A few years ago, I heard that the mysterious Anbalism site was discovered in Fushoushan Forest Park in Pingjiang. I've always wanted to find out. One weekend, some of our friends went to Fushou Mountain for a holiday. The next morning, I asked the local guide to take us to visit the mysterious place.
Pass through a primeval forest landscape belt with towering old trees and dense vines, follow a mysterious and deep path in the dense forest, and walk to the middle of a valley surrounded by mountains on three sides in Baishuiping, Fushou Mountain. I saw a man-made rectangular platform, about 2 to 3 meters high, with five granite statues on it.
All five statues have no heads, and the residual height is about 1.2 meters. Except for one statue that was interrupted from the neck, there was a square hole in the middle of the neck of the other four statues, about 10cm deep, which was obviously the trace of tenon nail structure, but the head had disappeared.
According to the tour guide, the head of the stone statue is painted wood carving, which is directly inserted into the hole on the stone statue. Because it has been rotting for a long time, the high platform is used for holding ceremonies.
Figure 1- granite statue in the distance
Figure 2- Close-up granite statue
Figure 3
Figure 4
There is a stone wall connected to the high platform in the northwest of the valley, and the south relies on natural ravines, which is inferred to be used for defense function. The stone wall loomed into the dense bushes. There is no road, people can't get in, there is no end in sight.
A few tens of meters southwest of Gao Tai, there is a rectangular granite water storage tank with lotus-shaped ends, which is 1.9 m long, 1. 1 m wide, 80 cm high and weighs about 1000 kg. Some local villagers think that the stone jar is a censer, but we think it is a water storage tank. There are obvious marks left by sharpening on the edge of the cylinder. If it's a censer, there should be no knife marks.
Figure 5- Water storage tank
According to Pingjiang County Records, Fushou Mountain was once the base camp of Anbaili's activities in Pingjiang and Liuyang in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, which lasted for decades. This relic of Bailian religion was found in 20 1 1, which has certain historical, artistic and scientific value.
Anbailism is a secret religious group circulated among the people since the Tang and Song Dynasties, and it is also the most complicated and mysterious religion in the history of China. According to legend, Hui Yuan (334 ~ 4 16? ) In Lushan Mountain, Tolin Temple and Liu's adherents joined the society to read Buddha and worship Maitreya Buddha, which was later regarded as a model by believers.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, the Pure Land Buddhist Association prevailed, which was often called White Lotus Society or Lotus Society. The host is both a monk and a believer at home. During the Shaoxing period of the Southern Song Dynasty (1131~162), Mao Ziyuan, a monk from Kunshan, Wujun (now Kunshan, Jiangsu), was present.
The early Anbalism worshiped Amitabha, advocated chanting and observing precepts, and stipulated that believers should not kill, steal, commit adultery, lie or drink alcohol. It calls on believers to worship their ancestors, and it is a secret group that is half monk and half vulgar. Its teachings are simple and its scriptures are easy to understand.
Since its birth, Anbalism has two kinds of characters: rebellious and kind, which are alternately displayed, so it has played two social functions. In the peaceful and prosperous times, as a supplement to the orthodox religions of Buddhism and Taoism, Anbaili religion played a role that Confucianism and Taoism could not play in the lower classes.
Whenever natural disasters or man-made disasters come one after another or social unrest, Anbalism will run counter to Buddhism and Taoism, and often become the fighting banner of peasant riots or peasant uprisings, which is also the characteristic that Anbalism is different from orthodox religion.
During the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Anbailiao organized peasant uprisings many times. It spread to the early Qing dynasty and developed into an anti-Qing secret organization, which was repeatedly suppressed by the Qing government. In the first year of Jiaqing (1796), the An Baili Rebellion shocked the ruling and opposition parties all over the country.
Then, why did Anbaili religion in Pingjiang choose to engage in activities in the deep forests of Fushou Mountain, and how did it die out later? The reason remains to be explored.