What kind of organization is the White Lotus Society?

Anbailism is a secret religious group circulating among the people since the Tang and Song Dynasties. Pure Land Sect, which originated from Buddhism, is said that Hui Yuan, the ancestor of Pure Land Sect, was released by the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and joined hands with Liu's adherents to recite Buddhism in Tuolin Temple in Lushan Mountain, which was regarded as a model by later believers.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, Pure Land Buddhist Association prevailed, and it was often called White Lotus or Lotus. During the Shaoxing period in the Southern Song Dynasty, Mao Ziyuan (known as Ci Zhao), a senior monk in Kunshan, Wu County (now Kunshan, Jiangsu Province), founded a Protestant Sect on the basis of the folk pure land Sect, called Bailian Sect, that is, Bailian Sect.

The early Anbalism worshiped Amitabha, advocated chanting and observing precepts, and stipulated that believers should not kill, steal, commit adultery, lie or drink alcohol. It calls on believers to worship their ancestors, and it is a secret group that is half monk and half vulgar. Its teachings are simple and its scriptures are easy to understand. Accepted by the lower classes, it is often used as a tool to organize people to resist oppression. During the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Anbailiao organized peasant uprisings many times. It spread to the early Qing Dynasty and developed into an anti-Qing secret organization. Although repeatedly suppressed by the Qing government, by the first year of Jiaqing (1796), Anbaili Uprising had developed into the biggest uprising in Jiaqing.

As a religious concept, Ambry contains a wide range of contents. It can be said that it is a summary of various "heresies", "leftists" and "cults" that have occurred in this ancient land of China for more than a thousand years. It is another very important religion besides Buddhism and Taoism, which reflects the life, thoughts, beliefs and struggles of the lower class people in China and occupies a prominent position in the history of peasant war in China.

Among the hundreds of schools of Anbaili religion in Ming and Qing Dynasties, the most influential ones are Wuwei religion, Huangdian Taoism, Mahayana religion and Hongyang religion in Ming Dynasty, Heaven and Earth Society, Bagua religion, rationalism and congenital religion in Qing Dynasty.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the most famous figures in the folk esoteric circles were (Luo Zu), Li Bin (Pu Mingzu), Wilson (Stone Buddha), Han Taihu Lake (Gone with the Wind), Dong Jisheng (Teacher Dong), Liu Zuochen (Master of the Holy Emperor) and Yang Zai (Yang Zu). Luo Qing, Chang Gong and Mu Ren are folk secret religious theorists, who have played an important role in the final formation of the religious theory system of An Baili.