According to common sense, whether it is the White Lotus Sect or the Boxer Rebellion, their purposes should be roughly the same, and even the Boxer Rebellion and the White Lotus Sect have deep roots. But according to historical records, why did the Boxer Rebellion keep pace with Bailian Sect?
The Boxer Movement has many names. Some places are called Yihe Gate, some places are called Shenquan or Hongquan, and some places are called Red Brick or Red Brick Society. Tracing back to the source, we can see that it comes from the "Jiyuan School" of "Bailian School", and the founder of this Jiyuan School is the founder of the later "Bagua School".
The Boxer Rebellion is a branch of gossip. For example, the Record of Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty records that "the boxing bandits are the leaders of deviating from divination". In addition, it was deviant for the government to investigate the Boxer Rebellion cases in the middle and late Qianlong period. Since the Boxer Rebellion in 1899, Zhu, the leader of the Boxer Rebellion, is "wearing a red hat and red trousers ... and his color is still red, which means the image of parting from divination." In addition, the boxer "kowtows to the southeast" when practicing boxing, and the southeast is the direction of leaving the palace, so it is understandable to say that the "boxer" comes from the "White Lotus Sect".
However, this does not mean that the Boxer Rebellion around 1900 still has the nature of "White Lotus Sect", nor does it mean that the Boxer Rebellion and the White Lotus Sect are in the same boat, just in the same boat.
This can be seen from a case: as early as 18 13, a branch of the Anbaili Sect, Bagua Sect, organized a large-scale uprising, and before the uprising, it specially seized two flags of the Boxer Rebellion. At that time, officials also used the power of the Boxer Rebellion to suppress the Eight Diagrams Palm, which ultimately failed the uprising. It can be seen that the two have long hated each other and have long been in the same boat. Therefore, regardless of the relationship between the Boxer Rebellion and the An Baili School, the Boxer Rebellion is by no means an organizational type of the Ambry School.
During this period, the Qing government's attitude towards the Boxer Rebellion changed from opposition to approval, indicating that it was in line with the ruling concept of the Qing Dynasty, so it was later put on the cloak of "legitimacy". However, the organizations under the White Lotus Sect are still trying to use force against the Qing government under the banner of religion. There are great differences between the two, from acting style to organizational structure to organizational concept, and various contradictions will inevitably lead to confrontation.
As the saying goes, there is no love and hate for no reason. The contradiction between the Boxer Rebellion and the White Lotus Sect is caused by long-term differences.
As we all know, Bailian religion originated from Zoroastrianism in the Western Regions. Zoroastrianism has gradually evolved in China since the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Because their teachings were not accepted by the traditional culture of China, the Bailian Sect was not recognized by the dynasties since its establishment, so it seems that they became the "spokesmen" of anti-feudalism, and most of them believed in the "Sun God", which is very different from the later "Boxers".
The boxer is just a martial arts group in essence. Although they later merged into religion, they believed in China's traditional Buddhism, but their main purpose was to "accept God's will and serve Buddhism to defend the country, peace and kindness." .
The "White Lotus Sect" advocates the theory of "three religions in two places". They believe in "childless mother" and "sun god" and distort Buddhism. Therefore, although they are all religious NGOs, their beliefs are quite different. One advocates orthodox Buddhism, the other distorts Buddhism and preaches teachings, and ideological hostility begins.
The teachings of Anbalism originally came from the Western Regions, with obvious Zoroastrianism characteristics. It takes "vacuum hometown, no mother" as the eight-character true scripture, and also emphasizes the theory of "two international and three schools" in doctrine. Its ultimate goal is to overthrow the secular regime and establish a theocratic kingdom.
Compared with the boxer's concept of "defending the country and defending the country, harmony is precious", the ultimate goal of Anbalism is undoubtedly different. This deliberate and single-minded overthrow of the secular regime is definitely intolerable in China under the influence of our orthodox Confucianism. Therefore, not only the government but also non-governmental organizations are hostile to it.
At that time, the Boxer Rebellion and the White Lotus Sect were called "Boxer Rebellion" and "Christian Party" respectively. Since they were called "people" by the Qing government, it shows that the country legally recognized the Boxer Rebellion. In the face of Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion, the Boxer Rebellion boldly put forward the slogan of "helping the Qing dynasty to destroy the foreign countries", supported the Qing government in confronting foreign enemies, and helped the Qing government to carry out the clean-up action against invading foreigners and missionaries. No matter how it ends, its simple patriotism cannot be erased.
The White Lotus Sect, on the other hand, launched successive uprisings in peacetime, which caused political turmoil, not to mention when the country was invaded. When "Eight-Nation Alliance" invaded China, the White Lotus Sect rose up in Shandong and once played the slogan of destroying the Qing government with the help of foreigners. Unfortunately, foreigners were too lazy to pay attention to it, and the uprising was quickly suppressed.
Therefore, in response to foreign invasion, the Boxer Rebellion kept the bottom line of religious organizations, while the White Lotus Sect did not. It even tried to lure the wolf into the room. In this way, the contradiction between the two is even more irreconcilable.
Judging from the Qing government's policy of "it is forbidden to learn boxing sticks", the attitude towards the Boxer Rebellion is nothing more than "fearing young hooligans and learning to make trouble", while the White Lotus Sect is regarded as a "cult myth", which shows that the Qing government has different attitudes towards the two. Through the slogan of the Boxer Rebellion, we can see that it is not a traditional anti-feudal organization, but has a strong patriotic spirit. Compared with the White Lotus Sect, which has been trying to overthrow the existing government, it is understandable that the two are in the same boat.
References:
The origin of the boxer movement, the historical overview of the boxer movement, etc.