Luo teaching

File:Precious Volumes of Luoism.jpg}} of Luoism.]]

Luo Menghong was born in 1442 in the area of Jimo, in Shandong province.Ma, Meng. 2011. p. 169 His religious titles were Luo Qing (Luo the Clear), Luo Jing (Luo the Quiet) and the Inactive Hermit ({{zhi|c=无为隐士|p= Wúwéi Yǐnshì}}).Ma, Meng. 2011. p. 169 He died at the age of eighty-five in 1527.Ma, Meng. 2011. p. 169 The religious group he founded was called "Wuweiism", a name that has been continued by the purest branches of the movement in later history.Ma, Meng. 2011. p. 172

As long as Patriarch Luo was alive, his personality guaranteed the unity of the movement.Seiwert, 2003. p. 235 While some of his disciples may have established separate communities, they didn't contest Luo's position as teacher and leader of Wuweiism.Seiwert, 2003. p. 235 Then, when Luo died, apparently without having chosen a successor to the leadership, the Wuwei teaching started to split into different branches all claiming to continue Luo's tradition.Seiwert, 2003. p. 235

Little more than half a century after the death of Luo, the activities of Luoist sects began to raise the suspicion of state officials.Seiwert, 2003. p. 236 Just after 1584 several warnings were presented to the throne, against the influence of Luoism linking it to the earlier White Lotus movement, a label which by that time had become a derogatory designation used by official historians to demonise religious groups considered heretical by the established orthodoxy.Seiwert, 2003. p. 235 At the end of the 16th century there were religious groups which influenced and in turn were influenced by the Luoists, Hongyangism ({{lang|zh|弘阳教}} "Red {{bracket|or Great}} Sun") and the Huangtiandao ("Way of the Yellow Sky"),Seiwert, 2003. p. 444 both identifying as Taoist branches.Seiwert, 2003. p. 343

Documents produced by the Buddhist establishment condemning Luoists testify the activity in the late 16th century of the branches known as Great Vehicles ({{zhi|c=大乘|p=Dacheng}} or {{zhi|c=大乘教 |p=Dàchéngjiào}}) and Timeless ({{zhi|c=无年|p=Wunian}} or {{zhi|c=无年教|p=Wúniánjiào}}) Luoism.Seiwert, 2003. p. 236 The sources show that at the end of the 16th century, Luoist sects had spread widely in northern China, and they were known by different names.Seiwert, 2003. p. 236

Also the Luo family contributed to the transmission of Luo's teaching.Seiwert, 2003. p. 236 Within the original movement, Luo's wife and two children, Fozheng and Foguang, occupied relevant positions.Seiwert, 2003. p. 236 Successively, Luo's wife continued the teaching according to the original tradition.Seiwert, 2003. p. 236 She founded a branch named Sudden Stillness ({{zhi|c=圆頓|p=Yuandun}} or {{zhi|c=圆顿正教|p=Yuándùn zhèngjiào|tr=right transmission of Sudden Stillness}}) which by the late Ming dynasty no longer claimed connection to Luo's wife.Seiwert, 2003. p. 237

Fozheng continued the male line of the Luo family.Seiwert, 2003. p. 237 His grandson Wenju is mentioned in the imprint of the 1615 edition of the {{tlit|zh|Wubuliuce}}, printed in Nanjing.Seiwert, 2003. p. 237 Luo Congshan, the fourth generation patriarch, lived at the beginning of the 17th century.Seiwert, 2003. p. 237 A century later, official records testify that there were still male descendants of Luo active as sect leaders.Seiwert, 2003. p. 237 The centre of the family was in Miyun, where the tomb of Luo Menghong still existed.Seiwert, 2003. p. 237 It was destroyed on official order in 1768.Seiwert, 2003. p. 237

In the early 18th century Luoist sects spread along the Grand Canal from Hebei to Zhejiang and Fujian; boatmen belonging to Luoist sects recognised the eighth generation descendant Luo Mingzhong as the head of the religion.Seiwert, 2003. p. 238 Records of the late 18th century testify the contribution of three persons surnamed Qiang, Wen and Pan, to the diffusion of the religion in southeast China.Seiwert, 2003. p. 238 They founded three different lines, which congregation halls ({{tlit|zh|an}}) also functioned as social relief institutions.Seiwert, 2003. p. 239 After the ninth patriarch the line of hereditary leadership came to an end.Seiwert, 2003. p. 237 An investigation of 1816 testifies that the male descendants of Luo no longer practiced the religion of the forefather.Seiwert, 2003. p. 238

{{Further|Chinese religions of fasting}}

Meanwhile, in the 16th century Yin Ji'nan (1527-1582) from Zhejiang originated an independent line that successfully spread throughout their native province, Fujian, Jiangxi and surrounding southern provinces.Seiwert, 2003. pp. 251-257 He became the leader of a Luoist group and reformed it into the Venerable Officials' teaching of fasting ({{zhi|c=老官斋教|p=Lǎoguān zhāijiào}}), which in later centuries gave rise to the Xiantiandao.Ma, Meng. 2011. p. 173-175

Yin Ji'nan organised his movement into a hierarchy and integrated the belief of Maitreyanism, the {{tlit|zh|Wusheng Laomu}} and the Three Suns eschatology within the original Luoist doctrinesSeiwert, 2003. p. 253 through the influence of a Hunyuan sect.Seiwert, 2003. p. 255 Years after Yin's death, Yao Wenyu (1578-1646) rose as the leader of the religion with strong opposition from other influential members, although he greatly expanded the sect's empire.Seiwert, 2003. pp. 255-257 By the time of Yao's successors in the late 17th century the sect was known as the Numinous Mountain ({{zhi|c=灵山|p=Lingshan}}; school name {{zhi|c=灵山正派|p=Língshān zhèngpài|tr=orthodox school of the Numinous Mountain}})Seiwert, 2003. pp. 258-259

Yaoism later gave rise to the Dragon Flower ({{zhi|c=龙花|p=Longhua}} or {{zhi|c=龙花教|p=Lónghuā jiào}}) sect and other branches.Seiwert, 2003. p. 259 Wu Zixiang's branch, the Great Vehicle (Dacheng) or Third Vehicle ({{zhi|c=三乘|p=Sancheng}} or {{zhi|c=三乘教|p=Sānchéng jiào}}) introduced his scripture entitled the "Book of the Great Precepts of the Great Vehicle" ({{tlit|zh|Dacheng dajie jing}}).Seiwert, 2003. p. 259

Another important indirect branching is that started by Sun Zhenkong, claiming to be the fourth patriarch after Qin Dongshan and Master Zhao, a disciple of Luo who founded and independent group called {{zhp|p=Wujidao|c=无极道|tr=Way of the Unlimited}}.Seiwert, 2003. p. 243 Patriarch Sun incorporated the theology of Maitreya and Wusheng Laomu just half a century after the death of Luo and called his group the {{zhp|p=Namodao|c=南無道}}.Seiwert, 2003. pp. 244-247 The Namodao later developed into different currents.Seiwert, 2003. p. 248 A disciple of Yi Ji'nan's school, Pushen, formulated a Chan interpretation of Luo's writings that excluded the Maitreya eschatology.Seiwert, 2003. pp. 264-265

{{tlit|zh|Zhenkongdao}} ({{zhi|c=真空道|tr=Way of the True Void}}; also {{zhi|tr=Zhenkongism|c=真空教|p=Zhēnkōngjiào}}) founded in Anhui in the 1860s, is another Luoist branch promoting sitting meditation, healing, and scriptures recitation.Goossaert, Palmer. 2011. p. 209 The group expanded to Fujian in the late 19th century, and from there throughout southern China and Southeast Asian Chinese ethnic groups.Goossaert, Palmer. 2011. p. 209 It is possibly a continuation of Patriarch Sun's branch.

An orphan since youth, Luo Qing was raised by relatives and became a soldier.Nadeau, 2012. p. 231 At the age of twenty-eight, for his distressful sentiment of forlornness,Seiwert, 2003. p. 446 he went on a spiritual quest and studied with several teachers,Nadeau, 2012. p. 231 although he was unable to establish permanent relationships.Seiwert, 2003. p. 446 Only at the age of forty, apparently without a direct guidance of a teacher,Seiwert, 2003. p. 446 he reached enlightenment:Nadeau, 2012. p. 231 awareness to be united with the absolute principle of reality.Seiwert, 2003. p. 446 He began gathering disciples and wrote the {{tlit|zh|Wubuliuce}} ("Five Instructions in Six Books"), first printed in 1527.Nadeau, 2012. p. 231

Written in a lucid vernacular language, Luo's texts are characterised by an egalitarian tone, erasing differences between lay and clergy, upper and lower classes, and men and women.Nadeau, 2012. p. 231 Drawing on his own experience as an orphan, Luo describes the human condition of being lost and in search of one's true home and refuge.Nadeau, 2012. p. 231 He speaks of the final destination that is the absolute principle of being, variously representing it through abstract symbols.Nadeau, 2012. p. 231 An experience similar to that of Luo can be found in the biography of Lin Zhao'en, the founder of the Sanyi teaching.Seiwert, 2003. p. 448

By the 17th century the teachings of Luo combined with other folk beliefs, namely Maitreyan millenarianism and the folk mother goddess.Nadeau, 2012. p. 231 In the new mythological representation of Luo's enlightenment, humans are children of the primordial goddess.Nadeau, 2012. p. 231 Confused by the desires of the material world, they have forgotten their celestial origin, and so the Mother sends emissaries to remind her children the possibility of return to the original condition in the Three Suns, or stages of the world.Nadeau, 2012. p. 231 The three enlightened beings are Dipankara, Gautama and Maitreya the future one.

{{Main|Wusheng Laomu}}

In the theology of Luoist sects the absolute principle of the universe is the central focus of meaning and worship. In the original writings of Luo it is represented as {{zhi|out=tr|tr=True Void|c=真空|p=Zhēnkōng}}.Seiwert, 2003. p. 387 In Luoist writings the symbol of {{zhp|p=wúshēng|c=無生|tr=unborn}} means the state of "no birth and no death" that gives enlightenment.Seiwert, 2003. p. 390 Since in sectarian writings it often occurs in the combination {{zhp|p=Wusheng Laomu|c=無生老母|tr=Unborn Venerable Mother}} there is a certain temptation to treat Wusheng as an abridged form of Wusheng Laomu.{{Sfn|Seiwert|2003|p=389-390}} Since the 17th century the prevalent representation became a goddess, the Unborn Venerable Mother.Seiwert, 2003. p. 331, p. 444 This belief is shared by many Luoist sects, one of which is Yin Ji'nan's sect who came from Huangtianjiao who also has a tradition of worshipping Lao Mu.{{Cite web|last=秦|first=宝琦|script-title=zh:清代青莲教源流考|url=http://iqh.ruc.edu.cn/jsmmhsymjjpyj/mjzj/6d2009e0187743e8a47c660ba3a24db8.htm|website=中國人民大學清史研究}} Other symbols of the source of being, also common to other traditions, are {{tlit|zh|Wújí}} (the "Unlimited"), {{zhp|p=Zhēn|c=真|tr=Truth, True Reality}}, {{zhp|p=Gǔfú|c=古佛|tr=Ancient Awakened}}.Seiwert, 2003. p. 387

These symbols are commonly combined in sect's precious scrolls to express the impersonal absolute origin according to the tastes of different social groups.Seiwert, 2003. p. 387 The absolute principle is also associated to the Big Dipper asterism.Seiwert, 2003. p. 387

Luo Menghong's original revelation emphasises the impersonal representation of the absolute.Seiwert, 2003. p. 387 However, he also talks of Holy Patriarch of the Unlimited ({{zhi|c=无极圣祖|p=Wújí Shèngzǔ}})Seiwert, 2003. p. 221 and of the mother as a duality, the Eternal Parents ({{zhi|c=無生父母|p=Wúshēng Fùmǔ}}).Seiwert, 2003. p. 444 Patriarch Luo is considered an incarnation of the universal God by his followers.Seiwert, 2003. p. 387

{{Main|Three Suns (eschatology)}}

The Three Suns ({{zhi|c=三阳|p=sānyáng}}) eschatological doctrine places itself in a tradition flourishing at least since the Ming dynasty.Seiwert, 2003. p. 326 It can be traced back to a Hunyuan Taoist school named after the concept of {{tlit|zh|hunyuan}} ("original undetermined") that existed before {{tlit|zh|hundun}} ("coalesced undetermined") and is the beginning of primordial {{tlit|zh|qi}} ({{tlit|zh|yuanqi}}) according to some Taoist cosmologies.Seiwert, 2003. p. 326 Although originally Taoist, these concepts became part of the folk tradition and were incorporated into the sects.Seiwert, 2003. p. 327

In the earliest sects of the Ming period, the Lord of the Original Chaos ({{zhi|c=混元主|p=Hùnyuánzhǔ}}) represents the origin of the universe developing through three stages, {{tlit|zh|yang}}, or cosmic periods.Seiwert, 2003. p. 327 In most sect scriptures, these three periods are known as Green Sun ({{tlit|zh|qingyang}}), Red Sun ({{tlit|zh|hongyang}}) and White Sun ({{tlit|zh|baiyang}}).Seiwert, 2003. p. 327 They are known by other names due to oral transmission of the teaching.Seiwert, 2003. p. 327

The earliest written evidence of this doctrine can be found in the {{tlit|zh|Huangji jieguo baojuan}}, published in 1430.Seiwert, 2003. p. 328 In this text the three stages are already associated to the three buddhas Dipankara, Gautama and Maitreya.Seiwert, 2003. p. 328

Based on Luo's writing, returning to Wusheng Laomu could be understood in two meanings. First, it means reaching a heavenly paradise after death, while the other meaning is that it symbolizes enlightenment, or attaining the state of Wusheng. Given the crucial role that meditation plays in the "Book of the Dragon Flower" ({{lang|zh|龍華經}}) as the way to salvation, it is evident that for the initiate the Native Place was not to be sought in some other worlds but within oneself through the realization of one’s true nature.{{Sfn|Seiwert|2003|p=389-390}}

In its development, Luoist sects had a kind of initiation process for its followers called “separate transmission outside the teachings” ({{lang|zh|教外別傳}}).{{Sfn|ter Haar|2015|p=4}} There were three levels of initiation, where the initiated would be given verses and recite a kind of oath where the violator would be subject to supernatural punishment from the heavens.{{Sfn|ter Haar|2015|p=27}} Early Luoist sects emphasized the importance of finding a enlightened master to transmit the way of salvation, an initiation ritual to open the mysterious door ({{lang|zh|玄關}}).{{Sfn|Seiwert|2003|p=245}} The technical term for this initiation is referred to as “obtaining the dao” ({{lang|zh|得道}}). Patriarch Luo repeatedly assures that those who have been initiated ({{lang|zh|得道人}}) and become members of his community ({{lang|zh|道中人}}) will be saved.{{Sfn|Seiwert|2003|p=232}}

In 1604, Fujianese officials described the spread of these groups teachings and their practices as “a spell at night in a secret room.”{{Sfn|ter Haar|2015|p=27}} The aesthetic practices performed here were the opening of the sacred door ({{lang|zh|玄關}}), the transmission of secret mantras and the seal of the heart.{{Sfn|Seiwert|2003|p=254}} The Luoist sect led by Yin Ji'nan strongly emphasized the importance of this sacred door opening.{{Sfn|Seiwert|2003|p=265-266}} The transmission process is also said to free initiated followers from the gates of hell and those who guard the deceased spirit through it.

{{Main|Vegetarianism}}

The followers of Luoism refused to eat meat as they believe that it involves the slaughter of living beings (causing bad karma) and do not drink alcohol as it causes loss of consciousness (causing attachment).{{Sfn|ter Haar|2015|p=2}} The diet adopted by Zhaijiao of Luoism refers to the term Zhai ({{lang|zh|斋}}) which indicates an ideal Buddhist diet that avoids meat, fish, wine and five kinds of spices (onion, garlic, leeks, scallions, chives).{{Sfn|Jones|1999|p=15}} Within imperial circles, the term indicate a series of purificatory practices that all participants in the Sacrifice at the Round Altar (i.e. the sacrifice offered to heaven by the emperor) must perform for three days prior to the event.{{Sfn|Jones|1999|p=15}}

• Chinese religions of fasting
• Chinese salvationist religions
• Dacheng teaching of Mount Jizu
• Maitreya teachings
• Xiantiandao
• Yiguandao
• Sanyi teaching

{{notelist|30em}}

{{Reflist|2}}

• {{Citation|last=Seiwert|first=Hubert Michael|title=Popular Religious Movements and Heterodox Sects in Chinese History|year=2003|publisher=Brill|isbn=9004131469}}
• {{Citation|last=Ma|first=Xisha; Meng, Huiying|title=Popular Religion and Shamanism|year=2011|isbn=9004174559|publisher=BRILL}}
• {{Citation|last=Nadeau|first=Randall L.|title=The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Chinese Religions|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|year=2012}}
• {{Citation|last=ter Haar|first=Bernard J.|title=A Lay Buddhist Movement in Late Imperial China|year=2015|publisher=University of Hawai Press|isbn=9780824853389}}
• {{Citation|last=Goossaert|first=Vincent, David Palmer|title=The Religious Question in Modern China|year=2011|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=0226304167}}
• {{Citation|last=Jones|first=Charles B|title=Buddhism In Taiwan Religion And The State 1660-1990|publisher=Univ of Hawaii Pr|year=1999|isbn=0824820614}}

• [http://buddhistinformatics.ddbc.edu.tw/taiwanbuddhism/tb/md/md06-03.htm Five Instructions in Six Books] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821200452/http://buddhistinformatics.ddbc.edu.tw/taiwanbuddhism/tb/md/md06-03.htm |date=2014-08-21 }}
• [http://www.zhenkongdao.com/ Zhenkong way]—[http://www.zhenkongjiao.org/ Zhenkong religion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141227131950/http://www.zhenkongjiao.org/ |date=2014-12-27 }}

{{religion topics}}

Category:Chinese salvationist religions

Category:Heresy in Buddhism