Tuesday, December 1, 2009

LECTURE 7 / 24 NOVEMBER 2009

Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Nestorian Christianity and Judaism in Tang and Song China

I. Zoroastrianism, a Religion of Dualism
A. Zoroaster (628-551 BCE)
Born in a family of priests near today’s Tehran
Good and evil in constant struggle; Sun and Fire are symbols of Good (Mazda)
Those who live by the principles of the Good ascend to heaven after death; those who act falsely and evilly descend to hell after death
His teachings were contained in “Avesta”, first compiled in 6th century BCE, incorporating the epics of Iran
It had an inclination for monotheism and was a form of salvation religion.
It became the state religion of Sassanid Persia

B. Spread of Zoroastrianism to the Entire Persian World and Sogdiana



C. Zoroastrianism among the Nomadic Tribes and in China in 6th Century
Zoroaster temples were built in Chang’an, Luoyang and many other Chinese cities; the Tang court set up a special office headed by a “sabao” to regulate and manage the Zoroastrian affairs
Severely set back after 845 when the Tang Emperor Wu-zong decreed to curtail all religions of non-Chinese origin
But Zoroastrian temples still existed in many Chinese cities in Song Dynasty
No more records of its activities after the Mongol invasion

II. Manichaeism, a New Religion of Dualism

A. Mani (215-277 CE)
Born in Mesopotamia and a Zoroastrian follower at first, Mani started to propagate a new religion at age 24 after he saw the twin angels in a dream and later told by the angels to found a new religion and be a messenger for Light
Teaching a form of dualism with “two principles and three phases”.
Two principles: Light and Darkness were the bases of the universe
Three phases: an “early phase” before the world was created when Light and Darkness coexisted; an “intermediate phase” in which Light and Darkness struggle constantly and repeatedly; and a “final phase” in which Light and Darkness are forever separated whereby Light becomes utter light and Darkness extreme dark
This dualism is in fact a synthesis of Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Christianity
Despite a leg impairment, Mani traveled widely, having been to Central Asia, Kashmir, India and Tibet, to proselytize this religion
Manicheans did not eat meat, were divided into vowed believers and regular believers with the former observing more stringent rules and the latter paying to support the former
He aroused hatred by the Zoroastrians and was put to death


B. After Mani’s death, many Manicheans fled to Central Asia and India, spreading the religion in a manner similar to the spread of Christianity after Jesus was crucified
C. Manichaeism gained many converts from Zoroastrians after Sassanid Persia fell to the Arab forces
D. Many Sogdians converted to Manichaeism and introduced the religion to the nomadic Turks as well as to Buddhists in Khotan, Turpan, Dunhuang, Chang’an and elsewhere in China
The Tang government did not like the teachings and practices of Manichaeism but allowed the followers to practice their religion
Manichean scriptures were translated into Chinese and there were large numbers of followers in many parts of China
Received a boost after the Uighurs helped Tang court crush the An Lu-shan rebellion and entered Chang’an en masse in 760 CE
The demise of the Uighur Kingdom in 840 CE and the interdiction by the Emperor in 845 CE of all religions except Taoism dealt a heavy blow to Manichaeism in China, but the spread continued in the form of a secret society or cult among the urban lower-class and the peasants
It almost took the path of Buddhism and merged with the Chinese culture; furnishing an ideology and a means of mobilization in several major peasant revolts in 10th to 12th centuries


E. The Mani script was created after the old Syrian alphabet in order to write the scriptures in Uighur language; many such scriptures have been found in Dunhuang, Kocho and other sites in Central Asia and Mongolia
F. Manichaeism was also at one time popular in North Africa; St Augustine was a believer in Mani before he became a Christian bishop and a major theologian of the Christian faith

III. Nestorian Christianity

A. Nestorius, born in Syria and once abbot of a monastery in Antioch, became the patriarch of Constantinople in 428 CE
B. He believed that (1) Jesus was human, born by Mary, God merged with Jesus to act as Son of God, the redeemer and savior; (2) therefore, Mary cannot be called Mother of God; (3) Christ had a dual nature, a man with a visible form and an invisible and formless Son of God; (3) thus Jesus is not God but an instrument of God.
C. At the Ecumenical Council held in Ephesus (Efes) in 431, he was condemned and forbidden to take the pulpit; Nestorius fled to Persia and formed his own church there
D. The Persian Nestorian-Christians propagated this religion to the Sogdians, Indians, etc.
E. The Nestorians also used an old Syrian alphabet to write their Bible which was almost identical in content to the official Christian bible compiled after the Council of Nicaea (Iznik) in 325
F. Nestorian Christianity in China
It entered China in 635 CE after the Emperor Tai-zong personally approved its setting up a church and the ordination of priests in Chang’an
At first the place of worship of the Nestorians was known as the “Persian Temple” since the priests were Persian, but later it was changed to “Roman Temple”
Nestorian churches were built in many Chinese cities
In 1624, a stele was discovered near today’s Xian; it was bilingual and gave detailed information about the spread of Nestorian Christianity in Tang China
In 20th century, many manuscripts were found in Dunhuang and Khotan, including prayers, hymns and paintings
The church maintained close relationship with top officials of Tang, and benefitted much from this association; but also suffered heavily when Tang Dynasty ended
It co-existed with Buddhism to the point that some of its priests participated in the translation of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese
Along with Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism, Nestorian Christianity was recognized in Tang China as one of the “three foreign religions”, thereby banned in the “Anti-Buddhist” movement of 845 CE.
Since Buddhism had already become a part of Chinese culture and totally indigenized, it recovered from the crush in just a few years whereas the other three religions suffered long-term damages

IV. Judaism in China

A group of Jews came from Baghdad to the Song capital Bian-liang (present-day Kaifeng in Henan Province) in 11th century
Local people could not distinguish them from the Arab Muslims since the Jews also spoke Arabic, looked the same as the Arabs and did not eat pork
Nonetheless, the Jews had their own religious life with temples and rabbi who could read the Torah and presided over services on Sabbath
However, the Jewish community in China at some point decided to send their children to learn the Chinese classics in order for them to gain entry to officialdom or the literati class.
This made the educated Jews no longer observant in their ancestral religion
By 16th century, the Jewish community in China had only one synagogue left and no rabbi who could read the Torah, thus ceased to exist as a religious community
Some members of this community had become ministers and authors
This is a well-documented unforced disappearance of a Jewish community in the Diaspora

V. Summary

Buddhism was by far the most dominant, religion along the Silk Road and in China.
Zoroastrianism was practiced by Sogdians, and accepted by some nomads and other residents along the Silk Road.
After 6th century, Manichaeism made great inroads among the Turkic groups on the Mongolian steppe.
Evangelical work by Nestorian priests also converted some nomads on the Mongolian steppe as well as Chinese cities.
As the Cyrillic alphabet was invented for the Slavic converts to Christianity, so Mani script and Nestorian script were created for the nomadic converts.
After the An Lu-Shan Rebellion in China, both Buddhism and Taoism gained a large following among the ordinary people as well as the ruling nobles
A few emperors favored Buddhism while a few others favored Taoism.
Religious jealousy between Buddhism and Taoism was acute; that between Buddhism and Manichaeism was also common
By the 9th century, the Buddhist temples held large tracts of farm land and attracted many able men and women to abandon secular life and enter monastery life, having a negative impact on the economy.
A Taoist priest convinced Emperor Wu-zong to issue an imperial decree on “extinguishing Buddhism” and other non-indigenous religions
Some 4,000 Buddhist temples were destroyed, 40 million hectares of farmland owned by the temples were confiscated, and more than 260,000 monks and nuns were forced to return to secular life; this was one of two such anti-Buddhist movements in Chinese history
Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Nestorian Christianity thus suffered greatly; some 3,000 priests in Chang’an were forced to abandon their churches or temples.
On the Mongolian steppe, the Uighurs who were Manicheans were forced by a new group from the north to migrate to the Gansu corridor and today’s Xinjiang.
Uighur became the rulers of much of Xinjiang by the 10th century ; they also converted to the Buddhist religion of the people whom they ruled.
The departure of Manichean Uighurs from the Mongolian steppe after 840 left a religious vacuum
Many Nestorians fled to the Mongolian steppe after 845, filling the vacuum by converting the newly grouped Mongol tribes to Nestorian Christianity
Thus the Mongol script was also based on the Sogdian script, even after their conversion to Buddhism in 12th century
Both Manichaeism and Nestorian Christianity persisted in the Chinese provinces but only thinly populated