Kusanagi
Since the Song Dynasty, Quanzhou has been designated by the government as a foreign trade port and set up a municipal shipping department, so it has been a center of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries since ancient times, and is still known as a "religious museum". Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Christianity and other widely spread religious dojos all over the city, not to mention, even Manichaeism, an extinct religious church in Quanzhou, still has a complete one, which is the Cao'an Temple.
Located in the southern foothills of Huabiao Mountain in Quanzhou, backed by a cliff and facing the lawn of the southern slope, Caoling is an excellent place for feng shui. The most famous of this temple is the statue of "Mani" enshrined in the nunnery, which is a stone carving on a cliff, and the temple is built on the cliff, and its whole is built of stone, counting four rafters and three wide rooms. The Statue of Mani is protected in a circular light niche, this Mani Light Buddha is cleverly carved using the natural color of the rock, the face is pale cyan, the hands are pink, and the costume is grayish white. The size is similar to life-size, sitting on the lotus altar, with a shawl, a rounded face, wearing a long coat with wide sleeves, a knotted chest, simple and smooth pleats, folds of hands, palms up, placed on the knees, a solemn and charitable look, this is the only remaining Manichaean stone statue of Buddha in the world. Next door to the nunnery is a two-storey living room building, which is exquisite and quaint, which makes people feel happy. Now there is a nun stationed, receiving incense from the faithful, and the surrounding masses call the statue "Mani Gong" as a Buddhist bodhisattva.
However, the origins of Manichaeism have nothing to do with Buddhism, and Manichaeism can be seen as a combination of "Gnosticism" and the primitive Zoroastrianism of Persia. What is Gnosticism? Gnosticism, also known as "gnosis", became popular along the Mediterranean coast and Asia Minor around the 1st century AD, advocating dualism, that is, light and darkness, good and evil, emphasizing that the condition for human salvation was to obtain "Nos" (spiritual wisdom). It is believed that the physical world was not created by God, but by an intelligent "chief designer of the universe".
Zoroastrianism is a very ancient religion, first popular in ancient Assyria and Babylon, which believes that "Allah Mazda" ("Lord of Wisdom") is the supreme God, the creator of the universe who knows all the power of the universe, the designer of the universe, who has the virtues of light, life, creation, and the embodiment of heaven, order, and truth. The seventh-century Persian prophet Zoroastrians brought the religion into full play, believing that Mazda created the material world and also created fire, the "infinite light", so the religion made fire worship a sacred duty of believers. Zoroastrianism believes that there are two forces in the world, one is the light force controlled by the good god Mazda, and the other is the dark force controlled by the evil god Aliman, and these two forces are independent of each other and never compromised. Post-Zoroastrianism was widely popular in ancient Persia (present-day Iran) and Central Asia, and chinese history also called it Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrianism, and Zoroastrianism.
Manichaean founder Manichaeism, born in 216 AD, preached in Babylon in 242 AD and was crucified by the Roman authorities as a pagan. Manichaeism combines the theory of "Gnosticism" with the doctrine of Zoroastrianism, with the goal of establishing a world religion that transcends all religious traditions. Its teachings hold that there are two opposing worlds in reality, light and darkness. In the first world, light and darkness confront each other, each without violating each other; in the middle world, darkness invades the light, and a great war breaks out between the two, and the world is destroyed; in the later world, it returns to the first world, but the darkness is imprisoned forever.
The earliest Chinese record of Manichaeism is Tang Xuanzang's Records of the Western Regions, "There are many heavenly shrines (in Persia), and the disciples of the Tinapa Path are the ones who are the sects." This is what he saw and heard when he went to India to learn the scriptures. Among the various scriptures found in Dunhuang in modern times, there are Manichaean scriptures, including Parthian scriptures:
"We call upon you, god of a wonderful name and a majestic king, Great Demoni! (Oh) you, giver of light, we praise you loudly!"
"My Lord Mani will come down from heaven. Oh, Lord, when you come, please save us from the suffering of samsara. Oh Manichae, Maitreya Buddha, you have come, please save me. ”
From the scriptures we know that Manichaeism believes in reincarnation and worships light.
Manichaeism was introduced to China through Central Asia, and at first it was only spread in the folk, until the First Year of Wu zhou (694), when the Persians came to the dynasty and presented the Erzong Sutra, which was officially recognized. Manichaean propagators were mainly through the Sogdians, an ancient people who lived in the Zelafshan River basin between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers in Central Asia and belonged to the Iranian ethnic group. They scattered on some oases and became a number of independent kingdoms, such as the Kang kingdom centered on Samarkand, the Anguo centered on Bukhara, the Shiguo centered on Tashkent, etc., and in Chinese history, there are also Shi, He, Mi, Cao, Mu, Bi and other countries. After people from these countries came to China, they often used the name of their own country as their surname, which was collectively called "Zhaowu Jiu Surname" or "Nine Surname Hu" in Chinese historical records. The Sogdians were a merchant people, and between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD, they came east in large numbers to trade and establish a series of settlements along the Silk Road. Later, due to the invasion of Sogdians by Arab forces, a large number of Sogdians lived in the western region (present-day Xinjiang) and the Central Plains, some continued to do business, and some entered the Chinese central government or local governments at all levels.
Here is a narrator, the sogdian religions introduced to China in that year were not only Manichaeism, but also Zoroastrianism and Jingjiao. Due to the similarity of doctrines, Manichaeism in China is often confused with Jingjiao and Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism has been introduced earlier, so what is the matter with Jingjiao? In the ninth year of Tang Zhenguan (635), the Jingjiao (Nestorian Christianity) mission arrived in Chang'an. At that time, Emperor Taizong of Tang ordered Fang Xuanling, the chancellor of the Tang Dynasty, to go to the western outskirts of Chang'an to meet the leader of the mission, Aroben, and summoned Aroben, which was recorded in the "Monument to the Popular Chinese Of the Great Qin Jingjiao" in Xi'an. Three years later, in the twelfth year of Tang Zhenguan (638), the Tang Dynasty agreed to the Jingjiao mission in China, and the Tang government funded the construction of a monastery (church) in Yiningfang, Chang'an, which was then known as the "Persian Temple". Later, the Tang Dynasty people referred to the monasteries of Jingjiao and manichaeanism and Zoroastrianism (Zoroastrianism) as the Temple of Sanyi.
Returning to Manichaeism, at first Manichaeism was only circulated in the folk, until the seventh year of the new century (719) when senior priests from the Manichaean Eastern Diocese came to China to preach, and then in the nineteenth year of the new century (731), a manichaeic monk translated the "Manichaean Light Buddhism Ritual Strategy", and since then Manichaeism has spread rapidly in China. However, the good times did not last long, and in the twentieth year of the new century (732), the Tang Dynasty government ordered that Manichaeism be "strictly forbidden", and only the Sogdians themselves were allowed to practice it, and it was not allowed to spread in the Central Plains. However, the Tang Dynasty's "Anshi Rebellion" provided an unexpected opportunity for the spread of Manichaeism.
There was a people in the western region called Hui, which was originally one of the fifteen parts of Tiele, and was called Wei Qi during the Sui Dynasty, which was subordinate to the Turks. The Uighur chieftain is hereditary, surnamed Yao luoge, and the tribe consists of nine clans (surnames), also known as the nine surnames of Hui. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Hui tribe lived in the valley of the Lingshui (present-day Selenge River in Mongolia) and, along with other Tiele tribes, were subordinate to the Turks. In 762, Tang Xuanzong and Tang Suzong died one after another, and the Anshi Rebellion broke out, and the Uighur Muyu Khan led his troops south into the Central Plains to help the Tang Dynasty quell the Anshi Rebellion, and when he returned to Mobei in February of the following year (763), he returned to Mobei from the Central Plains with four Manichaean monks and made Manichaeism the state religion, the reason for this was because the Uighurs were bent on getting rid of turkic control, and the Turks were Zoroastrians, so they converted to Manichaeism to unite their tribal feelings.
When Manichaeism became the uighur state religion, they returned to the interior of the Central Plains through the political power of the Uighurs and persuaded the Tang government to allow the establishment of a Manichaean monastery called "Dayun Guangming Temple", which was the third year of the Gregorian calendar (768). At first, it was only allowed in Chang'an and Luoyang, and after three years, it gradually spread to various places.
After that, the Uighur state became stronger and stronger, and asked the Tang Dynasty for marriage, and in May of the eighth year of Yuan He (813), "five hundred and seventy-three Uighur prime ministers, governors, princesses, and Mani entered the court to welcome the princess." (Old Book of Tang, vol. 195). This was also the golden age of manichaeism in Middle-earth, and later with the decline of the Uighurs, Manichaeism was also banned in China, and in the third year of Huichang (843), "there was a division to receive Manichaean books like elephants, burned in the Tao, and produced into the palace." (New Book of Tang, vol. 217), the Manichaean temples throughout the country were deposed, and a large number of believers were killed. Since then, Manichaeism has been almost forbidden in the Central Plains, but there are still a small number of remnants of uighurs in Ganzhou and Gaochang, and a small number of believers in Xinjiang. By the 13th century, when the northwestern region was ruled by Islam, Manichaeism disappeared, and it is not known whether a few were stored in Buddhism and Taoism.
Manichaeism in the Central Plains was banned by the government, but there were still secrets circulating among the people, which later evolved into a secret church, and the "Mother B Rebellion" of Chen Prefecture in the five dynasties of history and the "Fang La Rebellion" of the Song Dynasty were related to Manichaeism. In the peasant rebellion at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Han Shantong gathered a crowd to rebel in the name of the White Lotus Society, preaching that "when the world is in chaos, Maitreya Buddha will be born", after Han Shantong was hunted down and killed by the government, Liu Futong and others supported his son Han Lin'er as emperor, called "King Xiaoming", and after the defeat of the Yuan soldiers, he asked Zhu Yuanzhang for help, and Zhu Yuanzhang rescued and placed him in Chuzhou. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the general Liao Yongzhong to welcome Han Lin'er by boat along the Yangtze River to Yingtian, and sank a ship in Guabu, Han Lin'er, Zhu Yuanzhang Hongwu ascended the throne in the first year (1368), and the name of the country was Ming. This history was greatly interpreted by Jin Yong in his novel "Smiling Proud of the Rivers and Lakes", and the story is wonderful, so did the Ming Dynasty rely on Manichaeism? It is not known, but after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the suppression of Manichaeism was a historical fact. "The White Lotus Sect, the Ming Zun Sect, the White Cloud Sect, the Witch Hunt, the Fuluan, the Prayer Saint, the Book Charm, and the Spell Water Technique, and forbid it." (Records of Hongwu Shilu), "All the masters and witches falsely descend evil gods, book charms, spell water, Fuluan, pray for saints, call themselves Duangong, Taibao, Shi po, and falsely claim Maitreya Buddha, White Lotus Society, Mingzun Sect, Baiyun Sect, and other associations, should be left to the art of chaos, or hide images, burn incense and gather the crowd, gather at night, gather and disperse, pretend to do good deeds, and fan the people: the leader is hanged, and the slave is each a hundred rods, flowing for three thousand miles." (The Ming Sect here is the Ming Sect (the original note is "Muni Zun Ming Sect") is Manichaeism.
Since then, there are no records of Manichaeism in the history books, but it is certain that many Manichaean classics have been included in the scriptures of Buddha and Taoism, such as the Erzong Sutra, the Three Inter-Ji Sutra, and the LaoziHuaHu Sutra, which exist in the Daozang, and since the Tang Dynasty banned Manichaeism, its followers have often pretended to be under Buddhism, and their scriptures have also been disseminated under the pseudonym of Interpretation.
Nowadays, there is no trace of Manichaeism in China and even in the world, and only a church still exists in Quanzhou - Cao'an, which is not accidental, in history, Manichaeism has been secretly circulating in Fujian, and there are many believers.
Hong Mai's "Yi Jianzhi" Yun: "Eating vegetables is a demon, and the Three Mountains (Fuzhou) are particularly fiery." The leader is a purple hat and a wide shirt, and the woman wears a black crown and a white dress. Called the Ming Church. The so-called white Buddha in the quotation sutra, the so-called white Buddha, the worldly dignity, takes the Diamond Sutra one Buddha, two Buddhas, three four five Buddhas as the fifth Buddha. Also known as the End Mani, the "Hua Hu Sutra" took advantage of the natural light dao qi, flew into the neighboring countries of the Sina Jade Realm, and demoted the Jade Palace as the prince, and became a monk called the End Mani to prove itself. Its sutra names are Erzong and Sanji: Erzong, Light and Dark; Three Realms, Past, Future, Present. ”
Lu You's "Notes on the Old Scholar's Nunnery" records that "there are those who have learned the left path in Fujian, which is called the Ming Sect." He also wrote in the Weinan Anthology, "Since the rise of thieves in ancient times... The two Zhejiangs are called Muni Sect, Jiangdong is called Siguo, Jiangxi is called Vajrayogini Zen, and Fujian is called Ming Sect. The names vary, especially the Ming Sect. ”
All of the above can be seen that Manichaeism has a strong popular base in Fujian, so it has left the only remaining relics - the Cao Nunnery and the Manichaean statue.