The reason is that whether it is the Fangla uprising or the peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, it is obviously inseparable from Manichaeism.

So, what is Manichaeism?

There is no Taoist background in Manichaeism.

Mingjiao, also known as Muniism or Manichaeism, originated in the ancient Sassanid Dynasty of Persia, founded by the Persian Mani in the mid-3rd century AD, influenced by Christianity and the teachings of Zoroastrian Mazda, who claimed to be the prophet of God and the last prophet of the Persians. Manichaeism had a great influence on Sogdia and was introduced to China. There is also a school of Jin Yong's martial arts novel "Heaven and Dragon Slayer": Jin Yong's Mingjiao people are perverse and secretive, divided into Persian Mingjiao and Middle Earth Mingjiao, and the protagonist of the novel Zhang Wuji is the thirty-fourth generation of the leader of the Middle Earth Mingjiao. Because at the end of Jin Yong's novel "Heaven and Dragon Slayer", Zhu Yuanzhang usurped the Ming Sect and established the Ming Dynasty, and the "Sun and Moon Divine Cult" that appeared in Jin Yong's novel "Smiling Proud Jianghu" was not formed by the remaining members of the Ming Sect, Mr. Jin Yong once pointed out that the "Sun and Moon Divine Cult" was his personal fiction and did not really exist in history

Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, was born in 216 AD, preached in Babylon in 242, and was crucified in 277. His goal was to establish a worldly religion, a religious tradition that transcended all else. Mani claimed to be the successor of Buddha, Zoroaster and Jesus, the prophet of Allah, and the last prophet. Mani said, "Wisdom and miracles are constantly being transmitted to mankind by the messengers of God. Thus the messengers were Buddha from India, Zoroaster from Persia in another, and Jesus in Nazareth, Israel. The Revelation came again, and the prophecy passed through Me in this most post-apocalyptic age. Mani, the messenger of Allah from Babylon. "Manichaeism was influenced by Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Buddhism, and its teachings, under the influence of Gnosticism, advocated the complete liberation of the soul from the body, thus emphasizing abstinence and vegetarianism. It also includes the Buddhist theory of reincarnation and the Syrian theory of angels. The other opposes Judaism, which is seen as a creature of the dark God. Manichaeism was initially missionary in Babylon and under the trust of the Sassanid Persians, but after Bahran I, they were forced to leave because of conflicts with Zoroastrianism. Some arrived in the Roman Empire, but the Romans had an ancient state religion. Worship the sun. Therefore, it was also an illegal religion in Rome. Emperor Diocletian ordered the burning of monks and books in 296, and the beheading of lay believers, allowing Manichaeism to gain a foothold only after reaching the river. Theologically there is light and darkness, good and evil. It is always hostility and competition. For example, God is good. Then the lack of goodness is sin, just as darkness is due to the lack of light. It talks about the relationship between the mind and matter. There are also discourses of salvation, some of which are close to Gnosticism. The Christian theologian Augustine also initially joined the sect as a "Manichaean" for nine years. Later, Augustine argued against Manichaeism.

English Manicheism. German Manichismus, French Manichéisme. It is also known as the Sect of the Buddha, the Religion of Muni, the Religion of Ming, and the Religion of Mingzun. It was founded by the Persian Mani, Manes, Manichaeus in the third century, which combined Zoroastrianism (also known as Zoroastrianism), Christianity, and Buddhism in ancient Persia. Its doctrine is based on the Zoroastrian dualism of good and evil, which summarizes all phenomena into good and evil, good is light, evil is darkness, and light will overcome darkness. This religion is also known as Mingjiao. The god of Manichaeism has ten virtues: love, faith, sincerity, respect, wisdom, obedience, knowledge, awareness, secret, and discernment. The cultivation of believers is mainly abstinence and silence, and vegetarianism, fasting, and prayer (four times a day) are daily exercises. Its simplicity and directness were so popular with the people of the time that it spread to Central Asia, the Roman Empire (4th century), India, China, and other places, and was still flourishing in the 13th century. Manichaeism was introduced to Xinjiang in China in the 6th to 7th centuries, and then from Xinjiang to Mobei Hui, and prevailed there. In the third year of the Tang Dynasty's Great Calendar (768), at the request of Hui Hui, Mani Temple was established in Jianghuai and other places. When Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty destroyed Buddhism in the fifth year of Huichang (845), Manichaeism was also severely attacked, and it became a secret religion, and absorbed Taoism and folk beliefs, thus changing its name to Mingjiao. Because of the belief that the darkness was about to pass and the light was coming, Mingjiao dared to rebel and repeatedly acted against the government. Since the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, there have been Mingjiao rebellions in Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Anhui and other places. Later, Mingjiao was combined with Maitreya and the White Lotus Society, and evolved into the White Lotus Sect at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Although the word Mingjiao is no longer seen in the literature in the Qing Dynasty, the theory of the birth of "King Ming" is still spread among the people. [The Buddha's Chronicles, Vol. 39, and the Willow Thick Collection, Vol. 28].

In ancient China, the development of Manichaeism was a mixture of Taoism, Buddhism, White Lotus, Islam and other elements. The peasant uprisings of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties were often used as organizational tools. They often revere Zhang Jiao as the patriarch, worship Mani (or translated as "Muni") as the god of light, and worship the sun and the moon. The cultists wore white clothes, advocated vegetarianism, abstained from alcohol, and naked burials, and paid attention to solidarity and mutual assistance, called a family, believing that the light in the world would eventually defeat the dark power. In the sixth year of Liang Zhenming (920), Mu Yi launched an uprising in this way. During the Two Song Dynasty, it was popular in Huainan, Zhejiang, Jiangdong, Jiangxi, Fujian and other places, and constantly organized peasant uprisings, the most famous of which were Fangla Uprising and Wang Nianjing Uprising. Historically, Manichaeism is Mingjiao, also known as Weiniism and Mingzunism, which was founded in the 3rd century AD, which corresponds to the Wei and Jin dynasties in China. Manichaeism was introduced to China during the Tang Dynasty and gradually developed later. The core of the Manichaean doctrine is that at the very beginning of the worldly realm, there were two kingdoms, light and darkness, with light occupying the north, east, and west, and darkness occupying the south. In the kingdom of light, light, goodness, peace, order, and purity, the Manichaean classic "Lower Part Praise" "Sigh Ming Realm Wen" says: Light is generally pure, and there is no curse for constant happiness. He has no trouble with joy, but there is no use in suffering. Always be happy and bright, if you say that you are sick, it is useless. If there are those who can live in other countries, they will be worry-free. The solemnity of the place is pure, the evil is impure and the other is nothing, the happiness is full of generosity, and the words are useless. The ruler of the Kingdom of Light, Persia is called Chawan (meaning eternity), and Dongtu is called Ming Father, Great Ming Zun. The Dark Kingdom is full of fireworks, stuffiness, hurricanes, sludge, and poisonous water, and is ruled by the Dark Lord, where five types of demons live, indulging in lust and quarrels all day long. Light and darkness have fought several times, and the Dark Lord has made demons give birth to human ancestors. Because humans are the descendants of the demons of darkness, the Great Ming Zun sent the messenger of light to save the souls of mankind with the light molecules. In the Song Dynasty, Manichaeism was paraphrased as "Mingjiao", and the teachings were concisely summarized as "pure, bright, vigorous, and wise". Among the congregations are peasants, talents, officials, soldiers, heroes of the green forest, Jiangyang thieves, and martial arts Junyan. The believers are white-clothed and black-hatted, secretly form a society, and jointly worship the Ming envoy as the god of the church. At that time, because it was in a state of secret association, in order to avoid people's eyes and ears and avoid being banned by the government, the name of the religion also had a variety of aliases - in addition to Zhejiang called Manichaeism, Fujian called Mingjiao, according to Lu You's "Weinan Anthology" volume 5 "Article Pair", Huainan called "Erjunizi", Jiangdong called "Siguo", Jiangxi called "King Kong Chan", Fujian also called "Jiedi Zhai" and so on. Mingjiao in the Song and Yuan dynasties further combined with China's local culture, became a form of struggle between the lower class people and the people of the rivers and lakes against the imperial court, because the Mingjiao was suppressed by the imperial court for a long time, acted extremely secretively, and sometimes was also misunderstood by the "white way" of the rivers and lakes, compared with the ordinary people in the rivers and lakes, the Mingjiao people faced greater pressure, so the resistance to the imperial court was also more resolute, and it set off a big wave several times in history. The first time was at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, when Fang La used Manichaeism to organize the masses and held a huge uprising, which shook the southeast half of the rivers and mountains. The second time was after the Southern Song Dynasty, when the Ming Sect and the White Lotus Sect were connected and played an important role in the Peasant War at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. The Red Turban Army in the peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, many White Lotus disciples, and the leader Han Lin'er is also known as "Little Ming King", and this "Ming" is related to Mingjiao. Zhu Yuanzhang, the later Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, was also a member of the White Lotus Sect and the Ming Sect at that time. It's just that after he gained power, because he knew the power of the secret sect, he gradually did not make peace with the two sects. When he became the emperor, he adopted Li Shanchang's suggestion, issued an edict strictly prohibiting the White Lotus Society and Mingjiao, and wrote the ban on "left-handed evil arts" into the "Ming Law" and the eleventh "Ritual Law", which was fixed in the form of law. Subsequently, the White Lotus Sect continued to develop in the form of various tribes, such as the Tang Sai'er Rebellion in the Yongle period, the White Lotus Rebellion in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, etc., while the Ming Sect gradually declined. In martial arts novels, because Jin Yong's martial arts masterpiece "Heaven and Dragon Slayer" wrote about Mingjiao, Mingjiao became famous for a while and became a typical secret sect in the cultural form of chivalry. The formation of the general rudder of the Mingjiao in western Zhejiang (shelving ship tip scenic spot) has a history of 1000 years. The earliest in the form of secret religion, the first woman in history to claim the emperor Chen Shuozhen uprising occurred in western Zhejiang, leaving the mysterious ruins of "Tianzi Ji" (ten doors and nine locks) and "Wannian Building" (Wannian Building), which was later used by Fang La, the head of Mingjiao, and set off a more huge peasant uprising in the same place. It is recorded in "Water Margin" that Fang La set up a complete "Five Mansions and Six Departments" Mingjiao society in Liujia Lingshan. Mingjiao disciple Zhu Yuanzhang also used the Mingjiao organization here to carry out activities when he was stationed in the thousands of acres of fields under the tip of the boat, so the folklore here has: Zhu Yuanzhang's treasure place. In April 2009, CCTV-4 did a program on treasure hunting in Daming Mountain. In December 2008, Xiapu County, Fujian Province, found a large number of Mingjiao cultural relics and materials in the third cultural relics survey. In the process of converting from Manichaeism to Mingism, the most important thing was a mixture of yoga, Buddhism, Taoism, etc., and the figure of Lin Gao in the Song Dynasty played a great role. (To be continued......)