宋元时期白莲教与佛教净土信仰及摩尼教之关系

Relationship between White Lotus,Clean Land Sects in Buddhism and Manicheism

宋元时期的白莲教对佛教净土信仰的吸纳是显而易见的,只不过在南宋创立时所依傍的是弥陀净土信仰,此外还吸取了天台宗的教义。入元以后,白莲教更多地受到弥勒净土信仰的渗透,逐渐成为民间反叛运动的工具。摩尼教既为白莲教提供了宗教戒律方面的样板,也为其注入了鲜明的叛逆性格,后者在元代中后期逐渐地显现出来。宋元时期的白莲教是一种为下层社会提供信仰和依靠的组织,但从一种纯粹宗教信仰社群转而为下层民众试图用来作为改造世界的法器,其中的原因是值得探讨的。

It was obvious that the White Lotus absorbed some components of the Clean Land Sects in Buddhism during Song-Yuan period.Not only the White Lotus borrowed something from the Mile Clean Land belief as its kernel when it was created in Southern Song,but also picked up something from doctrines of The Tiantai Branch.After Mongolian emperor conquered the South China,the White Lotus gradually became the propaganda means for the rebelling movements,for it was influenced more and more by the Mile Clean Land belief.And Manicheism provided the White Lotus with both the models in the field of religious mitzvahs and sharp-cut treasonous character that was showed during the middle and later periods of Yuan Dynasty.It is a discussible question why White Lotus in Song-Yuan times had been changed from an organization for absolutely religious belief into an equipment to rebuild a new world for the lower people,since it was an organization that supplying with belief and dependence for the lower society.