Chapter 16: every tradition · Chinese religion
Yiguandao (I-Kuan Tao)
Yiguandao, "the Way of Unity", teaches that the Eternal Venerable Mother (Wuji Laomu) is calling her lost children home in the last age, that the Way behind Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam is one, and that receiving it now registers a soul in heaven. Banned in Taiwan for thirty-five years and legal since 1987, it is now one of Taiwan's largest religions, organised in some eighteen lineages, each answering up its own line to Taiwan; it is not a Buddhist temple, though Maitreya and Guanyin sit on its altars. This is a public hall of the Fa Yi Chong De lineage, the one best documented in America (its Los Angeles temple in El Monte, its Flushing centre): around it are many family altars in members' homes, each a shrine room with the Mother lamp, opened by a master when a household agrees to cook no more meat. One belongs by initiation (qiudao): brought by an introducer and vouched for by a guarantor, the seeker receives the Three Treasures from a transmitting master. Many are initiated, often at first contact, and most never come back; a few go on to the two-day classes, the vows, lecturing, an altar of their own, and mastership. Everyone is lay and unpaid: masters are appointed up the lineage, not elected, and fund the hall rather than drawing a salary; no one is asked for money. The week is a Sunday class on the Tao with a short rite before the Mother lamp and a free vegetarian lunch, with incense offered morning and evening; the year is the four Grand Ceremonies to the Mother and the patriarchs' days. Men and women sit apart. Everything at the hall is vegetarian, with no alcohol or tobacco; those who take the vow of the clean mouth also give up onion, garlic and the other pungent plants, and the hall's kitchen keeps to it. How American halls set their holy days, and how many there are, is unverified.
All 80 traditions · its profile in Faiths and traditions, with how to play it and what sets its faith apart; How people feel, what every factor is.
At a glance
| Faith | Chinese religion |
|---|---|
| Its words | temple, temple, Buddha hall; the master leads the Tao meeting; the lecture; Sunday; the scriptures |
| Worship | image focus, reserved, moderate formality (0.67 of 1); seated on floor; men and women on either side |
| Music | organ discouraged; gospel organ discouraged; piano discouraged; band discouraged; brass discouraged; handbells discouraged |
| The room's sound | likes a ringing room (organ and choir) |
| Its year | yiguandao; full observance; fasts none |
| Leans | conservative on moral questions, conservative on economic ones |
| Polity | hierarchical; leaders come by appointment; property local |
| Leaders | one leader, unpaid, trained by in house; marriage any |
| Belonging | moderate commitment, none discipline, admitted by clergy |
| Giving | tithing not emphasised; collected by private, boxes |
| Way of life | alcohol abstinence, dress modest, sabbath relaxed, meat vegetarian, onion and garlic forbidden |
The week's services
| Day | Time | Service | Led by | People look for it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Every day | 6:30 am | Morning incense (incense offering, short, and plays quickly: people come 4% as often as to a main service) | the laity | expected |
| Sunday | 10:30 am | Sunday Tao meeting (in Mandarin, then vegetarian lunch, free to all, 60 minutes) | the laity | expected |
| Every day | 6:30 pm | Evening incense (incense offering, short, and plays quickly: people come 6% as often as to a main service) | the laity | expected |
- Leader: none needed: the laity lead every service, so no master is missed.
- Vegetarian lunch: after the Tao meeting on Sunday, free to all: everyone there eats, visitors too, and nobody is asked for a donation. A household sponsors each, members taking turns, giving its cost and a fifth more; with none, the congregation pays. It needs a stove and a cook from the volunteers for each 40 there (the sponsors cook too); those it can't feed go without (−0.02), and when it can't be held, or is dropped, its regulars miss it (−0.04).
- Its kitchen: without onion and garlic: meals cost 1.05× as much.
- Its table: vegetarian: meals cost 0.85× as much.
Rites
- Receiving the Tao (qiudao) (on request, +0.03 to those there, $10 from the household, asked for 0.2 times a year by a household, 90 minutes): A member brings a relative or friend to be initiated, standing as introducer, with another as guarantor: a lecturer explains why one seeks the Tao, the transmitting master invites the altar, a petition with each seeker's name and merit fee is read and burned, and the master transmits the Three Treasures (the point between the eyebrows, the five-character mantra and the hand seal), which the seeker must never reveal. Many who receive the Tao never come back; a few begin to cultivate.
Joining
- Joining: a content regular is received as a member after about 12 weeks.
- Joining age: 16.
- Kinds of belonging: cultivators (may hold office); the initiated; received by the master.
- What it means: being received is worth +0.1 to the person, +0.05 to family there, and +0.03 to everyone else at the service. It roots them: a rooted household drifts away only 0.6 times as often, and if it does fall away, it has a 25% chance of coming home at each of its great days (at most once a month) for ten years.
Giving, and what goes up
How its people give and what else comes in, as Money explains it for every faith.
- How it's given: the merit offering, by private envelopes, and boxes. With no plate passed, members give a tenth less at the boxes than they would into one, and visitors give nothing at the service. Gifts by post or in envelopes come in at the month's start.
- Tithing isn't emphasised: people give 10% less.
- Rites asked for: households book 1 rite at the prices it lists, from $10 to $10 (below), members half as often again as regulars; the fees go to the Merit fees line, in place of a flat stipend.
- Fundraisers: only the modest ones (below).
- Owed above: nothing.
The master, the staff, and who decides
- How the master comes: named from the members (Ask who'd serve): the longest-standing members are the candidates.
- Paid: unpaid.
- Who they are: trained in-house (they ask 90%); women among them (about a third); most married.
- Tenure: for life (retiring after 35 years).
- Staff it can hire or name (see Staff and volunteers):
- Lay leader (unpaid; from the members; cares for 60)
- Lecturer (jiangshi) (unpaid; from the members; cares for 25 more)
- Caretaker ($18,000–$30,000; slows the building's wear)
- Temple secretary ($20,000–$35,000; runs the office (+50 to the leader's reach, once))
- Youth director ($20,000–$40,000; up to +0.08 for households with young people)
- Its boards: the hall committee (advising, over everything).
- Renovations: The master decides, advised by the hall committee.
- New construction: The Fa Yi Chong De, Los Angeles decides, consulting the master.
- Who votes: no kind of belonging votes, so what would go to the members goes to the board.
Life together
What its Community screen offers it, with the dilemmas only its own faith or family meets; see The congregation in its community.
- Ministries of its own: Children's classes and summer camp, Dharma class (fahui), Opening family altars, Vegetarian cooking class.
- Ministries every tradition can run that it's offered: Blood drive, Food pantry, Health clinic, Preschool, Youth group.
- Fundraisers of its own: Vegetarian food fair.
- Shared fundraisers it may hold (only the modest ones): Bake sale, Car wash, Raffle, Rummage sale.
- Tenants it can take: A Masonic lodge, A scout troop, Dance classes, Parties and receptions.
- Outreach: invitation Sunday, a home scripture study (Community → Evangelism).
- Dilemmas of its own faith (besides those every congregation meets): A lamp to close, A lecturer who eats meat, Her parents object, The master's journey.
- Dilemmas its code of life brings: A raffle for the roof, A recruiter asks for the hall, Champagne at the reception.
What the building needs
- required Mother lamp altarEvery hall, public or in a home, has its altar to the Eternal Mother: the Mother lamp burning in the centre, with Maitreya Buddha.
- required kitchenThe Yiguandao (I-Kuan Tao) asks every temple for one.
- expected Incense burnerIncense is offered before the altar at every service.
- discouraged Drum kitA band and drum kit do not belong in this tradition's worship.
- discouraged Hammond organA gospel organ doesn't suit this tradition's worship.
- discouraged Upright pianoA piano doesn't suit this tradition's worship.
- discouraged Pipe organAn organ doesn't suit this tradition's worship.
What people here feel
- Architectural style: Colonial brick +0.028; Modern synagogue +0.046; Gurdwara +0.052; Japanese temple +0.056; Islamic +0.05; Shinto shrine +0.05; Chinese temple +0.044; Dravidian temple +0.038; Nagara temple +0.038; Thai temple +0.038; Jain marble +0.032; Gothic +0.026.
- Building fit: up to ±0.15 for everyone, the average fit of the characterful items in its worship rooms (the table below).
- Acoustics: it wants a ringing room, about 2.8 seconds of reverberation: stone, plaster, a high ceiling. Up to ±0.05.
- Seasonal decor: in its season, the new year couplets is worth up to ±0.027 (missing it, the minus); out of season, nothing is called for.
- The lecture lands by its topic and the tradition's leaning (below); the master's preaching adds or costs up to 0.08 more.
- The daily services move no one's satisfaction: no offering, sermon, or welcome; people come one by one, the retired twice as often, those of working age half as often on a weekday from nine to five.
How each lecture lands
The topics its leader can choose from (some are only for one faith or family), and what each is worth.
- Sanctity of Life+0.06
- Faith & Family+0.04
- Faith of Our Fathers+0.04
- Resisting Temptation+0.04
- A Clean Mouth+0.015
- Five Teachings, One Tao+0.015
- Gratitude+0.015
- Hope & Comfort+0.015
- Stewardship & Generosity+0.015
- The Mother Calls Her Children Home+0.015
- The Three Treasures+0.015
- Care for Creation-0.05
- Healing for All-0.05
- Interfaith Understanding-0.05
- Reading Scripture in Context-0.05
- Swords into Ploughshares-0.05
- Welcome the Stranger-0.05
- Racial Justice & Reconciliation-0.075
- Radical Inclusion-0.075
- Social Justice Call-0.075
Every item, for this tradition
Fit runs from −1 (jars) to +1 (just right); the building fit is the average over the characterful items in the worship rooms. An item with no character (a table, a toilet) has no fit. A rule applies wherever the item is.
Sources
- Yiguandao, Wikipedia (link)
- Yiguandao, World Religions and Spirituality Project (profile and timeline) (link)
- Derek Lin, I-Kuan Tao Glossary, Great Tao Foundation (link)
- Attend in Person, Great Tao Foundation of America (link)
- Fa Yi Chong De Taipei (Sanchong) temple rules and the order of an initiation (link)
- Kuang Ming Saint Tao Temple (Fa Yi Chong De, Los Angeles); Fa Yi Chong De Vancouver, History (link)
- Nikolas Broy et al., Maitreya's Garden in the Township, China Perspectives (link)
- Fa Yi Chong De Sydney, Four Seasons Grand Ceremonies and holy days (link)