Kou Qiantzhi, Part 3

As soon as the emperor had unified north China, Kou went to Mount Song (嵩山) to get another revelation from the Emperor of Mysterious Origin. Upon his return to the Northern Wei capital of Pingcheng (平城), Kuo memorialized to Tai-wu ti that the Emperor of Mysterious Origin had a new mandate. The reign title should be changed to True Ruler of Peace, or Tai-ping zhen-cun (太平天君) and Kou was appointed Teacher of State or Guo-shi (國師). Tai-wu ti complied. The new reign title was proclaimed in 440 A.D. It was replaced 12 years later. Kou was proclaimed Teacher of State, from whom Tai-wu ti received a mandate of the Emperor of Mysterious Origin to rule the country. Northern Wei emperors after Tai-wu ti had to follow suit. The barbarian emperors made Taoism the religion of state to unify all the peoples under their Heaven-mandated rule.

However, Kou’s success in popularizing Taoism in Northern Wei antagonized Toba princes who practiced Buddhism. Among them was Toba Huang (拓拔晃), the crown prince. He asked his Buddhist master Xuan-kao (玄高) to perform a special Buddhist service for seven days in a row to show repentance when his father, heeding Kou’s slanderous tongue, suspected him of treason. The emperor then dreamed of his father and grandfather chiding him for doubting the loyalty of his son. With suspicion removed, Tai-wu ti made the crown prince a regent. But Kou was able to slander the reverend Xuan-kao. “The monk,” the Teacher of State told the suspicious emperor, cast a spell on your Majesty to dream that dream. Such a man has to be executed.” The priest was arrested and killed.

Xuan-kao’s execution did not put an end to the strife between Buddhist princes and Kou and his court ally Cui Hao (崔浩), but the emperor continued to bestow favors on the Taoists, who finally succeeded in getting him to ban the religion imported from India. During a pacification campaign at Zhangan (長安), his army found a huge arsenal of weapons in one of the Buddhist temples in the ancient capital of the Jin and Han Dynasties. Also found were a trove of gold and gems, a small wine brewery and a secret harem. The emperor outlawed Buddhism and ordered the execution of monks and destruction of images of buddhas as well as implements of Buddhist rituals. Buddhist temples were burned. It is known as the first persecution of Buddhists in Chinese history.

Kou was against the nationwide persecution to root out Buddhism. But he could not stop it, for he died when the persecution got under way. With his death, his Tian-shi-dao movement lost steam. When Tai-wu ti was assassinated and his grandson ascended the throne in 452, Buddhism made a comeback.

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