In Jin Yong's "Book of the Dragon Slaughtering in the Heavens", there appears a Ming Sect, which is called "Demon Sect" by many orthodox Taoist sects in the jianghu. Many people think that this play is a fiction from Jin Yong, written for the sake of a wonderful story. In fact, in history, especially in the social background of the end of the Yuan And the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Sect really existed! And the ming sect being called a magic cult in history is not an empty wind, but there is a reason.
Mingism originated from Manichaeism in Persia. Manichaeism was a fusion of Buddhism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism, the native religion of Persia. Later, it was introduced to China during the Wu Zetian period of the Tang Dynasty and began to spread. It later spread to the Uighurs in the northwest through the Tang Dynasty. During the Tang Xuanzong Anshi Rebellion, the Uighur army helped the Tang army to retake Chang'an, so the Uighur Manichaean religion was protected in the Tang Dynasty.
However, during the tang wuzong period, there was an extermination of Buddhism, and Manichaeism was also implicated and began to spread underground. Many of the teachings of Manichaeism are inconsistent with the living conditions of the Tang Dynasty, such as eating vegetarian, not eating during the day, and eating at night. In order to expand its influence, Manichaeism began to combine with the indigenous Taoism and Buddhism.
Why is Manichaeism also known as Mingism? Manichaeism believes that the world is made up of two substances, light and dark. Light is good and good; darkness is bad and evil. Light will triumph over darkness. Therefore, after Manichaeism was introduced to Middle-earth, people also called it Mingjiao according to this characteristic.
Mingjiao is mainly spread among the people at the bottom, and its teachings are very much in line with the needs of the poor people at the bottom, such as thin burial, vegetarian food, mutual assistance, etc., which are very popular. Do not waste, donate money to help poor parishioners, etc., so that the poor people come together. Because the Ming Sect believes that light will definitely overcome darkness, the "Ming King" has a very strong appeal. Many people think that the birth of king Ming means that the great savior has come out, and the good days are coming. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, we know that Han Lin'er, Liu Futong, and others started a rebellion under the title of King of Ming, and Zhu Yuanzhang was also a Ming Sect believer.
Mingism or Manichaeism is also a foreign religion. At first, Manichaeism had no idols, but later it became localized and began to establish idols. Manichaean idols are Manichaeism and Jesus. They are all Westerners, with high noses, concave eyes, and yellow hair, so many outsiders call this unseen appearance the devil. Many outsiders also call Manichaeism a demonic religion and a demonic religion.
In "Yitian Slaughtering Dragon", in addition to Zhu Yuanzhang, there is also his opponent Chen Youyu. Chen Youyu is a Ming Sect member in the TV series, and also belongs to the anti-Yuan Red Turban Rebel Army in history. But in history, he did not actually belong to the "Ming Sect system", but the Maitreya system, the worship of Maitreya Buddha. This branch was developed and strengthened by the monk Peng Yingyu, and eventually brought a heavy blow to the rule of the Yuan Dynasty.