8.

ADAPTATIONS TO IN EAST IRANIAN AND CENTRAL ASIAN *

It is clear from the Cologne Codex that Mani grew up in the Judaeo• Christian community of the Elchasaites in Mesopotamia before beginning to promulgate his own teaching. I The Elchasaites were the source for Mani of the idea of the cyclical appearance of the "true prophet". Perhaps the Elcha• saites thought that the series of incarnations of this true prophet, ranging from figures of the Old Testament to Christ and even to Elchasaios, would continue in the future. 2 Mani took up this idea, presenting himself as the last in the chain of these prophets. AI-BiIiini tells us that he regarded himself as the "seal of the prophets".3 Mani saw himself as the incarnation of the "Apostle of Light", who appeared not only in various figures of the Old Testament, and in , but also in Zarathustra and Buddha.4 The incorpo• ration of the figure of the Buddha into Manichaean Heilsgeschichte may have served to justify the adoption of Buddhist concepts and their new inter• pretation into the scope of this universal religion. Mani was convinced that the earlier religions that had been restricted to certain countries would find their fulfillment in his new and encompassing religion. His religion was "greater and better than the other religions of the ancients", and he was convinced that, among other things, "all scriptures, (all) wisdom and (all) parables of the former religions" were incorporated into his religion.5

First published under the title "Buddhistische Ubemahmen im iranischen und tiir• kischen Manichiiismus", in: W. Heissig and H.-J. Klirnkeit (eds.), Synkretismus in den Religionen Zentralasiens, Wiesbaden 1987, pp. 58-75. 1 Cf. L. Koenen and C. Romer, Der KiRner Mani-Kodex, Opladen 1988. 2 A. Henrichs, "Mani and the Babylonian Baptists: A Historical Confrontation", in: HSCP 77 (1973), p. 54. J E. Sachau (ed.), The Chronology ofAncient Nations, (1879), repr. Frankfurt 1984. The clearly Islamic term "seal of the prophets" is not found in Manichaean literature it• self. Keph. l2,9ff.; Homilies 68,15ff. 5 H.-J. Klimkeit, on the Silk Road, San Francisco 1993, pp. 2l6f. 238 HANS-JOACHIM KLIMKEIT

Mani's interest in Buddhist India, where he hoped to found a congrega• tion, can be seen by the fact that in 2411242 he made his first great mission• ary tour to India, i. e. to the Indus valley and adjacent areas. It is doubtful that he only became familiar with the doctrine of reincarnation in India, as al-BIriini thought.6 More likely he borrowed this pillar of his teaching from other Gnostics, only to have it confirmed in India.7 The Manichaeans had contact with Buddhists in their eastward spread to East Iran, the Kushan Kingdom and Central Asia. Buddhists were well rep• resented in the Kushan Kingdom, and even in the Central Asian oasis of Merv. The Parthian hymns ascribed to Mar Ammo, Mani's disciple sent to the east, contain a number of Indian Buddhist loan words, reflecting his con• tact with the Indian religion.s Basically the entire history of eastern Mani• chaeism is determined by the contact with Buddhism, and thus it is under• standable that in Central Asia the Manichaeans adopted Buddhist forms and content. The adoption process is also understandable on the basis of the comparable Daseinshaltung ("attitude to existence") of both religions (H. Jonas). For both religions, the world is a place of~oe and suffering. In the case of Manichaeism, the world is created by a divine being, the Living Spirit, but human existence is deplorable, for the human person's divine soul is in fetters in a body made of hyle, matter belonging to the Realm of Darkness. In both religions, humankind is bound to the law of retribution, which ties people to the cycle of rebirths. The way out of this deplorable worldly existence is by a certain saving knowledge (gnosis, prajiiii) which is proclaimed by the " of Light", or the Buddhas, respectively. Al• though the content of that knowledge is different in both religions, its function is comparable in that it serves to sever the bonds that tie the soul to the world. It is understandable, therefore, that Manichaeism, which was always ready to adapt to other religions, not only took up the terminology of Buddhism but adopted its narrative and artistic material also. Despite all of the adapta• tions, its central teaching of the doctrine of the two principles and three times was preserved. Even in times of impending decline, there were at• tempts at restoration, a situation illustrated by the Turkic document M 12

6 E. Sachau (ed.), Alberuni's India, Vol. I, (1910), repro Delhi 1983, p. 54. 7 Cf. W. Sundermann, "Mani, India and the Manichaean Religion", in: South Asian Studies 2 (1986), pp. 11-19. 8 Cf. W. B. Henning, "Two Manichaean Magical Texts with an Excursus on the Par• thian Ending -endeh", in: BSOAS 12 (1947-1948), p. 50.