White Lotus Sect - Byakurenkyo

A Chinese religious organization. It began as a religious organization called White Lotus Cabbage, founded by the monk Mao Ziyuan of Enshoin Temple in Wu County (Suzhou) at the beginning of the Shaoxing period (1131-62) during the reign of Emperor Gaozong in the Southern Song Dynasty, and has continued to the present day. Mao Ziyuan imitated the teachings of the Tendai sect and created the "Diagram of the Four Earths in Perfect Harmony," "A Morning Prayer and Penance," "Four Verses of Poetry," and "Five Pronunciations of Buddhist Prayer," and encouraged his followers to observe the precepts, especially the precept of not killing. He called himself the White Lotus Master and his followers White Lotus Cabbage. The name "White Lotus Cabbage" comes from the fact that its followers abide by the precept of not killing, do not eat meat, and only eat vegetables. As the number of followers of this sect increased among the general public and the sect's influence grew, it was suppressed, and Mao Ziyuan was exiled. After this suppression, during the Southern Song Dynasty, White Lotus Cabbage was considered a representative heretical cult along with Manichaeism and White Cloud Cabbage (White Cloud Sect). White Lotus Sect was originally a faith in Amitabha, but towards the end of the Yuan Dynasty, it merged with Maitreya Sect, which believes that the rebirth of Maitreya Buddha will bring prosperity to this world, and changed into a sect with Maitreya faith at its core. White Lotus Sect, which connected with the people during the Ming and Qing dynasties, was banned by the rulers of the time as a heretical cult, but it often rebelled, and the White Lotus Rebellion, which lasted for nine years from 1796 during the Qing Dynasty, is famous. Even after the Qing Dynasty, the White Lotus Sect continued to operate as a religious secret society with various sects, and most of the secret societies in modern China are related to the White Lotus Sect.

[Masami Kobayashi]

"The Establishment and Development of the White Lotus Sect, by Aida Hiroshi (included in The World of the Chinese People's Rebellion, 1974, Kiko Shoin)" "On the Transformation of the White Lotus Sect, by Noguchi Tetsuro (included in Collection of Essays on Oriental History in Commemoration of the Retirement of Professor Yamazaki, 1967)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国の宗教結社。南宋(なんそう)、高宗(こうそう)の紹興(しょうこう)年間（1131～62）初めに、呉郡(ごぐん)（蘇州(そしゅう)）の延祥院(えんしょういん)の僧侶(そうりょ)茅子元(ぼうしげん)が創立した白蓮菜(びゃくれんさい)という教団に始まり、現代まで続いた。茅子元は天台宗の教法をまねて、「円融四土(えんにゅうしど)の図」「晨朝(しんちょう)の礼懺(らいさん)文」「偈歌(げか)四句」「仏念五声」をつくり、信徒には戒律、とくに不殺生戒(ふせっしょうかい)を守るように勧めた。自らを白蓮導師と称し、信徒を白蓮菜とよんだ。白蓮菜というのは、信徒が不殺生戒を守って食肉せず、菜のみを食べたからである。この教団は民衆の信徒が増え、教勢が盛んになったため弾圧され、茅子元は流罪となった。この弾圧以後、南宋時代には白蓮菜はマニ教や白雲菜(はくうんさい)（白雲宗）とともに邪教異端の代表とされた。白蓮教は初めは阿弥陀(あみだ)信仰であったが、元(げん)末ころから弥勒仏(みろくぶつ)の下生(げしょう)によってこの世に繁栄がもたらされるという弥勒教と融合し、弥勒信仰を中核とする教団へと変化した。明(みん)・清(しん)の時代にも民衆と結び付いた白蓮教は、時の為政者から邪教として禁圧されたが、しばしば反乱を起こし、清朝の1796年から9年間にわたって続いた白蓮教徒の乱は有名である。清朝以後も、白蓮教はさまざまな分派を有しながら宗教的秘密結社として活動し、近代中国における秘密結社の大半は白蓮教に関係している。

［小林正美］

『相田洋著『白蓮教の成立とその展開』（『中国民衆反乱の世界』所収・1974・汲古書院）』▽『野口鐵郎著『白蓮教社の変容をめぐって』（『山崎先生退官記念東洋史学論集』所収・1967）』

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