The friends who have watched "The Book of the Dragon Slayer in the Heavens" must still remember the Ming Sect where Zhang Wuji is located. The Ming Sect not only frightened the martial artists, but they also acted in a perverse manner and were keen to rebel at the time of the fall of the imperial court. So, is there really such a Ming sect in history? In fact, there are, but "The Book of the Dragon Slayer in the Heavens" adds a bit of jianghu atmosphere to this religion. In the actual Ming Sect, there are no messengers of light and the four great kings, but they are indeed related to various acts of rebellion.
Ancient Ming religion, also known as Manichaeism, was founded by the Persian Manichaeans. Its main purpose is the theory of two sects and three worlds, which holds that darkness and light are intertwined, and that after light has overcome darkness, the world has ushered in real light. Manichaeism was officially introduced to China during the reign of Wu Zetian. However, when Tang Xuanzong succeeded to the throne, he regarded it as a cult and forbade the people of the Tang Dynasty to join.
Although Manichaeism was not popular in the Tang Dynasty, during the Song Dynasty, it absorbed the ideas of other folk religions, and the content became more people-friendly. Manichaeism during the Song Dynasty, in the process of gradual Sinicization, has evolved into Ming religion. Although under the rule of the time, the people's lives were very harmonious, there were always some people with dark psychology who could not hold back the action of wanting to cause trouble.
They want to revolt, but their actions need a set of rhetoric to justify it. Manichaeism, the popular religion at that time, was targeted. Because its original purpose was to coexist with light and darkness, many people would revolt in the name of Manichaeism, declaring that only by stepping through darkness could they usher in light; that only by daring to rebel could they usher in a new life. Since then, during the Northern Song Dynasty, there have been several uprisings.
By the time of the Southern Song Dynasty, social unrest had a stronger sense of resistance among the people, and more and more people rebelled under the banner of Manichaeism. However, under the suppression of Yue Fei's troops, Manichaeism temporarily disappeared from people's field of vision. However, during the Yuan Dynasty, many ordinary people were very dissatisfied with the Mongol rule, and in the various uprisings that broke out, Manichaeism reappeared. Later, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, Manichaeism was integrated with the popular White Lotus Sect, and its influence became more and more influential.
The hard-working people, under the influence of Manichaean thought, believed that only if they dared to fight the darkness, they could usher in the light; for this reason, some did not hesitate to join the ranks of the uprising. It is precisely because people's yearning and belief in a happy life, and they themselves do not have judgment on the social situation, they are easily affected. This enabled Manichaeism, a religion of a rebellious nature, to experience more than 1,000 years of dynastic changes, surviving 5 dynasties and disappearing until the late Qing Dynasty.