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Order of Nazorean Essenes
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Collecting the Buddha-Christ Nature Animating Matter
"The Path is the service of others, not prayer beads and dervish robes." - Sa Di Manichaeans called the ecosystem, and the Buddha-Christ Nature within it, the Cross of Light. They were extremely reluctant to disturb it, even by walking on a spiritual journey lest they inadvertently harm a plant by stepping upon it. Mani told his followers that there are "three great mighty things" by which people may find Life: join the Manichaean Order, receive the initiating right hand, and "act with restraint and charity to the Cross of Light, which grieves in the totality, being present in what is visible and what is not visible". - Kephalion 112
Manichaeans sought to collect the Buddha Nature hidden within the natural world in the Cross of Light. They sought to collect such together, separate it from gross matter, and return it to its home on high - "a separation of light from darkness, of death from life, of living waters from turbid...". Growing, dedicating and eating a wholesome vegan diet was part of this salvatory separative process taught by Mani. One of the major goals of Nazorean Monasteries and communities is the self production of all food and drink through permaculture and Veganic gardening techniques. "For the universal and earthly soul (Light Cross), which enters on account of all kinds of food, being taken to excess by over-much food, is itself united to the spirit, as being cognate, which is the soul of man; and the material part of the food being united to the body, is left as a dreadful poison to it. Wherefore in all respects moderation is excellent." - Peter from the Clementine Homilies.
Mani taught that the Cross of Light was composed
of living elements. Ephrem, an early opponent of Manichaeans, said that
there were: "Five luminous ones whom they
term Ziwane." Ephrem,
Hypatius These five are:
In the Chinese hymn in praise of these five light elements, we read: "Stop all sorts of evil doings, and return to your originator. Firmly observe the fasting and precepts, always guard them carefully and control your thoughts, regulating them constantly. Day and night think only of the true and correct doctrine, and attend to the weighing and clarifying of the five wondrous bodies."Hymnscroll 245-246
The Alms is this, that he must make an offering of food through the Righteous (monastics), and piously give it to them (Kephalia 193:2 3).The main reason for this Alms giving was to give his membership oportunity to gain merit through participate with the monks and nuns in the great work of gathering in the scattered light of Christ hidden in matter so that it could be offered up on pure Altars and prepared to return on high in the Ships of Light. The Alms will be reckoned to his good, the Fast that he has kept, the cloth that he has put upon the monastics; and thereby they daily share a communion with them in their fasting and their good deeds(Kephalia 233: 16 19).The giving of alms is both an honor and a privilege. Wise are they that so arrange their lives that they are able to nourish and harvest the bounty of the earth and bring it to Altars of Alms before Temples of Light. According to Al-Biruni, Mani: "imposed upon his Listeners, that is, their followers and adherents who have to do with worldly affairs" the obligation "to give as alms the tenth of their property, to fast during the seventh part of a lifetime, to live in monogamy, to sponser the monastics, and to remove everything that troubles or pains them." _ Athar-ul-Bakiya, 190Mani taught that when a person joined the Family of Life, all their old sins were washed away, and kept away, by the continued giving of alms, fasting, daily prayer, and the observance of other correct principles. TRANSUBSTINATION OF ALMS
"This soul, which comes to him daily in the digestion of his food, becomes pristine, and is purified, separated, and cleansed from the mixture with the darkness that is mixed in with it." Kephalaia of ManiMonastics are the ones called to actually redeem this Ziwane light, for it is the Monastic lifestyle that affords the Ziwane no oportunity to leak back into the world through its 5 manifestations: "This food of various kinds that people gather in, as they eat it, it goes into the body; it is scattered to five births. The first birth is this that comes out of a person int he trance (rapture), and it rises up in the mind, and it comes out in all of ones limbs without measure. The second is this that comes out of the person in their voice and the word. The third is this that vibrates in power and vigor. The fourth is that which is born in the pleasure of lust in men and women. The fifth is this that is formed, and is constructed in the flesh, and is born and comes out, which is this physical birth." - Mani "Ingested light either flows out through the typical activities of the Elect - prayers and psalms - or binds itself to their soul, rising with them into heaven.." - The Manicahean Body, pg 172
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Order of Nazorean Essenes 2008
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Manichaeans
taught that the "Suffering Christ" latent within matter was a result of
an original fall of the Primordial Pair (Yeshu and Miryai). This Primordial
Pair is an archetype of each of our own souls and the Cross of Light represents
the scattered remains of our decomposed spiritual bodies lost when we descended
down into these darkened universes. The soul of the First Man, and our
souls, are directly rescued through ritual Endowment work, but the
5 fold Armour (Spiritual Body) is rescued by collecting its residue in
vegan foods and then having such reformed into a spiritual body. Modern
Essenes continue this tradition by engaging in Endowments and by consecrating
wholesome foods on Altars where their latent light sparks can be gathered
in for later weaving into a spiritual Rainbow Robe. This Rainbow Robe is
the Nazorean equivalent to the resurrected body of the Catholics and the
Wedding Garment in the parables of Yeshu (Jesus). It is a subtle spiritual
body woven from the subtle living portion of the Light Cross. It is not
visible to the physical eye. Like later Qabbalists, Manichaeans sought
to redeem the fallen world by returning these sparks of the fragmented
spiritual body of the first Primal Pair back to Heaven. By this process
they hoped to amass sufficient merit, as well as the raw material itself,
toward a reconstitution of their original spiritual body. Work in this
area is specific to the monastic level of the Order of ONE.
Mani
told his followers that they must practice almsgiving. These Alms could
be the daily contributions of organic produce for those who dwelt near
a monastery, or 10% of their income if they lived too far away from gathered
monastics.
Manichaeans
sought to collect these five living elements through vegan food alms offerings
so that the living element within them could eventually be woven into a
Rainbow Robe of resurrected flesh for them. First the living elements of
the Living Soul had to be separated from the dead elements which were mixed
with it:
