A Study Of The Religious View Of Emperor Yongzheng

As the third emperor of Qing Dynasty, Yongzheng Emperor Yinzhen had made fundamental reformation in various aspects such as politics, economy, and culture during the regime of 13 years. Apart from continuously forcing ideological control, Yongzheng Emperor had keen interests and brilliant achievements in religion. Yongzheng Emperor was a versatile talent with novel ideas in Buddahism. As a consequence, he had made creative interpretation concerning Buddahism and simultaneously contributed to the compilation and revision of Buddahism classics with unique matrixes. In addition, Yongzheng Emperor was also indulged in astrology and pharmacy of Taoism. For instance, he once sought Taoist priests to refine Dan medicine and preach arts of necromancy, medicine and astrology. However, he explicitly forbade the expansion of Catholicism by strict prohibition policies. This thesis shall systematically delineates the attitudes as well as resulting religious activities and policies of Yongzheng Emperor towards Buddahism, Taoism and Catholicism. Accordingly, it shall analyze the generating reasons and profound influences of Yongzheng Emperor’s religious value. At the same time, since religion had been incorporated into ruling mechanism, the religious concepts and religious policies of Yongzheng Emperor left far-reaching impacts on religious development of Qing Dynasty and mass ideology.