The Xiapu Manichaean manuscripts are Chinese Manichaean manuscripts from Shangwan Village 上万村, Baiyang Township, Xiapu County, Fujian Province, China. They first became known to academia and the general public in October 2008. Today in Baiyang Township, the texts are used for rituals conducted for Lin Deng 林瞪 in the three villages of Baiyang 柏洋村, Shangwan 上万村, and Tahou 塔后村.[1]
Additional Manichaean manuscripts were discovered in neighboring parts of Fujian after 2008. In March 2016, 3 Manichaean texts were discovered in Jianglong Village 降龙村, Shoushan Township 寿山乡, Pingnan County, Fujian, called Zhenming kaizheng wenke 貞明開正文科,[2]Zhenming kaizheng zou 貞明開正奏, and Dier shike 第二時科. In 2017, 35 Manichaean texts owned by Taoist priest Shi Menghua 施孟铧[3] were discovered in Gaoshan Town 高山镇, Fuqing City 福清市.[4] In 2019, a Manichaean stone inscription was also discovered in nearby Qiyu Village 芹屿村, Yangzhong Town 洋中镇, Jiaocheng District, Ningde City.[5]
Background
The majority of the texts belong to Chen Peisheng 陈培生, a priest or ritual master (fashi 法师) who uses them as ritual texts during his religious ceremonies. Priest Chen Peisheng is the descendant of Chen Pingshan 陈平山, who was a disciple of Lin Deng 林瞪. In Baiyang Township, many local villagers revere Lin Deng 林瞪 (born 1003; died 1059), a Fujianese Manichaean who helped established Manichaeism in Fujian during the Song dynasty. In 1027, Lin converted to Manichaeism at the age of 25. Today, Lin's tomb is still revered by locals in Shangwan Village.[6]
Lin Deng himself was the disciple of Sun Mian 孙绵, one of the ancestors of the Sun 孙 clan in Chanyang Village 禅洋村 (now Shenyang Village 神洋村)[7] who founded Longshou Temple 龙首寺 in 966, located about 2 kilometers from Shangwan Village. During the Yuan dynasty, the temple was renamed as Leshantang 乐山堂 (also called Gaizhutang 盖竹堂). It was destroyed by a typhoon in 2006. In Xiapu County, there are ruins of two Manichaean pagodas, one called the Triple Buddha Pagoda (Sanfota 三佛塔; built in the early 1520s, located in Shangwan); the other called the Flying Road Pagoda (Feiluta 飞路塔; built in 1374, located in Baiyang Township). The Flying Road Pagoda is notable for the inscription qingjing guangming dali zhihui 清淨 光明 大力 智慧 ‘Purity, Light, Great Power, Wisdom’.[6]
Moni Guangfo (摩尼光佛, meaning ‘Mani, Buddha of Light’) is one of the longest Xiapu manuscripts. The manuscript includes 83 pages, 659 lines, and over 8,400 Chinese characters in total.[8]
In comparison with older forms of Manichaeism and other previously known forms of Chinese Manichaeism, the Xiapu Manichaean texts strongly emphasize the worship of Jesus (Yishu 夷數).[9]
List of texts
A tentative list of texts, the majority of which belong to ritual masters (fashi 法师) Chen Peisheng 陈培生 and Xie Daolian 谢道琏 in Baiyang Township, given by Gábor Kósa (2014:13-14) is as follows. Most were transcribed during the Qing dynasty from older sources. The contents of the text date back to over 1,000 years ago.[6]
