Manichaeism: The Silk Road Religion 

Gnosticism seminar: www.speakeasy.com/speaker/andrew-henry Patreon: patreon.com/religionforbreakfast

Man, that was the weirdest episode of VeggieTales I've heard of.

Sounds like a pretty complex scheme to get free meals, not gonna lie.

Any plans to do a video about Nestorianism and it's spread into Asia? It's a very unknown and interesting subject.

The one dislike on this video is from St. Augustine.

I didn't know that's where the word comes from. In spanish "Maniqueísmo" is a pejorative term that describes a tendency to reduce reality to a duality of opposites like what is considered "good" or "bad" for example. Now it makes sense.

I did my senior thesis on religious syncretism on the Silk road and Manicheanism featured a lot in the texts I read. It's a fascinating religion, and the religious syncretism that you described in passing is utterly fascinating when taken a further look at, and Manicheanism wasn't the only one that did it - "Nestorian" Christianity (for lack of a more recognizable term) made fairly heavy use of borrowing religious terms and symbols as well. One of the things I found was that when translating religious texts from one language to another (or more extreme, one culture to another), it makes a lot more sense to borrow the religious terminology of the language you are translating into, so that your text is intelligible. Otherwise you are left with having to transliterate, and confuse your audience. I know in one case, it lead to the phrase "... all the angels and archangels" being translated as "... all the buddhas and bodhisattvas" among many other very notable borrowings.

Been fascinated with Gnosticism for a long time. The problem I had was that almost all the available sources were either strongly for or strongly against. Thanks for having a "Just the facts maam" approach.

I can see why this religion didn’t make it to modernity, but I can’t help but respect Mani’s commitment to syncretism. A common modern view is that “all religions hold a piece of the truth” and Mani must’ve thought that too. He seems ahead of his time in a way.

Last time I was this early, Augustine was still Manichean.

In Hungary, we still have a plenty of Manichaeian imagery in some of our protestant temples. It's interesting how souch old beliefs could've survived until the reformation.

Sounds like Mani ate some talking mushrooms.

I just discovered Mani last week in a chinese history book (in Chinese) documenting its influence in Tang dynasty where the Buddhist sect heavily criticized Mani religion as fake Buddhism. What a serepidity to see a video on Mani popped up now!

Would you possibly do the Valentinians or Cathars? I'm interested in more elaboration on traditions surrounding Gnosis

me: ayo what's your ideology? mani being mani: *yes*

Talking foods is creepy. Imagine trying to eat veggies which suddenly talked cursing you for eating them instead of you cursing for being forced to eat veggies.

Went to Cao An, the last remaining Manichaeism place of worship a few years back. Felt surreal

In Spanish we have the word Maniqueista, it is used as an acepción of manipulator, derived from the description of a politic that uses a divise discurse (two groups / black and white) to define that he is correct and right, and the ones inside the government are not.

In a different world, Manichaeism conquered the world

I’d love to hear what Mani thinks of Vegie Tales...

Transcendent God, Emanations, Implanted Divine Sparks? Is there a connection between Manichaean theology and either later Kabbalah or some proto-Kabbalah?

There are some theory about possible remnants of Manichaean temples in South India. The name Mani [ this is spelt maani , not same mani (pearl) ] is also common among some traditional Christians in Kerala. It is also interesting to see the cross in a supposedly Manichaean painting preserved in Seiunji temple in Japan which looks like a traditional cross depiction in Kerala. Early Arab travelers (? Abu Zaid in 916 AD ) mentions presence of Manichaeans in southern India. Iam really wondering whether these things are true.

So far, the best and most succinct explanation of Manichaeism I have ever encountered in a brief format. You are truly becoming a great teacher.

Could you do videos on Oriental Orthodoxy and the Church of the East, their theology, ethics, and history?

The original VeggieTales

The actions of the Elect as liberating light seems to echo the Kabbalistic notions of "liberating the divine sparks" in tikkun ha-olam

I enjoyed this video and was quite suprised, as in my studies of religion Manikism is generally just lumped together (lazily at that) with Zorastrianism and mithraism as a fly by night mystery cult.

Sad that Islam and Nicaean Christianity destroyed the ancient world's religious fluidity and tolerance

That name of jesus, xradsar or khrad shahr means the government of wisdome. Shahr was used as government of Iranians. Nowadays we still call the citys as shahr. Also Mani is famous in Iran because of his beautiful paintings which was called miraculous.

Today we have the Moneytheism, that has Money as supreme deity.

Had no idea this religion existed. Pretty fascinating how far it spread through the silk road.

I never clicked so fast in my life after seeing the notification.

One of my favourite novels of all time is The Gardens of Light, and it’s about Mani and his life. 100% recommended!

This is why I love the Internet. I would never have heard about such an interesting religion otherwise!

@3:25 I wonder what the fornicators were planning on doing with the vegetables? What could possibly be so bad to bring s few carrots, cucumbers, and eggplants to tears???

Very nice video. A few things of interest that caught my eye that may be entertaining for others: 1. That statue of the Buddha that shows up multiple times has two symbols for "middle" on them, one on the right sleeve and one on the left sleeve. 2. Xradesahr is a very interesting name. Directly translated it comes directly to something akin to "The Lord Christ", and we can see here a later period version of the ending for kingship as seen in names such as Nebuchadnezzar (which the ezzar/esahr ending may be sideways-acquaintable with the later "Caesar", "Czar", etc). Thanks for a great vid!

Anyone else super atheist but love this channel?

i like how some religions can bring cultures of different peoples together

Can you do a video on norse religion ?

Vegetable: "why are you taking us to the fornicators" Uh....you see...when a vegetable has a elongated shape...

Essentialism is a trap as you can almost always count on there being a contrarian school of thought on whatever is labelled essential in any given religion or that such school was labelled contrarian when some other gained popularity at a later date. And at what point these differences become so pronounced it becomes a separate religion and who gets to decide who is some other thing. Look at Christianity and its “essentials”: What is the nature of Jesus (Adoptionism, Apollinarism, Docetism)? Is there a trinity (Monarchism, Unitarianism Binitarianism)? Does one need divine aid be saved (Pelagianism)? Is the creator of earth...good (Gnosticism)? Or taken another way, when is a belief system still apart of another when it wants to be thought of as different? Most would consider Lingayatism as a branch of Shaivism as a branch of Hinduism. Some Lingayatists want to be considered a wholly separate religion despite any any commonalities it may share with general Hindu beliefs which also vary wildly. P.S : People who “Um, Achtually” this comment prove my point.

Funny how humans have been practicing agriculture for tens of thousands of years, but none of our harvests ever spoke to their farmer until Mani came around.

Hey, could you cover modern Hellenism? Along with various versions of Paganism?

Congratulations! You managed to avoid the most interesting thing about Manicheanism. Many stories about the life of Muhammed are copied from stories about Mani. Note that the suras and hadiths were written by Persians. Influence of Manicheanism is even greater on Shias than on Sunnis. Also worth mentioning is the influence of Manicheanism on Catharism, which began in Anatolia as a sect called Paulicianism.

Am I the only one who thinks this sound an awful lot like "Dark Souls" in regards to the spark, fire, darkness that is being discussed?

This seems like an elaborate ruse to score free food.

This might just be my 21st century skepticism talking but between the food purity transmigration thing of the the Manichean elect and the animal sacrifice practices of numerous pagan cultures, it kind of seems like the priestly classes of many ancient religions just wanted to get food from poor peasants without having to actually work the land themselves

I vastly respect your ability to describe these practices with straight face. "Yeah man, I totally can't do any of that work stuff or pick food or bake bread or anything like that because it's totally a sin. You got to do it for me and bring it here... I gotta stay pure, ya know"

"The Mani Codex: a credit card-sized book" So... the precursor to Chick Tracts. Although much less toxic, apparently.

I'd love to see a video about the development of greco Roman paganism in the second and third century, and its own internal developments- accounts of the period are always about how the relatively small Christian church formed and spread, but I barely ever see anything about whether there were new religious movements within paganism. Was temple attendance or public piety actually declining significantly before christianisation killed it? Was the isis movement in decline by the 3rd century?

Mani is to religion as the language ADA is to computer languages

Makes as much sense as any other religion.

Pffft, late antiquity internet trolls be like: Manichaeism? Mo like MANIAC-ism, amirite muh bruddas in Christ? Can I get an Ayyyymen!

This is a fun episode. It doesn’t feel like homework but pure curiosity

*In a nutshell:* •Manichaeism is a *Moksh-aligned religion* which gives precedence to Prophet Mani over other gurus •Just as Buddhism is a Moksh-aligned religion which gives precedence to Buddhas over other gurus •Just as Sikhism a Moksh-aligned religion which gives precedence to Satgurus over other gurus •Just as Jainism is a Moksh-aligned religion which gives precedence to Tirthankars over other gurus •Etc

This was quite fascinating! Thank you for making this video! I had come across the name of this religious tradition before, but I knew almost nothing about it. It's intriguing how flexible a religious tradition it was and how it came to share elements and features with Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism. It's also interesting to consider how and why certain religious traditions disappeared (like Manichaeism) and others survived. I wonder how and why Manichaeism ultimately declined and disappeared. I'd have imagined that a religious tradition with such an extensive range from Egypt to Iran to China would have survived in some form to the present day. So many other religious traditions existed in pre-modern times, but are almost entirely gone today.

Sounds Gnostic and reminds me of the gnostic text of the talking cross. Btw there’s a reason certain books aren’t in the Bible lol

It sounds like a type of "meta-religion" (not sure if that's the right term) that Mani sought to include all religions. I wonder if there's any connection to the Baháʼí faith? Is there a family of religions that attempt to include all other religions?

This trend of combining prophets and religious beings and being a sole universal prophet for all seems to be a common occurence in the Near East, e.g with Mani, Mohammed and all the other less successful 'prophets' that arose there.

Wonder if Tolkien was inspired by Manichean belief when he wrote The Tale of the Sun and the Moon, which were literal storage vessels of light created by the Valar. As an academic he must have been familiar with a lot of religions and mystical traditions.

The more i learn about religions i can't help but think Iranians are probably some pretty good people..sucks we only hear negative things about them. Im going to have to investigate this further..let me find out I've been lied to!

So, I can be both a Christian AND a Buddhist? 🤯

This religion kind of sounds like a more old school version of Bahai.

So it was actually a syncretic religion. What I have read before always sort of classified it as a Christian sect.

Interesting video

Mani: I am a prophet of the Great Power. People along the Silk road: What is the Great Power's message oh great Buddah of Light? Mani: Bring the Great Power's Prophet food. People: Er...why? Mani:... So I can... er... free the light from... within it. People: Seems legit.

No wonder Augustine has a brewery named after him, Great line

This really feels like a big scheme to get free food.

Why do I have a feeling this religion is going to make a big come back? It has everything; Zoroastrian, judeo-christian, Buddhist influence, and a lord of the rings styled battle between light and dark

Too much theological confusion and complications killed Manichaeism...

Been fascinated with this religion for a long time, except there wasn't much I knew about it so thank you for this video. I'm reading a book about Genghis Khan's religious policies and it has a chapter more or less dedicated to this religion because of the Uyghurs, all of it quite interesting.

"There are children starving so eat your veggies."

9:35 - Why is there a vegetarian meal if the Elect are vegans? Also, am I the only person who noticed some similarities between Manichaeism and the Baha'i Faith?

I would like to see more about sethian gnosticism, I find it interesting. Thanks for this video, I have been really interested in these lost religions

The original seal of the prophets.

This channel is amazing, I love how you put links for papers, documents and information. This is the type of influencers we need!!

Okay can we all agree that Zurvan is an awesome name?

so their elect are sort of the original Sin Eaters?

If you create a religion too hard to follow people will leave for whatever makes them feel good about themselves yet is easier to follow There is a reason christianity is so great, it has so many offshoots (something for everyone), and just like fastfood (easily consumed) some branches require nothing but belief. Its the fastfood fo religions, something for the masses

It's kinda hypocritic to mock Manichean apology to bread, when Christians themselves apologize to bread before slicing it, as it is a body of Christ. My friend still reflectively draws a cross with a knife on bread before cutting it. Plus, you have to apologize to a tree before cutting it, as it is a creature of God as well as human, but I have a feeling, that this one might be an older pagan tradition with modern christian explanation. Or maybe I don't get something?

Love the fact that St Augustine was a Manichean for much of his life.

His title "Mani" most probably roots from the ancient Buddhist mantra "Aum Mani Padma Hum" ✨🙏✨ his dharma/religion is also known as "Ayeen e Mehr" in Persian, meaning "the Way of Love"

In Voltaire's novel Candide, the philosopher Martin is called the world's last Manichaeist. Manichaeism can be considered a religion as extinct as Tyrannosaur worship.

The story of the freeing light by digesting food is almost enough to explain why this religion died out!

I suggest a companion video showing how Christianity incorporated local beliefs into its doctrine. Like Jesus birth being celebrated near winter solstice from Saturnalia or Day of the Dead (All souls day) from Aztecs.

I miss so many of these videos because the red line in the thumbnail makes me think i've already seen the video

In particular, later instances Manicheism spread in the Uyghur/Yughur and Xia/Tangut areas was more aligned in Cosmology with Buddhism than Christianity - to point to the "Varieties of Manicheism" as you mentioned

Power greater than who created separate system who acts upon and moves through at his own discretion always amazes the time and place applications & avtars used. Lol They oppose naucturnal souless version of themselves dualism arkaddia but.2nd temple Judaism adopt alot of outside in and is the one who adopted more syncrab like trads. But so did Catholic and ortho . Outside in minds mediated upon or in trads or other physical prescriptions. The same physical mistakes we see made over & over as they get lost in translation or out of context. Phenotypical song and dance. But everyone including Ur came to the conclusion based on the world around them it was power greater than themselves but uruk like akkadian and 2nd temp Judaism lose sight of this problem with physical attributes that will never lead to anything but division and everyone thinks it's separate God's. Lol Abraham, masses commandments 1st temple,Egypt, essences ,paul reformation classical American christians they all get it but top rule divine right to mediate extreme physical lawisms just we see in classical physics input and perimeters it always leads to multi verses,many worlds, it gets followed by hindu into similar mistakes. The self aware reductionism when followed from dualistic line of mathematicians or thought excersize will always lead to magic ot mystification. It's why American founders, kjb and others are unable to unpack it in studying along with Issac Newton and other cause and effects discovery of the day. Mosaic Triality seen in Egypt and Athens greece is on par with these academic exploration. But of course it's always someone with a different archetypal mind who confuses the language starts getting lost in translation over and over

thank you for shedding light on this brief period of humans

Modern science has proven plants respond negatively to being cut in ways communicating to each other.

Sounds like Tolkien took some serious inspiration

Perhaps the biggest influence of Maichaeism is the Chinese salvationist religious cults with some Buddhist colors like Yiguandao and Hongmen (Chinese Freemasonry) organizations. Manicheaism as an organized religion is dead around the world, but its philosophy and impact are still influential in China and the Chinese diaspora to this day.

So when did this apparently major religion die out... or is it still practiced by a few people?

The real religion of the Silk Road was Money-heism! - Money-theism - nowadays main religein.

@9:00 regarding not harvesting food or processing animals for food, but then "given" (?) that very same harvest and butchered meat made from other hands ... sounds similar to everyone today who wants to eat a hamburger, but doesn't want to know nor see where it originates from ! what a jip. Remember what Pinhead said in Hellraiser II, regarding a girl gifted in solving puzzles who solves the square mechanism that opens the door to another dimension: "It's not who opened the door that is responsible, it's the person who desired it to be opened that we will ... TEAR THEIR SOULS APART !" yeah, you kinda gotta be there. Great video. I really like this breakfast videos. Thanks for sharing. [edit typos]

12:30 "Buddhism might have influenced Manicheans, particularly around their shared belief in the transmgration of the soul." This is a bit of academic shorthand, right? Buddhists, almost by definition, deny the concept of a soul or a transcendent self with any amount of permanence.

Isn’t the religion still active in China?

Do the words Maniac and Syriac have a common Byzentine/Greek suffix?

Any chance we get a video on voodoo? It's difficult to find good sources on it.

Any recommendations for a good source of the writings of Mani himself? The video implies there are a lot of them.