| Zarathustra (查拉圖斯特拉) | |
|---|---|
 Zarathustra in theManichaean Diagram of the Universe | |
| Successor | Buddha (釋迦文佛) |
| Ethnic group | Avestan |
| Part of a series on |
| Manichaeism |
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People Apostles of Mani Manichean Bishops Theologians |
InManichaeism,Zarathustra (瑣羅亞斯德) is considered one of the four prophets of the faith, along withBuddha,Jesus andMani.[1] Mani believed that the teachings ofGautama Buddha,Zarathustra, andJesus were incomplete, and that his revelations were for the entire world, calling his teachings the "Religion of Light".[2]
Manichaeism considers Zarathustra to be a figure in a line of prophets of whichMani (216–276) was the culmination.[3] Zarathustra's ethical dualism is—to an extent—incorporated in Mani's doctrine, which views the world as being locked in an epic battle between opposing forces of good and evil.[4] Manicheanism also incorporates other elements of Zoroastrian tradition, particularly the names of supernatural beings; however, many of these other Zoroastrian elements are either not part of Zarathustra's own teachings or are used quite differently from how they are used in Zoroastrianism.[5][6]
When they moved eastward and were translated into Iranian languages, the names of the Manichaean deities (or angels) were often transformed into the names of Zoroastrianyazatas. ThusAbbā dəRabbūṯā ("The Father of Greatness", the highest Manichaean deity of Light), inMiddle Persian texts might either be translated literally aspīd ī wuzurgīh, or substituted with the name of the deityZurwān.
Similarly, the Manichaean primal figureNāšā Qaḏmāyā "The Original Man" was renderedOhrmazd Bay, after the Zoroastrian godOhrmazd. This process continued in Manichaeism's meeting withChinese Buddhism, where, for example, the original Aramaicקריאqaryā (the "call" from the World of Light to those seeking rescue from the World of Darkness), becomes identified in the Chinese scriptures withGuanyin (觀音 orAvalokiteśvara in Sanskrit, literally, "watching/perceiving sounds [of the world]", thebodhisattva of Compassion).[citation needed]
The original six Syriac writings are not preserved, although their Syriac names have been. There are also fragments and quotations from them. A long quotation, preserved by the eighth-centuryNestorian Christian authorTheodore Bar Konai,[7] shows that in the original Syriac Aramaic writings of Mani there was no influence of Iranian orZoroastrian terms. The terms for the Manichaean deities in the original Syriac writings are in Aramaic. The adaptation of Manichaeism to the Zoroastrian religion appears to have begun in Mani's lifetime however, with his writing of the Middle PersianShabuhragan, his book dedicated to theSasanian emperor,Shapur I.[8]
In it, there are mentions of Zoroastrian divinities such asAhura Mazda,Angra Mainyu, and Āz. Manichaeism is often presented as a Persian religion, mostly due to the vast number of Middle Persian, Parthian, andSogdian (as well as Turkish) texts discovered by German researchers nearTurpan in what is nowXinjiang, China, during the early 1900s. However, from the vantage point of its original Syriac descriptions (as quoted by Theodore Bar Khonai and outlined above), Manichaeism may be better described as a unique phenomenon of Aramaic Babylonia, occurring in proximity to two other new Aramaic religious phenomena,Talmudic Judaism andMandaeism, which also appeared in Babylonia in roughly the third century.[citation needed]
