"When death approaches a Truthful One ('Elect'), teaches Mani, Primordial Man sends a Light-God in the form of a guiding Wise One, and with him three gods, and along with these the water-vessel, clothing, head-gear, crown, and garland of light. With them comes the maiden, like the soul of this Truthful One. There appears to him also the devil of avarice and lust, along with other devils. As soon as the Truthful Man sees these he calls the goddess who has assumed the form of the Wise One and the three other gods to his help, and they draw near him. As soon as the devils are aware of their presence they turn and flee. The former, however, take this Truthful One, clothe him with the crown, the garland and the robe, put the water-vessel in his hand and mount with him upon the pillars of promise to the sphere of the moon, to Primordial Man, and to Nahnaha, the Mother of the Living, to the position in which he was at first in the Paradise of Light. But his body remains lying as before in order that the sun, the moon, and the gods of Light may withdraw from it the powers, i.e., the water, the fire and the gentle breeze, and he rises to the sun and becomes a god. But the rest of his body, which is wholly darkness, is cast into hell."
In the case of Manichaeans of the lower order, described above, the same divine personages appear at his summons. " They free him also from devils, but he ceases not to be like a man in the world, who in his dreams sees frightful forms and sinks into filth and mire. In this condition he remains, until his light and his spirit are liberated and he has attained to the place of union with the Truthful, and after a long period of wandering to and fro puts on their garments."
To the sinful man, on the other hand, the divine personages appear, not to free him from the devils that are tormenting him, but rather to " overwhelm him with reproaches, to remind him of his deeds, and strikingly to convince him that he has renounced help for himself, from the side of the Truthful. Then wanders he round about in the world, unceas- ingly chased by torments, until this order of things ceases, and along with the world he is cast into hell."
There is nothing original about the eschatology of Mani, and scarcely anything Christian. We see in it a fully developed doctrine of purgatory, somewhat like the Platonic, and still more like that of the later Catholic church. Salvation consists simply in the liberation of the light from the darkness. In the case of the Elect this takes place im- mediately after death; in the case of adherents who have not practiced the prescribed forms of asceticism, it takes place only after considerable torment. In the case of the ordinary sensual man, there is no deliverance. Doubtless Mani would have held that in his case, too, l8 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
whatever particles of light may have been involved in his animal structure are liberated from the dead body.
(7.) Ethics. As regards ceremonies we find little that enlightens us in the Fihrist's account. Water (that is, water apart from the deleterious elements that have become blended with it} was regarded by Mani as one of the divine elements. The ablutions in running water mentioned above in connection with the prayers may have sustained some rela- tion to baptism, but can hardly be ascribed to Christian influence. The connection of the Manichaeans with the Mandasans, who made much of ceremonial bathing, will be considered below. It is certain that Mani's father was connected with a baptizing party, viz., the Mugtasilah. According to the Fihrist Mani was the author of an Epistle on Baptism. The question whether Mani and his followers practised water-baptism or not is by no means an easy one to solve. The passage cited by Giesseler from Augustin to prove that the " Elect" were initiated by baptism is inconclusive. Augustin acknowledges that God and the Manichasans themselves alone know what takes place in the secret meetings of the "Elect." Whatever ceremonies they performed, whether baptism or the Lord^s supper, or some other, were matters of profound secrecy, and so we need not wonder at the lack of definite information. From a passage quoted by Augustin in his report of a discussion with Felix the Manichsean, we should certainly infer that both ordinances were practised in some form by the Manichseans of the West. But Augustin himself says that Manichgeans deny the saving efficacy of baptism, maintain that it is superfluous, do not require it of those whom they win to their views, etc. It is certain, therefore, that if they practised baptism and the Lord's supper at all, they attached to it a meaning radically different from that of Augustin. It is possible that a ceremonial anointing with oil took the place of baptism. (Baur, p. 277 sq.). Augustin mentions a disgusting ceremony in which human semen was partaken of by the Elect in order to deliver the imprisoned light contained therein {^De Haeres. 46), and he calls this ceremony a sort of Eucharist. But his confessed ignorance of the doings of the " Elect " discredits in some measure this accusation.
The Filu'ist givQS us no definite information about the three signacula. The seals (not signs) of the mouth, the hand (or hands), and of the bosom. In these are contained symbolically the Manichsean moral system. In tlie book Sadder (Hyde, p. 492) we read: " It is taught [by the Manichseans] to abstain from every sin, to eliminate every sin from hand, and tongue and thought." Augustin explains the signacula more fully and re- presents the Manichaeans as attaching great importance to them: "When I name the mouth, I mean all the senses that are in the head; when I name the hand I mean every operation; when I name the bosom I mean every seminal lust."
It is confidently believed that the foregoing account of the Manichaean system, based upon the Arabic narratives preserved by the Fihrist, supplemented by the principal Eastern and Western sources, contains the essential facts with reference to this strange system of religious thought. Our next task will to be to ascertain, as j)recisely as possible, the re- lations that Manichaeism sustained to the various religious systems with which it has com- monly been associated.
CHAPTER IV.— RELATION OF MANICH^ISM TO ZOROASTRIANISM.
The very close connection of these two systems has commonly been presupposed, and is undeniable. In fact Manichaeism has frequently been represented as Zoroastrian dualism, slightly modified by contact with Christianity and other systems. No one could possibly gain even a superficial view of the two systems without being strongly impressed with their points of resemblance. A closer examination, however, will reveal points of antagonism just as striking, and will enable us to account for the fact that Mani was put to death by a INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 19 zealous Zoroastrian ruler on account of his recognized hostility to the state religion. The leading features of the Manichaean system are already before us. Instead of quoting at length from the Zend-Avesta, which is now happily accessible in an excellent English transla- tion, we may for the sake of brevity quote Tide's description of Zoroastrian dualism as a basis of comparison:' " Parsism is decidedly duanstic, not in the sense of accepting two hostile deities, for it recognizes no worship of evil beings, and teaches the adoration only of Ahura Mazda and the spirits subject to him; but in the sense of placing in hostility to each other two sharply divided kingdoms, that of light, of truth, and of purity, and that of darkness, of falsehood, and of impurity. This division is carried through the whole creation, organic and inor- ganic, material and spiritual. Above, in the highest sphere, is the domain of the undis- puted sovereignty of the All-wise God; beneath, in the lowest abyss, the kingdom of his mighty adversary; midway between the two lies this world, the theatre of the contest...This dualism further dominates the cosmogony, the cultus, and the entire view of the moral order of the world held by the Mazda worshippers. Not only does Anro-Mainyus (Ahriman) spoil by his counter-creations all the good creations of Ahura-Mazda (Ormuzd), but by slaying the protoplasts of man and beast, he brings death into the world, seduces the first pair to sin, and also brings forth noxious animals and plants. Man finds himself, in consequence, surrounded on all sides by the works of the spirits of darkness and by his hosts. It is the object of worship to secure the pious against their influence."
Let us bring in review some of the points of resemblance between the two systems. Both are in a sense dualistic. In both the kingdoms of Light and Darkness are set over against each other in the sharpest antagonism. In both we have similar emanations from these kingdoms (or kings). Yet, while in the Manichaean system the dualism is absolute and eternal, in the later Zoroastrian system (as in the Jewish and Christian doctrine of Satan), Ahriman (Satan) if not merely a fallen creature'' of Ormuzd (the good and supreme God) was at least an immeasurably inferior being. The supreme control of the universe, to which it owes its perfect order, was ascribed by Zoroastrianism to Ormuzd. The struggle between good and evil, beneficent and malevolent, was due to the opposition of the mighty, luit not almighty, Ahriman. Whatever form of Mazdeism (Zoroastrianism) we take for purposes of comparison, we are safe in saying that the Manichaean dualism was by far the more absolute.
In both systems each side of the dualism is represented by a series (or rather several ^tx\t%) oi per sotiified principles. These agree in the two systems in some particulars. Yet the variations are quite as noticeable as the agreements. There is much in common between the Manichaean and the Zoroastrian delineations of the fearful conflict between the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness, yet the beginning of the conflict is quite differently conceived of in the two systems. In Manichaeism the creation is accounted for by the conflict in which Primordial Man was beaten by the powers of Darkness and suffered the mixing of his elements with the elements of darkness. The actual world was made by the good God, or rather by his subordinates, as a means of liberating the imprisoned light.
' Outlines p/ the If isi. 0/ Religion (xZjj), p. \Ti. Cf. J. Dkrkstkt^ji., Introduciion to the Zend-Avesta, p. xliii., xliv., Ivi., Ixxii., Ixxiv. sq.; and his article in the Contejiiporary Reviexu (Oct. 1879), on " The Supreme God in the Indo-European Mythology."
2 This is confidently asserted by Kessler (Art. Mani in Herzog's RE. 2d ed.vol. IX. p. 258), and after him by Harnack, Encyclope- dia Hritannica. art. Manichseism. On the other hand, Lenormant {^Anc. Hist. II. p. 30), says: "Ahriman had been eternal in the past, he had no beKinning, and proceeded from no former being * * * ^ This being who had no beginning would come to an end. * * * Pyjl then should be finally conquered and destroyed, the creation should become as pure as on its first day, and Ahriman should disappear forever."' Such, doubtless, was the original doctrme, but the form probably in vogue in the time of Mani was more pantheistic or monotheistic, both Ormuzd and Ahriman pnjceedinp from boundless time (Z.rvan aharanii). See on this matter, Darmstetek: Introd. to the Zend-Avesta., p. Ixxii, etc., and his art. in Contcmp. Kcvieiu; and Lenormant: Anc, Hist, as above.
20 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
The creation of man is ascribed, on the other hand, to the King of Darkness (or his sub- ordinates), with a view to hindering the escape of the mingled light by diffusion thereof through propagation. Mazdeism derives the creation solely from Ormuzd, from whose hand it issued "as pure and perfect as himself" (Lenormant, Anc. Hist. II. p. 30). It was the work of Ahriman to " spoil it by his evil influence." The appellation " Maker of the material world" is constantly applied to Ormuzd in the Vendiddd and other sacred books. The most instructive Mazdean account of the creation that has come down to us is that contained in the Vendiddd, Fargard I. Ahura Mazda (Ormuzd) is represented here as naming one by one the sixteen good lands that he had created, Angra Mainyu (Ahriman) is represented as coming to each, one by one, and creating in it noxious things. Examples of these counter-creations are, the serpents, winter, venomous flies, sinful lusts, musquitos, pride, unnatural sin, burying the dead, witchcraft, the sin of unbeHef, the burning of corpses, abnormal issues in women, oppression of foreign rulers, excessive heat, etc. This jumble of physical evils and sins is characteristic of Mazdeism, According to Mani matter is inherently evil, and it only ceases to be absolutely evil by the mixture with it of the elements of the Kingdom of Light. Creation is a process forced upon the King of Light by the ravages of the King of Darkness, and is at best only par- tially good. Zoroastrianism looked upon earth, fire, water, as sacred elements, to defile which was sin of the most heinous kind. Manichaeism regarded actual fire and water as made up of a mixture of elements of light and darkness, and so, as by no means wholly pure. Manichaeans regarded earth, so far as it consisted of dead matter, with the utmost contempt. The life-giving light in it was alone thought of with respect. Zoroastrianism somewhat arbitrarily divided animals and plants between the kingdoms of Ormuzd and Ahriman; "but the idea that all material things, so far as they are material, are evil, seems never to have occurred to the early Mazdeists. Manichaeans agreed with Mazdeists in their veneration for the sun, but the principles underlying this veneration seem to have been widely different in the two cases. The most radical opposition of the two systems is seen in their views of human propagation. Mani regarded the procreation of children as ministering directly to the designs of the King of Darkness to imprison the light, and so abso- lutely condemned it. The Zend-Avesta says: [Ve?ididdd, Fargard IV.): " Verily I say unto thee, O Spitama Zarathustra; the man who has a wife is far above him who begets no sons; he who keeps a house is far above him who has none; he who has children is far above a childless man." Mani made great merit of voluntary poverty. The Zend-Avesta {ibid.) says: " He who has riches is far above him who has none." Mani forbade the use of ani- mal food as preventing the escape of the light contained in the bodies of animals. The Zend-Avesta [ibid.): " And of two men, he who fills himself with meat is filled with the good spirit much more than he who does not do so; the latter is all but dead; the former is above him by the worth of an Asperena, by the worth of a sheep, by the worth of an ox, by the worth of a man." ' The eschatology of the two systems might be shown to present just as striking con- trasts, and just as marked resemblances. In both systems the consummation of the age is effected by means of a conflagration, the aim of the conflagration in Mazdeism being the punishm^ent and the purging of wicked men, the destruction of wicked spirits, the renova- tion of the earth, and the inauguration of the sole sovereignty of Ormuzd, while in Mani- chaeism the aim of the conflagration is to liberate the portions of light which the processes of animal and vegetable growth, with the aid of sun and the moon have proved unable to liberate.
I That meat is used in the sense of flesh may be inferred from Darmsteter's comment on this passage, which he suggests may be a bit of religious polemics against Manichaeism. See his Introd. to the Zend-A vesta, p. xl. sq.
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 21 But enough has been said to make it evident that Manichaeism was by no means a slightly altered edition of Zoroastrianism. The points of similarity between the two are certainly more apparent than real, though the historical relationship can by no means be denied.
CHAPTER v.— THE RELATION OF MANICH^ISM TO THE OLD BABYLONIAN RELIGION AS SEEN IN MAND^ISM AND SABEANISM.
It would have been strange indeed if the old Babylonian religion, after dominating the minds of the inhabitants of Mesopotamia for so many centuries, had given place completely to the religion of the Medo-Persian conquerors of the country. Magism itself was a mix- ture of old Babylonian, Medic and Persian elements. But there is mucli reason for believing that the primitive Babylonian faith, in a more or less pure form, persisted until long after the time of Mani, nay, that it has maintained its ground even till the present day. The researches of Chwolson, Noldeke, Kessler and others, in the literature and history of the ]Mandaeans and the Sabeans, combined in the last case at least with accurate knowledge of old Babylonian literature and religion, have rendered it highly probable that representatives of the old Babylonian faith were numerous in Mesopotomia and the adjoining regions at •the time of Mani, and that Mani himself was more or less closely connected with it. The Mandaeans were a Gnostic sect of the Ophitic type, without Christian elements. It is the opinion of Kessler, who has devoted much attention to this sect and to the relations of occult religious matters in general in Mesopotomia, that "the source of all Gnosis, and especially the immediate source of Ophitic Gnosis, is not the doctrine of the Persian Zoroaster, not Phoenicean heathenism, not the theory and practise of Greek mysteries, but the old Baby- lonian-Chaldaic national religion, which maintained itself in Mesopotomia and Babylonia, the abode of the Ophites, Berates, Mandseans, until the post-Christian centuries, and was now opposed by the Gentiles in a mystical-ascetical form to Christianity." The close con- nection of the Mand^ans with the Ophites, and of both with the old Babylonian religion, would seem to be established beyond question. The relation of Manichaeism to Mandaeism has been by no means so clearly shown. Let us look at some of the supposed points of contact. Mani's connection with the Mugtasilah sect (or Baptizers) has already been men- tioned. Kessler seeks to identify this party with the Mandaeans, or at least to establish a community of origin and of fundamental principles in the two parties. He would connect with the old Babylonian sect, of which ceremonial baptism seems to have been a common characteristic, the Palestinian Hemero-baptists, Elkesaites, Nazareans, Ebionites, etc. There is nothing improbable about this supposition. Certainly we find elements in Pales- tinian heresy during the early Christian centuries, which we can hardly suppose to have been indigenous. And there is no more likely source of occult religious influence than Babylonia, unless it be Egypt, and there is much reason for supposing that even in Alex- andria Babylonian influences were active before and after the beginning of the Christian , era. Besides, a large number of Gnostic elements different from these can be traced to I Egypt. How far the Mandaeans of modern times, and as they are described in extant i literature, correspond with representatives of the old Babylonian religion in the third cen- tury, cannot be determined with complete certainty. Yet there is much about this party j that has a primitive appearance, and the tenacity with which it has held aloof from Judaism, ; Manichaeism, Mohammedanism, and Oriental Christianity, during centuries of conflict and : oppression, says much for its conservatism. It would extend this chapter unduly to I describe the elaborate cosmogony, mythology, hierarchy, ceremonial, etc., of this interesting party. For the illustration of Christian Gnosticism the facts that have been brought out are of the utmost value. As compared with Manichaeism, there is a remarkable parallelism 2 2 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
between the two kingdoms and their subordinates or aeons; the conflict between Primordial Man and the King of Darkness has its counterpart in Mandaeism. The close connection of the Mandajan and the Manichsean cosmogony, together with similar views about water in the two parties, would make it highly probable that the Manich^eans, like the Mandaeans, prac- tised some kind of ceremonial ablutions.
What now, are the frrounds on which the connection of these systems with the old Babylonian religion is based? The dualistic element in the old Babylonian system was pointed out above. Kessler seeks to establish an almost complete parallelism between the Mandsean and Manichaean cosmological and mythological systems on the one hand, and the old Babylonian on the other. That there are points of striking resemblance it is certain. There is ground to suspect, however, that he has been led by partiality for a theory of his own to minimize unduly the Zoroastrian and Buddhist influence and to magnify unduly the old Babylonian. Be that as it may, there remains an important residuum of solid fact which must be taken account of by all future students of Manichaeism. There is reason to hope that future work along the lines of Kessler's researches will bring to light much addi- tional material.
CHAPTER VI.— THE RELATION OF MANICH/EISM TO BUDDHISM. • The extent of Mani's dependence on Buddhism is a matter that has been much disputed. The attention of scholars was first directed to this possible source of Manichaeism by the discovery of important features that are radically opposed to Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Christianity, and by the traditional historical connection of Mani with India and Turkestan. The antagonism of spirit and matter, of light and darkness, the mixture of spirit and light with matter and darkness in the formation of the world, the final catastrophe in which complete simplicity shall be re-established, only inert matter and darkness remaining to represent the Kingdom of Darkness, abstinence from bloody sacrifices, from marriage, from killing or eating animals — points in which Manichaeism differs widely from the other systems with which it stands historically related — find their counterpart in Buddhism. It is certain, moreover, that they were fully developed in Buddhism centuries before the time of Mani. Baur,' though not the first to suggest a connection of the two systems, was the first to show by a somewhat detailed comparison the close parallelism that exists between Manichaeism and Buddhism. Baur's reasonings were still further elaborated and confirmed by Neander.= External grounds in favor of Mani's dependence on Buddhism are the tradi- tions of Mani's journey to India and China, and of his prolonged stay in Turkestan, where Buddhism flourished at that time. But it is on internal grounds that we chiefly rely.
If space permitted we could illustrate the close parallelism that undoubtedly exists between Manichaeism and Buddhism, from Buddhist documents which have been made ac- cessible through Professor Max Miiller and his collaborators in The Sacred Book of the East, far more completely than was possible to Baur and Neander. It is certain that parallels can be found in Buddhism for almost every feature of Manichaeism that is sharply antagonistic to Zoroastrianism. The Buddhist view of matter as antagonistic to spirit is fundamental. It is the world of matter that deludes. It is the body and its passions that prevent the longed-for Nirvana. Buddhist asceticism is the direct outgrowth of the doctrine of the evil and delusive nature of matter. The Buddhist doctrine of metempsy- chosis has its precise counterpart in Manichaeism, but it should be said that this doctrine was widely dift'used in the West, through Pythagoreanism, before the time of Mani. The Buddhist tenderness for animal and plant life is paralleled by the Manichfean. But there is I Das Manichdische Religionssysteiii, p. 433 sq. - Church Hist, vol. I.
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 23 considerable difference between the views on which this tenderness is based. The Buddhist feehng was based, in part at least, upon the doctrine of metempsychosis, animals and plants being regarded as the abodes of human spirits awaiting their release into Nirvana. The Manichajan looked upon the elements of light (life) contained in animals and plants as particles of God, and any injury done to them as a hindrance to the escape of these elements, to be conveyed away into the Kingdom of Light. Both looked upon sexual inter- course as among the greatest of evils, though the theory in the two cases was slightly differ- ent. So of the drinking of wine, the eating of animal food, etc. The final state was conceived of in substantially the same way in the two systems. Nirvana, the blowing out of man's life as an individual entity, is quite paralleled by the Manichaean view of the gradual escape of the imprisoned particles of light into the Kingdom of Light. In both cases the divine plerovia is to be restored in such a way as to destroy individual conscious- ness.
The Buddhist BhikkJius (or ascetical monks) correspond very closely with the Mani- chasan Truthful Ones (Elect), and the relations of these to ordinary adherents of the parties was much the same in the two cases. Both systems (like Christianity) had the proselyting spirit fully developed. The position of Mani as a preacher or prophet corresponds with the Buddhist idea of the manifestations of Buddha. The statement is attributed to Mani that " as Buddha came in the land of India, Zoroaster in the land of Persia, and Jesus in the land of the West, so at last in the epoch of the present this preaching came through me [Mani] in the land of Babylonia." In the interest of his theory, which makes the old Babylonian religion the chief source of Manichseism, Kessler has attempted to detract from the significance of the Buddhist influence. Yet he grants that the morality of the Mani- chaeans (including many of the features mentioned above) was Buddhist. The close con- nection of the two systems cannot, it would seem, be successfully gainsaid.'
CHAPTER VII.— THE RELATION OF MANICH^ISM TO JUDAISM.
So far as a relation existed it was one of the intensest hostility. Like the Gnostics in general, Manichaeism Jooked upon the God of the Old Testament as an evil, or at least im- perfect being. On this matter we do not learn so much from the Oriental as from the Western sources, bi:t even from the former the radical antagonism is manifest.
The statement in the Fihrisfs narrative, that " Mani treated all the prophets disparag- ingly in his books, degraded them, accused them of lying, and maintained that devils had possessed them and that these spoke out of their mouths; nay, he goes so far as expressly to assert in some passages of his books that the prophets were themselves devils," is pre- cisely in the line of the later Manichaean polemics against the Judaistic element in Chris- tianity.
The Manichaean account of the creation shows some acquaintance with the Jewish Scriptures or with Jewish tradition, yet the complete perversion of the Biblical account is I Cunningham, St. Austin and his Place in the History of Christian Thought (1886), has these remarks on the relation of Mani to Buddhism: "Mani was indeed a religious reformer: deeply impregnated with the belief and practice which Buddhist monks were spreading in the East, he tried with some success to reform the religion of Zoroaster in Persia [/. c. the Persian Empire], his native land, \\hile his fundamental doctrine, the root of his system, was of Persian origin, and he figured the universe to himself as if it were given over to the unending conflict between the Powers of Light and Darkness, in regard to discipline his system very closely resembles that founded by Buddha; the elect of the Manichaeans correspond to the Buddhist monks; the precepts about abstinence from meat and things of sense are, if not borrowed from the rules Gotama gave for the conduct of his followers, the outcome of the same principles about the nature of man." Harnack, art. Manich;eism in Ency. Britannica,lo\\avisV.css\cr in attaching slight importance to the Buddhist influence on Manichasism, preferring, with him, to derive nearly all of the features ascribed by Baur, Ncander and others to Buddhist influence, to the old Babylonian religion, the precise character of which, in the time of Mani, is imper- fectly understood. Harnack's {and Kessler's) statements must therefore be taken with.some allowance. There is no objection, how- ever, to supposing that Mani derived from the old Babylonian party or parties with which he came in contact religious principles which were wrought out in detail under the influence of Buddhism. This is in fact what probably occurred.