​​​

A SACRIFICE OF MONKS 
Historical fiction novel by Michael C. Owens

Now available! 

 

DESCRIPTION

A Sacrifice of Monks is a novel about Kong Zang, a young Chinese Buddhist monk trying to survive the “Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution” of the Tang Dynasty. One of the largest religious expulsions in Chinese history that resulted in the near extinction of Buddhism in China, an event that reached its apogee 845 A.D., the year the story takes place. Several of the main characters are historical figures including: the Tang Dynasty Emperor, Wuzong, a Zealot who commanded the persecution during his brief five-year reign; Li Deyu, the Confucian statesman and poet who directed the persecution on behalf of the Emperor; and Zhao Guizhen, a Taoist wizard-priest who was poisoning the Emperor with elixirs of immortality and blaming Buddhism for their ineffectiveness. A minor yet significant character is also Ennin, a Japanese Buddhist monk who was pilgrimaging in China during the years of this persecution, whose travel diary is one of the primary sources for this novel.