Chapter 73: The Sermon

It was just that Daoist Master Zhang now had no interest in standing in front of the main hall, putting on an immortal air, and nodding to the common people. He was obviously more interested in holding study sessions.

Although he had already established a grassroots organization and a base here in Yizhou, these believers were essentially no different from those of folk religions like the Namo Liang Jiao or the White Lotus Sect. Daoist Master Quanquan knew very well that to make the new Taoism one of the “cornerstones” of the “new society’s” ideological field, it was not reliable to rely solely on this kind of almost superstitious belief. There must be a new religious belief that meets the needs of the new society to replace their superstition.

He was very clear about the Senate’s attitude towards religion. He knew that some senators had a deep distrust of traditional religions and had the idea of “starting a new stove.”

Instead of introducing foreign religions that were not acclimatized, it would be better to use our native Taoism and transform it. Zhang Yingchen had always insisted on this point at the religious work conference.

Daoist Master Quanquan’s ambition was great. The reason why he tirelessly developed the new Taoism was not simply to counter foreign religions, but more to find a new way to purify and replace the folk religions of China.

It was easy to eliminate the Ming Dynasty, but the numerous and diverse folk religions with a large number of believers left by the Ming Dynasty were a threat to any regime. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, except for the Nationalist government, every regime had cracked down on and suppressed the secret societies, trying to completely ban them, but the folk religions had always existed in secret. Once the pressure was slightly relaxed, they would revive. Even new folk religions continued to emerge.

Zhang Yingchen had always believed that religious precepts and propaganda, before the emergence of industrialized countries, were to a large extent one of the main forces in regulating social behavior. Even in the context of the Ming Dynasty, where Confucian scholars vigorously refuted Taoism and Buddhism, radical figures like the later famous Huang Zongxi and Wang Fuzhi also believed that the social function of religion’s “divine way of teaching,” although it could not curb great evils, could make the so-called devout old women “fearful of the slightest evil.” Therefore, the scholar-officials’ refutation of Taoism and Buddhism was more a matter of the Confucian intellectuals seizing the dominant position in ideology after the Song Confucians and excluding the influence of Taoism and Buddhism on the upper class of the landlord class. They were very welcome to use these two religions to fool the lower class.

It was just that Zhu Yuanzhang’s strange religious system had crippled the basic foundation of Buddhism and Taoism, causing the official religions to lose their ability to self-purify and break down and assimilate “heretical ways” as they had in the Tang and Song dynasties, which gave a large number of secret societies room to operate.

The Ming Dynasty created a set of strict systems for religious management. Zhu Yuanzhang’s most important creation was to strengthen the monastery economy of Chinese Taoism and Buddhism. On the one hand, he forbade religious personnel from contacting the masses, requiring Taoist priests and monks to stay in their temples and “not to mix with the common people.” This led to the formal religious groups of Taoism and Buddhism being unable to contact society. And Zhu Yuanzhang also established the “nianji daoren,” which was actually a serf class in the monastery economy, which solidified and enslaved the tenant farmers of the monasteries. In this way, a small number of religious personnel with official certificates actually became serf owners, and they were serf owners who were detached from social activities. This was fatal to religious development. The original social function of the religious groups was completely destroyed, leading to the large-scale withdrawal of Buddhism and Taoism from the social ideology and public opinion front, which gave the secret societies a fertile ground for development.

And after him, he also separated the military households, artisan households, and so on from the civilian households, and explicitly forbade them from becoming Taoists or monks. Therefore, the most powerful secret society in the future, the Luo Jiao, was the creation of the Shandong military household Luo Qing, which can be said to be the greatest mockery of this system.

As for the abolition of monasteries and temples, the permission to keep only one monastery and one temple in each prefecture and county, the prohibition of private monasteries and temples, the prohibition of women from becoming nuns, the perverted system of examining those who wanted to become monks, the prohibition of religious personnel from associating with lay people, and the prohibition of Taoist priests and monks from begging for alms, all became empty words after the mid-Ming Dynasty. It can be said that all the vitality of Taoism and Buddhism was eliminated. The prevalence of secret societies in the Ming and Qing dynasties had a great relationship with the fact that the Ming and Qing dynasties had always used this strange system of Zhu Yuanzhang.

Yizhou, or to be precise, Yinan County, was his first experimental field for the new religion. The religious reforms he carried out in Hainan were carried out on the basis of bayonets and the powerful material power of the Senate, and could only be regarded as greenhouse flowers. Only in this southern Shandong region, where folk secret societies were intertwined and complex, could the success or failure of his religious reforms be truly tested.

The place for the “sermon” was set up in the second “hall.” Unlike ordinary monks and Taoists, Zhang Yingchen did not use a futon for his sermons, but “stood up to preach.” Behind him was a large blackboard. Every time he came to a key point, he would pick up a piece of chalk and scribble on the blackboard. Of course, the “magic” of throwing chalk heads with a hundred percent accuracy was also indispensable.

This kind of study meeting was held every day. The participants were all the leaders of the various groups and the selected “probationary historians.” There were men and women, old and young, and the common feature was that they all had a certain level of education and could read and write.

Zhang Yingchen wore a traditional Taoist robe. His military-style Taoist robe was a bit shocking, so he could only wear it in Hainan. He walked to the blackboard, took a sip of tea from his disciple, cleared his throat, and began to speak.

Today’s topic was “The Transformation of All Things.” It was not known from which Taoist scripture it came. The last time, he talked about “The Opening of Chaos,” but he did not, like ordinary monks and Taoists, perfunctorily tell the story of the creation of the world by the gods. He only said that in the beginning of time, the chaotic qi exploded due to the interaction of yin and yang. This explosion was the original form of Pangu opening the heavens and the earth. After the explosion, the void was born, and this void was the Yuanshi Tianzun. In the void, one qi evolved, and the stars, sun, and moon were all formed by qi. And the earth under people’s feet was also a thing of qi transformation. Therefore, the great Confucian Zhang Zai of the Song Dynasty spied a few points of the truth in it and said that when qi gathers and has a form, it transforms into all things. He spoke with great interest above, and the people below listened with half-understanding.

“Everyone, the height of Mount Tai lies in a single grain of sand and a single stone. The luxuriance of the lingchun tree lies in a single flower and a single leaf. You must know that in the world, there are first the small, then the large; first the humble, then the noble; first the young and short-lived, then the old and long-lived. When heaven and earth are formed, all things are born. First there are algae and moss, then there are grasses and trees. Why is this so? I have a piece of moss here, and a wisp of spirogyra. Whoever has good eyesight, come up and take a look. After you have seen it, tell everyone clearly.”

Playing with a ball of half-green, half-yellow spirogyra soaked in a porcelain bowl, and a piece of dry moss that had just been sprayed with water, Zhang Yingchen looked around at the leaders of his study groups with great interest.

According to the outline, the lessons for these few days should be the first day on the new Taoist cosmology, including the Big Bang, the heliocentric theory, the law of universal gravitation, and so on. Of course, it was only a general discussion. In the eyes of the Ming people, it was nothing more than a new Taoist version of the Song Confucian theory of qi and the Han Confucian theory of huntian.

The second day began with the theory of evolution, first teaching plant classification: algae, moss, herbs, woody plants, gymnosperms, and angiosperms. Then he taught about animals: invertebrates such as coelenterates, flatworms, annelids, mollusks, and arthropods; and vertebrates such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Finally, it was concluded with the Taoist saying: Heaven gives birth to all things, and man is the most precious. The three talents are in their proper positions, and life is between the two. Why is this so? Because only man is good at using things. The ancient sages, Youchao Shi and Suiren Shi, taught the people to build nests to avoid tigers and wolves, and to take fire to eat cooked food. Shennong Shi tasted a hundred herbs and taught the people the art of curing diseases, and he promoted agriculture and taught the people the foundation of farming. The Yellow Emperor made carriages, boats, bows and arrows, and pestles and mortars. He made clothes, banners, calendars, and arithmetic. Therefore, he was the first of the Five Emperors and the ancestor of civilization.

Yi is change. There are three images of Yi, corresponding to the three talents. The movement of the stars and the rotation of the four seasons are the changes of heaven. The high becomes mountains, the low becomes rivers, the rivers change their course, and the sea becomes mulberry fields. These are the changes of the earth. The people multiply, the artisans work and fight, the morality and education, and the rise and fall of dynasties. These are the changes of man.

Just as he was speaking eloquently, his eyes swept over and he suddenly found that several young people from the Zhuang family were also listening below. The leader was Zhuang Yongling. They did not openly move chairs and sit down, but just stood on the side and listened quietly, with very focused expressions.

The young people of the Zhuang family, led by Zhuang Yongling, had been pestering him with questions from the “Gezhi Xiaoshi” that he had given them whenever he went to the Zhuang family. Of course, Zhang Yingchen would not miss this great opportunity to “poison the youth.” He answered all their questions and often gave them some thought-provoking questions.

His knowledge opened a door to a new world for these young people who had only read the Four Books and Five Classics. The several young people also went from a temporary “curiosity” to truly respecting and believing in this Daoist Master Zhang.

However, the Zhuang family’s rules were very strict after all, and in this kind of farming and reading family, studying the “eight-legged essay” was always the core of learning. Other books were “idle books,” and they were not allowed to read them before they had obtained a certain degree, let alone study this kind of knowledge. That would be “self-degradation.” Therefore, Zhang Yingchen had to grasp the right opportunity every time he saw these young people, so as not to be disliked by the Zhuang family.

It was now the New Year, and they didn’t have to study. The several young people probably slipped out under the pretext of watching the ceremony. This was a great opportunity for him to further deepen his relationship with them and spread new knowledge.

The Daoist master was secretly happy in his heart. He cheered up and showed off even more, speaking eloquently and with a silver tongue. After a “sermon,” he was sweating through his clothes, but it was clear that the effect was excellent.

After he finished speaking, he returned to his living room. After changing his clothes and washing his face with the help of Luo Chun, he was drinking tea when his disciple came to report that several young masters of the Zhuang family had come to pay their respects.

“What’s with the formal greeting? It’s too formal,” Zhang Yingchen said with a smile. “Quickly invite the young masters in.”

Several young people entered in a line. The leader was Zhuang Yongling. Besides the few he knew, there were a few more young people this time. They were probably all nephews of the Zhuang clan.

Zhang Yingchen was secretly happy in his heart. Curiosity was the nature of youth. The new knowledge he had instilled in Zhuang Yongling and others would inevitably have a great impact on the young people around him.

He could not reform the generation of Zhuang Qian. He could only let them recognize the situation and be a traitor. But such young talents had great potential in education.