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I-Kuan Tao, also Yiguandao (一貫道) is a new religious movement that originated in twentieth-century China. At the same time it incorporates much older elements from Confucianism, Taoism, and Chinese Buddhism, and recognizes the validity of non-Chinese religious traditions such as Christianity and Islam as well. For this reason it is often classified as a syncretistic or syncretic sect, along with other similar religions in the Hsien Tien Dao (Way of Former Heaven family (see link below).

I-kuan Tao flourishes in Taiwan, where it claims two million members (this may be exaggerated), and in overseas Chinese communities around the world. In the People's Republic of China it remains banned as an illegal secret society, as was the case in Taiwan until 1987. The World I-Kuan Tao Headquarters is in El Monte, California.

The name

I-kuan (Yiguan) means something like "one unity." The implication is that the sect harmonizes or integrates otherwise disparate teachings.

Tao (Dao) means "way," and is the same word used by the Taoist and Confucian traditions to describe the broad patterns of the universe, life, and humanity as well as ritual or religious requirements. The word is often used as a part of the names of religious sects.

Because of the name, I-Kuan Tao is often assumed to be Taoist, and its members do not reject this identification. However its history, teachings, practices, and leadership are different from those of either the "elite" forms of Taoist religion (the Celestial Masters or Complete Purity schools) or the Chinese folk religion of the masses. In the same way I-kuan Tao differs from, and yet also resembles, Confucianism and Chinese Buddhism.

Deities

• Ming Ming Shang Ti, the "High God of Clarity / Luminosity"--essentially, God. The high being who transcends all the lesser gods of the Chinese pantheon. This is the short version of a fuller name which consists of twenty Chinese characters, and is found beside I-kuan Tao altars.

• Tien Chi Lao Mu, the "Ancient Mother of Limitless Heaven," a savioress figure.

• Maitreya, the Buddha who is to come (and who has come already, according to I-kuan Tao)

• Guan Yu (also called Guan Gong or Guan Ti), an apoetheosized Chinese general from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms who is commonly worshipped in Chinese temples, both Buddhist and Taoist.

• Guan Yin, the Buddhist Bodhisattva of Mercy.

• Ji Gong, (known as the mad monk), a lecherous Zen Buddhist monk revered as an reincarnation of an Arhat.

History and Structure

Within the broad category of Chinese religion we may distinguish between folk practices which neither expect clear membership commitments nor make clear demands; and on the other hand, various sectarian movements which enjoy a clearer identity, and at the same time a weaker influence over the wider society. The folk religious practices are absorbed almost unconsciously, from childhood. Sectarian religious identity must be voluntarily chosen. Such sectarian identity might be Buddhist, Christian, or any of the religious movements that originated within the Chinese cultural sphere.

Some sectarian religious movements, such as Chan Buddhism (Chinese Zen) may endure for centuries, and become regulated by the state. Others are more ephemeral, such as the family of Buddhist movements lumped together under the name of White Lotus. These were loosely inspired by the vegetarian, millennarian, syncretistic religion of Manichaeism, which survived in China--and assimilated to Chinese culture--a full thousand years after it had disappeared in the West. The White Lotus sects tended to be suppressed by the state, but passed on certain influences to later groups such as the Hsien Tien sects.

Philip Clart (link below) gives the following summary of I-kuan Tao's history:

"Also called T'ien-tao ("Way of Heaven"). Founded in 1930 by the "eighteenth patriarch" Chang T'ien-jan (1889-1947) in the city of Chi-nan, the capital of Shantung province, the sect in 1934 moved its centre of activity to T'ien-chin and from there spread rapidly all over mainland China. After Chang T'ien-jan's death in 1947, the sect's nominal leadership passed into the hands of Chang's second wife Madame Sun Hui-ming. Effectively, however, the sect split up into a number of separate branches (usually said to be eighteen) that continued to develop more or less independently. There thus exists today no independent leadership for the sect, which has become a family of closely related yet autonomous branch associations."

Chang Pei-Cheng brought I-Kuan Tao to Taiwan in 1947. Today the sect claims 50,000 worship groups (30,000 in Taiwan) and supports several schools including Sung Nien University (Taiwan). Its members operate many of Taiwan's vegetarian restaurants.

Practices

The "five ethics" and "eight virtues" (from Confucianism)

Vegetarianism, and abstinence from alcohol (as in Chinese Buddhism)

Initiation into "Tao" (analogous to Buddha Nature in Chan)

Chanting scriptures (as in all Chinese religious movements)

Criticisms

With their uniforms of blue slacks / skirts and white shirts, coupled with their eagerness to share their faith, followers of I-Kuan Tao may give the impression of being China's answer to Mormonism. Those who would prefer not to be converted may agonize over the involvement of an enthusiastic family member. (Vegetarianism is a typical source of conflict.)

The fact that I-kuan Tao is a secret society has exposed it to charges that its leaders exploit their followers financially or even sexually.

In addition, governments such as the People's Republic of China fear secret societies and unrecognized religions in general, for their potential to organize people independently of state oversight.

Links

World I-Kuan Tao Headquarters

From the Los Angeles hall

History of Hsien Tien Dao, by Philip Clart

http://www.geocities.com/athens/ithaca/4886/with001.htm

• Religion in China