Emperor of Yang in the Sui Dynasty and Buddhism

The Sui Dynasty was a historical period when Buddhism gained a considerably rapid development in our country. Aside from Emperor of Wen, Emperor of Yang played a significant part in the development of Buddhism. His contributions to Buddhism lay largely in the following five ways: first, getting a number of Buddhist monasteries, pagodas and statues built; secondly, having a large quantity of Buddhist sutra collected, sorted out, translated and written out; thirdly, making a broad mass of monks and nuns converted into Buddhism; fourthly, giving support to Zhiyi in his effort to establish the sect of Tiantai, the biggest Buddhist sect in those days; and finally, actively supporting the establishment of the sect of Sanlun by creating necessary conditions for its shaping. Emperor of Yang's support to Buddhism laid a solid foundation for the flourishing of Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty, but his support to Buddhism differed considerably from that of Emperor of Wen who worshipped it just blindly. In fact, Empeor of Yang executed a series of policies both to utilize and to confine Buddhism so that it would serve the consolidation of the rule of the Sui Dynasty on the one hand, and, on the other, would not affect social stability in the day at the cost of extravagant finance and material. However, the true reason that Emperor of Yang worshipped Buddhism served his very attempt to be selected as the crown prince and to strengthen his rule thereafter.