Baguadao


Baguadao or Eight Trigram Teaching is a network of Chinese folk religious sects, one of the most extended in northern China. The tradition dates back to the late 17th century Ming dynasty, and was heavily persecuted during the following Qing dynasty when affiliated sects organised an uprising in 1813, led by Lin Qing. Affiliated sects appeared under various names, but during the latter half of the 18th century they adopted Bagua Jiao as their common designation.
The founder, or early influential leader of Baguadao was Liu Zuochen, and the Liu family of Shandong maintained the leadership of the sect for decades. Baguadao networks were the first folk religions to develop "civil and martial work methods as one", and continue in contemporary Meihua practices.

History

Little is known about the early history of the sect. In 1719 Liu Ruhan, a county magistrate by purchase in Shanxi was dismissed because his father Liu Zuochen was a member of the Shouyuandao, possibly an early name for Baguadao prosecuted by imperial authority as part of the White Lotus heterodoxy. With probability, Liu Zuochen was the founder of Baguadao, after having changed his original name Li Tingyu. At first he had only three disciples: a man surnamed Qin from Qingfeng County, of whom nothing is known; Gao Yunlong of Shangqiu, in Henan, who founded the Ligua subdivision; and Wang Qingrong from Heze, in Shandong, who founded the Zhengua subdivision. The Liu family held the role of the highest masters within the Baguadao for four generations.
Historians reconstruct that Liu Zuochen died around 1701, and Liu Ruhan his son became the new head master of the Baguadao. By the 1730s the sect had developed its characteristic structure, with branches corresponding to the eight trigrams each led by a leader subordinate to Master Liu, two assistants for every leader of a trigram, and cohorts of believers. During the first year of Qianlong Liu Ruhan died and his son Liu Ke became the new leader of the Baguadao, which under his guidance grew extensively.
In 1748, the thirteenth year of Qianlong, the leadership passed to Liu Shennguo, Liu Ke's son. In 1772 the then leader of the Zhengua subdivision named Wang Zhong was arrested in Shandong and the book in his possession, Xunshu, was found to contain references to the overthrowing of the "barbarian" Manchu dynasty. Wang Zhong was executed for refusing to reveal the name of the leader of Baguadao, but another member later confessed that he was one of the Lius in Shan County of Shandong. After investigation, Liu Shengguo was arrested and executed. The authorities discovered the vast network of Baguadao sects, with branches named after the eight trigrams of cosmology.
Even after the arrest of Liu Shengguo the holy significance of the Liu family did not diminish, and minor leaders of the Baguadao continued to rely upon legitimation by the Master Liu of the day. After the 1772 crackdown, Liu Shengguo's successor Liu Tingxian was banished to the northeastern land of Xinjiang where he served as a peasant; in 1780 a leader of the Zhengua branch of Baguadao sent messengers to Xinjiang to get into contact with Liu Tingxian and convinced him to take his legitimate position as main leader of the religion. In the following decades Liu Tingxian and his sons continued the Baguadao leadership in Xinjiang, and lesser sect masters in the east continued to financially support the Liu leadership in Xinjiang through the 1800s.

Beliefs and practices

The "Writing about Five Women's Transmission of the Way" is the core scripture of Baguadao, and reveals a technique of neidan meditation to attain blessing, overcome human limits and reach salvation. Liu Zuochen is described in the scripture as the incarnation of Maitreya, the sun that enlightens the whole world, the son of the Eternal Venerable Mother. Palmer and Liu have studied the contents of the Baguadao as a tradition of orthodox and elaborate forms of Taoist self-cultivation techniques.

Subdivisions

Early seven major divisions

The eight trigrams' cosmology was adopted as an ideal system of organisation as described in many precious scriptures of the 16th century. Within the ideal division into eight trigrams, only three of them were influential, and there were further subdivisions which used a variety of names. For instance, the sect led by Wang Zhong, whose arrest in 1772 led to the detection of Liu Shengguo and the exile of the Lius to Xinjiang, was called the Pure Water group, and was part of the Zhen Trigram branch.
The major subdivisions as of the thirteenth year of Qianlong were seven, corresponding to seven out of the eight trigrams, leaving out the ☷ Kungua which never developed:
One of the most influential branches of the Baguadao was the Ligua transmission. The Li Trigram branch was more involved in the 1813 uprising against the Qing dynasty. Lin Qing founded many groups of the Li subdivision, many of which connected to the Gao family of Henan who held the central leadership of the subdivision. Under increasing persecutions Lin Qing reacted by organising a rebellion, which broke out in the 1813 uprising, which culminated in an attack to the Forbidden City in Beijing. The Gao family members were captured and by the confession of the current leader Gao Tianyou the history of the Li branch was traced back to Gao Yunlong, who was initiated by Liu Zuochen himself a century earlier.

Late 19th century: Heavenly Dragon Baguajiao

In 1860 the heritage of Baguadao gave rise to a new movement, the Heavenly Dragon Baguajiao. The religion was centered in Qiu County in modern Hebei and Shen County in Shandong, and was led by Yang Tai and Song Jingshi. The new organisation grouped the eight trigram divisions in five coloured banners: the White Banner comprising Qian and Dui sects, the Yellow Banner comprising Kun and Gen sects, the Green Banner comprising Zhen and Shun sects, the Red Banner comprising Li sects, and the Blue Banner or Black Banner comprising Kan sects. A sixth banner was the Flower Banner.

Contemporary development: Meihuaism

The contemporary popular sect of the Plum Flower widespread in north China, which combines the martial aspect of meihuaquan, and a civil aspect, has been studied as the continuation of the Baguadao and especially of the Ligua tradition, which was the first folk religion to see the "civil and martial work methods as one". Meihua followers were directly involved in the anti-Western Boxer Rebellion.
The Plum Flower religion and martial art is practiced freely in contemporary China with a large holy see established in March 2015 in Pingxiang County of Hebei. Scholar Raymond P. Ambrosi has studied the engagement of Meihua communities in embedding adherents in horizontal social networks which reconstruct grassroots civil society.

Footnotes