Page "Manichaeism" Paragraph 8

Mani believed that the teachings of Buddha, Zoroaster, and Jesus were incomplete, and that his revelations were for the entire world, calling his teachings the " Religion of Light.

" Manichaean writings indicate that Mani received revelations when he was 12 and again when he was 24, and over this time period he grew dissatisfied with the Elchasaite sect he was born into.

Mani began preaching at an early age and was possibly influenced by contemporary Babylonian-Aramaic movements such as Mandaeanism, and Aramaic translations of Jewish apocalyptic writings similar to those found at Qumran ( such as the book of Enoch literature ).

With the discovery of the Mani-Codex, it also became clear that he was raised in a Jewish-Christian baptism sect, the Elcesaites, and was influenced by their writings as well.

According to biographies preserved by Ibn al-Nadim and the Persian polymath al-Biruni, he allegedly received a revelation as a youth from a spirit, whom he would later call his Twin ( Aramaic Tauma ( תאומא ), from which is also derived the name of the apostle Thomas, the " twin "), his Syzygos ( Greek for " partner ", in the Cologne Mani-Codex ), his Double, his Protective Angel or ' Divine Self '.

It taught him truths which he developed into a religion.

His ' divine ' Twin or true Self brought Mani to Self-realization and thus he became a ' gnosticus ', someone with divine knowledge and liberating insight.

He claimed to be the ' Paraclete of the Truth ', as promised in the New Testament.