The Thousand and Twelve Questions
religious text of Mandaeism
The The Thousand and Twelve Questions is a priestly text in Mandaeism. It is written in Mandaic, an Eastern Aramaic dialect.
Quotes edit
- Drower, Ethel S. (1960). The Thousand and Twelve Questions: A Mandaean Text (Alf Trisar Šuialia). Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
- Now as to these two mysteries of ziwa and nhura (radiant light and diffused light):
- know that they are the ancient primal Father and Mother.
- Pure gold is the mystery of the Father, its name is Radiance;
- silver is the Mother’s mystery and its name is Light.
- The crown is the Father’s symbol, and its name is Radiance;
- the myrtle-wreath symbol of the Mother, and its name is ‘Let there be light’.
- The owner of a crown (priest) is occupied with the mystery of the Father;
- a Mandaean (layman) and his wife are concerned with the mystery of the Mother.
- The ganzibra and the priest — (are like ?) crown and wreath —
- by the ‘Let there be Light’ they are the Father’s.
- There are those who delight in the Father
- and those who delight in the Mother.
- Those dedicated to the Father belong to the portion of the Right
- and those dedicated to the Mother to the portion of the Left.
- They are two Powers (malkia); the one was begotten by the Parṣufa (yet) fell downward,
- and the other begotten by the lower and (yet) rose upward.
- Book 2, Part 3.2, Section 20 (Drower 1960, p. 201)
- and the other begotten by the lower and (yet) rose upward.
- Good and Evil of which thou didst speak
- I mingled together,
- for they are living waters and turbid water;
- they are life and death.
- Error and truth (or "reliability")
- are wound and healing,
- they are Pthahil and Hibil-Ziwa,
- they are spirit and soul.
- Boundary and boundary-stone
- are the girdle and drawstring (of the šarwala);
- they are crown and turban
- which their father put on their heads.
- Book 2, Part 3.2, "The Three" (Drower 1960, p. 211)
- which their father put on their heads.
- The worlds of darkness and the worlds of light are Body and Counterpart,
- (they are complements) of one another,
- Neither can remove from or approach the other,
- nor can one distinguish either from its partner,
- moreover each deriveth strength from the other.
- Book 2, Part 3.2, "The Three" (Drower 1960, p. 213)
- So, when the Soul came from worlds of light and fell into the body,
- there came with her some of all the mysteries
- which exist in the world of light,
- some of its radiance and its light,
- some of its sincerity,
- some of its unity, its order,
- its peacefulness and its honesty;
- some of all that there is in the realm of light came to bear her company,
- to delight her, to purify her and to surround her
- in order that she may commune with them
- and that there may be for her that which will aid her
- against the evils and temptations of the earth.
- Book 2, Part 3.2, "The Three" (Drower 1960, p. 215)
- against the evils and temptations of the earth.
- Behold and learn that betwixt Darkness and Light
- there can be no union or pact;
- on the contrary, (between them exist) hatred, enmity and dissension,
- although we are aware of all that takes place and which seeketh to take place.
- For Darkness is the adversary of Light, for they are Right and Left;
- they are (earthly) spirit and (immortal) soul;
- they are sun and moon, day and night, earth and sky;
- (moreover) they may be called Adam and Eve.
- Book 1, Part 1, Section 142 (Drower 1960, p. 146)
- (moreover) they may be called Adam and Eve.
See also edit
References edit
- Drower, Ethel S. (1960). The Thousand and Twelve Questions: A Mandaean Text (Alf Trisar Šuialia). Berlin: Akademie Verlag.
External links edit
- Encyclopedic article on The Thousand and Twelve Questions on Wikipedia