Both of these terms, Tiandao and Yiguan Dao, are used by devotees of this sect though westerners tend to know it only as Yiguan Dao. It is a relatively inconspicuous belief, as devotees rarely appear publicly to proselytise. It was formerly to be found China-wide though now it is concentrated in Taiwan and Chinese communities in south-east Asia.

The Yiguan Dao is a development from popular sectarianism of the late Ming and early Qing, which was referred to amongst other titles as Xiantian Dao [The Way of the Former Heaven]. It is one of its off-shoots, created during the 1850s and 60s by Wang Jueyi who called it Yiguan Dao. Later, during the 1920s Zhang Guangbi, also known as Zhang Tianran, reorganised the religion and brought it into the modern era. It spread over the whole of China, especially within the Japanese controlled areas during their occupation of China, which led to the assumption that with its origins back in sectarianism and the suspicion that it had collaborated with the Japanese and its Puppet Government. This forced devotees to maintain a low profile until the 1970s after which they became much more open about their beliefs and organisation. Certainly when first I went to Taiwan in the 1960s suspicion still existed that they were a secret society and to be avoided.

Zhang Tianran married twice and after the death of his first wife took a secondary one Madame Sun, who was taken as such as a result of a vision. After his death in 1947 and a struggle for power between his relict and the secondary wife, Madame Sun was declared joint Eighteenth Patriarch with her dead ‘husband’, Zhang Tianran. Images of both Zhang and Madame Sun are revered on a special major altar in the cult centre near Nanhua. She is said to be an incarnation of a bodhisattva named Yuehui Pusa, with her image revered on altars in Yiguan Dao temples.

The religion unites elements from Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Christianity and Islam, with the ultimate aim for devotees of achieving Nirvana and thus escaping from the cycle of death and rebirth. It is a mutually inclusive concept, with Moslems and Christians, Buddhists and Daoists attending their own places of worship as well as seeking salvation through the guidance of the Yiguan Dao.

The primary sectarian goddess is Wuji Laomu, the Venerable Mother without Bounds or the Old Matriarch without Bounds, also known informally as Laomu . Her images vary from temple to temple, though the basic form is that of an elderly matron, sitting, calm and benign. The variations include a flat-topped crown with a bead screen before the eyes to her white hair drawn up into a bun on top of her head and encircled by a circlet of gold; sitting on a throne or cross-legged on a lotus; holding a ruyi sceptre in her left hand and a gnarled dragon staff in her right to her holding on the palms of her upturned hands a round mass containing yin and yang. Yiguan Dao has created a new character for Mother, mu to bring home the genderless concept of the deityThe Venerable Mother, who is also known as Mingming Shangdi, has sought to save mankind from approaching catastrophe through the preaching and guidance of several Master [patriarchs] including Mile Fo, the Buddha of the Future.

The Venerable Mother is unique to the Yiguan Dao. She existed before the creation of the Universe and all other universes, and has controlled the development of all creations, ordering their rise and fall, aeon after aeon. She is the origin of everything and regards mankind as her closest and dearest, requiring salvation despite their own foolish ways.

There is a possibility that there is a confusion between Laomu and the orthodox Daoist goddess of creation, Wuji Shengmu, who is better known as either Xi Wangmu or Yaochi Jinmu. Xi Wangmu has been referred to in Fukienese and Chaozhou communities in South-east Asia by, amongst her many titles, Wuji Laomu, Wuji Wusheng Laomu and Yaochi Laomu. When devotees of the Yiguan Dao have been asked about such a possibility the majority have stoutly denied it though a few have admitted that there just might be some connection.

Scriptures have been revealed to believers through sand-table writing in which mankind is reminded of their peril and that following the way of the Yiguan Dao will provide their salvation. In fact, the whole be all and end all of the sect is to bring salvation to all mankind. Devotees practise a variety of traditional religious exercises and use a characteristic vocabulary with the initial aim of being initiated into the sect and having their names expunged from the register of the Underworld Courts.

A large Yiguan Dao complex at Yushan, between Tainan and the foothills at Chiahsien, in which there are a number of altar halls contains a number of images, including that of Yuehui Pusa. Though there are elements of Islam and Christianity in the beliefs of Yiguan Dao the other major deity on their altars is Mile Fo, the Buddha of the Future. The main altar in the main hall of the sect religious centre has an image of Laomu in place of honour with an image of Laozi, the putative founder of religious Daoism immediately before her, flanked by Confucius on his left hand and the Buddha, Sakyamuni, on his right. Two side altars have images of Guan Gong and Lü Dongbin stage left and right respectively. Images of Jigong Huo Fo is also a common deity represented on side altars within Yiguan Dao temples. All are communicated with by devotees through mediums in trances, using sand table writing. All Yiguan Dao temples regularly hold spirit-writing sessions for devotees to communicate with these deities seeking advice and help.

An image of Fu Xi stands in the grounds of the present day cult centre near Nanhua in Taiwan. He was a primeval ruler and sage and one of China's ancestral culture heroes, was the first of the three emperors of the legendary period, the so-called founder of China, credited with the establishment of kingly rule, of marriage laws, and the computation of time by inventing a form of calendar using a knotted cord. The Eight Trigrams [the bagua ] are attributed to him as well as the development of a system of fortune telling using these trigrams which has governed the lives of a great many Chinese ever since. He planned and established the basis for social order; he taught the people to hunt and fish [he invented the fish net having watched spiders]; he taught them to smelt iron and herd livestock, and invented silk thread and musical instruments. He is also said to have taught people how to cook food. He is regarded as one of the patriarchs of the Yiguan Dao.