In his 'Gnosis on the Silk Road', author Hans-Joachim Klimkeit introduces the founder of Manichaeism [Mani: 216-276] as the only gnostic system that became a broad historical force. To tie in with the past few blogs and lectures, Manichaeism in "Central Asia came to overshadow the Syrian Church of Nestorian persuasion and to rival Buddhism". Mani's method was syncretistic, but his system was on the contrary the most monumental single embodiment of the gnostic religions principle, with doctrincal and mythological representation included elements of older religions were consciously employed."
What all this means is that Mani was inspired to borrow aspects from the religions that he grew up around (Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam and Zoroastrianism) and combine them to make a sort of hybrid, picking and choosing the elements that intrigued him the most, making it a religion completely unique to his personal beliefs.
In The Cologne Mani Codex, we find an autobiography of Mani's life. An interesting aspect of the CMC that is brought up by Ellen Bradshaw Aitkens, is that it contains a running title 'Concerning the Origins of His Body', is said to have a double meaning refering both to the story of Mani's existence and to the origin of the religious movement he founded. The CMC is mostly a set of memoirs of Mani's words and deeds.
Now that I have a simple base of what we're focusing on, I want to analyze the process that Mani took in forming this new religious philosophy. Manachaeism claims to present the complete version of the teachings that were corrupted by followers of its predecessors in the other religions. Mani attempt at syncretism is clearly his own personal attempt to reconcile the disparate or contrary beliefs of the religions around him. While Jonas beliefs that 'the heart of Manichaeism was Mani's own speculative version of the gnostic myth of cosmic exile and salvation,' the fact that Mani's teaching were developed further after his death and elaborated and applied in various ways demonstrates to me a tendency towards personal preference. What I mean is that while Mani went about melding in practices of various religious schools of thought to form what HE believed to be the perfected religion, his followers were witness to this attempt and continued the tradition of searching for perfection after his death. Even if the various elaborations were mostly unified, it still shows that by teaching his followers that his religion was searching to perfect the errors of the past, they too wanted to search for perfection. This forced the religion into an everchanging system that was always evolving. Whether this was a good or bad thing is up for debate, but it could have very well led to the slow demise of the religion.
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Your suggestion about how the demise of Manichaeism came about is quite intriguiing...this is an interesting notion that seems plausible...reflecting on the readings i do remember (possibly incorrectly) reading about Mani's prophecy for a specific year wherein all those who were sinful would be banished to hell, some would turn into angels, and others stand by the side of Jesus...this obviously did not occur and this event as well could have contributed to the death of Manichaeism
ReplyDeleteLike Aldajani said, your theory about the tradition's demise is an interesting one. Even though most religious traditions have changed drastically over the decades/centuries and not died out, it is easy to see its weakness in its attempt to reach out to so many different traditions yet still maintain its central tenets. Perhaps its liberal, philosophical interpretations of Buddhist and Christian terminology became too far-fetched for those people "on the ground," as it was too complicated to be utilized in a practical manner. (Well, as "practical" as any gnostic tradition could be.)
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteWell, I don't know what led to the demise of Manichaeism. But, the Prophet Mani deliberately borrowed concepts, symbols, and myths from Christianity, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism. The reasons why he chose the syncretistic method is very interesting to study. I find it difficult, however, to agree with you that he aimed to improve or refine any of these traditions. Mani did not start as a Christian, Buddhist, or a Zoroastrian. Thus, his religion cannot be considered a heresy or an attemp to perfect any of these traditions. Borrowing from various religions, Mani proclaimed a unique religion that was different from the sum of its parts.