of the next Emperor in
whose time there are said to have been 13,000 temples in Wei.

In the Sung dominions a conspiracy was discovered in 458 in which a
monk was implicated, and restrictive, though not prohibitive,
regulations were issued respecting monasteries. The Emperor Ming-Ti,
though a cruel ruler was a devout Buddhist and erected a monastery in
Hu-nan, at the cost of such heavy taxation that his ministers
remonstrated. The fifty-nine years of Liu Sung rule must have been on
the whole favourable to Buddhism, for twenty translators flourished,
partly natives and partly foreigners from Central Asia, India and
Ceylon. In 420 a band of twenty-five Chinese started on a pilgrimage
to India. They had been preceded by the celebrated pilgrim
Fa-Hsien[625] who travelled in India from 399 to 414.

In the reign of Wu-Ti, the first Emperor of the Ch'i dynasty, one of
the imperial princes, named Tzu Liang,[626] cultivated the society
of eminent monks and enjoyed theological discussions. From the
specimens of these arguments which have been preserved we see that the
explanation of the inequalities of life as the result of Karma had a
great attraction for the popular mind and also that it provoked the
hostile criticism of the Confucian literati.

The accession of the Liang dynasty and the long reign of its first
emperor Wu-Ti (502-549) were important events in the history of
Buddhism, for this monarch rivalled Asoka in pious enthusiasm if not
in power and prosperity. He obviously set the Church above the state
and it was while he was on the throne that Bodhidharma came to China
and the first edition of the Tripitaka was prepared.

His reign, though primarily of importance for religion, was not
wanting in political interest, and witnessed a long conflict with Wei.
Wu-Ti was aided by the dissensions which distracted Wei but failed to
achieve his object, probably as a result of his religious
preoccupations, for he seemed unable to estimate the power of the
various adventurers who from time to time rose to pre-eminence in the
north and, holding war to be wrong, he was too ready to accept
insincere overtures for peace. Wei split into two states, the Eastern
and Western, and Hou-Ching,[627] a powerful general who was not
satisfied with his position in either, offered his services to Wu-Ti,
promising to add a large part of Ho-nan to his dominions. He failed in
his promise but Wu-Ti, instead of punishing him, first gave him a post