Daxiangguo Temple, formerly known as Jianguo Temple, began in 555 A.D. and is one of the Buddhist temples with a long history in China. Especially during the Northern Song Dynasty, Xiangguo Temple was revered by the royal family, and after many expansions, it became the largest in the capital and the center of Buddhist activities in the country.
However, in 1927, Sangokuji Temple suffered an unprecedented catastrophe. Feng Yuxiang ordered it to be transformed into a market, drove out all the monks, and confiscated the monastery's property.
This was not an isolated case, as Feng Yuxiang also ordered the destruction of many Buddhist temples in northern China. Why, then, did he wreak havoc on Buddhism on such a large scale?
General Feng Yuxiang believes in ** religion, and Buddhism conflicts with his beliefs. He was convinced that Buddhism had led to the servility of the Chinese and was deeply dissatisfied with this. In order to strengthen his military strength, he decided to clean up the Buddhist temples in the province after relocating the main forces to the Henan area in 1927 to help the Chinese free themselves from the shackles of Buddhism.
This operation was called "Destruction of Buddha in the Central Plains", also known as "Feng Yuxiang Destruction of Buddha".
Before Xiangguo Temple was turned into a Zhongshan market, Feng Yuxiang's subordinate Lu Zhonglin tried to persuade the temple presiding officer, Master Xuhui, to donate the people's property earned by the temple to the army to purchase armaments.
However, Master Xuhui insisted on disagreeing because of greed, which made Feng Yuxiang very angry. On the same day, he sent a large number of military police to surround Xiangguoji Temple, expelled the monks in the temple, and confiscated all the property of the temple.
With the exception of the Thousand-Armed Guanyin Statue, which was preserved because it was considered to be of artistic value, all the other Buddha statues were destroyed by order of Feng Yuxiang.
In the aftermath of the fire, the local gentry took advantage of the destruction of the monastery as an opportunity for promotion and profit. Xue Dubi, the interior minister of Henan province, also contributed to the incident, plotting to confiscate the property of all Buddhist monasteries in the province.
Since the introduction of Buddhism into China, the first Buddhist temples built in China, such as the White Horse Temple and the Shaolin Temple, have not been spared. Monks were forced to return to the laity and join the army, and some temples were converted into schools, some were converted into almshouses, libraries, and even entertainment venues.
Hundreds of temples in Henan Province, carrying 2,000 years of history and cultural relics, as well as the lives and property of 300,000 people, were destroyed in one fell swoop. Shaanxi, Shandong and other places also blindly followed suit, and Buddhism in North China almost became extinct because of it.
When Feng Yuxiang confiscated the property of the temple, he used most of the money to buy ** equipment, and a few cultural relics were kept by him. These ** equipment became Feng Yuxiang's important armaments when resisting the Japanese army.
Therefore, how should we view Feng Yuxiang's act of destroying the Buddha? Is he a hero who has done more than he has demerited, or is he a sinner who has been blamed for generations?