Mesarthim Q. P.: You probably could define Buddhism as a derivative of Hindu practice honestly, if only because so many core ideas are clearly in conversation with Hindu concepts

Did you ever hear of the Manichean Painting of the Buddha Jesus? I thought not. It’s not a story the Vatican would tell you. It’s a Chinese legend.

One of the greatest lost opportunities of globalization is that we’ll never get to see what wild and wonky syncretic versions of Christianity might have emerged from isolated Christian sects in Korea/Philippines/China etc

And by a Chinese legend I mean its an icon of Jesus painted by a Manichean sect in southern China, that was then brought to Japan and used as a Christian icon by Arima Harunobu, and now it’s in a Buddhist temple and venerated as an image of Ākāśagarbha

This is my favorite weird fact I learned on my wiki deep dive on Manicheanism

Are the manicheans Christian? They’re CLOSE

Most archeological, anthropological, and comparative religious research says "no". They're one of the early religions Christianity was competing with, which did borrow elements from Christianity but only because they borrowed from everything on the Silk Road.

I mean, kind of? But Mani was a member of the Elcesaites sect before founding his own religion

Yes, and Buddha was some form of Hindu before becoming the Buddha, does that mean Buddhism is a form of Hinduism? Is Christianity a form of Judaism? Is *Islam* a form of Judaism? Is Manicheanism a form of Judaism, for that matter?

You probably could define Buddhism as a derivative of Hindu practice honestly, if only because so many core ideas are clearly in conversation with Hindu concepts

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