Triad 1. Tiandi Hui 天地會 The Hong-league or Heaven-Earth-league. A Secret Society with the Chinese in China and India

 

By G. Schlegel. Distributor: Lulu. $35.99. 414 pages. Paperback CQ. 2016 (1866).

This work, along with Stanton’s Triad Society and Essays on the Tiandi Hui or Triad Society, is published in the effort to provide material in the cross-cultural study of initiatory processes, particularly those related to Freemasonry. To those, one should also consult W. P. Morgan, Triad Societies in Hong Kong (1960), B. J. Ter Harr, Ritual and Mythology of the Chinese Triads (2000) and J. S. M. Ward and W. G. Stirling, The Hung Society or the Society of Heaven and Earth (3 volumes, 1925–1926). To those, one may include Hanegaaff’s Textbooks Introductions to Western Esotericism (2012) and the various works of René Guénon on esotericism in general, freemasonry, and the concept of Triad in particular. Those studies constitute the foundation to promote novel investigations in the field of study of Freemasonry. In this case, the enquiry is based on two esoteric societies that emerged approximatively at the same time and, within a similar societal (industrial and pre-industrial phase) evolution, the Freemasonic organization in the West and the Tiandihui in China. Such approach would parallel the call for broader themes issued by A. Prescott in his Study of Freemasonry as a new academic discipline (2003). In terms of studying rituals as functions rather than forms, the works of A. Van Gennep, Rites of passage (1909), and V. Turner, notably The forest of symbols (1967), provide a solid foundation.

Two articles have been included in the appendices, on language and on palindromes. These are preludes to further investigate the structure of Chinese language used as ciphers.

Schlegel's work contains no less than 750 Chinese characters or expressions that have been cross-checked and transliterated into pinyin and 30 illustrations that have been completely redone. All illustrations have been enhanced.

 

Table of contents

 

  • List of illustrations
  • Introduction
  • Part 1. History of the Hong league.
    • Political history of the Hong league
  • Part 2. Description of the Lodge and its appurtenances.
    • Section 1. Description of the Lodge.
    • Section 2. Instruments of the Lodge.
  • Part 3.
    • Section 1. Government of the Society.
    • Section 2. Directions
  • Part 4. Affiliation of new members.
    • Section 1. The catechism
    • Section 2. Ceremonies of affiliation.
  • Part 5. Laws and statutes of the Brotherhood.
    • Section 1. Complete code of the seventy-two articles  of law of the hong-league.
    • Section 2. The twenty-one articles of the regulations
    • Section 3. The ten prohibitory laws on appointing meetings in the hall of obedience to Hong.
  • Part 6. Secret signs of the Hong-league.
    • Section 1. Secret signs on the road and on journeys.
    • Section 2. Meeting with robbers or pirates.
    • Section 3. Questions and answers.
    • Section 4. Secret signs with tea-cups.
    • Section 5. Secret signs with wine-cups.
    • Section 6. Secret signs at the dinner-table.
    • Section 7. Secret signs on smoking tobacco or opium.
    • Section 8. Secret signs at chewing betel.
    • Section 9. Badges which the brethren keep upon the person.
    • Section 10. The original bases.
    • Section 11. List of the principal slang-expressions of the Brotherhood.
  • Annexes
  • Bibliography
  • List of illustrations
    • Figure 1. Diagram of Heaven and Earth
    • Figure 2. The tortoise of Yu
    • Figure 3. The tortoise of Yu (Numbers)
    • Figure 4. The Longma of Fuxi
    • Figure 5. Masonic Arch of Steel
    • Figure 6. Genealogical Table of the Founders of the League
    • Figure 7. Genealogical Table of the Founders of the League (Pinyin)
    • Figure 8. Grand Diploma – Purse (Jiapiao lodge)
    • Figure 9. Grand Diploma – Hong Shun Tang (Guangzhou Lodge)
    • Figure 10. Grand Diploma – Red Bill (Shandong)
    • Figure 11. Wall Announcement (Aixing)
    • Figure 12. Diploma
    • Figure 13. Circular of holding Lodge
    • Figure 14. Receipt for Contribution
    • Figure 15. Hong-cash
    • Figure 16. Liuding Amulet
    • Figure 17. Liujia Amulet
    • Figure 18. Xiu Amulet
    • Figure 19. Laozi Amulet
    • Figure 20. The grave-stone of Wan Yunlong
    • Figure 21. The porcelain censer
    • Figure 22. The Red-flower-pavilion
    • Figure 23. The Hong-gate
    • Figure 24. The Hall of Fidelity and Loyalty
    • Figure 25. The great gate of the City of Willows, or the Lodge
    • Figure 26. The West- and East-gates of the Lodge
    • Figure 27. The North- and South-gates of the Lodge
    • Figure 28. Tablets, Temple and Pagod
    • Figure 29. Standards
    • Figure 30. The flag of Benevolence and Justice
    • Figure 31. Flags of the lodge
    • Figure 32. Flags of the lodge
    • Figure 33. Flags of the lodge
    • Figure 34. Flags of the lodge
    • Figure 35. The Paper-cent-bundle