White Horse Temple
However, some Taoist priests protested and wanted the Emperor to test the merits of both parties. The Emperor agreed and convened a meeting at the southern gate of the White Horse Temple. He ordered that the sacred texts and religious paraphernalia of the Taoists be placed on the eastern gate and the sacred texts, relics and Buddha image of the westerners in the hall of seven gems on the west. He then ordered that the objects be thrown into the fire, and whichever documents survived the fire then that religion would receive his patronage. The Taoists expected that their texts would survive. This did not happen as all the texts of Taoists were burnt and that of the Buddhists from the west survived. With this test, the Emperor was convinced of the Buddhist religion. He with all his entourage of ministers and kinsmen embraced Buddhism. He built several temples, which included 'Pai-masai', the White Horse Temple and three convents for nuns.