We have now some idea of the double position of Buddhism in China and can understand how it sometimes appears as almost the established church and sometimes as a persecuted sect.  The reader will do well to remember that in Europe the relations of politics to religion have not always been simple:  many Catholic sovereigns have quarrelled with Popes and monks.  The French Government supports the claims of Catholic missions in China but does not favour the Church in France.  The fact that Huxley was made a Privy Councillor does not imply that Queen Victoria approved of his religious views.  In China the repeated restrictive edicts concerning monasteries should not be regarded as acts of persecution.  Every politician can see the loss to the state if able-bodied men become monks by the thousand.  In periods of literary and missionary zeal, large congregations of such monks may have a sufficient sphere of activity but in sleepy, decadent periods they are apt to become a moral or political danger.  A devout Buddhist or Catholic may reasonably hold that though the monastic life is the best for the elect, yet for the unworthy it is more dangerous than the temptations of the world.  Thus the founder of the Ming dynasty had himself been a bonze, yet he limited the number and age of those who might become monks.[577] On the other hand, he attended Buddhist services and published an edition of the Tripitaka.  In this and in the conduct of most Emperors there is little that is inconsistent or mysterious:  they regarded religion not in our fashion as a system deserving either allegiance or rejection, but as a modern Colonial Governor might regard education.  Some Governors are enthusiastic for education:  others mistrust it as a stimulus of disquieting ideas:  most accept it as worthy of occasional patronage, like hospitals and races.  In the same way some Emperors, like Wu-Ti,[578] were enthusiasts for Buddhism and made it practically the state religion:  a few others were definitely hostile either from conviction or political circumstances, but probably most sovereigns regarded it as the average British official regards education, as something that one can’t help having, that one must belaud on certain public occasions, that may now and then be useful, but still emphatically something to be kept within limits.

Outbursts against Buddhism are easy to understand.  I have pointed out its un-Chinese features and the persistent opposition of the literati.  These were sufficient reasons for repressive measures whenever the Emperor was unbuddhist in his sympathies, especially if the monasteries had enjoyed a period of prosperity and become crowded and wealthy.  What is harder to understand is the occasional favour shown by apparently anti-Buddhist Emperors.