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The following Lesson is from the Kephalia of the Teacher, a Coptic Manichaean manuscript found at Medinet Madi in the late 1920's and translated into Enlgish by Iain Gardner.

[On]ce again a disciple speaks to our enlightener: I beseech you, / [m]y master, that you might explain to me this lesson I would ask you. /

Sometimes [I] am peaceful in my heart, as my consideration / [is
constructive], and all my doctrines are ordered and in place. I
conduct  my wor[k]s, as I utter my words to all people / [with swe]etness. I am peaceful of heart in the gladness of the Mind.  Even my body is carefree, and my soul / [rejo]ices in wisdom and true knowledge.

There are also times / when I shall be troubled. My doctrines are confused. Gloom increa/ses with them, and grief and anger and envy and lu5st. I am troubled, struggling with all my might that I would sub/due them; not finding the strength of mind to subdue them at that hour nor / day when they surged up in me. And all these evil teachings / and wicked considerations come forth. They have tormented / me. I do not comprehend, because there is no single shape in all these cou[ns]els that have entered me. Are they revealed to me, or / ind[eed did] they enter me from outside and have been shaken in to me? I / do not know if they have wakened within me alone, have / re[belled] inside me and set themselves up against me. I do not know / about [that. However, th]is only I understand: that I shall be ver[y] badly confused in all my doctrines. I shall / do [...] in my [work]s, and you find my word is worthless in / my mouth. I shall not find how [...], and I become a source of trouble and confus [ion] / for my brothers. Even my body rises up against me, and sick[ens] / for that entire day.

Again, there are other times [y]ou shall find my heart carefree, as I rejoice and am glad. My wisd[om] / is sweet for me, and the preaching. My heart is drawn to the fas/ting with which I fast. I shall not wish to stop p[raying]. / You find all my doctrines tranquil, while my other thoughts are j [oyful], / my body being carefree. I shall not slacken as I recite psalm[s, and not] stop saying prayers. I am right indulgent [to] / my brothers, because I am governed by the / constructive state.

So now I beseech you, my master, / that you might persuade me about these two matters. I have tested them [in] / my own body, but not comprehending the ma[nner]  by which [they] come in to me.

Then the apostle speaks [thus] to t[he di] sci [ple]: / Well do you
ask about this lesson. B [ehold], I [will explain] it [to you]! Understand this: The soul that assumes the body, / [w]hen the
Light Mind will come to it, shall be purified by the power o [f] /
wisdom and obedience, and it is cleansed and ma[de] / a new man There is no trouble in (the soul), nor confusion nor [dist]urbance.

However, when a disturbance will arise for [him] / and he will be troubled, this disturbance shall go in to him in [...], / first through his birth-signs and his difficult stars that [...] / they turn over him and stir him and trouble him with / lust and anger and depression and grief, as he wills. Also, as he wills, the powers of heaven shall trouble him through the[ir] / roots, to which he is attached.

Again, there are times you shall find the [powers / of] heaven are peaceful and tranquil for him, and it comes to [... / a] difficult part comes into him by the nourishment that he has eaten, / or else indeed in some [...] or in the water that they have drunk. Again, trouble and confusion and anger [will] increase in him, a[nd / l]ust multiplies upon him together with depression and grief; becau/se of the nourishment of the bread he has eaten and the water he has drunk, / which are full of bothersome parts, a vengeful counsel. They shall / enter his body, [mixed in] with these foods, and they  even become joined in with the wicked parts of the body and / the sin that is in him; transferring the anger and the lust and / the depression and the grief, these wicked thoughts of the body. /

Now, [beh]old, I have explained to you that should you be troubled [... / ...] them through the c[ondui]ts and the r[oot]s of they above [...... the f]ood that comes in to you.

There are times, however, / [if] you shall find that the nourish-ment that comes into you is pure [... / ...], so it is greater in light and life w[hile the / wast]e is less in it, and the evil-doing is diminished [f/rom it]. Even the atmosphere above is still, being purified through the [......] also the image is calmed from [...
...] increases in you through [th]ose good parts of the food that come i/ [n] to you. And they find you at ease and tranquil, as you are / well gover[n]ed in your abodes because of / [the] living [p] art, which is greater on account of the light of these [ju]stifled souls that are in it. The ones that have peffected their deed/ [s]. Their dues have ceased, while their soul is carefree / [...] they have been allied with these living souls that / [are p]resent in you. Due to this you shall find them in you, / [c]alm in tran-quillity, and they come from you without tro[uble; a]nd you are found flourishing of body. Even your de/[eds] are determined. being well constructed after their manner, and your doct/ [rines are in] order, as your words ~...] your soul is ca[re]/free within you, ascending like a bird. /

Behold, I have] explained to you the determination of this lesson for which asked: Whe[nce] come [th]ese bad counsels and considerations / in to you, these vengeful thoughts that trou[bl]/e; and also whence come in to you these good counsels / and sweet doctrines, when your Mind is cal/med for you. I have told you that when [your bo]dy is troubled,  shall be troubled by the conduits of they below, the difficult parts / that come in to you by fo[od and the] act of eating. Aga[in], when / the conduits above are calmed from you, even your fo/od that has come in to you is clear and pure. Your heart shall be found / ordered in its place, your counsels at peace from disturb [ance]

Then, when that disciple had heard these things, he glorified [... / . .1 the apostle. He says to him: You are glorious and bless[ed]! / The living [...] that came from you have been added to us. We [... / ... b]elieve you. For everything that we ask of you, you [per/suade] us about it with sweetness; you [... ..... the so] uls.