Wandering between Bodhisattva and Jesus: The Change and Influence of Chongzhen's Belief

Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty spent a period studying and practicing Catholicism before finally returning to local beliefs due to various external factors. This paper makes a comprehensive use of Chinese and Western literature to verify the exact range of Emperor Chongzhen's attempt to adopt Catholicism, which lasted nearly nine years, from the fifth to the fourteenth year of Chongzhen(1632-1641). This process began with Xu Guangqi's admission to the cabinet and his reading of Catholic classics under the influence of the Jesuit missionary Johann Adam Schall. In addition to religion, these developments were also due to considerations of calendar making and military training. However, after a series of changes caused by the apportionment of "help rates" to kinsmen of the emperor, as well as the death of his son in the eleventh year of Chongzhen, his interest in Catholicism came to an end. Emperor Chongzhen's hesitation on the choice of faith is a microcosm of the religious diversity that arose in modern political life in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties; Catholicism, which entered China in the late Ming Dynasty, also became an integral part of modern Chinese faith. This paper goes on to discuss the influence of Chinese and Western literature, position differences, and other factors on the study of religious history.