Xiantiandao
The Way of Former Heaven, or Hsien-t'ien tao or Xian Tian Tao (先天道) encompasses five religious groups of Chinese origin. They claim to strive for unification of Christianity, Islam, Confucianism Taoism and Buddhism. They were violently suppressed by the People's Republic of China. The sum of adherents of these groups possibly exceeded 5 millions in 1947.
The sectarian can be traced up to Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). It is usually refered as White Lotus or 'Motherist' or 'Maternist sectarianism'. The term White Lotus religion (Bai Lian Jiao) has a negative meaning in Taiwan and is associated with secret, illegal, rebellious sects. Xian Tian Tao doctrine believes the creator the universe as Wu Sheng Lao Mu 無生老中 (The Unborn or Venerable Mother) which created all live beings, 9.6 billion in total. These children went astray and ended up in the earthly world where they forgot their divine origin. The wheel of reincarnation started and the return to the heaven was no longer possible. For this reason, the merciful Venerable Mother sent a range envoys to bring Her children back to Heaven. The Dipankara (or Dipamkara) Buddha 燃燈佛 (Ran Teng Fo) saved 200 millions of suffering children as the first salvage. Sakyamuni or Gautama Buddha afterwards saved another 200 millions. The remaining 9.2 billion live beings will be saved by the Buddha of the future, Maitreya Buddha. See Three periods according to historical Buddha's passing.
The founder of Xian Tian Dao is Huang Dehui 黃德輝 (1624-1690). Both I Kuan Tao and Xian Tian Tao considered him as the 9th patriarch. Some of the teachings are derived from Luo Sect 羅教 with founder Luo Qing 羅清 (1442-1527). Huang Dehui adopt him as his teacher saying that a mandate was transferred to him by the spirit. The patriarch lineage of Xian Tian Tao continued for 4 more generations until the 13th patriarch around 1828. From then many sub-sects emerged including I Kuan Tao.
The groups
- I-Kuan Tao ("Way of Unity"),
- T'ung-shan She ("Society of Goodness"),
- Tien-te Sheng-chiao ("Sacred Religion of Celestial Virtue"),
- Daoyuan ("Sanctuary of the Tao"),
- Tz'u-hui Tang ("Compassion Society").