It is precisely because she likes literature and history very much that literature and history developed greatly during Wu Zetian's reign. Especially Wen, but Wu Zetian doesn't like Confucian scholars and Confucian classics. The doctor and teaching assistant she set up in imperial academy don't need Confucian scholars. So at that time, imperial academy was almost deserted, and she didn't ask the opinions of Confucian scholars. She thinks that these Confucian scholars may only argue with each other for a long time, and there will be no result, and they are conservative, so she doesn't need Confucian scholars. So what's her attitude towards Buddhism and Taoism? Generally speaking, she worships and respects Buddhism, but she is not opposed to Taoism, especially in her later years. She used Taoism and Buddhism as tools and never practiced Buddhism and Taoism. Then let's talk about our attitude towards Buddhism separately. The main reason is that Buddhism is her theoretical tool to carry out revolution and seize political power. We know that there is no such theoretical basis in Confucian classics, that is, Confucianism opposes women's participation in politics.
However, Buddhists can find this basis in Buddhist scriptures. A year before her revolution, a monk named Faming presented a Great Cloud Sutra. How about this Great Cloud Sutra? Some people say he forged it, others say it was handed down long ago, and it was originally there. In any case, the Great Cloud Sutra is a sacred book, which has been preserved in the Buddhist books, and it is not bad as an orthodox Buddhist classic. It's hard to find a monk in Dayun. He actually found the basis that women can be emperors in Buddhist scriptures. This is Ada Jing Yun's Zheng Da Collection, and this is Japanese Zheng Da Collection. Look at this sentence. It is said that there is a goddess. As a woman, this goddess will be the king's land, and she will own a quarter of the place where the wheel king is in charge. So later, Wu Zetian gave himself an honorary title, and the so-called "Golden Wheel Emperor" regarded himself as the wheel king, which is evidence in Buddhism.
Therefore, it is natural for Wu Zetian to become an emperor after the revolution, and she makes sense. Look at the Buddhist scriptures, how many years after the death of the Buddha, there will be a woman as emperor, and that is me. Moreover, after the great cloud sutra was published, the great cloud sutra itself did not say that Wu Zetian wanted to be emperor, so some monks made notes in this sutra to prove that Wu Zetian was mentioned here. The notes made by these monks were called the Dayun Sutra, which was later lost, but it was gone, because the Buddhist community simply denied that it was lost and gone, so we couldn't see this Dayun Sutra. But it is gratifying that tens of thousands of documents were found in Dunhuang at the beginning of last century, among which the Dayun Jing was preserved. The Great Cloud Classic proves that the woman mentioned in the Great Cloud Classic is Wu Zetian with all kinds of messy books. For example, it was explained from the beginning here, and it was explained before. What does the Bible say? She explained this sentence like this, for example, "Women are the land of kings". What does this sentence mean? The so-called virgin jade emperor is Wu Zetian, whose female body refers to Wu Zetian. How do we test it? Then how do we know it's Wu Zetian? After that, I talked a lot and proved it with many books. Of course, we don't have time for this now.
In short, Buddhists used the Great Cloud Sutra to seize power for Wu Zetian and create public opinion. In this way, after Wu Zetian became emperor, in order to thank Buddhism, she promoted the status of Buddhism to Taoism. Wu Zetian's attitude towards Taoism has changed. When she became a queen, she also believed in Taoism very much, because the Li and Tang Dynasties regarded Laozi, the Taoist leader, as their ancestor, so Wu Zetian, as the queen of Li Tang royal family, naturally believed in Taoism. But after the revolution, she replaced Li Tang. Of course, she also belittles Taoism. So after the revolution, she demoted Taoism to Buddhism. But Wu Zetian especially believes in this spell, which is a specialty of Taoism, so she has never been disgusted with Taoism. Especially in her later years, her thoughts changed. Some people analyze that she may have killed too many people, and she feels guilty. She always felt that she had killed too many people, and even dreamed of ghosts at night, so she believed in Taoism more. She hopes that Taoism can drive away these evils for her, and she also hopes to seek immortality through Taoist alchemy. So when she was 76 years old, she sent a man to Songshan Mountain in Zhongyue to drop a golden note and pray for God to exonerate her. 1982, a farmer found this golden bamboo slip near Songshan. It is clearly written on this golden bamboo slip. It reads: "Wu Zhao, the Lord of the Big Week, is really immortal. He is willing to visit the gate of Song Zhongyue's high mountains, vote for gold and bamboo slips, and ask for three officials and nine houses, except Wu Zhao." From this content, we know that in her later years, Wu Zetian was 76 years old. On the one hand, she pursues immortality and immortality, on the other hand, she also hopes to get three officials and nine courtyards, all of which are Taoist immortals. Three officials: the water official, the local official and the celestial official. They helped her to wash away all kinds of sins in the past. Therefore, Wu Zetian in her later years still trusted Taoism.