SHAMBHALA & THE MANICHEAN TRADITION
(note: I received this from my good friend Ken Shaw, who has a mystical bent
as well as a taste for the religious historian in him. I find his insights always
enjoyable and worth reading. Enjoy! KAS)
Manichaeism continued to flourish in the barren plains of
Central Asia,
where it became centered at the city of Turfan in what is
now northwest
China. It even became the state religion of the
short-lived Uighur Empire, until
it was wiped out in the 13th century e.v. by the Mongol
invasions. It
survived in Southern China as the "Religion of the
Venerable Light" until the 17th
century e.v.
One of the main principles of the Manichaeans was a
vegetarian diet of
mainly green and yellow foods. Supposedly, light was
concentrated in these
foods and their bodies served as filters for the particles
of light
contained in the plants. (Litvinsky: 1992...Pg 414)
MANES.....also known as Mani or Manichaeus; Persian
philosopher and
religious teacher, founder of the Gnostic religion of
Manichaeism (see
Chapter 201 of Liber Aleph). Crowley's placement of Mani
in this position
is curious. Mani was a later teacher than Basilides,
Valentinus and
Bardesanes. Also, whereas these teachers considered
themselves Christians,
Mani was the founder of an entirely new religion, which
claimed to be
the culmination of Zoroastrianism, Christianity and
Buddhism. The reader
who is unfamiliar with Gnosticism may benefit by reading
the sections on
Basilides, Valentinus and Bardesanes before proceeding
with Mani.
Mani's Persian name was Shuriak, or Cubricus in Latin. He
was born in
southern Babylonia of noble Persian stock. His father,
Patak, was from
Ekbatana, and was a religious leader of a Jewish-Christian
baptizing sect
called the Mughtasilah, founded by a prophet known as
Elchasai, and it was
within the religious framework of this sect, and under the
careful tutelage
of his father, that Mani was raised. When he was twelve
years old, he
experienced a vision in which an Angel named At-Taum,
"The Twin,"
instructed him to withdraw from the Mughtasilah and begin
to purify himself
with ascetic practices. The Angel returned to Shuriak the
young man, and
this second time, called upon him to preach a new
religion.
In 242 e.v., he proclaimed a new, universal religion at
the Persian court
of Shapur I, proclaiming himself to be Mani, "The
Vessel," the prophesied
Paraclete, the divine helper of mankind, and the last of
the great
prophets. In his new religion, he consciously sought to
reconcile the great
religions of redemption, Christianity (Gnostic),
Zoroastrianism (Zurvanite) and Buddhism
(Mahâyâna), in a new Syncretism which also incorporated
elements of
Greek philosophy and Indian Jainism; while refuting
patriarchal Judaism. He
was not, at first, well received, and was forced to flee
the country. He
travelled to Trans-Oxiana (modern Uzbekistan), India and
Western China,
making converts wherever he went. He intended that his
religion be a
world-religion, in fact the first world-religion, and he
consciously
adapted his teaching to accommodate local beliefs and
customs. He was
regarded by his Christian adherents as the Paraclete, by
his Persian followers as the
Zoroastrian redeemer Saoshyant, and by his Buddhist
disciples as the
Avatar Maitreya.
In addition to an extensive body of anti-Manichaean
literature in many
languages, Mani and Manichaeism have themselves left us
numerous texts in
Latin, Greek, Coptic, Middle Iranian, Uighur, and Chinese.
Manichaeism is,
therefore, relatively well understood today. Among the
extant Manichaean
sacred texts are: The Living Gospel; The Treasure of Life;
the Pragmateia;
the Book of Mysteries; the Epistles; The Book of Giants;
and Psalms and
Prayers. These books were, at least in part, considered to
have been
inspired by Mani's Angel, At-Taum. There is also the
Shahburagan, a summary
of the Manichaean teachings prepared for Shapur I; the Ardahang,
a
picture-book illustrating Mani's view of the world; and
the Kephalaia, a
collection of the sayings of Mani.
Mani eventually returned to Persia, where his following
had greatly
increased. This time, he was favorably received by Shapur
and by his
successor, Hormisdas I. He was allowed to preach freely,
and was even given a city in
Khuzistan for his residence. He finally fell victim to the
established
Zoroastrian priesthood during the reign of Bahram I, the
successor of
Hormisdas. He was arrested at Gundev Shapur in 276 e.v.
and thrown into
prison in chains, where he died after 26 days. His corpse
was flayed, and
his skin was stuffed with straw and nailed to the gate of
the city. His
Persian followers were then subjected to severe
persecution, but Manichaeism
outside Persia flourished. Records show the Manichaean
religion to have
spread to Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, North Africa,
Asia Minor, Armenia,
Dalmatia, Rome, Spain, Southern Gaul, Trans-Oxiana,
Turkestan, India,
China and even Tibet.
In the doctrine of Manichaeism, "The Teaching of
Light" as it was called,
the Universe was originally divided between two eternal,
uncreated, and
utterly irreconcilable principles: Light and Darkness. The
Realm of Light
was located in the North, tended upwards, and extended
infinitely to the
North, East and West. It was ruled by the Father of
Greatness (identified
with Zurvan in Persia), and was manifested as five
"worlds": Nous (Mind),
Ennoia (Thought), Phronęsis (Prudence), Enthymęsis
(Reflection), and
Logismos (Reason); which are surrounded by a great number
of Aions.
Twelve of these Aions, the "first-born,"
surround the Father, three to each
quarter of the Heavens.
The Realm of Darkness (Hylę) was located in the South,
tended downwards and
extended infinitely only to the South. It was ruled by the
Prince of
Darkness, and was also manifested as five
"worlds": smoke, fire, storm, mud
and darkness. From each of these five worlds grew a tree,
and from the
Five Trees came the five species of demons. The demons
were divided into
two sexes, and their existence was characterized by
constant warfare and
procreation. Each world of Darkness was ruled by an
Archon: a Demon, a
Lion, an Eagle, a Fish and a Dragon. The Prince of
Darkness combined
within himself the attributes of all five Archons.
Due to its inherent restlessness, the Realm of Darkness
was always
approaching the borders of the Realm of Light and
contending with its
forces. Once, a chance shift in the battles within
Darkness elevated the Prince of
Darkness to the highest point of his realm, where he
beheld the Light, and
the magnificence of the Realm of Light bred in him the
desire to possess
it. He resolved to make war on the Realm of Light with his
demons.
The Father of Greatness saw that it was necessary to meet
the challenge of
the forces of Darkness. But his Aeons were meant for
peace, and they
could not be sent to do battle with the demons; so the
Father resolved to
go to battle himself. To do this, He called forth three
Evocations from
Himself.
In the First Evocation, the Father called forth the
"Great Spirit" or
"Wisdom" (Sophia). The Great Spirit projected
the "Mother of the Living,"
and the Mother of the Living projected the "First
Man" (identified with Ohrmazd in
Persia). The First Man, with his five sons, fire, wind,
water, light and
ether who composed his Soul and were also the "five
garments of Light" which made
up his armor, descended into the Realm of Darkness to do
battle with
the invading demons.
While battling the Demons in the Realm of Darkness, the
First Man managed
to sever the roots of the Five Trees of Darkness, thus
preventing the
further growth of evil. However, the demons eventually
overwhelmed him. He
sacrificed his Soul, composed of his five sons who were
his five
garments, to the swarming demons. The demons devoured his
sons, his Soul,
and left him lying unconscious on the battlefield.
Light, the substance of the Soul of the First Man, was
thus engulfed by the
Darkness of matter. Over time, this Light was poisoned by
matter, and
lost consciousness of its nature; but also matter was
poisoned by the
Light, and gradually became utterly dependent upon it for
survival.
Eventually recovering consciousness, the First Man stirred
himself on the
battlefield and prayed seven times for help to the Father
of Greatness. The
Father heard his prayer, and responded by initiating the
Second Evocation
of Himself, in which He called forth "The Friend of
the Lights," who called
forth "Great Architect" who called forth the
"Living Spirit" (identified
with Mithra in Persia). The Living Spirit called forth
five sons: "Bearer
of Brightness," "King of Honor,"
"Adamas of Light," "King of Glory," and
"the
Supporter" (Atlas), who descended into Darkness to
find the First Man.
The Living Spirit then sent out an awakening Call to the
First Man below.
The Call, together with the First Man's Answer, arose from
the depths into
the Realm of Light. The Living Spirit accepted the Call
and donned it as a
cloak; and the Mother of the Living accepted the Answer,
and donned it as a
cloak. The Living Spirit and the Mother of the Living then
went down into
the Realm of Darkness where the First Man and his sons
were. "Call" and
"Answer" together became personified as a
divinity named "Reflection of
Life" or the "Great Idea."
Encountering the First Man, the Living Spirit stretched
forth his right
hand to him, lifted him up from the Darkness, and led him
back to the
Light; but the Soul of the First Man, the particles of
Light from his five sons,
remained behind, submerged in Darkness, awaiting
redemption. Reflection of
Life strengthened the desire of the lost particles of
Light for their Home in
the North.
The Living Spirit then returned to the Realm of Darkness
and made war upon
the demons. He created the World from their bodies and the
Light
imprisoned therein. From their bodies he fashioned the
eight earths, from
their skins the ten heavens. He fastened the five Archons,
living, in the
firmament. He divided the Light which was within the Realm
of Darkness into
three parts, according to its degree of mixture with
matter. From the
remaining undefiled Light he created the sun and moon,
from the remaining
Light which had been slightly defiled he created the
stars. He created
three great Wheels for the redemption of that Light which
was retained by matter:
the Wheel of Fire, the Wheel of Water, and the Wheel of
Wind; all under
the control of the King of Glory. Bearer of Brightness was
set to hold up
the ten heavens, and Supporter was stationed to hold up
the three upper
earths. The Living Spirit had created the World as a vast
mechanism for the
Redemption of the Light-- all that remained was for the
mechanism to be
set in motion, a task to be accomplished by the Third
Evocation.
At the entreaty of the Mother of the Living, the First Man
and the Living
Spirit, the Father of Greatness called forth the Third
Evocation. The
principle figure of the Third Evocation was the
"Third Envoy," or the "God of the
Realm of Light," who dwelt within the sun. The Third
Envoy was of both male
and female aspect, and engendered twelve daughters, the Maidens
of Light,
who represent the Zodiac.
Before the great universal machine could be set in motion,
the Third Envoy
had to create a pathway to the Realm of Light. This he did
in the form of
the "Pillar of Glory" or "Column of
Light," also called the "Perfect Man." The
Pillar of Glory can be seen in the night sky as the Milky
Way. When the
universal machine was set in motion, the purified
particles of Light would
ascend via the Pillar of Glory to the moon during the
first fifteen days of
each month. When the moon became full, it would empty its
collected Light into
the sun during the final fifteen days of each month,
whence the redeemed
Light would pass on to a place called the "New
Aeon"-- a place designed by
the Great Architect and ruled by the First Man. The New
Aeon was
consubstantial with the Realm of Light, but would remain
apart from it
until the Last Day.
Upon completion of the Pillar of Glory, the Third Envoy
set the sun and
moon and the Three Wheels of Fire, Water and Wind in
motion. It was then
necessary to deprive the Archons, suspended in the sky by
the Living
Spirit, of the Light they had consumed. To accomplish this
task, the Third
Envoy revealed his/her male and female aspects naked to
the Archons. The male
Archons, beholding the nakedness of the female aspect of
the Third Envoy,
the Virgin of Light, ejaculated. Their seed fell to earth,
and with it the
Light they had swallowed. A portion of their seed fell on
the water, and
became a huge sea monster which Adamas of Light attacked
and defeated. The portion
of the seed that fell on land became the five types of
vegetable life. The
female Archons, sickened by the turning of the wheel of
the zodiac to which
they were bound, aborted the embryos they carried as a
result of their
unions in Darkness. The abortions fell to earth and became
demons which
began to devour the plants and procreate, thereby
producing the five types
of animal life. Through the changing of the seasons and
the cycle of life,
the process of the redemption of the Light had been
initiated.
The Prince of Darkness beheld the beginning of the process
of Redemption,
and feared the final loss of the particles of Light. In
order to bind the
Particles of Light to itself more closely, Darkness
conceived of an Averse
Creation. It conjured two demons, the male Asaqlun or
Saklas and the
female Nebroel or Namrael to devour the offspring of the
other abortions,
absorbing and concentrating their Light; they were then to
unite and
produce two children in the male/female image of the Third
Envoy.
The Light collected by the two demons by devouring the
other demons was
passed on to their two children as the Soul, and the two
children were
named Adam and Eve. Imprisoned along with the Soul of
Light in the
demon-born bodies of the first human pair is the Dark
Spirit, Az, composed
of lust and greed, who was placed there by Darkness
to ensure that the Light
would continue to remain imprisoned in matter.
In a counter-maneuver, the Third Envoy called forth Yiso
Ziva, "Jesus the
Radiant" or "the Shining" to awaken Adam
and enlighten him with respect
to the divine origin of the Soul, and its imprisonment in
the body. Jesus
the Radiant took on material form, crucifying himself on
the cross of
matter, to confront Adam. Enlightened, Adam resolved upon
chastity, renouncing the
prolongation of suffering which was procreation. Eve,
however, was
seduced by a demon, and bore to the demon two children,
Cain and Abel. The
continued bondage of a portion of the Light was thus
assured, and its
ultimate redemption was considered the responsibility of
Humankind.
To assist Humankind in its Work towards Redemption, Jesus
the Radiant
called forth the "Mind of Light," the Father of
All Apostles (the Holy
Spirit), to send prophets who would bring the Gnosis to
the people and show them the
Way to Redemption. The Mind of Light caused Adam and Eve
to unite
one time to bring forth the first such prophet, whose name
was Seth. Later
prophets were Noah, Shem, Abraham, Enosh, Nikotheos,
Enoch, Buddha,
Aurentes, Zoroaster, Jesus (whose crucifixion was the
resolution of the
earlier crucifixion of Jesus the Radiant on the cross of
matter), Paul,
and, finally, Mani, who was the "Seal of the
Prophets."
With the Gnosis comes the will to redemption, and the
Gnosis enables the
Soul to withstand evil by clothing it in the five virtues
of Love, Faith
(or Law), Perfection, Patience and Wisdom. Religion is the
weapon of the Gnosis
in striving to keep the Soul awake and resolute against
the attacks of
Darkness which cause forgetfulness. When the individual
dies, the body
descends to Darkness. The Soul, if awakened, ascends the
Column of Light to
the moon, thence to the sun, and thence to the New Aeon. If
asleep, the
soul is reincarnated on earth.
The Last Day, the end of the World, will occur when the
deliverance of the
Light is nearly complete, and the World, being deprived of
most of its
Light, is in a degenerate state of materialism. The Last
Day will be signaled by a
great war, followed by the second coming of Jesus. Jesus
will separate the
remaining awakened souls from those remaining asleep, then
withdraw himself
with the last awakened souls to the New Aeon. Bearer of
Brightness
and Supporter will abandon their posts, and the great
mechanism of the
World, now useless, will collapse upon itself in a great
fire which will
burn for 1468 years, liberating the last remaining
particles of Light from matter.
These particles will gather together to form the
"Last Man," or the "Last
Statue," and ascend to the New Aeon. Darkness will
collapse into a lifeless
clod, which will be cast into the pit that was once its
realm, and the pit
will be sealed with an enormous stone. Having been
deprived of the Light
upon which it had become dependent, it will be powerless
to ever again
attack the Realm of Light. Finally, the New Aeon will be
united with the
Realm of Light, and the restoration of the Light will be
complete.
The Manichaean Church had the task of caring for the Light
that remained in
the world, protecting it from injury, and attempting to
purify it and lead
it on to the path of deliverance. The means of
accomplishing this task was
strict ascetism, the reduction of all relations of life to
a minimum.
In practice, such rigid ascetism can only be accomplished
by a few; thus,
the Manichaean community was divided into two distinct
groups: the Electi,
or "Perfect," who adhered to a rigid ascetism
and who formed the real core
of the Church, and the Auditores, or "Hearers,"
who gathered around the
Elect to hear their teachings and to obtain merit by
serving them. The
church hierarchy, recruited only from the Elect, consisted
of Mani's
successor, the Head of the Church, called the Archęgos or
Princeps, twelve master
teachers called Magistri, 72 Bishops or Deacons, and 360
Presbyters or
Elders. Women could become Elect but not officers.
The Elect were bound by the Three Seals: of the Mouth; of
the Hand; and the
Genitals. These Seals required them to abstain totally
from meat and
wine, lying and hypocrisy, work, sexual intercourse,
ill-treatment of
animals and plants, pollution of water, and the owning of
personal
property. They were allowed one vegetarian meal per day,
and were required to fast every
Monday and for two successive days five times each year.
They were
dedicated to contemplation, study and the translation of
religious writings
(the Manichaeans had developed their own script), and were
enjoined to
pray, by the singing of hymns facing the sun or moon,
seven times each day.
By adherence to this strict regimen, the Elect expected to
achieve
deliverance for their Souls at death.
Such a life could obviously not be led without external
support, which was
provided by the Hearers. The guilt incurred by the Hearers
in performing
the work necessary to support the Elect was absolved by
the Elect, but
nevertheless resulted in a delay of the deliverance of the
Souls of the
Hearers by a period of one or more incarnations. The
Hearers were expected only to
live by ten commandments: 1. to take but one spouse; 2.
not to fornicate;
3.
not to lie; 4. not to be hypocritical; 5. not to worship
idols; 6. not to
practice magic; 7. not to kill animals (though they were
allowed to eat
meat from animals killed by others); 8. not to steal; 9.
not to doubt their faith;
and 10. not to neglect their duties to care for the Elect.
Four prayers per
day wer prescribed for the Hearers. They were expected to
fast every Sunday. Once
each year, for 30 days, they were expected to eat only one
meal per day
along with the Elect. Before his conversion to
Christianity, Saint
Augustine was a Manichaean Hearer for nine years. He later
advocated the
wholesale burning of all their books, regardless of their
beauty.
The restrictions on ownership of personal property,
although applicable to
the individual Elect, did not extend to the Manichaean
community as such.
The accumulation of communal property was permitted, and
many communities
accumulated considerable wealth through money lending.
The Manichaeans rejected the Eucharist and most of the
Christian
sacraments, replacing them with their own ceremonies of
prayer, recitation
and reading of scriptures, music, singing, fasting and
feasting, and weekly
confession. The central ritual of the community was the
Table-- the daily
common meal-- in which the Hearers would ritually serve,
and the Elect
would ritually consume, such foods as were to considered
to possess a high
content of Light, such as cucumbers, melons, wheat bread
and fruit juice.
The Light would be absorbed into the bodies of the Elect,
there to be
retained until their deaths, when it would be delivered up
the Column of Light with
their souls. The Light contained within animals was
considered to be too
closely bound to matter for liberation through digestion.
The Manichaeans also celebrated the annual feast of the
Bema, or the
Master's Chair, each Spring. The Bema was a commemoration
of Mani's death,
and was the culmination of the 30 day fast enjoined on the
Hearers.
Manichaeism ultimately failed in Europe and the Middle
East by its
inability to compete with Islam and Christianity. The
rival faiths offered
much easier paths to understand and to follow, were far
more ruthless in their
campaigns of conversion, and, unlike Manichaeism,
threatened an afterlife
of eternal torture for unbelievers. Perhaps even more
significantly, both
Muslims and Christians were allowed to become wealthy;
which assured the
support of the nobility and the merchant class.
Manichaeism continued to flourish in the barren plains of
Central Asia,
where it became centered at the city of Turfan in what is
now northwest
China.
It even became the state religion of the short-lived
Uighur Empire, until
it was wiped out in the 13th century e.v. by the Mongol
invasions. It
survived in Southern China as the "Religion of the
Venerable Light" until the 17th
century e.v.
Even after its official demise in Europe in the 6th
century e.v., a number
of similar Christian sects arose from its ashes,
persisting until well into
the Middle Ages. The most important of these sects were
the Bogomils of
Bulgaria and the Cathars or Albigenses of the Languedoc
region of Southern
France. While these later sects were
"Manichaean" only in the sense that
they shared certain concepts and practices with the old
followers of Mani,
they were, nevertheless, as vigorously persecuted by the
political-religious power structure as were the
Manichaeans.
The Cathars were highly successful from about 1150 e.v. to
1209 e.v., and
helped to turn the Languedoc into a prosperous medieval
center of learning
and culture-- the birthplace of the troubadours-- where
Christian (Cathar),
Jewish and Islamic scholars freely intermingled and
discoursed upon
theology, philosophy and science. The Cathars were
probably highly
influential in the development of the traditions of the
Holy Graal, and may
also
have influenced the Knights Templar. Some scholars believe
that what we
know today as the Hebrew Qabala was codified in the
spiritual melting-pot
of Southern France and Spain during these times. Pope
Innocent III
proclaimed what came to be known as the Albigensian
Crusade against the
"dangerous Cathar heretics" in 1209 e.v. During
the 40 years of this
infamous horror, many thousands of men, women and children
were brutally
slaughtered and their cities pillaged; and the Languedoc
was reduced to
rubble and barbarism.
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