What was the state religion of the Tang Dynasty?

The Tang Dynasty (6 18-907) was a unified Central Plains dynasty after the Sui Dynasty, with a total of 2 1 emperor and enjoyed the country for 289 years.

The religious policy in the early Tang Dynasty was relatively open, and Taoism and Buddhism, two traditional religions in China, both developed greatly. In the Tang Dynasty, Taoism was regarded as the state religion, and all the princes and nobles admired Taoism, and made research on Taoist classics such as Laozi, Zhuangzi, Wen Zi and Liezi.

Taoism worships Laozi Li Er as a god. Because the royal family in the Tang Dynasty was surnamed Li, it was stipulated that Taoism was above Buddhism from the early Tang Dynasty, and it was also very popular in the upper class of the Tang Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, after the Li family thought it was Laozi, they built the Hall of Supreme Harmony to offer sacrifices to Laozi, respected Laozi as the emperor's father, and ordered the princes and ministers to study Laozi's moral classics.

Empress Wu Zetian invited all the princes and ministers to learn from Laozi, and every year, they took exams according to the Book of Filial Piety and The Analects of Confucius. Xuanzong and Daizong also strongly advocated Taoism, which reached its peak in China. Xuanzong personally annotated Tao Te Ching. In the 21st year of Kaiyuan (733), Tao Ju and Confucian Classics were added to the imperial examination, which was listed as the Ming Jing test book. Obviously, Taoism is listed as a national study, keeping pace with Confucian classics, which is quite meaningful.

According to the Records of New Tang Dynasty Official Records, there were 1687 temples in China during the Kaiyuan period, including 550 female temples. At that time, there were mainly two schools, namely, the clean and upright school and the orthodox school. The main characters are Wang, Pan, Ma, Wu Jun,. The main reason why Taoism was favored by the imperial court was that they tried to get more pills. Many emperors in the Tang Dynasty, such as Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, died because they believed in taking pills.

Extended data:

The status and influence of religion in society was the highest in the Tang Dynasty. The main sects of Buddhism in Tang Dynasty are Tiantai Sect, Huayan Sect, Faxiang Sect, Pure Land Sect and Zen Sect. A great change of Buddhism in Tang Dynasty, from birth to WTO. Tiantai Sect serves Hokkekyo, so it is also called Fahuazong. Hua Yan is a disciple of Hua Yan Jing and participates in politics more. Pure land Sect is easy to get started.

Zen is divided into north and south factions. The founder of the Northern School was Shen Xiu, who advocated the theory of gradual enlightenment. The founder of Nanzong is Huineng. In the Tang Dynasty, Tang Wuzong adopted a high-handed policy towards Buddhism, which was called Huichang to destroy Buddhism, which made other Buddhist sects, except a few sects such as Zen Nanzong, never recover.

Although the political status of Buddhism is not as good as that of Taoism, its spread scope, economic strength and the number of followers are far above that of Taoism in the Tang Dynasty.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Tang Dynasty Culture