Chinese salvationist religions or Chinese folk religious sects are a Chinese religious tradition characterised by a concern for salvation (moral fulfillment) of the person and the society.; passim They are distinguished by egalitarianism, a founding charismatic person often informed by a divine revelation, a specific theology written in holy texts, a millenarian eschatology and a voluntary path of salvation, an embodied experience of the numinous through healing and self-cultivation, and an expansive orientation through evangelism and philanthropy.
Some scholars consider these religions a single phenomenon, and others consider them the fourth great Chinese religious category alongside the well-established Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. Generally these religions focus on the worship of the universal God (Shangdi) and regard their holy patriarchs as embodiments of God.
Terminology and definition
"Chinese salvationist religions" () is a contemporary neologism coined as a sociological category and gives prominence to folk religious sects' central pursuit that is the salvation of the individual and the society, in other words the moral fulfillment of individuals in reconstructed communities of sense. Chinese scholars traditionally describe them as "folk religious sects" (, or ) or "folk beliefs" ().: "Chinese sectarianism, millennialism and heterodoxy, called "popular religious sects" (, , ) in the Chinese scholarship, often inextricable from debates on the exact nature of the so-called "White Lotus" tradition."; p. 14: "The local and anthropological focus of these studies, and their undermining of rigid distinctions between "sectarian" groups and other forms of local religiosity, tends to draw them into the category of "popular religion" .". Quote: "[...] The problem started when the Taiwanese translator of my paper chose to render "popular religion" literally as . The immediate association this term caused in the minds of many Taiwanese and practically all mainland Chinese participants in the conference was of popular sects (), rather than the local and communal religious life that was the main focus of my paper."
They are distinct from the Chinese folk religion consisting in the worship of gods and ancestors, although in English language there is a terminological confusion between the two. The 20th-century expression for these salvationist religious movements has been "redemptive societies" (), coined by scholar Prasenjit Duara.
A collective name that has been in use possibly since the latter part of the Qing dynasty is , as their names interchangeably use the terms , , or when referring to their corporate form.
Their congregations and points of worship are usually called or . Western scholars often treat them as a "Protestant" stream in Chinese religion.
The Vietnamese religions of Minh Đạo and Caodaism emerged from the same tradition of Chinese folk religious movements.
Secret religions A category overlapping with that of the salvationist movements is that of the "secret societies" (, or ), 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" ().
Recent scholarship has begun to use the label "secret sects" () 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).
New Religious Movements Conceptual overlap exists with New religious movements. New religious movements have teachings and practices distinct from established religions and do not adhere to those religions' established authorities. In the Chinese context, Falun Gong is a typical example of a new religious movement.
Origin and history
Imperial China Many of these religions are traced to the White Lotus tradition ("Chinese Maternism", as mentioned by Philip Clart) that was already active in the Song dynasty; 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; other ones are distinctively Confucian and advocate the realisation of a "great commonwealth" () on a world scale, as dreamt of in the Book of Rites. Some scholars even find influences from Manichaeism, Mohism and shamanic traditions.Lu, Yunfeng. The Influence of Mo-school on Chinese Popular Sects. Studies in World Religions (Shijie Zongjiao Yanjiu), 27 (2): 123-127.
Ming dynasty (and later, Qing dynasty) authorities collectively characterized the new religious societies as "White Lotus teachings", although actual beliefs and practices of the groups varied substantially. Practices so characterized in these periods included Pure Land Buddhism, Luo teaching, Yellow Heaven teaching, Great Yang teaching, the inner alchemy of the Eight Trigrams tradition, and the Three-in-One teachings.
In the 16th to 17th century many folk religious movements were outlawed by the imperial authorities as "evil religions" or "heterodox sects" (). Imperial authorities regarded their teachings as inherently heretical because in teaching that existing human affairs were corrupt, those teachings amounted to denial of Confucian values of political order and social harmony.
Small, local new religious movements tended to be tolerated by the state during the Ming and Qing periods, in part because of the state's limited capacity to exercise effective control at the local levels. The Qing elite condemned salvationist groups as improper cults or heretical sects, but attempts to suppress the groups were only sporadic. Opposition from the state contributed to new religious movements engaging in rebellions (such as the White Lotus and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom) as did the sects' millenarian beliefs. Most of new religious movements did not actively seek to confront the state.
Republic of China With the collapse of the Qing state in 1911 the sects enjoyed an unprecedented period of freedom and thrived, and many of them were officially recognised as religious groups by the early republican government. In the Beiyang period, political disunity and fragmentation resulted in the decline of old institutions. New religious movements found opportunities to register with the government as religious, philanthropic, or public interest associations. During this time, some new religious movements like Tongshanshe became modern organizations with national headquarters, local chapters, and the like.
By the Republic of China period, religious societies developed certain common aspects, though they continued to have major variation in ritual and belief. Common aspects included an emphasis on salvation, which distinguished the societies from traditional family temple based religious practice. Many societies expressed belief in a female deity, the Unborn Venerable Mother. The Unborn Venerable Mother was asserted to have given birth to a man and woman who in turn produced the human race; after being sent to live in the world, the human race fell into wrongdoing and confusion. The Unborn Venerable Mother had sent the Lamplighter Buddha, then the Sakyamuni Buddha, and was preparing to send the Maitreya Buddha, who would guide believers to a paradise on earth, the Homeland of True Emptiness.
The Republic of China viewed new religious movements less favorably over time. After the Northern Expedition, the Nationalist government banned several major new religious movements, deeming them superstitious and as presenting an infiltration risk. The popularity of new religious movements continued to grow during the Nationalist era despite the state's disfavor. Redemptive societies modeled their organizations on civic associations of the late Qing period, writing constitutions, bylaws, and publishing their precepts and doctrines. Their writings emphasized the moral and social value of the organization, including charitable projects. Sociologist Yanfei Sun attributes the success of new religious movements during this period their effective harnessing of nationalist sentiment, their ability to take advantage of diverse social networks, and their "eclectic blending of messages from various deep-seated religious traditions [which] resonated with the Chinese people."
The Nationalist government's efforts to constrain new religious movements was also limited in regions governed by local strongmen and in areas that Japanese forces occupied. Additionally, lobbying efforts on behalf of some new religious movements resulted in them being allowed to exist and develop in the form of charitable organizations.
In the 1920s and 1930s, economic insecurity contributed to the major growth of new religious movements. The largest groups in this period were Yiguandao, Society for the Common Good, Xiantiandao (the Way of Former Heaven), and Jiugongdao (the Nine Palaces Way).
In 1928, the ROC government banned the Daoyuan, the Wushanshe, and the Fellowship of Goodness.
From 1931 to 1945, Japan encouraged the growth of new religious movements in Manchuria and other occupied areas, believing that this would advance Japanese interests.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, both the Nationalists and the Communists sought to mobilize new religious movements to help achieve wartime objectives.
Yiguandao became the largest new religious movement of the era, in part because of its effective use of opportunities during the war. Its founder Zhang Guangbi developed a close relationship with the Japanese and Yiguandao included officials of the Wang Jingwei government in its membership. As a result, both the Nationalists and the Communists condemned Yiguandao; at the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Zhang was arrested and the society was banned. As the Communists came into power, some networks of Yiguandao engaged in armed conflict with the Communists, interpreting the Communist victory in the civil war as showing that the "three disasters and eight difficulties" as the beginning of the third kalpa.
People's Republic of China The founding of the People's Republic in 1949 saw increased suppression of new religious movements. The PRC began a campaign to suppress the new religious movements that had developed during the Republic of China era, deeming them reactionary secret societies (fandong huidaomen) that may have been infiltrated by Nationalist elements and which could engage in sabotage. These efforts eliminated new religious movements from public practice.
The impacts of the Cultural Revolution on new religious movements varied. Especially because of the attack on the Four Olds, some disbanded or became covert. Others were able to take advantage of the fact that the Public Security Bureau apparatus was in disarray.
From 1983 to 1986 (and later in some areas), the government implemented a "strike hard" campaign against these movements.
In the mid-1990s, the Chinese state began to adopt Western anti-cult discourse and terminology, influenced by the global media coverage of groups like the Branch Davidians, Aum Shinrikyo, and the Order of the Solar Temple. It stopped using the Mao-era term "reactionary secret society" to refer to such groups, and instead began using the term "evil cult" (邪教 xiejiao) or "cultic organization". From 1995 to 1999, the Ministry of State Security, the State Council, and the CPC Central Committee designated 14 new religious movements as evil cults.