The weakening of the imperial court's control over the local areas would be reflected in all aspects.
For Buddhism and Taoism, the result was an increase in the number of monks and Taoists, and more and more temples and Taoist temples did not pay taxes. Some large temples and Taoist temples even owned tens of thousands of mu of land, which was no less harmful than the local gentry.
Such behavior became common, which directly led to fewer and fewer people paying taxes.
Although the Ming Dynasty did not have as much property as the previous dynasty, the amount was still considerable.
After understanding this fact, Xiao Ruxun was very disgusted with this phenomenon, and was determined to punish them.
After Xiao Qin's regime came to power, in the second month of the first year of Longwu, Xiao Ruxun directly turned the Wanshou Palace, which symbolized the religious color of the Ming Dynasty's royal family, into the residence of the retired emperor, and drove out all religious things in the Forbidden City. He also set a rule that no religious buildings were allowed in Beijing.
In the third month of the first year of Longwu, Xiao Ruxun issued a religious policy.
He once again made it clear that Taoists and monks needed to be recognized by the imperial court to become a monk, and only the Religious Administration Department of the Ministry of Revenue in the capital had the authority to issue the certificates. The local authorities did not have the authority to issue the certificates, which were issued once every three years, with an upper limit.
Private activities were completely prohibited, and once found, the person, the monk, the Taoist priest, and the Taoist temple they belonged to would be banned, and all of them would be sent to do hard labor.
In addition, Xiao Ruxun also sent people to investigate the private properties of the Taoist temples and Taoist temples throughout the country, and registered them together. He also counted the years of the Taoist temples and Taoist temples, and assessed the identity and knowledge of the Taoist temple owners and Taoist temples.
In the future, it would be done once every three years, and it was not allowed to stop.
After a series of actions, in the second year of Longwu, the imperial court closed 36 Taoist temples and 27 monasteries, in the third year of Longwu, 16 Taoist temples and 48 monasteries, in the fourth year of Longwu, 21 Taoist temples and 16 monasteries, in the fifth year of Longwu, 17 Taoist temples and 29 monasteries were closed.
The reason was very clear.
Before the imperial court issued the credentials, they sent people to the various monasteries and Daoist temples to inspect the monks and Daoist priests in the monasteries and Daoist temples' understanding of the Buddhist scriptures and Daoist scriptures. They wanted to see how their academic standards were and if they were truly devoted to Buddhism or Daoism, and if they were really monks.
This time, a big problem was found. A large number of illiterate fake monks and fake Daoist priests were found. Even those who cheated people of their hard-earned money were found.
Originally, Xiao Ruxun's order was to find out the truth even if he had nothing to do. But now, he didn't have to wrongly accuse someone.
Therefore, the local government immediately announced it to the public and publicized it. They used the agitation of the land reform to criticize them, completely tarnishing their reputations. Therefore, the local people angrily supported the government to ban the monasteries and Taoist temples.
Not only that, the local grassroots officials who were good at organizing people to launch the movement adhered to the central ideology, inciting people to worship the temples and Taoist monasteries and completely destroying them. Wherever the movement affected, temples and Taoist monasteries were not allowed to appear again.
There was no need to talk about what happened next. A large number of monasteries and Daoist temples were unlucky. They were shut down and all their property was confiscated. Those fake Daoist priests and monks were immediately sent to do hard labor. It was unknown if they could return alive. In any case, the chances were slim.
But this wasn't enough.
There were indeed fake Daoist priests and monks, but there were also many real monks and Daoist priests who held official documents from the previous dynasty. Xiao Ruxun was quite disgusted with these organizations that competed with the country for population and tax revenue. He wholeheartedly wanted to suppress them and make them disappear naturally. Therefore, he used all kinds of methods.
For example, the level of the Taoist priests in the Taoist temples was not high enough and didn't understand the principles of Taoism, and the level of the abbot in the monasteries was not high enough and didn't understand the Buddhist scriptures at all. All kinds of reasons were used. Anyway, when they saw a large number of non-famous Buddhist monasteries and Taoist monasteries with private property, they tried every possible way to ban them.
As for the real monks and Daoist priests in the banned monasteries and Taoist monasteries, Xiao Ruxun decisively forced them to return to secular life. They were not allowed to become monks for the rest of their lives. They were also not allowed to preach Buddhism and Taoism.
In order to make them start paying taxes, Xiao Ruxun didn't allow them to return to their original places. All of them were placed in places where land was being distributed.
He even forced each of them to arrange a local orphan, widow, or a woman that the Japanese had kidnapped. They were given land, houses, farming tools, and seeds so that they could integrate into the local farmers' association.
In response to Xiao Ruxun's methods, some court officials reported that Taoism and Buddhism had existed for more than a thousand years. Such a drastic ban would probably cause the people of the world to be uneasy.
Xiao Ruxun issued a decree to reprimand the official who submitted the report and fined him half a year's salary as a warning to others.
He also issued a decree to the court, saying that he was very dissatisfied with Taoism and Buddhism. It wasn't because he was dissatisfied with them, but because they didn't produce.
All day long, they came up with some mysterious things to fool the people. Many monasteries and Taoist monasteries actually dared to buy land wantonly and expand their private property to compete with the court for taxes!
These lands didn't need to pay taxes. The monks in the monasteries also didn't need to pay taxes for all the people's blood and sweat. They were brazenly competing with the court for land, population, and taxes. They were simply reckless.
The court held the moral high ground in their hands. They often announced that these Taoist priests and monks were swindlers, deceiving people of their hard-earned money. They were dragged to the surrounding villages and cities to demonstrate and incite the people to criticize them. Then, they would directly ban the monasteries and take all the land and other property to the state.
The court didn't play games with them. They directly hit hard and attacked Buddhism and Taoism.
After the news spread, a large number of lazy people who didn't have any pious hearts and only wanted to eat and drink to their fill fled in fright. Many monasteries and Taoist monasteries were directly abandoned. They were easily taken over by the local government and became warehouses under the government's jurisdiction.
This practice greatly limited the living environment of Taoist priests and monks.
In just a short three to four years, Xiao Qin's government forced hundreds of thousands of Taoist priests and monks to return to secular life and confiscated more than 400,000 mu of land. This greatly impacted the economic foundation of Buddhism and Taoism.
Not only that, the government also targeted and killed eight to nine hundred fake monks and Taoist priests in Jiangnan and Jiangbei, where Buddhism and Taoism thrived. They widely spread their swindling deeds.
They made nursery rhymes and taught children to sing them.
They made stories and taught them to storytellers to tell.
They even gave some famous local opera troupes an administrative order to arrange a time limit for them to make an opera about fake monks and Taoist priests swindling people's money and sex to the point of breaking up their families.
In the school textbooks, they added related stories of fake Taoist priests and monks and taught them to the children so that they could learn and tell their parents when they returned home.
This practice greatly impacted the reputation of Buddhism and Taoism among the people and had a rather long-term impact.
In the third year of Longwu's first distribution of religious documents, a total of more than 300 monk documents and 100 Taoist documents were issued.
At the same time, Xiao Ruxun took a relatively gentle approach to some of the big monasteries and Taoist monasteries that had a long history and good reputation and had contributed to the country and the people, such as Shaolin Temple and Chongyang Palace.
He didn't forcibly ban them or mobilize the people to destroy them. Instead, he asked them to pay taxes.
The incense money was taxed according to a certain ratio. The land was set at 20 mu per person for the monasteries and Taoist monasteries. The excess land was taken to the state. The land of the monasteries and Taoist monasteries had to pay taxes like ordinary people.
The religious administration of the imperial court's Ministry of Revenue sent officials to the monasteries and Taoist monasteries to supervise the incense money, the production of monks, and the study of Taoism and Buddhism.
In short, the imperial court had to manage you, restrict you, check your accounts, and collect your taxes.
You were not allowed to resist and obediently accept the management. Otherwise, His Majesty the Emperor had ten thousand ways to kill you.
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