Attaining the Dao: An analysis of the conversion experiences of adherents of Yiguan Dao

Yi-guan Dao is one of the most popular examples of self-consciously syncretistic movements involving three Chinese religions: Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. It has become one of the largest religious movements among the Chinese in just a few decades. Although the study of Yi-guan Dao is growing, the socio-cultural significance of the popularity of Yi-guan Dao and its challenge to Christianity are still largely unexplored. Therefore, this research is an attempt to study the experiential dimension of Yi-guan Dao in order to discover why Yi-guan Dao is attractive to Chinese people. The findings of this research give readers a glimpse of the deeper socio-cultural structure of Chinese religiosity and provide some insights for the Chinese churches to reflect on with respect to their theories and practices of contextualization and evangelism. The central concern of this research is: How do adherents of Yi-guan Dao understand their conversion experiences and the significance of Yi-guan Dao teaching and practice for their lives? Combining study of available published literature and my own ethnographic fieldwork of a temple in New York City, I employ an interdisciplinary approach to Yi-guan Dao by examining its doctrines, rituals, and symbolism as well as the experiential discourses of the respondents. The theoretical framework of this research is drawn from Dawson's detailed case study approach, focusing on a group of believers within a temple as the immediate context, and Harding's insight on the recruiting rhetoric which views conversion as acquiring a religious language. By examining when and how a listener of religious language becomes a speaker through analyzing the conversion narratives of these respondents, I develop a model of conversion to Yi-guan Dao as a process of "self-persuasion spiral." That is, these respondents chose to believe Yi-guan Dao for reasons of psychological or spiritual satisfaction more than for reasons of rationality. In addition, this research also found that Yi-guan Dao seems to be able to grow, especially among the Chinese diaspora, according to Stark's ten propositions. Finally, some missiological implications and theological reflections on the construction of a Chinese theology are provided. Several suggestions for further research are also provided.