Dualistic religion founded by the prophet Mani in 3rd century CE Persia — synthesizing Zoroastrian cosmic dualism, Christian redemption, and Buddhist liberation — depicting the cosmos as a battleground between light (spirit) and darkness (matter) — once the world's most geographically widespread religion, extending from Rome to China.
Creates the most ambitious syncretic cosmic dualism — Mani consciously synthesized all major religious traditions of his time (Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Buddhism) into a universal religion; its doctrine (the cosmic imprisonment of light in matter, liberation through knowledge and asceticism) is the most fully developed dualistic soteriology; its influence on Augustine (pre-conversion Manichaean) decisively shaped Western Christianity's doctrines of evil and free will.
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