Mani: Difference between revisions

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Teacher and prophet, and founder of Manichaeism.
Teacher and prophet, and founder of Manichaeism.


==From [http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/sahajhist  Saints, Sufis and Yogis]==
Mani (216-277 CE) was born in the Persian province of Babylon (now Iraq), of noble (Arsacid) birth, in a Jewish-Christian sect, the Elchasaites. He travelled widely as a physician and promulgated a syncretic view of religion that included elements of the teachings of earlier teachers, notably Zarathushtra, Buddha, Jesus, and the Jewish prophets. His travels took him throughout Persia and  Baluchistan and may have reached northern India. His missionaries introduced his teachings to the whole of the area bordering the eastern Mediterranean, into Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and into northern Arabia; then into North Africa, Armenia, Asia Minor, and even to Rome; also throughout Central Asia, into the Sogdian empire of Samarkand,  and on into western China. It even became the state religion of the Turkish Uigur kingdom, Bogu Khaghan, based in Mongolia, in the eighth century. In all, the religion of Mani (Manichaeism) lasted for a thousand years.
Bibliography:
Jes P. Asmussen, ''Manichaean literature'' (New York: Scholars' Facismiles and Reprints, 1975);
Mehmet-Ali Atac, 'Manichaeism and ancient Mesopotamian "Gnosticism"', ''Journal of Ancient Near Eastern Religions'' 5, 2006:1-39;
Jason BeDuhn, ''The Manichaean body : in discipline and ritual'' (Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000);
Jason BeDuhn, ed., ''New light on Manichaeism : papers from the Sixth International Congress on Manichaeism, organized by the International Association of Manichaean Studies'' (Leiden: Brill, 2009);
Iain Gardner and Samuel N.C.Lieu, eds., ''Manichaean texts from the Roman Empire'' (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004)
Manfred Hutter, ‘Manichaeism in the early Sasanian Empire’ ''Numen'' 40(1), 1993:2-15;
Hans-Joachim Klimkeit, ''Gnosis on the Silk Road: Gnostic texts from Central Asia'' (San Francisco: Harper, 1993);
Paul Allan Mirecki and Jason BeDun, eds., ''Emerging from darkness : studies in the recovery of Manichaean sources'' (Leiden: Brill, 1997);
David Scott, ‘Manichaeism in Bactria: political patterns and east-west paradigms’ ''Journal of Asian History'' 41(2), 2007:107-130


==From Wikipedia==
==From Wikipedia==

Latest revision as of 12:56, 23 August 2016

Teacher and prophet, and founder of Manichaeism.


From Wikipedia

Manichaeism (/ˌmænᵻˈkiːɪzəm/; in Modern Persian آیین مانی Āyin e Māni; Chinese: 摩尼教; pinyin: Móní Jiào) was a major religion that was founded by the Iranian prophet Mani (in Persian: مانی, Syriac: ܡܐܢܝ , Latin: Manichaeus or Manes; c. 216–276 AD) in the Sasanian Empire.

Manichaeism taught an elaborate dualistic cosmology describing the struggle between a good, spiritual world of light, and an evil, material world of darkness. Through an ongoing process which takes place in human history, light is gradually removed from the world of matter and returned to the world of light whence it came. Its beliefs were based on local Mesopotamian gnostic and religious movements.

Manichaeism was quickly successful and spread far through the Aramaic-Syriac speaking regions. It thrived between the third and seventh centuries, and at its height was one of the most widespread religions in the world. Manichaean churches and scriptures existed as far east as China and as far west as the Roman Empire. It was briefly the main rival to Christianity in the competition to replace classical paganism. Manichaeism survived longer in the east than in the west, and it appears to have finally faded away after the 14th century in southern China[8] contemporary to the decline in China of the Church of the East during the Ming Dynasty. While most of Manichaeism's original writings have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived.

Manichaeism

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