Matteo Ricci (32 page)

12. FR, book IV, ch. XV, pp. 175–76.

13. See chapter 6 (“Doing Sums with Brush and Paper”).

14. Li Zhizao’s opinions of Ricci are taken from his prefaces to Ricci’s “The Chapters of an extraordinary Man” and other works by the Jesuit. Cf. W.J. Peterson, “Why Did They Become Christians? . . . ,” in Charles E. Ronan and Bonnie B.C. Oh (eds.), op. cit., pp. 138–42.

15. FR, book IV, ch. XV, p. 178.

v

Beijing, 1602–1603

There was something undefined and complete, coming into existence before Heaven and Earth. How still it was and formless, standing alone, and undergoing no change, reaching everywhere and in no danger (of being exhausted)! It may be regarded as the Mother of all things. I do not know its name, and I give it the designation of the Tao (the Way or Course).

—
Tao Te Ching
(25)
1

Every state or country has [its own] lord. Is it possible that only the universe does not have a lord?

—Matteo Ricci, introduction to
The True
Meaning of the Lord of Heaven
2

The Burning of “Idols” and Books, and
the Fourth Edition of the Map of the World

Having finally settled in Beijing, the long-awaited goal of his wanderings on Chinese soil, Ricci resumed the work of evangelization, determined now to secure the results that he felt he deserved after so many years of effort, not least in the strength of the imperial protection he enjoyed. Diego de Pantoja had now mastered Mandarin Chinese and was able to talk to the literati on an equal footing, thus providing real assistance despite the somewhat strained relations between the two Jesuits due to their very different personalities.
3

For all of Ricci’s commitment, however, the mandarins who listened to his words and read his works with interest were seldom persuaded to adopt the Catholic faith. The obstacles were many. Christianity accepted no compromise and put forward absolute truths and dogmas, whereas the Chinese view—expressed by the monk Daguan, better known as “Complete Enlightenment”—was that “there are a thousand and ten thousand ways to reach the truth.”
4
Accustomed to the coexistence of different religions as something completely natural and having little inclination toward exclusive choices, the Chinese intellectuals would have accepted the religion presented by Ricci more readily if they had been able to consider it on the same level as Buddhism and Taoism.

Another obstacle to spreading the Gospel among the
shidafu
was the well-known problem of polygamy, which Ricci called a “chain difficult to break,” a way of life deeply rooted in society that still prevented the conversion of Qu Taisu and Li Zhizao. Neither was yet capable of making such a drastic choice entailing painful sacrifices and a break with the laws and customs of their land.

As the missionaries working primarily among the poorer and hence necessarily monogamous classes through the other Chinese residences founded by Ricci, Niccolò Longobardo in Shaozhou, João Soerio in Nanchang, and João da Rocha in Nanjing all realized through their everyday experience that the work of evangelization proved no simpler where the problem of polygamy did not arise.

For the Chinese peasants, the Christian religion was a form of devotion steeped in magic, as was the case also in Europe, where the Virgin Mary and the saints were worshiped as miracle-working dispensers of grace and favor. They converted only when convinced that the Western religion was more effective than the traditional cults or because the missionaries appeared more charitable than the Buddhist and Taoist monks. Christening did not prevent them, however, from remaining strongly attached to the forms of worship and the protecting spirits whose aid they had always called upon. The missionaries tried to put a stop to this by asking them to burn the effigies of the various local divinities they kept in their homes, but not always with success. During a period of drought in Shaozhou, as Longobardo informed Ricci in a report, the converted peasants joined all the others in turning to traditional gods like the Buddhist divinity Guanyin. Given the poor results, a fortune-teller proclaimed that the goddess was offended and was in pain from the wounds on her back inflicted by the Jesuits in burning her effigies. When the rain did finally fall, however, the three hundred converts of Shaozhou went back to destroying their pagan idols in order to keep the Western priests happy.

Ricci also went occasionally with Pantoja to preach among the poorer classes living on the outskirts of the city. When his work proved successful, the newly baptized converts handed over whole boxes full of idols for destruction, as he reported with some satisfaction in letters to Rome. It was, however, above all among the
shidafu
that Ricci and his brethren sought proselytes in Beijing. The first in the capital were the emperor’s brother-in-law, two sons of the court physician, both of whom qualified as
xiucai
or “budding talents,” a schoolmaster, a former governor, and a painter specializing in religious images of Buddha, who agreed to burn all his works after baptism. The conversion of the
shidafu
Li Yingshi was a very difficult process. Having fought in the war against Japan and been awarded a high rank in the Imperial Guard as a right to be handed down to his heirs in perpetuity, he lived on this pension in Beijing with his family and was a follower of the religion combining Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. He was also a renowned astrologer and expert in
feng shui
(geomancy), called in for advice on choosing sites for houses and tombs and to tell the future. Li Yingshi had studied for a long time in order to attain his acknowledged degree of mastery and had a large library of specialized texts, mostly in manuscript form and including works on mathematics, another of his great interests.

This intellectual “of very lively intellect”
5
delighted in studying mathematics and geometry and persuaded Ricci to work with him on a new version of his map of the world, as the third edition proved so popular that the two series of wood blocks, both the originals and the ones produced by the printers, were not enough to meet the demand. This fourth edition, two copies of which have survived,
6
was entitled
Liangyi xuanlan tu
, or “mysterious visual map of the two forms,” namely the earth and the heavens. Printed in January 1603 and divided into eight panels, it was larger but substantially identical to the previous one, the only change in content being the addition of two spheres to the diagram of the Ptolemaic universe: the tenth, or
primum mobile
, and the eleventh, the dwelling of the Lord of Heaven, with the saints and angels of paradise. Ricci wrote a new preface, as did five of his scholarly friends, including Feng Yingjing, who sent these words from prison: “Many are those who will see this Map in China. Some will get from it the pleasure of traveling while reclining at their ease [in their rooms]; others [seeing it] will enlarge their administrative plans; others [seeing the great size of other countries] will rid themselves of petty sentiments of excessive provincialism; still others will thrust away vain ideas of worthless gossip.”
7

After collaborating with Ricci fruitfully on the map of the world, Li Yingshi was subjected to the customary religious indoctrination and was won over by the Jesuit’s scholarly arguments to the point of considering the possibility of conversion. When he realized that this would entail repudiating the knowledge that constituted the basis of his profession and his reputation, however, he was assailed by doubts. How could the beliefs that had enabled him to make correct predictions on so many occasions possibly be false? Ricci succeeded in convincing him, however, and the scholar was baptized with the name of Paul. As final proof of his devotion and as an example to the others, the new convert agreed to destroy his entire library in public on a bonfire that burned for three days.

“Paul Li” was followed in his conversion by all the members of his family and his household. One servant cut off a finger with an ax to show his determination not to become a Christian, but he was forced to yield to the master’s orders. A total of seventy converts was reached in Beijing in just over two years.

Anti-Buddhist Persecution

As noted above, one of the greatest obstacles to the work of proselytism was the popularity of Buddhism, the religion with the most followers, which the missionaries loathed and branded as idolatry inspired by the devil. Buddhism had already been present in China for more than fourteen centuries when Ricci arrived there. Its period of greatest success was during the Tang dynasty at the end of the sixth century, when it nearly became the state religion due to the support of the empress Wu. The subsequent persecution of foreign cults in the eighth and ninth centuries reduced its influence and reasserted the supremacy of Confucianism. Buddhism had, however, evolved in typically Chinese forms and penetrated deeply into the culture. Some elements of its philosophy were even incorporated into Neo-Confucianism.

Even though the government exercised strict control over the construction of new temples and the recruitment of monks, Buddhism had a following in the population that could scarcely be challenged. There were about one thousand Buddhist temples in Beijing alone, and anyone entering was deeply impressed by the teeming crowds of devout believers and the imposing statues of the seated or reclining Buddha, his face illuminated by a faint smile of serene reflection. The believers burned bundles of incense in great bronze braziers emitting dense clouds of perfumed smoke and knelt down in prayer before the statues, bowing their forehead to the ground three times.

While most of the literati despised the monks, many of them knew and appreciated the Buddhist philosophy. Wanli was known to delight in reading Buddhist and Taoist writings and to have been generous in financing the construction of new temples in Beijing together with the empress mother.
8
The empress consort Wang made no secret of her sympathies for the monk Daguan, treating a robe of his in her possession as a holy relic, and many concubines followed the teachings of the bonze Hanshan.

Even though the most authoritative monks thus enjoyed a certain degree of influence at the court, none of them had permission to enter the Imperial City freely, unlike the Jesuits, who were very glad of this privilege. The government’s tolerance of religious practices and their underlying doctrines was in fact limited and circumspect, and the emperor was periodically forced to take a stand so as to forestall any attempt on the part of Buddhist sympathizers to challenge the supremacy of Confucianism and its political role in ensuring the stability of the empire. A decree issued by Wanli ten years earlier, in response to recommendations put forward by the minister of rites, prohibited the use of quotations from Buddhist and Taoist writings in all the imperial schools so as to reassert the superiority of Confucianism.
9

As everyone was well aware, Ricci’s attitude toward Buddhism was clear and uncompromising. The missionary regarded it simply as a form of idolatry and took every opportunity to manifest his contempt for the monks with no sign of the tolerance he could display in other circumstances. On realizing the hatred felt toward them by the foreign priests, the Buddhists repaid them in the same coin, not least because they feared that the Jesuits might succeed in converting the emperor and turning him against their religion. Given the circumstances, it was only a matter of time before the hostility of the Buddhists and of the
guan
opposed to the Jesuits’ presence in Beijing began to manifest itself.

The mandarin Huang Hui—a member of the Hanlin Academy, expert calligrapher, renowned poet, and tutor of the emperor’s firstborn son—secured an invitation to a banquet in order to meet Ricci and obtained a copy of the catechism, which was already circulating in manuscript form, in order to read it together with another Buddhist sympathizer. They noted their criticisms in the margins and sent it to the missionaries. The monk Daguan invited Ricci to his home shortly afterward, but the Jesuit declined, having no wish to be involved in another argument like the one at the banquet in Nanjing many years earlier.

The two episodes alarmed Ricci, not least because it was rumored among those in the know that a group of literati were about to send a memorial attacking the missionaries to the court and that Li Dai, regarded by the Jesuits as a friend, had adopted a hostile stance. Other and more serious events soon monopolized attention in the capital, however, completely overshadowing the problems caused by the presence of the Western missionaries.

The first episode, which was the talk of the town in 1602, was the condemnation and suicide of Li Zhi, the philosopher and Buddhist sympathizer whom Ricci had met in Nanjing and in Jining and who had complimented the Jesuit on his treatise on friendship. Li Zhi’s writings were discussed for their veiled criticisms of the state philosophy, but his latest work
Cangshu
, the “Book to Be Hidden,” published a year before Ricci’s arrival in Beijing, caused outcry by bringing to light the ideas of unorthodox intellectuals who had adopted an anti-Confucian stance. The arrival at the court of a memorial containing detailed charges against the troublesome intellectual obliged the emperor to recall him to Beijing and have him imprisoned. The 75-year-old philosopher cut his throat with a razor before the trial and died in his cell after two days of agony.

In the wake of this tragic event, the minister of rites Feng Qi, a good friend of the Jesuits, wrote a memorial attacking Buddhism and issued a decree prohibiting the citation of Buddhist works in the schools, a provision already taken in the past. Students disobeying this order would not be admitted to the imperial examinations, and officials manifesting Buddhist sympathies would lose their positions. The situation flared up again in December 1603, when an anonymous pamphlet was found on the doorsteps of the most important dignitaries in Beijing one morning at dawn. The “Discussion of the Danger of a Succession to the Throne” claimed that the emperor, having been forced to designate his firstborn son as heir against his wishes, intended to go back on this and alter the succession in favor of the third-born. As this was a very thorny subject that had already led to a clash between Wanli and the court mandarins, none of the
guan
wanted to see it raised again with the risking of disturbing the delicate balance of power established in the Forbidden City. The author of what immediately became known as the “pamphlet of bad luck” had to be found out and punished at all costs, and a witch-hunt was soon unleashed that many took advantage of to discredit their political rivals.