MANICHAEAN LITERATUREThey obeyed your commandments.
Their good thoughts increased every day
and shone like the sun god.^20
The knowledge of light shone.
In their hearts compassion grew.
They obeyed the commandment to be sinless
and escaped the unending burning fires of hell.
They tried to keep the true law,
observe the true commandment,
and not fall into impure sin.
After knowing the transience of the body,
they left their houses and homes.
Following the good law, they were pure in body.
They made every effort to follow pure laws
and avoid the dangerous places.
To be reborn in the palace of immortality,
they observed the commandment to be pure in mouth.
They prayed for blessing
and to walk along the road of blessing
and escape terrible samsara.
They followed the commandment of blessed poverty.^22
In fear of the perceived transitory doctrines
and of the three evil ways,^23
they followed the three seals^24
to be reborn in the highest place.^25GATHER, MEDITATE, SING
You agreed to command them,
to praise and sing songs,
to repeal their evil,- Probably Jesus.
- Purity of mouth is one of the three seals in Manichaeism.
- Blessed poverty is a Manichaean commandment of the elect.
- The three evil ways or forms of existence in the Buddhist sense are existence as animals,
hungry spirits, and beings in hell. - Commandments of the heart, mouth, and hands.
- The realm of light. The next twenty verses are badly preserved and are reconstructed.