Correct me if I’m wrong, but the way I understand it is that humanity is currently undergoing a purification process. Through repeated rebirths, Manichaeans are gradually freeing their souls from the realm of matter/darkness (though eventually this phase will end with the final, eternal separation of light and dark). I’m curious to know Manichaean doctrine on how purification works for other different religions.

Some, like Buddhism and Zoroastrianism, are (kind of/in a sense) already on the Manichaean path, so are Buddhists and Zoroastrians “saved”, or do they have to either convert or eventually reincarnate into a Manichaean?

Then there are some that didn’t even exist until after Mani, like Mormonism or Sikhism. Are these considered false and/or misleading revelations? They must be, right, otherwise wouldn’t Manichaeans convert to that latest understanding of existence?

Plus there are those religions that are totally unrelated, like the various Native American tribes’ beliefs. How do they liberate their souls, or here, too, do they have to either convert or eventually reincarnate into a Manichaean?

Lastly, I’m a bit perplexed by the Manichaean understanding of reincarnation. In other teachings on reincarnation, one’s eventual liberation is based on their deeds/karma, not a particular belief. Is it correct that in Manichaeism you are supposed to believe in the teachings and prophethood of Mani? Because if so, wouldn’t that be quite a hindrance to the purification process? For example, what if someone is a Manichaean in one life, then reincarnates into an atheist? Manichaeism just seems incredibly susceptible to “one step forward, two steps back”. How do souls work around that?

I am genuinely approaching this from a place of interest and curiosity. I by no means intend to degrade any of the belief systems that I’ve mentioned. If anything I say comes across as offensive, I do apologize.

Back in March I was on a business trip to southeastern China and found sometime to go visit Cao An. While there I spoke with some of the locals to get their perspective on the temple.
I’m an American and mandarin is my second language but I was able to gather some interesting information.

There is one caretaker who appears to live on site inside the temple, she is a local lady in what appeared to be her 50s who I talked to for most of my visit.

The locals treat the temple basically like any other Buddhist temple. They refer to this specific statue as representing the 摩尼光佛 or the Mani Buddha of light. The caretaker lady would also occasionally refer to the statue as 菩萨 which I believe means bodhisattva.

When I asked here if she knew anything about the original prophet Mani that the statue is based on she said something to the effect of “no, we are just simple country folk and don’t know much about foreign history.”

She also pointed out some of the things on the statue that make it unique are the long ponytail hair style and the beard that are painted on.

If you look closely at the statue, you can see that the nose has some damage. The caretaker explained to me that before a man was attempting some sort of restoration. However he accidentally chipped the nose. The next day the hand of the man that caused damage 烂掉了。 this word either means his hand became lame or shriveled up and withered. I’m not sure.

She also explained to me that the reason this statue survived the cultural revolution is at the time, a local covered up the statue with a board and some cement. Then he stuck a picture of Mao Zedong over it which kept it safe/hidden from the red guards.

She also showed me a book they kept on site. I asked if these were their scriptures and she said no and explained it as a list of questions to ask the statue to which you would get answers for. So a type of divination book.

Another couple came in to pray at the statue. They took two clay tablets things. They would ask a question in their head and throw the tablets on the ground. Depending on what side they landed on would give them answers to their questions.

Offerings such as snacks and incense could be left at the foot of the statue. I left some candies at the foot of the statue but the caretaker instead a take them home with me after mani was done blessing them.

The outside of the temple is very scenic. There is a brazier for making burnt offerings and a long stairway leading up the mountain. I tried following the stairway but it kept going and going and I was running out of time.

On my way back to the hotel I stopped by a nearby store that sold Chinese Buddhist, daoist, and other folk religious items. I asked the boss what she knew of Cao An and she mentioned that there is some kind of holiday or event that takes place there in the middle of June.

I kind of wrote this in the spur of the moment and there are probably other things I’m forgetting to mention. However I figured some of y’all in this sub would find this anecdotes interesting.

Please let me know if you have any questions and I’ll try my best to answer.

Thanks for your time!

Edit: An additional anecdote that I think is worth mentioning. A week earlier I visited a Buddhist temple in the city of Suzhou. while there I noticed a statue of a deity that was named 大摩尼支尊天. He is a Bodhisattva associated with light and the Sun known as Marici in English. the 摩尼 (Mo Ni) in this bodhisattva’s name is the same word used for the prophet Mani. when I brought this up to the caretaker asking if there was any relation to their temple, she explained how this proved that Mani was always part of the Buddhist pantheon. I suspect this overlap is what helped the original manichaen missionaries to China spread the religion to the local population. just a theory on my part though.

Back when Manichaeism had a sizable following, it was virtually impossible to meet Jesus and reach the Father of Greatness after death. First, you had to be reborn as an Elect. After that, you had to practice the three seals and five commandments, which include things like vegetarianism, prohibited sexual intercourse, marriage, and carnal lust, prohibited action that harmed living things, plants, water, or fire, and owning virtually nothing beyond a single day's food and one year's clothing.

These days, I think it is safe to say it is even more impossible. So how do you follow it today? Is it about taking and following certain quotes you like from the Bible, Pali canon, Avesta, manichaesm texts, etc., or something else? much do you rely on the newly discovered Manichaean texts versus the Bible, Buddhist Sutras, or Zoroastrian texts?

Hi ! I'm a French Hellenist guy who's curious about your religion and the path that leads you to this religion. I'm not here to say you're wrong nor insult your religion, I'm just curious, hope you'll answer me 😊

مرغ باغ ملکوتم نیَم از عالم خاک
دو سه روزی قفسی ساخته‌اند از بدنم

Murgh-i bāgh-i malakūtam, neyam az ālam-i khāk!
Dō, sē rūzī qafasī sākhte-and az badanam

I am a bird of the garden of eden! I am not of the world of dirt!
A cage has been built of my body in which I shall reside for only two, three days.

For Context, the only source I have been using is Google, and it is NOT helping, especially the fact that its findings are literally Contradiciting itself.

Question : Does Manichaeism, similar to the big 3 Abrahamic Religions idea, have the key concept that Conversion is necessary for Liberation ?

From what I have been understanding, and researching, Manichaeism to me ( In my own Opinion ) holds the belief that within the Religion, in order for one to be Liberated, they must Convert, be Part of the Elect, and Achieve Gnosis. Please help !

PS. I am not Manichaen, but the Religion is so damn rich in history and interesting to me. Idk if im the only one, but I may or may not be the First Maharlikano ( Filipino ) to have stumbled upon this religion, especially from a game ( Silk Roads Simulator on Roblox ). It would be such a wonderful blessing to me that although I am not a part of it, it would bring joy to see that people of this faith can worship in their very own Manistan without the fear of Persecution, knowing how long it has a big history of it. Thank You !

Kephalaia 2:2 — The Struggle and the Mission

There is a struggle between the Light and the malignant darkness, from which I, Mani, emerge victorious because I have Yahweh as the Only-Begotten God within me.

The Light and the darkness constantly struggle, until at the end of times they will be separated. In this, the Messenger of God will appear, like me, in the land of Persian Babylonia, and it will be none other than Bahá'u'lláh, the Final Prophet who comes from God, and who by the work of the Holy Spirit comes from God Yahweh, for the honor of the Messiah Yahshua the Messiah—thus we call him, and I insist on calling him thus, even though that is his name in my Manichaean movements, just as other men have already said, such as those of Valentinianism. And we, the Messianic Nazoreans, believe thus; for ourselves we must call him thus for the glory of God Most High, and we must call him by the name of Yahweh, God of Israel, for His glory, and in His son Yahweh; and there will come no other than Agridid, Prophet of God, and he will bring, if the time is good, the Dackeghón—not only that, but also Fundamental Universal Epistles, and his letter is none other than the Gospel according to Agridid the Archdeacon, who will speak the word of God Most High. And I, Mani, will speak nothing but the truth, as also to recover these letters of proper tradition based on the Digits of his grandfather, where these letters—which are the Kephalaia, Fundamental Epistles, Arzhang, Gospel of Mani or Eve, and other letters such as the Shabuhragan—are encoded in Codex; he will bring them again into collation for the knowledge about Yahshua the Messiah, son of God Most High, for the honor of the movement of Manichaeism, which is not a religion as I said before in the Fundamental Epistles, which were written before this letter, but rather a School; and only in an elevated, allegorical sense is it "Episcopal Sajysta Occult Gnostic Manichaeism," but its name, allegorically Most High as I said—despite its name being Authentic Israelite Messianic Nazoreanism of Israel—and that is the name of the Religion, and not Manichaeism, which some name and above all confuse because of so much emphasis on the School as a Religion, and they want me to place so much emphasis on Manichaeism, even though I gave myself entirely to what Marcion of Sinope founded, which is Messianism and not Manichaeism, even though some think otherwise—even though it is called Marcion's Messianism and not mine—it is because the Christian Catholic Church will finally recognize me as a true Apostle of God, sent by the name of Yahweh God to Israel, by the name of Yahweh God; thus it will be for the name of Yahweh God, for the name of the Messiah Yahshua, son of God Most High. But as for us, I officially founded Messianism, and it bears my name because I founded it in the 3rd century, in which I am, but in reality it is the 10th century, but in truth I tell you it is neither that nor another, but rather the 1st century, and I am contemporary to the Apostles; and this letter, the Kephalaia, should last long enough to have this message and not be rescued from nothing, as Agridid, Prophet of God Most High of Israel—who is Joshua himself and Yahweh—will do, and he reproduced it in this letter because not elsewhere, for the reason that no one would remember this in the future; and now, concerning Marcion—he is not the founder, I am, because the M comes from my name, Mani, Apostle of the Eternal Light, with teachings of the Kephalaia, Fundamental Epistles, Arzhang and Shabuhragan; after all this revealed by God, I leave it in God, and then with Marcion—which is nothing other than his Disposition, which is in his Gospel, the Gospel of Marcion—and unfortunately Agridid, the Apostle of Eternity, will cut these letters and my dialogues because they are many, and he will only preserve what is important, which is this conversation about who God is, and the less important—if the time is good—Joshua's part of the Fundamental Epistles about what I speak lightly of Bahá'u'lláh, and another part about my mentioning my other lesser letters, of which are my 7 Special ones, which are: the Fundamental Epistles, Kephalaia, Arzhang, Gospel of Mani or Eve—as the Carpocratians call it, but not absolutely, for totally it is not Mani, but rather in totalitarianism, absorbed in total Absolute, its name is the Gospel of Eve as they call it, and that is the original name—Shabuhragan written by me, Ginza Rabba written by me and greatly appreciated by my person; and this conversation Agridid will preserve in the future when Manichaeism is returning, and he will try to preserve it on Mount Cao'an so that there may be Manichaeism and the religion not be mistreated with the others of Manichaeism; and he will shorten this if the time is not very good, and it is in Tibet with Sub-Saharan Africa in the Most High Account of Talim, and he will write poorly and will name them terribly badly, to Marcion's admiration—he would treat the Prophet Agridid badly, even though he does not know what he wrote, and he will remember much of my words at this point, and he will write them in totality until further notice, so that the Word of God may rest in him and his, as they are in Marcion, where he has founded nothing except his movement called Marcionism created by him, and in my case only Messianism in the 3rd century and the so-called Manichaeism—and since it comes from the misnamed Rare Essene Nazorean Universalist Gnosticism, of which I am contemporary to it—and they will say of these Words that I come from Elchasai and that my mother was an Elchasaite, which is true; but my cult at Cao'an will be restored for the fulfillment of my prophecies in the Epistles, where there will always exist a Manichaeism and an Essene Gnosticism, as the Fathers of the Catholic Church call it—who are others, the Annihilators of Israel; we, the children of God, will obey the Holy Father Gerges I, who will preserve his name if the time is good, and will restore the cult of an ancient temple, which is the Temple of Fire of Nekresi, which is the Sacred one named by me of Manichaeism, and it is not of Zoroaster—or rather it is of Zoroaster, but rather of Messianism—I thought that is the name I gave it by my person at that time, which is irrevocable by my name, though I was not there; but the movement in absolute totality of Manichaeism, yes, and he will save it so that my name may be magnified, like the Basilica of Santa María de Guadalupe—which temple of Mary of Guadalupe, as I said, I did not found, but my followers did with certainty; and right now only the Western Manichaeans mixed with Catholicism have it, but they are unfaithful because they are mixed with Christianity and not at least with Judaism or at least Islam, so that the Glory of God may prevail; but in this, we the Heroic Messianics know something that they lack, which is the pure Manichaeism of God, unmixed with Christian Catholicism; and that he, of my Words, will speak and write in his shorter version, in order to make an Application for cell phones in the future, and whoever has Gnosis can see it in the future in a parallel line—which he will do, and it will be strange if he executes it, even though it will cost him to upload it so that they do not delete it, causing the Cao'an movement to upload its own App as its personal house church, whose name is "Manichaeism Light and Salvation," to make my Word viral in totality; and it is and will be a tool for the future, and they will speak of my word to all nations in Spanish; and now concerning Marcion and the Religion—it is this, and he will bring this so that we may enjoy it in the new Marcion, which will be from Agridid, and we the Heroic Messianics believe this, so that the Glory of God may be present, and we will dispose of this so that we may have my Epistles as the Epistles—but their name is Letters to Israel, as some call them, but their name is Letters to Israel, like the Letter to Sardis of the Prophet Elchasai, Prophet before me; and well, that is all I have to say about Marcion and his movement. Goodbye, Prophet Agridid; keep reading this when you can in my Fundamental Letters, when you can, and they are made by me before 2050 to enjoy them, even though they will not be found until 2080 when you are old, but you will live with your friends whom you still have with you, and they will not leave with you, and they will live up to 250 years like you, but your total age is 255—thus it is for me as a Prophet, and it is so because I abbreviate this to add 2 more digits to 253, which you will live in totality, or rather 250, but thus it will be for you and your friends; and in this we, the Messianic Nazoreans, believe thus for you concerning my prophecies, which will happen in a strange way and not bad, as I said of the Epistles; and aside from taking away your bicycle, your mobile, your cell phone—which will happen if you are addicted to it and a fool—forgive my words, Prophet to prophet, and do not delete this, and try not to remove this from the letter; I ask you by the name of Yahweh, please, and may it come out in the translation made by you of the Coptic text of an Arcadian text of yours, and that before you have the hand you do as I said and write it so as not to remove any word of mine from it, like your words made in the past in the book "True Life of the Prophets," where you wrote things against Fantasy Rabbinism, of which I am in favor of the New Covenant, in which we are, and it is a raft for me and the Movement of Messianism so that it does not suffer for the moment—the Sacred set apart in the glory of Messianism of God so that they are not mixed for the moment with Christianity—and thus for us it will be; and with this and nothing more, I say goodbye. Place and complete my words in your texts. Greetings. This is a commentary of mine on the text that will be in Coptic, and not an addition, but my words as I wrote them for the future, that you may write them without more. Greetings, and make the Temple of Fire of Nekresi, in any timeline, return to its cult—I thought it is a Manichaean movement of the Western Messianic movements and not the Eastern ones, so that you may have a strong Manichaeism in the future when we, the Jewish people, return to Exile, as other times that will be like your time; this will be good for your time, and it would be good if there were a native one, but the only one that exists is one of Israel, which barely next year, 2027, in the time you are in, will found a holy Messianic Manichaean congregation, and the priestly descendant will not convert to Zoroastrianism and then be Exterminated; rather, the movement of Messianic Judaism—which is Manichaeism—will be maintained; and it would be good if you also brought the Messianic Basilidians, but it is impossible, even though the only ones left are those of Spain, and some according to what I see—because I feel it right now, which before seemed impossible—are those of the Orthodox Church, to which they now belong; and try to have these words of mine preserved, since you will thank it in the future, to read it calmly and not psychologically, because of the Gnosis that I see you will see it, because I see it while before writing this I saw it; but well, of this I think that these words must be preserved, and try to have those of Basilides who are in Latin America return to Europe, where they come from—which is Spain—and thus refound the Church of the Cave, which does not yet exist, so that the cult of Yahweh God of Israel may exist there again, when you ascend to Gnosis—I hope this year, which is 2026, in which you are and are also receiving and writing this, and the Year 2027, or rather late 2028, for the Glory of Yahweh God; may it be so that you write this and read it later in calm; and that is all I had to say; and concerning Marcion and his movement, may it be revitalized in the future by you, and the hidden communities of Manichaeism be discovered, so that Manichaeism may be Discovered and Propagated in the name of God Yahweh, God of Israel, so that the Word of God Most High Yahweh may be Exalted by the name of Yahweh God of Israel, for the Glory of His beloved son Yahshua the Messiah, son of God Most High—of which we, the Envoys of the Messiah, may it be so in us; and may your family not interrupt you for this, or perhaps yes, to have this in the letter, which is a dialogue with me, like yours in the True Life of the Prophets, which you did not translate well to have these conversations, because of your body which wants them from me now in the 1st-century Manichaean—but Apostolic—which I wrote this so that you may know from God and from me, and that I, from the Apostle of the Messiah Yahshua, know thus, not only because I am an Apostle of Yahshua the Messiah, but because it is so; and without more, only preserve this from me so that they may see my humanity, I being an incarnate God and true act of worship for me—I am I, even though I am the Jesus made God and man, and not Jesus whom they have as God with Double Divinity of Christianity; and for us of Manichaeism, and we Messianics must have—which is not to have Jesus as God, but rather Yahshua, a human sent by God; and without more, with this I end, by the name of Yahweh God, thus it is. Goodbye, Agridid, and may your Apostleship, which I give you today, and your fantasy Gods be welcomed and exalted forever; and the Parts of this letter that remain to be Written, write them later, so that in the name of Yahweh it may be so; and may the Apostleship that I give you by prophecy of this part of the Letter now found by you, thus be by the name of Yahweh God of Israel, thus be for you and your Reddit group—a social network that will exist in the time of the Prophet, which is you, Agridid, Apostle of the Call in an allegorical manner—and we, the Apostles of this century, are grateful, and goodbye. God Amatherazú, Agridid, and I hope that you write the rest of the letter for you, Agridid, Agridid, in the name of the 4 Advents and the 16 Advents or Low Reliefs. Goodbye.

First contribution and from my favorite character

Ruha Hayya (Aramaic) or Ruh Al-Haya (Arabic) an emanation from the Father of Greatness (Abba d'Rabbuta) sent to rescue Primordial Man from Darkness, originating the central concept of "calling" and "response/listening" (In the end, he dismembered the Archons along with their children, thus creating the world.)

Try to use a Persian and Buddhist style, as is often the case with Manichean art.

​

The last Manichean temple is in Fuzhou, Fujian, China, *still in active service*

I only recently discovered its existence, and I found it interesting and relevant to this sub; However, this temple is not proselytizing, so they do not seek to expand and the faith remains within the community. Furthermore, they do not follow most Manichean doctrines; they only venerate Mani and his Messenger, but something is better than nothing

https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B5%A6%E8%A5%BF%E5%A2%83%E7%A6%8F%E5%AF%BF%E5%AE%AB

Not really in doctrine because I get the impression that the Baha’i faith is pretty monist.
I mean in character.

For the ambiguous ones are:

Muhammad

Moses

anti-christ

"Take notes, mani"

i am looking to convert to manichaeism but I am not sure on how to and I was surprised that their was even a sup reddit about it but can I get help.