DeConick A.D

315
PLEASANTVILLE RELIGIONS
This discharge happened through the mouth, when breath or spirit
was exhaled. Any light that remained within a person, stored safely in the
stomach, would be liberated when he or she died. Then the soul would
be escorted by great guardian angels, whose protection ensured that the
light would be able to make the journey safely home along the cosmic
route taught by Mani.
It is impossible for a community to exist for long if its people refuse
to harvest food or have children, so how did this work out practically
in Mani’s church? Mani’s extreme bodies were supported by bodies that
were not so extreme. The extreme bodies Mani called the “elect.” These
were avowed monastic men and women living in religious community. At
death, the elect avoided reincarnation because they had perfected themselves
through their extreme lifestyle and devotion. The not-so-extreme
bodies were called “hearers.” These were the laypeople who made up
Mani’s congregations.
The main job of the hearers was almsgiving, which meant harvesting
and presenting vegetarian food as offerings to the elect at their daily ritual
meal. This was a significant sacrifice for them, because the rate of almsgiving
was set at one-tenth of their property. They were allowed to marry as
long as they maintained monogamy. They participated in regular orchestrated
fasts and prayer vigils and were obliged to live a decent, moral life
free from lying, avarice, larceny, and murder.
Most of the hearers could expect to endure reincarnation at their death,
when their “forgiven” souls would transmigrate into the body of an elect.
But every once in a while a standout hearer could expect the same postmortem
fate as an elect, avoiding the painful migration into another body.
This was the truly zealous hearer, who lived as emotionally detached as
possible, acting like a stranger in the home, caring naught for possessions,
and aggressively serving the elect (Kephalaion 91, 228.22–229.20).
This standardized two-tiered system was genius. Coupled with an aggressive
missionary policy, the longevity of Mani’s church was all but guaranteed.
Indeed, even with imperially enforced brutality and deadly persecutions
at the hands of Persians, Romans, and Christians, Mani’s religion
survived in the West until the sixth century, a Gnostic religion competitive
with Christianity. It lasted longer in central Asia, where it became the
state religion of the Uighur Empire in 762 CE. It persisted at least into
the thirteenth century in China, where Mani was revered as the Buddha