SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The essay presents an annotated translation of all the Chinese sources on the life of Mani, which here are brought together for the first time in a European language. The translation is preceded by a historical overview of Manichaeism in China, and followed by a critical discussion of the nature and reliability of the Chinese traditions. Close analysis is devoted in particular to the problem of the chronology of Mani’s life according to the Manichaean Compendium in Chinese of 731 and the Min shu of 1629. On the basis of these documents, W.B. Henning pinned down Mani’s year of death to 274 against the traditional date of 276/277. It is shown, however, that the chronology in the Compendium and the Min shu rests on the religious propaganda of the Manichaeans in China, which accommodated to the local traditions with little consideration of history. Further discussion compares the Chinese legends on the native place of Mani and his aristocratic origins to their Western counterparts.