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After studying and comparing the scroll with a number of Buddhist, Church of the East Christian and Manichaean works of art, Gulácsi concluded in her article A Manichaean Portrait of the Buddha Jesus: Identifying a Twelfth-Thirteenth-century Chinese Painting from the Collection of Seiun-ji Zen Temple, that the painting is a Manichaean work of art:
The seal of Mani, the oldest known Manichaean art. Manichaeism has a rich tradition of visual art, starting with Mani himself writing the Book of Pictures. [1]One of Mani's primary beliefs was that the arts (namely painting, calligraphy, and music) were of the same esteem as the divine spirit (Middle Persian: Mihryazd), believing that the creation of art was comparable to god's creation of ...
There is no evidence that the monumental vertical design of East Asian hanging scrolls replaced the traditional small-scale horizontal layout of West Asian picture books in Manichaean canonical art. Thus, this painting is best classified as a late medieval and uniquely Chinese development of Manichaean didactic art.
Manichaean Painting of the Buddha Jesus depicts Jesus Christ as a Manichaean prophet. The figure can be identified as a representation of Jesus Christ by the small gold cross that sits on the red lotus throne in His left hand. Manichaeism's views on Jesus are described by historians:
Manichaean tradition also claims that Mani was the reincarnation of different religious figures including Jesus, Zoroaster, and the historical Buddha. Mani's followers were organized in a church structure, divided into a class of "elects" (electi) and "auditors" (auditores).
Chinese Manichaeism, also known as Monijiao (Chinese: 摩尼教; pinyin: Móníjiào; Wade–Giles: Mo 2-ni 2 Chiao 4; lit. 'religion of Moni') or Mingjiao (Chinese: 明教; pinyin: Míngjiào; Wade–Giles: Ming 2-Chiao 4; lit. 'religion of light or 'bright religion'), is the form of Manichaeism transmitted to and currently practiced in China.
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Arnold stated: "The only other religious art that could have produced these pictures was the Manichaean, the Eastern Character of the types of face and figure, and the similarity in technical details to the Manichaean paintings that have survived in Central Asia, suggest that this is the source to which these strange pictures must be traced back."