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THE RELIGIOSITY of MANICHAEISM and GNOSIS Umeo SUNAGA*

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THE RELIGIOSITY of MANICHAEISM and GNOSIS Umeo SUNAGA* THE RELIGIOSITY OF MANICHAEISM AND GNOSIS Umeo SUNAGA* 1 Manichaeism is the name given to the religious philosophy taught by the Persian prophet Manes in the third century A. D. It originated in Persia and spread relatively rapidly to eastern and western regions of the Afro-Eurasian continent. Its decline, however, was equally rapid. Branded as heretical by other churches, Manichaeism managed to survive until the 14th century in the East (China) and until the 13th century in western Europe (until the 19th century in the case of the Thondrakies sect of Armenia), but is now what one might call a "fossil religion." Manichaeism remains the object of scholarly and intellectual interest in some circles, but as a dead religion it no longer exists in the form of a faith with practicing followers and, until recently, was largely unknown to the general public. The recent boom in things related to the Silk Road, however, has led to fresh debate over claims that elements of Iranian and Zoroastrian culture can be found in the ancient religions and customs of Japan, as well as renewed interest in the question of whether Manichaeism or Manichaeans may have even crossed into Japan. With the discovery of Hermes texts, Coptic Gnostic texts (the Nag- Hammadi texts), Mandaic texts, and Coptic Manichaean texts, in Europe, interest in Gnosticism as one of the philosophical currents forming the basis of modern European thought has enjoyed a resurgence in the 20th century and the special role that Mainchaeism occupied in the Gnostic system has finally been given due recognition.(1) This led to further scientific research by A. Stein, P. Pelliot, and others in this century resulting in the discovery and analysis of the majority of the Manichaean texts (Tun-Huang and Tur- fan's Chinese Manichaean Manuscripture and the Iranian and Persian texts). It is difficult to imagine the surprise among scholars which accompanied the realization that Manichaeism was in fact a world religion whose system * Professor Emeritus, Niigata Seiryo Women's Junior College 302 ORIENT THE RELIGIOSITY OF MANICHAEISM AND GNOSIS of thought had a broad influence on Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Zoro- astrianism, and many other faiths. Particularly notable among these finds was the rediscovery among a collection of small manuscripts in the Papyri Collection at Cologne Univer- sity of the so-called Cologne Mani-Codex (C. M. C.), which had previously been uncovered in the Oxyhrynchus cavern in Egypt. This is apparently a 5th century Greek translation of an original Syrian work mainly describing the period of Mane's infancy and youth. Analysis of this work was carried out by A. Henrichs and L. Koenen, and publication of their research and the texts in 1970 paved the way for new research into Manichaeism.(2) It was established, for example, that the Elchasaites sect, a branch of the Judeo- Christian faith to which Manes belonged in his youth, was a Gnostic hybrid baptistic order with many elements of a heretical Jewish faith, and further that Manes, having grown up in such a religious environment, would have cultivated and molded his philospohy according to, among other things, the legends of the New Testament as interpreted in apocalyptic literature and the teachings of Saint Paul. 2 The Manichaean myths covering the period from the creation of the universe to its end are normally used in describing the characteristics of Manichaean thought. However, for the purposes of this study I would like to look at Manichaeism from a different standpoint. As a religion, Manichaeism began as a heretical offshoot of the Judeo- Christian faith. A close look at Manichaean myths suggests a salvationist faith with typical Gnostic traits, professing a dualistic and tri-periodic theo- logy (past, present, and future) in which, to borrow the terminology found in the myths themselves, the original state of the complete separation of light and darkness is followed by a period of confrontation, struggle, and con- fusion resulting in the ultimate liberation of light (atonement), and in which the follower must devote himself to seeking the Light Kingdom (paradise) in order to gain salvation. In the remainder of this paper I would like to concentrate on this Manichaean concept of human salvation. According to Manichaean teachings, gnosis (that is, intrinsic self-aware- ness) is an absolute condition for salvation, which entails making concrete Vol. XXX-XXXI 1995 303 efforts to prepare mentally for the awakening of one's memory, under the calls of the gods of light, to the truth that each individual has within himself the origin of holy light, or original soul, which is enslaved by ines- sential human flesh and matter. In other words, Manichaeism can be inter- preted as Gnosticism to this extent, and it can be said that at this stage no significant differences between Manichaeism and Gnosticism can be found. Even after the later addition of Zoroastrian dualistic, tri-periodic eschato- logy, because gnostic thinking still formed the basis of Manichaean ideas it is impossible to define beliefs which correspond to this sort of principle as peculiar to Manichaeism. Rather, the unique characteristics of Manichaeism did not appear until later. The flaw in Gnostic thinking was that the followers of Gnosticism gave insufficient consideration to the danger of sinful acts leading to self-indul gence in the stage following complete salvation. Manichaeans, however, tackled the problem of atonement head-on using gnosis without neglecting the constant dangers of degradation. This idea is made clear in a passage from Turfan's text fragment M139,(3) which states that "it is known that producing perfect Hearers is an extremely difficult task." It should be em- phasized that for both the Elect and the Hearers, a single sinful act meant that all previous good deeds were erased from one's soul, with no possibili- ty of further forgiveness. 3 In Manichaeism, complete realization of gnosis itself did not amount to salvation, but was merely a necessary condition for the attainment of salvation. In other words, gnosis was merely the starting point on the road to salvation. This would be the case for a person, even if he was able to attain eternal life through gnosis, only as long as he lived within the bounds of the state of gnosis which he had reached, and in particular only as long as he committed no further sins against his soul. In the event of degrada- tion or corruption, as set forth in Turfan's text T II D162,(4) "even if he offered all the houses made of gold and pearls as alms (offerings to the Elect) for the release of his soul, he shall not be saved." Manes was constantly aware of the arrogance and danger of what might be called the "hubris" of Gnosticism. Until this stage, gnosis had been a 304 ORIENT THE RELIGIOSITY OF MANICHAEISM AND GNOSIS means to achieve salvation by one's own efforts, which was a prerequisite for realizing the liberation of light (purification of the soul). The ultimate goal was intrinsic self-awareness. But for Manes, the attainment of gnosis by one's own efforts was not the ultimate goal; rather, continuous self- improvement once having reached the state of gnosis was of greater concern. If the attainment of gnosis by one's own efforts was the point of departure, we may then deduce that for Manes, gnosis was divided into two stages the stage prior to complete attainment (remaining in the metempsychosistic universe, which I will call "A"), and the stage of complete attainment (which I will call "B"). In seeking to understand the psychological state prior to complete attainment of gnosis in Manichaean terms, it may prove helpful to look at two texts in the Parthian psalms (also called the Handam texts):(5) Real Wisdom (Huidagman)(6) and Rich Friend of the Being of Light (Angad Rosnan).(7) The former is said to have been written by Mar Ammo, the direct disciple of Manes who played a role in the propagation of Manicha- eism in the East not unlike that of St. Paul in Christianity. According to these psalms, the human inner self contains both a soul (gryw) and a spirit (gyan), beyond which lies the essential self in the form of a twin spirit (narjamyg) and, at the very center, the intellect (manuh- med). In the process of gnosis, wisdom wakes the soul from a sleeping state and forces it to undergo reflection (enthumesis) and consideration (logismos), and the twin spirit calls on the outer layer of consciousness (the soul), which is enslaved by human flesh and matter, and forces it to answer by separating from the body (liberation). One is thus able to learn from these psalms the process by which, in answer to the call from the intellect, the soul and spirit help the self regain its original state. This concept of call (xrostag) and answer (padwaxtag) shows the im- portant role of salavation in Manichaean theology. But in the Handam texts one often also comes across passages which seem to indicate a relationship of the opposite kind, in other words a relationship in which the responder assumes the role of the caller.(8) Although there is a certain crudeness of terminology, it can be intepreted that, to use the labels introduced above, at some point between stage A and stage B in the process of gnosis a rever- sal of the flow of awareness, that is from stage B to stage A, takes place, a result of the responding soul assuming a position identical to that of the Vol. XXX-XXXI 1995 305 calling intellect. However, if one understands this to mean that the respon- der rises to reach a position on the same level as the caller, this is indeed a religious manifestation of a highly paradoxical nature.
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