From Three-in-One Doctrine to the Religion of Three-in-One: Lin Chaoen’s syncretic religion

Abstract

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.