The White Lotus Teachings in Chinese Religious History (review)

274 China Review International: Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 1996 Barend ter Haar. The White Lotus Teachings in Chinese Religious History. Leiden, New York, and KoIn: E. J. Brill, 1992. ix, 343 pp. Hardcover $97.25, isbn 90-04-09414-8. This is a thought-provoking and revisionist study ofthe "White Lotus" tradition/ movement in Chinese popular religious history. It challenges the long-established, and still commonly held, view tiiat there existed one continuous White Lotus tradition that began with the eminent monk Huiyuan in the Jin dynasty (fifth century ), underwent a dramatic process ofpopularization during the Song, and, toward the end of the Yuan, was joined by Maitreyist and Manichaean elements, which transformed it into the messianic and militant tradition that it has been ever since. This view further maintains that it was precisely this degenerate and adulterated version of the White Lotus that became die quintessential representative of the heresy and rebelliousness in late imperial China that subverted and ultimately rejected the orthodox authority of the state and the existing order. Through an impressive and meticulous analysis ofthe source materials on the White Lotus during the Song-Yuan period, as well as detailed studies of several major episodes of alleged White Lotus-related insurgencies in the Ming and Qing dynasties, ter Haar has successfully argued that die established understanding ofWhite Lotus needs to be abandoned and that a far more nuanced and sophisticated view ofthis resilient religious tradition merits adoption. In eight richly textured chapters, the author makes a number ofinsightful observations. 1.In studying the history of the White Lotus, a clear distinction has to be drawn between positive autonym and disparaging labels and stereotypes. The trouble with traditional scholarship on the White Lotus, ter Haar charges, is that it fails to make such a distinction, thereby resulting in a confused and erroneous understanding of this tradition. 2.The only genuine White Lotus followers were the lay Buddhist associations of the Song, Yuan, and possibly early Ming, which dedicated tiiemselves to the worship ofAmitabha. These "people of the Way" (daomin) founded cloisters to parallel and to serve as alternatives to monastic Buddhism; they enjoyed a "high degree of respectability" (p. 89), as evidenced by substantial literati membership; and they never engaged in rebellious activities. In ter Haar's own words, "the White Lotus movement proves to be a highly coherent, socially well-accepted phenomenon. Its adherents are characterized on the social level by the use ofthe© 1996 by University autonym Man of the Way and the religious affiliation characters jue and pu, the ofHawai'i Pressfounding ofcloisters and halls, the imitation ofthe roles ofpriests and monks, and their good works for the benefit of society" (p. 111). Reviews 275 3.The term White Lotus became a label and stereotype after 1525, employed by outside observers and investigators (most ofwhom belonged to a network of elites and officials) to castigate religiously suspect groups. It was used in the same manner as an earlier label, "chicai shimo" (eating vegetables and serving the devils ), in referring to socially unacceptable groups, more specifically the Manichaeans. The term bears no connection to what the groups involved called themselves. 4.The Red Turbans Uprising of the late Yuan headed by Han Shantong, an alleged White Lotus believer who had supposedly combined Maitreyist millenarianism with Manichaean eschatology, indicated by its celebrated and much feared slogan "Mile xiasheng, mingwang chushi," was actually not White Lotus in orientation at all. Following Zürcher and Forte, ter Haar argues that reference to the King of Light (or the "Luminous King" as translated by Forte) by the Red Turbans is more suggestive of an old Maitreyist tradition, as studies on Prince Moonlight (yueguang tongzi) have demonstrated. The mislabeling ofHan Shantong's movement as degenerate and militandy messianic "new-style White Lotus" in fact occurred much later. 5.To regard the White Lotus as heterodox and dangerous, as demonstrated by die mass panics of1557 and 1876, is to be influenced by an elite bias that, since the late Ming, has been indiscriminately labeling all disagreeable religious activities as White Lotus inspired. Ter Haar suggests that one way to avoid die appearance ofprejudice is to stop referring to the White...