Abstract

TANG, Zhejia. From Three-in-One Doctrine to the Religion of Three-in-One: Lin Chaoen's syncretic religion. Herv. teol. stud. [online]. 2023, vol.79, n.5, pp.1-6. ISSN 2072-8050.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts.v79i5.9210.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, Lin Chaoen, who was also called the 'Two heresies of Minzhong' with Li Zhi, was famous for advocating the thought of 'Three-in-One Doctrine' and establishing the Religion of Three-in-One. In the past, the study of Lin Chaoen and the Religion of Three-in-One was basically based on religious study, and his identity as a scholar was ignored. Therefore, this article mainly analyses Lin Chaoen's thought of 'Three-in-One Doctrine' from the field of philosophy and reveals the close relationship between his theory of three religions and the formation of the Religion of Three-in-One. Lin Chaoen's thought originated from Yangming's mind philosophy; thus, the emergence of the Religion of Three-in-One also means that the traditional Confucianism has the possibility of becoming a folk religion. CONTRIBUTION: This article examines Lin Chaoen's thought of 'Three-in-One Doctrine' from the perspective of philosophical theory, and reveals that the essence of his thought of 'Three-in-One Doctrine' is Yangming's mind philosophy. Moreover, this article analyses the transformation process from the thought of 'Three-in-One Doctrine' to the Religion of Three-in-One, and reveals that the Religion of Three-in-One is a new type of folk religion developed from an academic group.

Keywords : Lin Chaoen; Religion of Three-in-One; Three-in-One Doctrine; Yangming's mind philosophy; folk religion.

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