The Teachings of the Magi: A Compendium of Zoroastrian Beliefs 0195198573, 9780195198577

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TOMPKINS CORTLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE BL1570.Z3 1976 Zaehner. Robert Charles. The teachings o

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A Compendium of Zoroastrian Beliefs

THE

TEACHINGS

OF THE

MAGI

By the same Author Zurvan, A Zoroastrian Dilemma

The Dawn and Twilight of Zoroastrianism Mysticism Sacred and Profane At Sundry Times The Concise Encyclopedia of Living Faiths (ed) Hindu and Muslim Mysticism Hinduism The Convergent Spirit The Catholic Church and World Religions Hindu Scriptures The Bhagavad-Gita Concordant Discord Dialectical Christianity and Christian Materialism Evolution in Religion Drugs, Mysticism and Make-believe Our Savage God

THE TEACHINGS OF THE MAGI A Compendium of Zoroastrian Beliefs

R. GC. ZAEHNER

OXFORD

UNIVERSITY New York

PRESS

First published in 1956 in Great Britain

by George Allen & Unwin Ltd. Published in 1975 in a paperback edition by Sheldon Press, London First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 1976 by arrangement with Sheldon Press Copyright © 1956 R. C. Zaehner Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 76-21926 Printed in the United States of America

THE

AUTHOR

R. C. Zaehner was born of Swiss parents who had emigrated to England and he was bilingual in French and English from early childhood. He remained an excellent linguist all his life. After school in Tonbridge, he went with a classical scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford,

where he took a first in Oriental Studies. He lectured in Persian at Oxford University and served on the staff of the British Embassy in Iran for five years. He delivered the Jordan Lectures in London University in 1959 (later published as Hindu and Muslim Mysticism) and the Gifford Lectures at St Andrews in 1968-9. He was Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics in the University of Oxford and a Fellow of All Souls College from 1952 until his death in 1974.

Cover illustration taken from a Sassanian carving on a rock panel at Persepolis showing Shapur being invested as King by Ohrmazd.

TO

SIR MAURICE

BOWRA

* ,..for an old friend is like old wine which becomes better and more fit for the consumption of princes the older it is’ (p. 106)

CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

I A Catechism II The Two Primeval Spirits and Creation III The Devil’s Onslaught

IV The Necessity of Dualism V Man’s First Parents VI The Good Religion

VII The Good Ethics VIII Sacraments and Sacrifice IX The Individual fudgement at Death X The Resurrection of the Body and Life Everlasting SELECT

INDEX

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Ir is my pleasant duty to thank the Delegates of the Clarendon Press for permission to reprint extracts from my book,