During the period of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty (56 1 ~ 578), the influence of Buddhism expanded rapidly in the north, with 2 million monks and nuns and more than 30,000 Buddhist temples. Because monks and nuns enjoy the privilege of being exempt from corvee, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty must take the measure of "seeking soldiers from monks and nuns and taking land from the pagoda" if he wants to enrich Qiang Bing and unify the north. First of all, Emperor Wu of Zhou reduced the number of monks and nuns and monasteries, and gathered many famous Confucianism, monks and Taoism to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.
When Tang Wuzong (84 1 ~ 846) ascended the throne, the emperors in the early and middle Tang Dynasty basically supported the development of Buddhism, which promoted the rapid expansion of Buddhist forces, intensified the contradiction between the Buddhist monk class and the state and the secular landlord class, and finally broke out the movement of destroying Buddhism in the Tang Wuzong period.
Post-Zhou Shizong (954 ~ 958) was listed as the last "Buddha-destroying" emperor, just like Wu Tai of Northern Wei Dynasty and Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou Dynasty. In fact, he only made great efforts to rectify and restrict Buddhism, and did not intend to completely abolish Buddhism.
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, two years of showing virtue (955), was a period of division and war in the history of China. After Zhou Shizong ascended the throne, he defeated the joint attack of Northern Han Dynasty and Qidan, and at the same time took large-scale measures to compress Buddhism. Imperial edicts forbade monks and nuns to live in private, forbidden handmaiden and criminals to become monks, and abolished all monasteries without quotas. New temples of any size are not allowed. Instead of ordering all monks and nuns to be secular, he encouraged them to be secular.
Known as the "Three Soldiers and One Case"