Mani, The Buddha
The Buddhist substratum in the genesis of Manichaeism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23925/1677-1222.2024vol24i1a17Keywords:
Manichaeism, Buddhism, Visionary experiences, Religions along the Silk RoadAbstract
The aim of this article is to delineate the role of Buddhism in the development of Manichaeism. It will analyse the main features of Bardaisan of Edessa's report on Indian religions, an important document for Mani's knowledge about India prior to his travels to the Indo-Iranian milieu in Central Asia, in order to establish its lack of clearly discernible Buddhist ideas. Thereafter, it will investigate the role of Buddha himself in Mani's system - a better evidence of the Buddhist impact in early Manichaeism; it will be argued, therefore, that Mani and his followers developed a "Manichaean Buddhology", on which elements of Buddha's Life were transferred and assimilated to Mani’s prophetology.
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