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The Influence of Manichaeaism

Before we dive into Manichaean art history and interpretation, I have linked some folk music from the geographical area in which these ruins are found. Enjoy.

This project will explore the recently discovered Manichean temple sites in Turfan; looking at the art, structure and artefacts in these temples. It will examine how closely these artefacts resemble adhere to ‘classic’ Manicheism as opposed to how they might have been influenced or have influenced the local cultures or the other religions of the Silk Road. The presence of these Manichean sites of worship in Turfan demonstrates a level of organized practice of Manichaeism, as well as Manichean’s significance and popularity along the silk road. These sites of worship are placed in the context of other temples and shrines, demonstrating the religious plurality of the Silk Road. Manichaeism was not isolated in this religious dialogue, and in fact was perhaps the epitome of ancient pluralism, accepting many different religious ideas and symbols.

Some believe that Manichaeism to be a sect of Zoroastrianism that sought to synthesize popular elements of other religions to achieve success (Johnson 3). However, Manichaeism cannot simply be called a strategic amalgamation of beliefs and cultures, nor a mere branch of another tradition. Mani’s religion held cultural and religious sway during the Silk Road period, and while it did make significant use of the symbols and structures of other belief systems, it provided something larger than the sum of its parts. This delve into Manichaean art and textual sources seeks to show how Manichaeism did adapt parts many different aspects of several larger traditions. While also developing something new out of this amalgamation and finding its own particular art and scriptural style that allows it to be identified today.

Contextualizing Manichaeism

Manichaeism was a world religion that survived into the fifteenth century and yet exists today in near obscurity. Manichaeism was founded in modern day Iran in the third century A.D. It eventually spread West to Western Asia and even gained footholds in Europe and the Mediterranean. Most important for our purposes, Manichaeism found a lot of success in modern day China, particularly the Xinjiang province and Turfan (Huashan 268). Mani made a deliberate effort to spread his scripture as efficiently as possible, ensuring it was widely translated and distributed to many different cultures. The prime mover of early Manichaean doctrine were the Sogdians, a people who had also aided in the spread of Buddhism and Christianity (Grenet 464). It was not just the chance of time and culture that Manichaeism has faded so suddenly, but instead the work of political powers. The swift popularity and spread of Manichaeism was a threat to other established religions. There was a harsh movement to remove the influence of Manichaeism and strong state-sponsored efforts to convert Manichaean worship spaces.

These fears of Manichaeaism were not unfounded, as Manichaeaism was designed to be appealing to the members of the largest religions at the time. Namely, Christianity, Buddhist, Hinduism and Zoroastrianism. Mani claimed that these religions were not contradictory to his cosmology. He claimed the world was inherently dualist and was created of the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of the Profane. These were also known as the Kingdom of Spirit and Darkness, respectively. He claims that the religious leaders of the other popular religions at the time (namely Buddha, Zoroaster, and Jesus) were true prophets and were right to be worshipped. However, their teachings had been warped through time as none of these men had writings of their own. Instead, it was generations of disciples later who recorded their words, and Mani claimed that by that time, the oral tradition had already distorted the original meaning. His teachings were merely returning the words of these great prophets to their original glory, Mani claimed to be the next in the great line of these prophets.

Figure 1: From the Bezekilk Caves, an example of Manichaeaism’s focus on cross-culture teachings. Here we see an East Asian and North Asia Monk exchanging the word of Manichaeaism (Le Coq)

His campaign was successful and so the backlash was harsh and much Manichaean art and texts were destroyed, today “the majority of ancient Manichaean art remnants derives from a ruined City in Turfan, often referred to by its historical name, Kocho” (Mirecki 177). For our purposes, we will refer to the entire site and the artefacts recovered as ‘Turfan’, though there are three grotto complexes that house crucial Manichaean relics and art. They are Tuyok, Bezeklik and Sangim and each holds dozens of Manichaean grottoes. Though some have been degraded to near obscurity, much like the religion itself, many have retained structural integrity and even their art. (Huashan 269). These grottoes have provided researchers with immense insight to the beliefs of Manichaeism, but perhaps even more importantly, it has given them immense insight to how Manichaeism was practiced at the local level and how it interacted with other religions.

Common Manichaean Motifs

A staple of Manichaean art is depictions of the Tree of Life which is also known as the Tree of Good. This symbol of light and purity sometimes shown with its twin, the Tree of Death (Huashan 274). Manichaeism main doctrine centres around this duality of life and death, bad against good. Mani claimed to have a twin which bestowed upon him the knowledge that he was a prophet meant to bring people to salvation. We see in Figure 2 a drawing of a fresco discovered in the Bezeklik grottoes, kneeling and praying to the Tree of life. Much of Manichaean art and writing is centred around the Tree of Life. Mani’s teachings claim that in order to return to the Kingdom of Heaven, his followers must not only believe but take on more ‘traditional’ monastic values, such as “severing with fleshly desires and being unable to marry or to produce offspring” (Huashan 283). We see Manicheans worshipping the tree of life in this illustration, knelt around it at a respectful distance, a common motif in the frescos and art found in these caves.

Figure 2: A rough sketch of a fresco inside one of the Manichaean Bezeklik grottoes (Huashan).

The Manichaean tradition held writing as an art form quite highly. Mani was very focused on writing down his thoughts and dispersing them widely, as one of his main concerns was with the distortion of the word of the prophet. Mani wanted to secure that no writings should come to light in the future and allegedly be traced back to him” (Klimkeit 1). Most Manichaean writings today are identified through their being written in a Manichaean script, a very illustrative script that is used to allow for a unique identifier of Manichaean scripture and for communication between Manichaeans of different cultures. From artistic choice to overall doctrine, cross-cultural compatibility was a priority for Manichaeism. There are signs in all forms of Mani’s conscious effort to ensure that Manichaeism did not invalidate any major belief system, but instead seamlessly incorporated them. The Manichaean script was another way to more effectively spread the doctrine, while other religions, such as Islam, might be restricted by a language barrier.

In Figure 3, there is a Manichaean artefact, remarkably intact and still legible. Klimkeit has translated the lines of 5-10 of the right column, which is an extract from the Manichaean hymn, “The Song of Mani” (49). The majority of the texts recovered from the Turfan grottoes were written in Turkish and different of Iranian script, though this hymn was originally written in Syriac (Huashan 294). Manichaean hymns commonly contain “supplication through prayer and ascriptions of praise” (Johnson 127), but this particular hymn pictured is slightly different. The hymn provides some context into how Mani saw himself as a prophet, his calling in life to his relationship with his spiritual ‘twin’.

Figure 3: A remarkably intact page from a Manichaean hymn book, excavated from the Turfan sites. (Klimkeit)

Buddhism in Manichaeism

Most Manichaean hymns held references to the religious beliefs of Buddhism, Christianity or other religions within the same chant. Johnson’s translation of one of the Turfan textual fragments demonstrates a mixing of terminologies, such as the Christian ‘heaven’ and the Zoroastrian ‘Vahman’ without any apparent internal contradiction (132). This inbuilt hybridity is very common in Manichaeism, as the tradition often co-opted language from other religions, using metaphors, similes and worship language in their own texts; blending them all into something new. Such is the case for the Buddhist metaphor of ‘sea filled with monsters’, which is used as an image representative of the tumultuous turn of the wheel of samsara. This specific image is referred to in a Manichaean hymn that reads as follows; “Who will take me over the flood of the tossing sea. […] Who will lead me beyond rebirths […] May I be saved from the terror of the beasts who devour one another” (Grenet 476). The clear reference to ‘rebirth’ only reinforces this idea that is it a Buddhist image being appropriated. In the rest of this hymn, the narrator is referred to as only ‘The Great Aesthetic’, a title that could belong to the Buddha as easily as Mani. These influences were not only one way, Manichaean ideas of the Buddha influenced local Buddhist communities too, even if they were not formally converted. These similarities are sometimes even more apparent in visual art, not just textual remnants of this tradition.

Since so much of Manichaean art and scripture was lost over time, whether as intentional sabotage or the natural wear of centuries passing, our sources are limited. This project has so far focused on Manichaeism’s similarities to Buddhist because the Buddhist-Manichean blend is one of the key features of these Turfan grottoes. As part of the concentrated effort to disenfranchised Manichaeism mentioned earlier, many Manichaean temples in Turfan were closed and converted into Buddhist temples. While some were completely restructured, many were left as they were due to the striking similarities in art styles and content, several grottoes “remained untouched, undoubtedly because their content was so close to Buddhist beliefs” (Huashan 293). In Figure 3, we see one of these examples. To someone unfamiliar with the Manichaean tradition, it might appear like a simple depiction of the Buddha. Perhaps one specific to a local tradition, as several aspects are unconventional in Buddhist iconographies, such as the hair.

Figure 4:

Mani as the Buddha is a well-used motif, Grenet describes a painting in which Mani is drawn and captioned as the ‘Buddha of Light’ who is preaching is a group of Western Barbarians he has just converted (475). He is also shown preaching to figures wearing the robes and symbols of Taoist aesthetics, converting very different groups of people. As previously demonstrated, Manichaeism focused on bringing in many cultures and belief systems under their umbrella of belief.

Other Traditions in Manichaeism

As easily as he took on the title of ‘Mani-Buddha’, Mani adapted the prophetic names from other religions. Mani often referred to himself and the apostle of Jesus (Burkitt 38), claiming a direct lineage. Not biologically, but spiritually. However, it is not just Mani’s adoption of other religions’ terms where we see the blend of cultures. In some Zoroastrian work, small details in are found, which are often inexplicable. In larger Zoroastrian carvings, some details do not fit properly with what scholars know of Zoroastrian practices. With growing awareness of and study into Manichaeism, scholars are beginning to understand such things as Manichaean symbols (Grenet 474). Hinduism also makes an appearance in Manichaean art and in a significant way. Hindu gods are often given places of important, taking the important role of a ‘divine audience’, their presence giving cosmological legitimacy to the proceedings. In Figure 5, four Hindu deities are depicted with halos, observing a Manichaean conversion ceremony (Gulácsi 73). The surrounding text is the names of the donors and the King who is going through this conversion. The two figures to the left are thought to be heavenly beings from a local Buddhist tradition.

Figure 5: This half of one of the most famous Manichaean art pieces clear shows a line of Hindu Gods, watching over a conversion ceremony for what seems to be a local king (Gulácsi).

‘Traditional’ Manichaean Art

Herein lies the difficulty of identifying ‘Manichaean’ art or tradition, as it was designed to be used by local cultures, to blend into their specific cultural brand of religious belief. As demonstrated, signs of Manichaeism are found in small ways throughout many traditions and often bore so many similarities to other traditions, the art was re-coopted by those religions. This can present a significant problem for identification of these artefacts and raises difficult questions about where one religion begins and the other ends, if that line exists at all (Mirecki 177). The problem is then as follows: If so much of Manichaean is similar if not nearly indistinguishable from Buddhist or other religious motifs, how might scholars note the differences? There are some ways to identify Manichean art that is rarely found in other styles.

The first major sign is, of course, the text. Manichaean text is distinct from other scripts at the time, and is an easy identifier of whether an art piece is Manichaean. Within texts, Manichaeism uses some distinctive artistic flourishes in the margins or surrounding the text. This is slightly apparent at the top of Figure 3, the sweeping red ink visually marks is as a Manichean text fragment. In his studying of various Manichaean textual pieces, Mirecki discovered a pattern of “decorative designs within Manichaean texts that are found along the margins of and within texts” (191). Looking through collections of text Fragments from the Manichaean grottoes, there is certainly a distinctive style of embellishment that are found across the fragmentary remains of Manichaean books (Weber).

Some other signs in Manichaean artwork have been identified as near exclusive to the Manichaean traditions; at least in the Turfan region. It is especially the case in a religious as diverse as Manichaeism that “arts undoubtedly took on local peculiarities” (Klimkeit 2). One consistent Manichaean motif is the presence of flowers or other foliage being held by donors or figures of significance. There are other small signifiers to the original style of depicting the elite in Manichaean art, such as white garments or the red string around the head (Mirecki 210). Disk Motifs are also very common in Manichaean pieces, which are subtly different from the halos often used to surrounded figures of significance. They are more details, often layered and used as a kind of framing device to surround scenes and divide one moment from another (Mirecki 197). Figure 6 depicts a very Buddhist looking figure surrounded by these disks, which circle out from being a halo to being a decorative indicator of ‘aura’ of this figure.

Figure 6: A figure in a traditional Buddhist pose and showing the stretched earlobes and hair knot, both of which are signs of an enlightened figure, or a Buddha (Gulácsi). The gold and red disks mark it as a Manichaean adaptation of Buddhist motifs.

Mani was an intelligent man, living in a cultural epicentre of his time, he sought to create a religious movement that incorporated many belief systems. That rendered them compatible with a new system, while not tarnishing the symbols or iconography of these religions. Manichaeism is an intelligent blend of many different traditions, more than obvious in the remnants found in the Turfan grottoes. Manichaeism was a Salvation religion that spread far across the Silk Road and up into China. Despite the intentional destruction of texts and worship spaces by Buddhists and other religious communities, some traces of Manichaeism survive to this day. They reveal the complex, layered practice of this brief religious monolith but Manichaeism was not just a patchwork of other traditions. It developed its own strong culture, influenced the traditions around it and even found its own unique art style. Things like the disk motifs, the Manichaean script, and the plurality of its art, set Manichaeism apart from other religions of its time and location.

Bibliography

Burkitt, F C. Religion of the Manichees. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1925. Print.

Grenet, F. “Religious Diversity among Sogdian Merchants in Sixth-Century China: Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Manichaeism, and Hinduism.” Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, vol.27, no. 2, Jan. 2007, pp. 461–476.

Gulácsi, Zsuzsanna. Manichaean Art in Berlin Collections. Turnhout: Brepols, 2001. Print.

Huashan, Chao. “New Evidence of Manichaeism in Asia: A Description of Some Recently Discovered Manichaean Temples in Turfan.” Monumenta Serica, vol. 44, no. 1, 1996.

Jackson, A V. W. Researches in Manichaeism: With Special Reference to the Turfan Fragments. Ner York: AMS Press, 1965. Print.

Klimkeit, Hans-Joachim. Manichaean Art and Calligraphy. Leiden: Brill, 1982. Print

Le, Coq A. Chotscho: Facsimile-wiedergaben Der Wichtigeren Funde Der Ersten Königlich Preussischen Expedition Nach Turfan in Ost-Turkistan. Graz, Austria: Akademische Druck-u. Verlagsanstalt, 1979. Print.

Lieu, Samuel N. C., and Gunner B. Mikkelsen. Between Rome and China: history, religions and material culture of the Silk Road. Brepols, 2016.

Mirecki, Paul A, and Jason BeDuhn. Emerging from Darkness: Studies in the Recovery of Manichaean Sources. Leiden: Brill, 1997. Print.

Weber, Dieter. Iranian Manichaean Turfan Texts in Publications Since 1934: Photo Edition. London: Published on behalf of Corpus Inscriptionum Iranicarum by School of Oriental and African Studies, 2000. Print.

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