佛祖統紀 47.21

47.21

In the fifteenth year, an imperial decree ordered that monks and Daoists throughout the realm first begin paying adult male capitation tax, ranging from ten thousand to one thousand three hundred coins across nine grades, termed 'tax for a life of quiet leisure.' Those aged sixty or above and those with disabilities were permitted exemption from payment. Master Dao sent a letter to the Department of Ministries, saying: "The Great Dharma has spread eastward for more than a thousand years. During this time, its decline and rise have followed the eras; though temporarily imperiled, it has ultimately surged forth. Yet there has never been a suppression and debasement as extreme as today! Since the middle of the Shaoxing era, adult male exemption tax has been levied on monks and Daoists, with the highest at ten thousand and the lowest down to one thousand three hundred. The state divides its people into four classes: scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants. Monks and Daoists were formerly registered in official rosters and were able to stand in a tripartite balance with the Confucians, not because of any extraordinary administrative abilities in statecraft or governing the people, but solely because their ancestors were Great Sages who bequeathed teachings to do good. As for times when natural disasters spread and rain or sunshine were unseasonable, when their followers were commanded to pray, Heaven and Earth responded and ghosts and spirits complied; this has constantly been seen and heard by the ears and eyes of both ancient and modern times. If they indeed ward off disasters and bring forth auspicious blessings for the state, should they not be treated somewhat differently from the common masses? How can they suddenly be taxed with the levies of the common people, and taxed several times more? Today, the capitation taxes of commoners throughout the realm mostly amount to no more than three hundred coins, or in regions where the land is barren and the people toiled, they receive blanket exemptions. Yet monks are not even permitted to rank alongside ordinary commoners, on the pretext that they do not plow or raise silkworms yet are clothed and fed by the world! Now, as for plowing to eat and raising silkworms to be clothed, outside of monks and Daoists, it is not necessarily the case that every single person plows and raises silkworms!" and so forth.