So, what is the true Zoroastrianism in history? How different is it from that described in the novel? Zoroastrianism in history originated from Manichaeism founded by Persians. Manichaeism was founded by a man named Mani in the middle of the 3rd century. Although Manichaeism has long since disappeared, it has been widely spread all over the world, especially in Europe and Asia, for more than 1000 years after its establishment. Manichaeism has the shadow of western Christianity and Persian Zoroastrianism, and is a branch of Zoroastrianism, an ancient religion.
In the process of its introduction into China, it gradually absorbed folk beliefs such as Buddhism and China Taoism, and formed its own teachings. The tenet of Manichaeism is "Two Cases of San Ji Theory". The so-called "two situations" refer to light and darkness. They believe that all light is beautiful, rational, peaceful and orderly. All darkness is vicious, ignorant, stupid and chaotic. And "San Ji" refers to the past, present and future. Founder Moni believes that at the beginning of the world, darkness and light were completely separated, and they did not invade each other.
Darkness is full of ugly and savage things, while light brings beauty and hope. But later, darkness gradually invaded the bright world, which led to the great war. Manichaeism is precisely to guide the congregation out of the dark back to the light. Mani also believes that the world will eventually be destroyed and will return to the original scene where darkness and light are distinct.
Manichaeism was introduced to China along the Silk Road in the early years of the Tang Dynasty. The earliest clear record of Manichaeism in history books is the Chronicle of the Buddha. According to records, in 694 AD, a Persian appeared in front of Wu Zetian with two scriptures and was received by Wu Zetian. This shows that Manichaeism had spread in the Tang Dynasty.
Manichaeism then ushered in its heyday in China, especially in the war to quell the Anshi Rebellion, and the Uighur army helped the court. It was under the influence of Manichaeism that Muyu Khan of Uighur was influenced. He not only converted to Manichaeism himself, but also made it the state religion. With the help of Uighurs, the Tang Dynasty had to let Manichaeism spread in China for decades.
Around 843 AD, with the decline of Uighur, the Tang Dynasty began to ban the spread of Manichaeism. A large number of temples were destroyed, scriptures were burned and congregations were slaughtered. Manichaeism had to go underground and gradually became silent. However, there are still a large number of followers of Manichaeism lurking among the people, but in order to escape the blow, they reformed Manichaeism and presented it in another religious form. During the Song Dynasty, many elites also became followers of Manichaeism. They imitated other religions, gradually converted Manichaeism into Zoroastrianism, and built temples all over the country.
These people usually live in seclusion in monasteries and practice secretly. After Zoroastrianism appeared, it not only absorbed most primitive Manichaeans, but also attracted many ordinary people who wanted to get rid of the real suffering. Because Zoroastrianism's "two-clan theory" is very popular among the people, telling them that good is light and evil is dark. As long as we follow the religious truth, light will surely overcome darkness. Therefore, at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, there were frequent peasant uprisings related to Zoroastrianism, and most of them could see the shadow of Zoroastrianism, including the White Lotus Sect, which was integrated with Maitreya Sect and White Lotus Sect, and the famous Fang La Uprising.
Fang La calls himself a "sage", which shows that he is both a military leader and a Zoroastrian leader. So when he raised his arms and shouted, "Disciples have meetings everywhere, within a few days, there will be hundreds of thousands of people, dozens of counties and counties are stuck on the road, and millions of people will be shocked in all directions." Without the Zoroastrianism background, it is unthinkable that Fang La would gather "millions of people" and occupy dozens of counties in a short time. Because of the huge uprising in Fang La, which posed an unprecedented threat to the rule of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Northern Song Dynasty government ordered the demolition of Zoroastrianism temples and the burning of Zoroastrianism scriptures, and Zoroastrianism suffered a heavy blow again.
However, because Zoroastrianism has a solid mass base and a strict organizational structure, its development momentum has been unstoppable. During the Southern Song Dynasty, another Ming uprising led by Wang Nianjing broke out. The ruler of the Southern Song Dynasty sent Liu to lead the army to suppress it, killing tens of thousands of believers who participated in the uprising. Wang Nianjing was also taken captive and escorted to the ghost town, and the uprising failed. At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, Zoroastrianism became one of the main forces of previous peasant uprisings due to the increasingly prominent social contradictions.
Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, once joined Zoroastrianism, which also made later generations think that the origin of the name of the Ming Dynasty seems to stem from Zhu Yuanzhang's experience as a believer in Amin. But Zhu Yuanzhang happened to be the initiator of the overall decline of Zoroastrianism. After he established the Ming Dynasty and ascended the emperor's throne, he fully realized the harm of secret sects such as Zoroastrianism, ordered the banning of An Baili, Zoroastrianism and other folk sects, and wrote the prohibition of "Left Witchcraft" into Ming law, which was fixed in the form of law. Since then, Anbaili religion has been renamed and developed in the form of various tribes, while Zoroastrianism has gradually declined. By the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Zoroastrianism had completely disappeared in China. (Reference:
Edited by Song Yaohui, Tang Shi, History of Song Dynasty, etc. )