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As Utilized by the Gnostic Manichaean Teachings of the Naz-Mani In the Living Gods, Let the hallowed Light of Transcendant Truth be praised. Let the Sweet Mystery of Miryai awaken in the heart of hearts. Manichaean missionaries are known to have been active in the Tibetan region. With their continual use of Skillful means we can be assured that they couched many of their teachings under the guise of the old Bon indiginous teachings then prevalent in Tibet. One famous Islamic historian even maintained in the eleventh century that the people of Tibet were Manichaean in their beliefs. This Al-Biruni’s (973-1048) even asserted that Mani himself went to Tibet: "There are still remnants of those who are obedient to it (Manichaean religion, and) who belong to it dispersed among a number of lands. They are almost never found assembled together in a single locality in Muslim countries, except for the sect which is in Samarkand that is known as ‘the Sabians.’As for outside the Muslim world, most of the Turks in the east, the people of China and Tibet, and some of those who live in India belong to his religion and his doctrine." - Sachau, Chronology, 191; Strohmaier, In den Gärten 2,142Al-Biruni is regarded as one of the greatest scholars of the medieval Islamic era and was well versed in physics, mathematics, astronomy, and natural sciences, and also distinguished himself as a historian, chronologist and linguist. His assertion that Tibet was mostly Manichaean at one point should be taken seriously. He died in 1048 and so he is describing Manichaeism in Tibet before the era when Bon developed and crystalized and when it promoted the Bon priest gShenrab mibo, who lived a few centuries earlier, to buddha status in the 10th or 11th century. Therefore, some influence on Bon cannot be ruled out. One reason for this is that this Gnostic Manichaean faith became totally dominant in northern Tibet when the Uighur King converted to Manichaeanism in 762 AD. The deeper teachings of this cultural matrix and Manichaean mix also came to be known as Dzogchen and survived in southern Tibet in the form of the Nyingma tradition incorporated by the Indian Padmasambhava into his own system when he taught in the area in 747 A.D. Many important scholars have noted the apparent Manichaean influence within Tibetan traditions and tantras. "It can hardly be denied that this doctrine has strange analogies with the Manichaean system in which the five luminous elements play a prominent part in cosmology as well as in soteriology....The question of Manichaean influences upon Mahayaana and Lamaism has, no doubt, already been dealt with in some quarters..." - Some glosses upon the Guhyasamaja by Tucci,GiuseppeYet the Manichaean system, which had such a profound affinity with early Bon and later Vajrayana Buddhism, was vehemently denied and warred against by the very founders of Tibet's Indian style of Buddhism, such as Santaraksita who was brought into Tibet in the 8th century but who failed to prevail against the Bon-Manichaean forces. Santaraksita erroneously wrote: "The great Persian heretic
liar Mani of insatiable heresy has borrowed something from all systems
in order to fabricate a system deviating from all others, and while he,
in accordance to what he did, arranged quite deviating meaning, the views
held by other systems are present
To Nazmani's, Santaraksita represents a wrong turn away from eternal Bon and pure Manichaeanism towards more corrupt Indian systems. His statement marks a transition point when overt Manichaeanisn in Tibet began to be replaced by Indian Buddhism. The Bon movement seems to have arisen at this time as well in opposition to Buddhism and as a way to carry on older Tibetan traditions which included some manichaean Gnostic elements. PADMASAMBHAVA After Santaraksita's failure (due partially at least to a smallpox epidemic), Padmasambhava was brought into Tibet by its king to set up a new system. Some scholars think Padmasambhava's Nyingma sect was not a replacement of, but a reform of, older Bon traditions. The Order agrees with this assertion, for Nyingma certainly has many elements in common with Bon, and even Manichaeism. Its worship of the "All Good One"(Kuntuzangpo) is certainly much closer to Manichaean worship of the One True God than it is to the non theistic Buddhism of the Hinayana that it pretends to be descended from. Yeshey Tzogyal became the spiritual consort of Padmasambhava - and eventually a female Buddha in her own right. Although Padmasambhava may have been originally more bon than buddhist, his name is now used as a figurehead for Indian buddhism and many changes have happened to the Nyingma sect he founded. With these facts at our disposal, it is reasonable to conclude that the Manichaean faith was once prevelent in the Tibetan lands before Bon and Buddhism became institutionalized. The Secret Teachings of Mani, mixed with indigenious Bon and older northern Buddhism, would of had influence on the developing concepts and doctrines of both Bon and Nyingma Buddhists. During the seven week season of Qyamta these should be expored and utilized. Here is another quote that addresses the Manichaean elements inherent in Bon:
See also: http://www.academia.edu/9072431/Biruni_on_Mani_and_Manichaeism and http://balkhandshambhala.blogspot.com/2013/10/manichaeism-tibetan-bon.html |