Chinese salvationist religions

Chinese salvationist religions (救度宗教 jiùdù zōngjiào) is a sociological category[1] that defines a centuries-old religious stream of China, distinguished by a concern for salvation (moral fulfillment) of the person and the society.[2] The 20th-century expression of this kind of religions has been studied under the definition of redemptive societies (救世团体 jiùshì tuántǐ).[3] Chinese scholarship tends to describe them as folk religious sects (民間宗教 mínjiān zōngjiào, 民间教门 mínjiān jiàomén or 民间教派 mínjiān jiàopài).[4]

Many of these religions are rooted in the White Lotus tradition[4] (or the stream of "Chinese Maternism", as mentioned by Philip Clart[5]); others claim a Taoist legacy and are based on the recovery of ancient scriptures attributed to important immortals such as Lü Dongbin and Zhang Sanfeng, and have contributed to the popularisation of neidan;[6] other ones are distinctively Confucian and advocate the realisation of a "great commonweath" (datong 大同) on a world scale, as dreamt of in the Book of Rites.[7] Scholars have also highlighted important influences from Manichaeism and shamanic traditions.[8]

They are, at their core, distinct from the communitarian and ritual spheres of the Chinese folk religion: they are neither ascribable to the lineage cult of ancestors and progenitors, nor to the communal-liturgical religion of village temples, neighbourhood, corporation, or national temples.[9]

In the Ming and Qing periods they were generally banned by the imperial authorities as xiéjiào (邪教), "evil religion".[10] With the collapse of the Qing state in 1911 they enjoyed an unprecedented period of freedom and thrived, and many were officially registered by the republican government.[11] The founding of the People's Republic in 1949 saw them suppressed once again,[12] although since the 1990s and 2000s the climate was relaxed and some of them have been granted forms of recognition.[13]

Another category that overlaps with that of the sects of salvation is that of the secret societies (秘密社会 mìmì shèhuì, or 秘密结社 mìmì jiéshè),[14] religious communities of initiatory and secretive character, including rural militias and fraternal organisations which became very popular in the early republican period, and often labeled as "heretical doctrines" (宗教異端 zōngjiào yìduān).[15] Recent scholarship has created the label of "secret sects" (祕密教門 mìmì jiàomén) to distinguish the peasant "secret societies" with a positive dimension of the Yuan, Ming and Qing periods, from the negatively viewed "secret societies" of the early republic that became instruments of anti-revolutionary forces (the Guomindang or Japan).[16]

Salvation religions and secret societies are collectively known as huìdàomén (会道门 "churches, ways and gates"), as their names interchangeably use the terms huì (会 "church", "society", "association", "congregation"; when referring to their corporate form), dào (道 "way") or mén (门 "gate[way]", "door"). Their cell congregations and points of worship are usually called táng (堂 "church", "hall") or tán (坛 "altar"). They are characterised by egalitarianism; a foundation through a charismatic figure and a direct divine revelation; a millenarian eschatology and a voluntary path of salvation through joining; an embodied experience of the numinous through healing and cultivation; and an expansive orientation through good deeds, evangelism and philanthropy.[17] Their practices are focused on their moral teachings, body cultivation, and recitation of scriptures.[18] Western scholars often mistakenly identify them as "Protestant" churches.[19]

Many of the redemptive religions of the 20th and 21st century aspire to become the repository of the entirety of the Chinese tradition in the face of Western modernism and materialism,[20] advocating an "Eastern solution to the problems of the modern world",[21] or even interacting with the modern discourse of an Asian-centered universal civilisation.[21] The Vietnamese religions Minh Đạo and Caodaism emerged from the same matrix.[22]

Chronological record of major sects

Earliest influences (Yuan, 1277-1377)[23]

Ming (1367-1644) and Qing (1644-1911)[23]

Other Qing-period sects that continued the Maitreyan and Luoist teachings:[4]

Republic of China (1912–49)

Late 20th century[23]

21st century

Other sects

See also

In Vietnam

References

  1. ↑ Palmer, 2011. pp. 17-18
  2. ↑ Palmer, 2011. p. 19; passim
  3. ↑ Palmer, 2011. p. 17
  4. 1 2 3 Palmer, 2011. p. 12
  5. ↑ Clart 1997, passim.
  6. 1 2 Palmer, 2011. p. 27
  7. ↑ Palmer, 2011. p. 28
  8. ↑ Ma, Meng. Popular Religion and Shamanism.
  9. ↑ Palmer, 2011. pp. 19-20
  10. ↑ Palmer, 2011. p. 23
  11. ↑ Palmer, 2011. p. 3
  12. ↑ Palmer, 2011. p. 13, p. 23
  13. ↑ Religions & Christianity in Today's China. Vol. IV, 2014, No. 1. ISSN 2192-9289. pp. 22-23
  14. ↑ Palmer, 2011. pp. 12-13
  15. ↑ Palmer, 2011. p. 13
  16. ↑ Palmer, 2011. p. 13"
  17. ↑ Palmer, 2011. pp. 19
  18. ↑ Palmer, 2011. p. 19
  19. ↑ Ownby (2008). § 2: «Western scholars cast Chinese sects in the role of Protestant dissenters and celebrate (or occasionally condemn) their willingness to challenge the status quo.»
  20. 1 2 3 Palmer, 2011. p. 29
  21. 1 2 Palmer, 2011. p. 10
  22. 1 2 Palmer, 2011. p. 6
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 Palmer, 2011. p. 22
  24. ↑ Seiwert, 2003. p. 320
  25. 1 2 Seiwert, 2003. p. 270
  26. ↑ Seiwert, 2003. p. 217
  27. ↑ Ownby (1995).
  28. ↑ Ma, Meng. 2011. p. 173-175
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 Palmer (2011), p. 4.
  30. ↑ Seiwert, 2003. p. 343
  31. 1 2 3 4 5 Palmer, 2011. p. 4
  32. ↑ Palmer, 2011. pp. 4-5
  33. 1 2 3 4 5 Palmer, 2011. p. 5
  34. ↑ Palmer, 2011. p. 7
  35. 1 2 3 4 Munro (1994), p. 269.
  36. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 I (1995), p. 32.
  37. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Munro (1994), p. 270.
  38. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Munro (1994), p. 271.

Sources

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