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Tsou Yen's philosophy seemed to allow them to calculate when this new order would start; later secret societies contained ideas from Iranian Mazdaism, Manichaeism and Buddhism, mixed with traits from the popular religions and often couched in terms taken from the Taoists.
We know further that books under the title of Persian Adab were spread among those who sympathised with Mazdaism and Manichism in the circle of Moslem society. These books by their character were comparable to books on Mazdak but also to Kalila wa Dimna. In the former the heading is Fi taat us Sultan, in the latter Fi rasail.
Mazdaism, like Hebraism, kept the human distinctly apart from the divine: Ahura Mazda is virtually absolute, and Zoroaster and the succeeding prophets, including the savior Çaoshyanç, are men chosen and appointed by him. In recent times the followers of the Brahma-Samaj leader Sen are said to have worshiped him as a god apparently an isolated phenomenon, the origin of which is not clear.
But these passing beliefs indicate a general tendency, and may have paved the way for the more definite conception of bodily restoration. It, however, never reached the form of a universal or partial resurrection. +90+. The birthplace of this latter doctrine appears to have been the region in which Mazdaism arose, the country south of the Caspian Sea.
Thus, for instance, Yakubi indicates that the inhabitants of Isfahan, Merv, and Herat, consisted mainly of high-born Dehkans. Makdisi notices a considerable number of fire-worshippers in several provinces of Persia, for instance, Irak and Jibal. Relate that the inhabitants of several localities of Kerman during the entire Umayyad period openly professed Mazdaism.
It was hoped in this way especially to remedy the financial troubles of the moment, which were partly due to a shortage of metal for minting. As the trading capital was still placed with the temples as banks, the government attacked the religion of the Uighurs, Manichaeism, and also the religions of the other foreigners, Mazdaism, Nestorianism, and apparently also Islam.
The ethical standard of Mazdaism is high, and the ethical practice of Mazdean communities hardly differs from that of other prominent modern religious bodies. Though the Manichæans were accused of immoral practices, it does not appear that Mani himself or any prominent disciple of his announced or favored or permitted such practices.
In the hands of late writers they shaded into legendary accounts of the origin of the kingdom, and the whole was colored by the developed Mazdaism. We thus have theological constructions rather than true myths.
The foreigners set up their own counting-houses and warehouses; whole quarters of the capital were inhabited entirely by foreigners who lived as if they were in their own country. They brought with them their own religions: Manichaeism, Mazdaism, and Nestorian Christianity. The first Jews came into China, apparently as dealers in fabrics, and the first Arabian Mohammedans made their appearance.
To the same end were preserved national traditions and ritual, some of which had nothing to do with Mazdaism. The ethical ideals of the church found strong support in the feudalistic circles comprising the larger and the smaller landholders, the dehkans who, with particular zeal, preserved ancient heroic traditions.
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