After holding several inconclusive debates in the court, Emperor Wu commissioned the Xiaodao Lun as one of two reports examining the suitability of sponsoring either Buddhism or Daoism as a state religion for the Northern Zhou dynasty, with a view towards unifying China.
The Buddhist sangha in China held Buddhism to be superior to Daoism, whose canon it regarded as "heretical" (xié 邪) and "false sutra" (wěijīng 伪经).
[8] The Xiaodan Lun is written in 36 sections in an imitation of the Daoist canon,[9] and aimed to show that the mythology, rituals, and practices of Daoism were inconsistent and absurd.
[8] The Xiaodao Lun was the most lurid and complete account of Daoist sexual practices that anti-Daoist polemicists used to attack the religion,[6] including group sex and partner swapping.
[7] Another argument of the Xiaodao Lun implicated Daoism in general for various peasant revolts, including the Yellow Turban Rebellion (184–205), whose organizers were associated with secret Daoist societies.
[11] The Emperor largely disregarded the conclusions of the Xiaodao Lun, positively interpreting Zhen's examples of alleged Daoist plagiarism of Buddhist texts, as increasing Daoism's appeal as a unifying ideology for the Zhou realm.