#manichaean

[baebeylik]

Psalm of Σαρακωτώυ from the Manichaean Psalms. Subachmimic (Coptic dialect). 400 CE.

Chester Beatty Collection.

[leroibobo]

other than china proper, we can find some of the most remnants of manichaeism's heyday across territories of the former uyghur khagnate, where it was the state religion throughout its existence from 744 to 840. it maintained a significant presence until uyghur sultan satuq bughra khan became the first turkic ruler to convert to islam in 934.

this is one of a number of fragments from various manichaean books and temples dating to the 8th-9th century that were found near ruins in turpan and gaochang. all are written in the sogdian language.

[santmat]

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[spiritualawakeningradio]

"Those who understand can see the two aspects, the two seeds of being: the heavenly soul and the sacred spirit. The human being and the Spirit come from one sacred root. The Spirit and heavenly soul create the true human being." (The Sutra of Origins, Da Qin Scripture of China)

[tetrachromate]

gift art for @/alchemicalopu / psamtik on twitter of their sona Kavad converting mine to Manichaeism (meownichaeism), in the tarim basin sometime in the 10th century

[henrydoeslanguages]

im filling the dead-language void created by the end of sem by learning manichaean sogdian im such a loser this is pretty cool

[leroibobo]

cao'an (thatched hermitage) and its manichaean remnants in jinjiang, fujian, china. though cao'an is on its surface not too different from other buddist temples, it was also manichaean, and may still be manichaean in secret. it's also one of the last standing historical manichaean places of worship in the world. this place has quite the history, so i placed it under a read more:

manichaeism is a former world religion of babylonian origin, reaching as far west as the roman empire and as far east as han china at its greatest extent. it combines elements of several other prominent religions and philosophies - the most notable factor of this is that it reveres founder mani as the final prophet in a line consisting of zoroaster, the gautama buddha, and jesus christ. it went mostly extinct due to persecution of followers throughout its multi-continent laity. manichaean places of worship were either entirely destroyed or appropriated in other parts of the world. it lasted much longer in china (until ming dynasty times) and still exists in some parts of fujian and zhejiang. these believers prefer to remain private about their current practice. what outsiders know about the religion is solely through historical records; because of its comparative longevity in china, many of those records come from there.

manichaeans tended to draw more from the religious/philosophical influences on manichaeism that were most familiar to them. (for example, while manichaeism in jerusalem may have looked more abrahamic, manichaeism in istakhr may have looked more zoroastrian.) in china, manichaeism assimilated to both buddhism and taoism; in the former case, much of it was adapted to be stylistically buddhist, and mani received the title of "buddha of light" and a life story resembling the gautama buddha's.

cao'an was constructed during the song dynasty era (specifically in the 960s), when persecution against manichaeans had been ongoing from emperor wuzong of tang's suppression of all foreign religions. (the same policies had affected zoroastrians, eastern syriac christians, and buddhists, but continued for manichaeans after.) at this time, many manichaean temples had buddhist or taoist affiliations, or disguised themselves as buddhist or taoist only. it became officially buddhist after manichaeism was banned in 1368. since abandoned, it was revived for explicit buddhist usage for a short period in the early 20th century. it's preserved as a cultural monument today.

cao'an has managed to preserve remnants of its manichaean affiliations. one is that, instead of a nianfo phrase usually seen in chinese buddhist temples, an inscription on a nearby stone dating to the 15th century reminded worshippers of "purity, light, power, and wisdom". this mantra is an adaption of manichaean cosmology in chinese manichaeism. the original stone was destroyed during the cultural revolution but the phrase was re-inscribed on another after. another is a statue that seems to portray the buddha, but is thought to actually portray mani. unlike other portrayals of the buddha, this one has long, straight hair which is worn down, different facial features and hand/head postures, and, at one point, facial hair. (this was filed off in the early 20th century by a buddhist monk to make him look more like the buddha.) it's also consistent with other portrayals of mani in chinese manichaean art.

[santmat]

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