All Chinese religions agreed in accepting the Emperor as head of the Church, not merely titular but active.  He exercised a strange prerogative of creating, promoting and degrading deities.  Even within the Buddhist sphere he regulated the incarnations of Bodhisattvas in the persons of Lamas and from time to time re-edited the canon[573] or added new works to it.  This extreme Erastianism had its roots in Indian as well as Chinese ideas.  The Confucianist, while reminding the Emperor that he should imitate the sages and rulers of antiquity, gladly admitted his right to control the worship of all spirits[574] and the popular conscience, while probably unable to define what was meant by the title Son of Heaven,[575] felt that it gave him a viceregal right to keep the gods in order, so long as he did not provoke famine or other national calamities by mismanagement.  The Buddhists, though tenacious of freedom in the spiritual life, had no objection to the patronage of princes.  Asoka permitted himself to regulate the affairs of the Church and the success of Buddhists as missionaries was due in no small measure to their tact in allowing other sovereigns to follow his example.

That Buddhism should have obtained in China a favourable reception and a permanent status is indeed remarkable, for in two ways it was repugnant to the sentiments of the governing classes to say nothing of the differences in temper and outlook which divide Hindus and Chinese.  Firstly, its ideal was asceticism and celibacy; it gave family life the lower place and ignored the popular Chinese view that to have a son is not only a duty, but also essential for those sacrifices without which the departed spirit cannot have peace.  Secondly, it was not merely a doctrine but an ecclesiastical organization, a congregation of persons who were neither citizens nor subjects, not exactly an imperium in imperio nor a secret society, but dangerously capable of becoming either.  Such bodies have always incurred the suspicion and persecution of the Chinese Government.  Even in the fifth century Buddhist monasteries were accused of organizing armed conspiracies and many later sects suffered from the panic which they inspired in official bosoms.  But both difficulties were overcome by the suppleness of the clergy.  If they outraged family sentiment they managed to make themselves indispensable at funeral ceremonies.[576] If they had a dangerous resemblance to an imperium in imperio, they minimized it by their obvious desire to exercise influence through the Emperor.  Though it is true that the majority of anti-dynastic political sects had a Buddhist colour, the most prominent and influential Buddhists never failed in loyalty.  To this adroitness must be added a solid psychological advantage.  The success of Buddhism in China was due to the fact that it presented religious emotion and speculation in the best form known there, and when it began to spread the intellectual soil was not unpropitious.  The higher Taoist philosophy had made familiar the ideas of quietism and the contemplative life:  the age was unsettled, harassed alike by foreign invasion and civil strife.  In such times when even active natures tire of unsuccessful struggles, the asylum of a monastery has attractions for many.