nd brotherhoods arose especially in connection with the
Pure Land school and are commonly spoken of as sects. They differ from
the schools mentioned above in having more or less the character of
secret societies, sometimes merely brotherhoods like the Freemasons
but sometimes political in their aims. Among those whose tenets are
known that which has most religion and least politics in its
composition appears to be the Wu-wei-chiao,[849] founded about 1620 by
one Lo-tsu[850] who claimed to have received a revelation contained in
five books. It is strictly vegetarian and antiritualistic,
objecting to the use of images, incense and candles in worship.

There are many other sects with a political tinge. The proclivity of the
Chinese to guilds, corporations and secret societies is well known and
many of these latter have a religious basis. All such bodies are under
the ban of the Government, for they have always been suspected with more
or less justice of favouring anti-social or anti-dynastic ideas. But,
mingled with such political aspirations, there is often present the
desire for co-operation in leading privately a religious life which, if
made public, would be hampered by official restrictions. The most
celebrated of these sects is the White Lotus. Under the Yuan dynasty it
was anti-Mongol, and prepared the way for the advent of the Ming. When
the Ming dynasty in its turn became decadent, we hear again of the White
Lotus coupled with rebellion, and similarly after the Manchus had passed
their meridian, its beautiful but ill-omened name frequently appears. It
seems clear that it is an ancient and persistent society with some idea
of creating a millennium, which becomes active when the central
government is weak and corrupt. Not unlike the White Lotus is the secret
society commonly known as the Triad but called by its members the Heaven
and Earth Association. The T'ai-p'ing sect, out of which the celebrated
rebellion arose, was similar but its inspiration seems to have come from
a perversion of Christianity. The Tsai-Li sect[851] is still prevalent in
Peking, Tientsin, and the province of Shantung. I should exceed the scope
of my task if I attempted to examine these sects in detail,[852] for
their relation to Buddhism is often doubtful. Most of them combine with
it Taoist and other beliefs and some of them expect a Messiah or King of
Righteousness who is usually identified with Maitreya. It is easy to see
how at this point