History

Background

The religious background of the White Lotus Sect goes back to the founding of the first White Lotus Society (白莲社) in the Donglin Temple at Mount Lu by the Huiyuan (334–416 CE). During the Northern Song period (960–1126), White Lotus Societies were founded throughout southern China, spreading Pure Land teachings and meditation methods with them. Between 9th and 14th centuries, Chinese Manichaeans increasingly involved themselves with the Pure Land school. Through this close interaction Manichaeism had profound influence on Chinese Maitreyan Buddhist sects within the Pure Land tradition, practicing together so closely alongside the Buddhists that the two traditions became indistinguishable.

Origins

During the 12th century a Buddhist monk, Mao Ziyuan (茅子元) (; Dharma name: Cizhao (慈照)), founded the White Lotus School (白莲宗) in order to connect the scattered White Lotus Societies. He erected a Lotus Repentance Temple (莲忏堂) where he preached the teachings of the White Lotus School, which became the basis of the White Lotus religion (白莲敎). This White Lotus religion was a hybrid movement of Buddhism and Manichaeism that emphasised Maitreya teachings and strict vegetarianism; its permission for men and women to interact freely was considered socially shocking.

During the late thirteenth century, the Mongol Yuan dynasty's rule over China prompted small yet popular demonstrations against its rule. As they grew into widespread dissent, adherents of White Lotus took part in some of these protests, leading the Yuan government to ban the White Lotus religion as a heterodox religious sect (宗教异端), forcing its members to go underground. Now a secret society, the White Lotus became an instrument of quasi-national resistance and religious organisation. This fear of secret societies carried on in the law; the Great Qing Legal Code, which was in effect until 1912, contained the following section:

Like other secret societies, they covered up their unusual or illicit activities as "incense burning ceremonies".

White Lotus Revolution

The White Lotus was a fertile ground for fomenting rebellion.

A Buddhist monk from Jiangxi named Peng Yingyu began to study the White Lotus and ended up organizing a rebellion in the 1330s. Although the rebellion was put down, Peng survived and hid in Anhui, then reappeared back in South China where he led another unsuccessful rebellion in which he was killed. This second rebellion changed its colours from white to red and its soldiers were known as the "Red Turbans" for their red bandanas.

Another revolution inspired by the White Lotus society took shape in 1352 around Guangzhou. A Buddhist monk and former boy-beggar, the future Ming dynasty founder Zhu Yuanzhang, joined the rebellion. His exceptional intelligence took him to the head of a rebel army; he won people to his side by forbidding his soldiers to pillage in observance of White Lotus religious beliefs. By 1355 the rebellion had spread through much of China.

In 1356, Zhu Yuanzhang captured the important city of Nanjing (then called Jiqing) and made it his capital, renaming it Yingtian. It was here that he began to discard his heterodox beliefs and so won the help of Confucian scholars who issued pronouncements for him and performed rituals in his claim of the Mandate of Heaven, the first step toward establishing a new dynastic rule.

Meanwhile, the Mongols were fighting among themselves, inhibiting their ability to suppress the rebellion. In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang extended his rule to Guangzhou, the same year that the Mongol ruler, Toghon Temür, fled to Karakorum. In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang and his army entered the former capital of Beijing and in 1371 his army moved through Sichuan to the southwest.

By 1387, after more than thirty years of war, Zhu Yuanzhang had liberated all of China. He took the title Hongwu Emperor and founded the Ming dynasty, whose name echoes the religious sentiment of the White Lotus.

Wusheng Laomu

Despite their involvement in overthrowing the Yuan dynasty and therefore in the founding of Ming dynasty, the White Lotus did not cease its political activities against Chinese authorities; consequently, it remained prohibited during the Ming dynasty. Since they were prohibited from establishing a central authority, no doctrinal orthodoxy could be enforced, allowing their teachings and practices to increasingly diversify. While Maitreya remained the central figure for most White Lotus sects, during the reign of the Zhengde Emperor (1506–1521) a new deity began to grow in popularity among White Lotus adherents, namely Wusheng Laomu (无生老母). Originating from the Daoist Chinese folk religion, she was identified as the transcendent Buddha who never incarnated but exists without coming into being or transforming into non-being, but was nevertheless foretold to come down upon earth to gather all her children at the millennium into one family and guide them safely back to Heaven, the "home of the true emptiness" (真空家乡).

Wang Lun uprising

The White Lotus reemerged in the late 18th century in the form of an inspired Chinese movement in many different forms and sects.

In 1774, the herbalist and martial artist Wang Lun founded a derivative sect of the White Lotus that promoted underground meditation teachings in Shandong province, not far from Beijing near the city of Linqing. The sect led an uprising that captured three small cities and laid siege to the larger city of Linqing, a strategic location on the north–south Grand Canal transportation route. After initial success, he was outnumbered and defeated by Qing troops, including local armies of Chinese soldiers known as the Green Standard Army.

An account of Wang Lun's death was given to Qing authorities by a captured rebel. Wang Lun remained sitting in his headquarters wearing a purple robe and two silver bracelets while he burned to death with his dagger and double-bladed sword beside him.

Wang Lun likely failed because he did not make any attempts to raise wide public support. He did not distribute captured wealth or food supplies, nor did he promise to lessen the tax burden. Unable to build up a support base, he was forced to quickly flee all three cities that he attacked in order to evade government troops. Though he passed through an area inhabited by almost a million peasants, his army never measured more than four thousand soldiers, many of whom had been forced into service.

White Lotus Rebellion

Beginning in 1794, two decades after Wang Lun's failed uprising, a movement also arose in the mountainous region that separates Sichuan from Hubei and Shaanxi in central China as tax protests. Here, the White Lotus led impoverished settlers into rebellion, promising personal salvation in return for their loyalty. Beginning as tax protests, the eventual rebellion gained growing support and sympathy from many ordinary people. The rebellion grew in number and power and eventually, into a serious concern for the government.

A systematic program of pacification followed in which the populace was resettled in hundreds of stockaded villages and organized into militia. In its last stage, the Qing suppression policy combined pursuit and extermination of rebel guerrilla bands with a program of amnesty for deserters. The rebellion came to an end in 1804. A decree from the Daoguang Emperor admitted, "it was extortion by local officials that goaded the people into rebellion..." Using the arrest of sectarian members as a threat, local officials and police extorted money from people. Actual participation in sect activities had no impact on an arrest; whether or not monetary demands were met, however, did.

Eight Trigrams uprising

In the first decade of the nineteenth century, there were also several White Lotus sects active in the area around the capital city of Beijing. Lin Qing, another member of the Eight Trigrams sect within the White Lotus, united several of these sects and with them build an organization that he would later lead in the Eight Trigrams uprising of 1813.

Administrators also seized and destroyed sectarian scriptures used by the religious groups. One such official was Huang Yupian, who refuted the ideas found in the scriptures with orthodox Confucian and Buddhist views in A Detailed Refutation of Heresy (破邪详辩 Pōxié Xiángbiàn), which was written in 1838. This book has since become an invaluable source in understanding the beliefs of these groups.

Second Sino-Japanese War

White Lotus adherents who collaborated with the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) were fought against by the Muslim General Ma Biao.

Uses of the term "White Lotus" in later periods

While traditional historiography has linked many Maitreyist and millenarian uprisings during the Ming and Qing dynasties as all related to the White Lotus, there are reasons to doubt that such connections existed. B. J. Ter Haar has argued that the term "White Lotus" became a label applied by late Ming and Qing imperial bureaucrats to any number of different popular uprisings, millenarian societies or "magical" practices such as mantra recitation and divination. If this interpretation is correct, the steady rise in the number of White Lotus rebellions in imperial histories during the Ming and Qing does not necessarily reflect the increasing strength of a unified organization. Instead, this trend reflects a growing concern by imperial bureaucrats with any form of Buddhism practiced outside of the sanctioned frameworks of the monasteries.

Tiandihui and the Triads

The White Lotus sect may have been one of the main ancestors of the Chinese organizations known as the Triads. The Triads were originally members and soldiers of the Tiandihui or "Heaven and Earth Society" during the period of the war between the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Triads' formation was not for criminal purposes, but to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming to power. The White Lotus Society may have been one of five branches of the Heaven Earth Society which formed at the Shaolin Monastery from Ming loyalists. The Five Branches, known by some as the "Five Ancestors", were the Black, Red, White, Yellow and Green Lodges. After there was no longer any need for the triads on the battlefield, some high-level military leaders resorted to criminal activity in order to find means of survival.

发展

南宋

茅子元是天台宗门下的弟子，崇慕慧远白莲社之遗风，又受天台宗派观念的影响，因而改造了兴于民间，成员关系松散的在家佛教「莲社」，在庶民中组织起一有师承、有教义，倡导念佛往生的社团。这个团体有出家弘法的僧人，也有在家信徒；并且，为使教法更普及于大众，白莲宗允许在家弟子从事吸纳门徒、宣传教法、化缘建佛堂等，按佛教传统只能由僧人进行的活动，这样便形成了僧、俗两个传法系统。这一组织架构是白莲宗最大的特色，但也与佛教的传统相对立，在实践中产生了种种弊端，因此被佛教界所非议。

白莲宗不杀生、不饮酒，禁食葱乳，严守护生之戒，因此宗徒号称「白莲菜」，又称「茹茅闍梨菜」。外人则称之为「吃菜事魔」。茅子元去世后，有小茅闍梨继承茅子元之教，使之盛行南方，由于出家僧众对在家俗众并无强制约束力，对冒称白莲道人触犯刑法者，亦无从管制，又混杂民间信仰，因而日久渐生风俗坏乱之弊，「庶俗僭称活佛如来，妇人擅号佛母大士」，妄谈般若，乱说灾祥。因此常被取缔。也因此流传不广，故影响不大。

而后，在教义上，白莲宗受到弥勒教影响，从崇奉极乐世界的阿弥陀佛改信奉兜率内院的「当来下生娑婆世界」的弥勒佛，以净土宗的譬喻「火中生白莲」为象徵，并混合了明教的内容。

元朝

白莲宗以弥勒佛将会来救世的传说，作为号召，动辄宣称弥勒佛下生，起兵造反，自然也开始反抗元朝统治。元世祖至元十七年（1280年）春，江西都昌县杜万一（又名杜可用）号称「杜圣人」，以白莲宗组织发动起事，后自称「天王」，改元「万乘」。这是白莲宗诞生后策动的第一次民变；但因为白莲宗与白莲教在历史上界定区分并不明确，因此也被认为是白莲教第一次民变。

元武宗至大元年（1308年），因皇帝认为此等人物「有妻子，身已不清净」，敕禁白莲社。时有庐山东林寺普度（？—1330年），自承慧远留下的千年正教，致力于复教运动，撰写《庐山莲宗宝鉴》10卷，阐明了子元所倡白莲宗的真义，上奏朝廷。于是白莲宗于元仁宗皇庆元年（1312年）得以复教。普度受命为教主，世称优昙宗主。在宗教政策宽松白莲教可以公开传播时期，白莲教宣扬「弥勒佛下生」、「明王出世」，其势力渗透到河南、江淮和长江流域地区。但是，宗门的情弊仍未改善，复有社会反对分子潜入，故元英宗至治二年（1322年）后又遭禁断。

此后该教的僧人渐渐远离「白莲宗」的名号，回归到正统佛教当中，而民间仍在继续流传，并进一步与弥勒教、白云教、明教等相混合，称为白莲教，成为民间秘密宗教。泰定二年（1325年），河南息州白莲教赵丑厮、郭菩萨宣传「弥勒佛当有天下」，聚众起事。元顺帝至元三年（1337年），河南陈州白莲教胡闰儿（棒胡）称弥勒佛已经降生，聚众烧香起事。顺帝至元四年（1338年），江西袁州彭莹玉、周子旺组织白莲教起事。

顺帝至正十一年（1351年），元朝政府强徵民夫堵塞黄河缺口，引发了全国规模的红巾军大起义，红巾军即与白莲教有密切的关系，元末朱元璋依附「明教」起义，宣称「黑暗即将过去，光明将要到来」，其实也受到白莲教影响。至此，弥勒教正式融入白莲教。

明朝

元朝末年红巾军领袖，韩山童父子便是以家传白莲教聚众起事，宣传口号为「弥勒降生」、「明王出世」。后朱元璋亦以「明」为国号。朱元璋成为皇帝之后，知道白莲教会对其帝国构成威胁，纳李善长之议，多次取缔白莲教，《大明律》规定「为首者绞，从者各杖一百，流三千里。」明成祖永乐十八年二月（1420年）山东白莲教女教首唐赛儿发动起义，旋即失败。

成化十八年（1482年），山东即墨军人罗思孚在北直隶创立了罗教，提倡「真空家乡，无生父母」的教义，认为人终究必须回到「无生父母」的身边，而「无生父母」成为最高阶的主神。「无生父母」此一概念，演变为惟一的神「无生老母」，无生老母为白莲教等等教派所接受，几乎皆以「无生老母」为主神，并有三教合流的姿态，宣扬「无生老母」将派遣弥勒佛下凡拯救世人。

万历年间，有所谓的闻香教，「蓟州人王森得妖狐异香，倡白莲教，自称闻香教主。其徒有大小传头及会主诸号，蔓延畿辅、山东、山西、河南、陕西、四川。森居滦州石佛座，徒党输金钱称朝贡，飞竹筹报机事，一日数千里。……四十二年，森复为有司所摄。越五岁，毙于狱。」 王森伏诛后，信徒山东巨野的徐鸿儒、北直武邑的于弘志分别发动武装叛乱，均遭明朝镇压。

万历十五年（1587年），都察院左都御史辛自修奏：「白莲教、无为教、罗教，蔓引株连，流传愈广，踪迹诡秘。北直隶、山东、河南颇众。」，万历二十五年刑部侍郎吕坤奏称：「白莲结社，遍及四方，教主传头，所在成聚。倘有招呼之首，此其归附之人。」 万历四十三年，白莲教发展至高峰，「近日妖僧流道聚众谈经，醵钱轮会。一名涅盘教，一名红封教，一名老子教。又有罗祖教、南无教、净空教、悟明教、大成无为教，皆讳白莲之名」。

清朝

清兵入关统一中国后，白莲教又与许多民间宗教融合，如老官斋、八卦教，其名目繁多，加上旧有支派，竟高达百馀种，教义更加芜杂。清朝的白莲教徒以反抗为己任，倡言「日月复来」，举起反清复明的旗帜，从而遭到清朝镇压。

清顺治、康熙、雍正、乾隆时期，白莲教活动频繁。到了乾隆后期，清朝国力开始下降，是白莲教鼎盛时期，在东北和南方各省广泛流行，其中又以大乘教流行最广。乾隆三十九年（1774年）清水教徒王伦聚众起义。

嘉庆年间白莲教与地方人民结合，引发川楚教乱颇伤清朝国力，之后在嘉庆十八年 (1813年) 发生的天理教之乱是最后一次白莲教名义的叛乱，之后逐渐消失于历史。

光绪二十四年（1898年），山东义和团之扶清灭洋运动的主要团队、有部分追溯起源于白莲教的分支派八卦教。

影响

• 直到近代，白莲教仍未消失，但已发生质变现象。根据清末学者劳乃宣考证，义和团起源于白莲教。但义和团的信仰主要为中国主流文化的宗教信仰，如义和团提出的保「华教」、反「洋教」，华教主要是尊孔教、讲人伦、祀祖宗、尊玉皇、拜关帝、诵观音、念弥陀等这些民间主流的三教合流信仰，但偏激极端，并不全然同于白莲教。但不可否认，包括义和团在内的许多民间宗教与团体，都与白莲教息息相关，他们有著相似的信仰及传说，通常以「无生老母」为主神，以弥勒佛救世为号召。

• 白莲教在民间流传盛广，出现许多英雄人物，在《聊斋志异》故事里也有反映。

• 白莲教思想也与后代的许多宗教有渊源关系，如罗教（尊明朝北直隶密云县军人罗思孚为始祖）、斋教（亦尊罗思孚为始祖）、在理教（尊清初燕京白云观道人杨来如为始祖）等。