Manichaeism

=== Syncretism and translation ===
Manichaeism claimed to present the complete version of teachings that were corrupted and misinterpreted by the followers of its predecessors [[Adam]], [[Abraham]], [[Noah]],<ref name="Turner-1993" /> Zoroaster, the Buddha, and Jesus.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Carrasco |first1=David |title=Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions |last2=Warmind |first2=Morten |last3=Hawley |first3=John Stratton |last4=Reynolds |first4=Frank |last5=Giarardot |first5=Norman |last6=Neusner |first6=Jacob |last7=Pelikan |first7=Jaroslav |last8=Campo |first8=Juan |last9=Penner |first9=Hans |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]] |editor=[[Wendy Doniger]] |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-87779-044-0 |location=United States |page=689 |language=en |author-link=David Carrasco |author-link4=Frank Reynolds (academic) |author-link6=Jacob Neusner |author-link7=Jaroslav Pelikan}}</ref> Accordingly, as it spread, it adapted new deities from other religions into forms it could use for its scriptures. Its original [[Eastern Middle Aramaic]] texts already contained stories of Jesus.

When they moved eastward and were translated into Iranian languages, the names of the Manichaean deities (or angels) were often transformed into the names of Zoroastrian [[yazata]]s. Thus ''Abbā ḏəRabbūṯā'' ("The Father of Greatness", the highest Manichaean deity of Light), in [[Middle Persian]] texts might either be translated literally as ''pīd ī wuzurgīh'', or substituted with the name of the deity ''[[Zurvan|Zurwān]]''.

Similarly, the Manichaean primal figure [[Adam Kadmon#In Manichaeism|''Nāšā Qaḏmāyā'']] "The Original Man" was rendered ''Ohrmazd Bay'' after the Zoroastrian god [[Ahura Mazda|Ohrmazd]]. This process continued in Manichaeism's meeting with [[Chinese Buddhism]], where, for example, the original Aramaic {{lang|arc|קריא}} ''qaryā'' (the "call" from the World of Light to those seeking rescue from the World of Darkness) is identified in the Chinese-language scriptures with [[Guanyin]] ({{script|Hant|觀音}} or [[Avalokiteśvara]] in Sanskrit, literally, "watching/perceiving sounds [of the world]", the [[bodhisattva]] of Compassion).{{citation needed|date=September 2017}}

Manichaeism influenced some writing and traditions of [[proto-orthodox Christianity|proto-orthodox]] and other forms of Christianity, as well as doing the same for branches of [[Zoroastrianism]], [[Judaism]], [[Buddhism]], and [[Islam]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hopkins |first=Keith |title=A World Full of Gods: The Strange Triumph of Christianity |date=July 2001 |publisher=[[Plume (publisher)|Plume]] |isbn=0-452-28261-6 |location=New York |page=245 |oclc=47286228}}</ref>