods of Bai Fu's scheduling, salt administration, and grain transportation one by one. The court officials nodded and highly praised.

Suzong was very happy and said, "What Liu Aiqing said is very true. Regarding these methods of raising finance and taxation, you and Bai Aiqing jointly submitted a memorial to the Shangshu and the Zhongshu provinces to the paintings and the Zhongshu provinces, and I personally appraise them.

As for closing the temple and dismissing monks, let me discuss it later.”

A few days later, Emperor Suzong issued an order to implement methods such as equilibrium, salt administration, and water transportation to raise fiscal and tax revenue.

Bai Fu was appointed as the Minister of Shangshu Zuo Pushe!
Chapter completed!