Manichaeism

=== Influences ===
{{See also|Chinese Manichaeism|Docetism}}
[[File:Sermon on Mani's Teaching of Salvation. Cathayan Manichaean silk painting, 13th-century.jpg|thumb|''[[Sermon on Mani's Teaching of Salvation]]'', 13th-century Chinese Manichaean silk painting.]]
Mani believed that the teachings of Buddha, Zoroaster,<ref name="Harari-2015">{{Cite book |last=Harari |first=Yuval Noah |title=Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind |publisher=Penguin Random House UK |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-09-959008-8 |location=London |page=247 |translator-last=Harari |translator-first=Yuval Noah |oclc=910498369 |author-link=Yuval Noah Harari |translator-last2=Purcell |translator-first2=John |translator-last3=Watzman |translator-first3=Haim |translator-link=Yuval Noah Harari |translator-link3=Haim Watzman}}</ref> and Jesus were incomplete, and that his revelations were for the [[Universalism|entire world]], calling his teachings the "Religion of Light". Manichaean writings indicate that Mani received revelations when he was twelve years old and again when he was 24, and over this period he grew dissatisfied with the [[Elcesaites]], the [[Jewish Christian]] [[Gnostic]] sect he was born into.<ref name="Reeves1996">{{cite book|first=John C. |last=Reeves |title=Heralds of That Good Realm: Syro-Mesopotamian Gnosis and Jewish Traditions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ewM1xTuRQaoC&pg=PA6 |access-date=27 August 2012 |year=1996 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|BRILL]] |isbn=978-90-04-10459-4 |pages=6–}}</ref> Some researchers also point to an important [[Jainism|Jain]] influence on Mani as extreme degrees of [[Asceticism|asceticism]] and some specific features of Jain doctrine made the influence of [[Mahāvīra (mathematician)|Mahāvīra's]] religious community more plausible than even the Buddha.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Jainism – Posadha |date=2017 |encyclopedia=Buddhism and Jainism |series=Encyclopedia of Indian Religions |page=585 |location=Dordrecht |publisher=Springer Netherlands|doi=10.1007/978-94-024-0852-2_100387 |isbn=978-94-024-0851-5 }}</ref>

Mani wore colorful clothing abnormal for the time that reminded some Romans of a stereotypical Persian [[magus]] or [[warlord]], earning him ire from the [[Greco-Roman world]] because of it.<ref name="Coyle2009">{{cite book |author=Coyle |first=John Kevin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wnFz3tI0qOwC&pg=PR13 |title=Manichaeism and Its Legacy |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-90-04-17574-7 |location=Leiden, The Netherlands |page=7 |access-date=27 August 2012}}</ref>

Mani taught how the soul of a righteous individual returns to [[Paradise]] upon dying, but "the soul of the person who persisted in things of the flesh – fornication, procreation, possessions, cultivation, harvesting, eating of meat, drinking of wine – is condemned to rebirth in a succession of bodies."<ref name="EB-2023">{{Cite web |title=Manichaeism |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Manichaeism |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |language=en}}</ref>

Mani began preaching at an early age and was possibly influenced by contemporary Babylonian-Aramaic movements such as [[Mandaeism]], Aramaic translations of [[Jewish eschatology|Jewish apocalyptic]] works similar to those found at [[Qumran]] (e.g., the [[Book of Enoch]] literature), and by the Syriac [[Dualism in cosmology|dualist]]-Gnostic writer [[Bardaisan]] (who lived a generation before Mani). With the discovery of the Mani-Codex, it also became clear that he was raised in the Jewish Christian sect of the Elcasaites and possibly influenced by their writings.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

According to biographies preserved by [[ibn al-Nadim]] and the Persian [[polymath]] [[al-Biruni]], Mani received a revelation as a youth from a spirit, whom he would later call his "Twin" ({{lang-arc|[[wikt:תאומא|תאומא]]}} {{ipa|tɑʔwmɑ}}, from which is also derived the Greek name of [[Thomas the Apostle]], ''Didymus; ''the "twin"),  ''Syzygos'' ({{lang-grc-koi|[[wikt:σύζυγος|σύζυγος]]}} "spouse, partner", in the ''[[Cologne Mani-Codex]]''), "Double," "Protective Angel," or "Divine Self." This spirit taught him wisdom that he then developed into a religion. It was his "Twin" who brought Mani to [[self-realization]]. Mani claimed to be the ''[[Paraclete]] of the Truth'' promised by Jesus in the New Testament.<ref>{{cite book |title=Mani and Augustine |first=Johannes |last=van Oort |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden, the Netherlands |date=2020 |chapter=The Paraclete Mani as the Apostle of Jesus Christ and the Origins of a New Church }}</ref>

[[File:Jesus as a Manichaean Prophet, 13th century.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.75|''[[Manichaean Painting of the Buddha Jesus]]'' depicts Jesus Christ as a Manichaean prophet. The figure can be identified as a representation of Jesus Christ by the small gold cross that sits on the red [[lotus throne]] in His left hand.]]
[[Jesus in Manichaeism|Manichaeism's views on Jesus]] are described by historians:
{{poemquote|Jesus in Manichaeism possessed three separate identities: 
(1) Jesus the Luminous, 
(2) Jesus the [[Messiah]] and 
(3) Jesus ''patibilis'' (the suffering Jesus).

(1) As Jesus the Luminous&nbsp;... his primary role was as supreme revealer and guide and it was he who woke Adam from his slumber and revealed to him the divine origins of his soul and its painful captivity by the body and mixture with matter.

(2) Jesus the Messiah was a historical being who was the prophet of the Jews and the forerunner of Mani. However, the Manichaeans believed he was wholly divine, and that he never experienced human birth, as the physical realities surrounding the notions of his conception and his birth filled the Manichaeans with horror. However, the Christian doctrine of virgin birth was also regarded as obscene. Since Jesus the Messiah was the light of the world, where was this light, they reasoned, when Jesus was in the womb of the Virgin? Jesus the Messiah, they believed, was truly born only at his baptism, as it was on that occasion that the Father openly acknowledged his sonship. The suffering, death and resurrection of this Jesus were in appearance only as they had no salvific value but were an exemplum of the suffering and eventual deliverance of the human soul and a prefiguration of Mani's own martyrdom.

(3) The pain suffered by the imprisoned Light-Particles in the whole of the visible universe, on the other hand, was real and immanent. This was symbolized by the mystic placing of the Cross whereby the wounds of the passion of our souls are set forth. On this mystical Cross of Light was suspended the Suffering Jesus (Jesus patibilis) who was the life and salvation of Man. This ''mystica crucifixio'' was present in every tree, herb, fruit, vegetable and even stones and the soil. This constant and universal suffering of the captive soul is exquisitely expressed in one of the Coptic Manichaean psalms.<ref name="SNC Lieu">{{cite book | author = Samuel N. C. Lieu | date = 1992 | title = Manichaeism in the Later Roman Empire and Medieval China | publisher = J.C.B. Mohr | pages = 161– | isbn = 978-3-16-145820-0 | oclc = 1100183055 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hmNPz9teHqUC&pg=PA161}}</ref>}}

[[Augustine of Hippo]] also noted that Mani declared himself to be an "apostle of Jesus Christ".<ref>{{cite book | editor = Boniface Ramsey | author = Saint Augustine | date = 2006 | title = The Manichean Debate, Volume 1; Volume 19 | publisher = New City Press | pages = 315– | isbn = 978-1-56548-247-0 | oclc = 552327717 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=57nFeeC3GKoC&pg=PA315}}</ref> Manichaean tradition is also noted to have claimed that Mani was the reincarnation of religious figures from previous eras such as the Buddha, [[Krishna]], and Zoroaster in addition to Jesus himself.

Academics note that much of what is known about Manichaeism comes from later 10th- and 11th-century [[Muslims|Muslim]] historians like [[al-Biruni]] and [[Ibn al-Nadim|ibn al-Nadim]] in his ''[[al-Fihrist]]''; the latter "ascribed to Mani the claim to be the Seal of the Prophets."<ref name="Sundermann-EIranica-2012">{{iranica|eschatology-ii}}</ref> However, given the Islamic milieu of [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabia]] and Persia at the time, it stands to reason that Manichaens would regularly assert in their evangelism that Mani, not [[Muhammad]], was the "Seal of the Prophets".<ref>{{cite book|last=Stroumsa |first=Guy G. |title=The Making of the Abrahamic Religions in Late Antiquity |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2015 |location=Oxford |page=95}}</ref> In reality, for Mani the metaphorical expression "Seal of Prophets" is not a reference to his finality in a long succession of prophets as it is used in Islam, but rather as final to his followers (who testify or attest to his message as a "seal").<ref>C. Colpe, "Das Siegel der Propheten: historische Beziehungen zwischen Judentum, Judenchristentum, Heidentum und frühem Islam", ''Arbeiten zur neutestamentlichen Theologie und Zeitgeschichte'', 3 (Berlin: Institut Kirche und Judentum, 1990), 227–243.</ref><ref>G. G. Stroumsa, ''The Making of the Abrahamic Religions in Late Antiquity'', Oxford Studies in the Abrahamic Religions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 68.</ref>

[[File:ManichaeanElectaeKocho10thCentury.jpg|thumb|10th century Manichaean Electae in [[Gaochang]] (Khocho), China.]]
Other sources of Mani's scripture were the Aramaic originals of the [[Book of Enoch]], [[2 Enoch]], and an otherwise unknown section of the Book of Enoch entitled ''[[The Book of Giants]]''. The latter was quoted directly and expanded upon by Mani, and became one of the original six Syriac writings of the Manichaean Church. Beside brief references by non-Manichaean authors through the centuries, no original sources of ''The Book of Giants'' (which is actually part six of the Book of Enoch) were available until the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/explore-the-archive/manuscript/1Q24-1?locale=en_US |title=The Dead Sea Scrolls – 1Q Enoch, Book of Giants |website=The Dead Sea Scrolls – 1Q Enoch, Book of Giants |language=en |access-date=7 October 2019}}</ref>

Scattered fragments of both the original Aramaic Book of Giants (which were analyzed and published by [[Józef Milik]] in 1976)<ref>J. T. Milik, ed. and trans., ''The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4'', Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976.</ref> and the Manichaean version of the same name (analyzed and published by [[Walter Bruno Henning]] in 1943)<ref name="Henning">In: Henning, W. B., ''The Book of Giants'', BSOAS, Vol. XI, Part 1, 1943, pp. 52–74.</ref> were discovered along with the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] in the [[Judaean Desert|Judaean desert]] in the 20th century and the Manichaean writings of the [[Uyghurs|Uyghur]] Manichaean kingdom in [[Turpan]]. Henning wrote in his analysis of them:

{{blockquote|It is noteworthy that Mani, who was brought up and spent most of his life in a province of the Persian empire, and whose mother belonged to a famous Parthian family, did not make any use of the Iranian mythological tradition. There can no longer be any doubt that the Iranian names of [[Sām]], [[Nariman (Shahnameh)|Narīmān]], etc., that appear in the Persian and Sogdian versions of the Book of the Giants, did not figure in the original edition, written by Mani in the Syriac language.<ref name="Henning"/>}}

By comparing the cosmology of the books of Enoch to the Book of Giants, as well as the description of the Manichaean myth, scholars have observed that the Manichaean cosmology can be described as being based, in part, on the description of the cosmology developed in detail within the Enochic literature.<ref>Reeves, John C. ''Jewish Lore in Manichaean Cosmogony: Studies in the Book of Giants Traditions'' (1992)</ref> This literature describes the being that the prophets saw in their ascent to [[Heaven]] as a king who sits on a throne at the [[Seven heavens|highest]] of the heavens. In the Manichaean description, this being, the "Great King of Honor", becomes a deity who guards the entrance to the World of Light placed at the seventh of ten heavens.<ref>See Henning, ''A Sogdian Fragment of the Manichaean Cosmogony'', BSOAS, 1948</ref> In the Aramaic Book of Enoch, the Qumran writings, overall, and in the original Syriac section of Manichaean scriptures quoted by [[Theodore bar Konai]],<ref name="Konai"/> he is called ''malkā rabbā d-iqārā'' ("the Great King of Honor").{{citation needed|date=September 2017}}

Mani was also influenced by writings of the gnostic Bardaisan (154–222 CE), who, like Mani, wrote in Syriac and presented a dualistic interpretation of the world in terms of light and darkness in combination with elements from Christianity.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ephraim |first1=Saint |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2JolCgAAQBAJ&q=Bardaisan&pg=PT250 |title=Of Mani, Marcion, and Bardaisan |last2=Press |first2=Aeterna |publisher=Aeterna Press |language=en}}</ref>

Mani was heavily inspired by Iranian Zoroastrian theology.<ref name="Harari-2015" />

[[File:Akshobya in His Eastern Paradise with Cross of Light.jpg|thumb|[[Akshobhya]] in the [[abhirati]] with the Cross of Light, a symbol of Manichaeism.]]
Noting Mani's travels to the [[Kushan Empire]] (several religious paintings in [[Bamyan]] are attributed to him) at the beginning of his proselytizing career, [[Richard Foltz]] postulates Buddhist influences in Manichaeism:

{{blockquote|Buddhist influences were significant in the formation of Mani's religious thought. The transmigration of souls became a Manichaean belief, and the quadripartite structure of the Manichaean community, divided between male and female monks (the "elect") and lay followers (the "hearers") who supported them, appears to be based on that of the Buddhist [[sangha]].<ref>[[Richard Foltz]], ''Religions of the Silk Road'', Palgrave Macmillan, 2nd edition, 2010, p. 71 {{ISBN|978-0-230-62125-1}}</ref>}}

The [[Kushan Empire|Kushan]] monk [[Lokaksema (Buddhist monk)|Lokakṣema]] began translating [[Pure Land Buddhism|Pure Land Buddhist]] texts into Chinese in the century prior to Mani arriving there, and the Chinese texts of Manichaeism are full of uniquely Buddhist terms taken directly from these Chinese Pure Land scriptures, including the term "[[pure land]]" ({{zh|c=淨土|p=jìngtǔ}}) itself.<ref>Peter Bryder, ''The Chinese Transformation of Manichaeism: A Study of Chinese Manichaean Terminology'', 1985.</ref> However, the central object of veneration in Pure Land Buddhism, [[Amitābha]], the Buddha of Infinite Light, does not appear in [[Chinese Manichaeism]], and seems to have been replaced by another deity.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lieu |first=Samuel N. C. | author-link=Samuel N. C. Lieu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yl2DteLY8jcC&q=Buddha+replaced |title=Manichaeism in Central Asia and China |date=1998 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|BRILL]] |isbn=978-90-04-10405-1 |language=en}}</ref>