The White Lotus () is a syncretic religious and political movement which forecasts the imminent advent of the "King of Light" (), i.e., the future buddha Maitreya. As White Lotus sects developed, they appealed to many Han Chinese who found solace in the worship of the Queen Mother of the West (or the "Birthless Old Mother" ).
History
Origin
The religious background of the White Lotus Sect goes back to the founding of the first White Lotus Society () in the Donglin Temple at Mount Lu by Lushan Huiyuan (334–416). During the Northern Song period (960–1126), White Lotus Societies were founded throughout southern China, spreading Pure Land teachings and meditation methods with them. Between 9th and 14th centuries, Chinese Manichaeans increasingly involved themselves with the Pure Land school. Through this close interaction Manichaeism had profound influence on Chinese Maitreyan Buddhist sects within the Pure Land tradition, practicing together so closely alongside the Buddhists that the two traditions became indistinguishable.
Later development
During the 12th century a Buddhist monk, Mao Ziyuan () (; Dharma name: Cizhao ()), developed the White Lotus School () in order to connect the scattered White Lotus Societies. He erected a Lotus Repentance Temple () where he preached the teachings of the White Lotus School, which became the basis of the White Lotus religion (). This White Lotus religion was a hybrid movement of Buddhism and Manichaeism that emphasised Maitreya teachings and strict vegetarianism; its permission for men and women to interact freely was considered socially shocking.
Development into a secret society
During the late thirteenth century, the Mongol Yuan dynasty's rule over China prompted small yet popular demonstrations against its rule. As they grew into widespread dissent, adherents of White Lotus took part in some of these protests, leading the Yuan government to ban the White Lotus religion as a heterodox religious sect (), forcing its members to go underground. Now a secret society, the White Lotus became an instrument of quasi-national resistance and religious organisation. This fear of secret societies carried on in the law; the Great Qing Legal Code, which was in effect until 1912, contained the following section: Like other secret societies, they covered up their unusual or illicit activities as "incense burning ceremonies".
White Lotus Revolution
The White Lotus was a fertile ground for fomenting rebellion.
A Buddhist monk from Jiangxi named Peng Yingyu began to study the White Lotus and ended up organizing a rebellion in the 1330s. Although the rebellion was put down, Peng survived and hid in Anhui, then reappeared back in South China where he led another unsuccessful rebellion in which he was killed. This second rebellion changed its colours from white to red and its soldiers were known as the "Red Turbans" for their red bandanas.
Another revolution inspired by the White Lotus society took shape in 1352 around Guangzhou. A Buddhist monk and former boy-beggar, the future Ming dynasty founder Zhu Yuanzhang, joined the rebellion. His exceptional intelligence took him to the head of a rebel army; he won people to his side by forbidding his soldiers to pillage in observance of White Lotus religious beliefs. By 1355 the rebellion had spread through much of China.
In 1356, Zhu Yuanzhang captured the important city of Nanjing (then called Jiqing) and made it his capital, renaming it Yingtian (). It was here that he began to discard his heterodox beliefs and so won the help of Confucian scholars who issued pronouncements for him and performed rituals in his claim of the Mandate of Heaven, the first step toward establishing a new dynastic rule.
Meanwhile, the Mongols were fighting among themselves, inhibiting their ability to suppress the rebellion. In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang extended his rule to Guangzhou, the same year that the Mongol ruler, Toghon Temür, fled to Karakorum. In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang and his army entered the former capital of Beijing and in 1371 his army moved through Sichuan to the southwest.
By 1387, after more than thirty years of war, Zhu Yuanzhang had liberated all of China. He took the title Hongwu Emperor and founded the Ming dynasty, whose name echoes the religious sentiment of the White Lotus.