The world's only Mani Light Buddha statue? It's hidden in Jinjiang, Quanzhou.

This is not a Zoroastrianism site! This is the only remaining Mani Light Buddha statue site, referred to as the "Ming Cult" in Jin Yong's novels, and Jinjiang, Quanzhou is its final resting place. ✨ The Cao'an Mani Site Park is located in Huabiao Mountain, Jinjiang, Quanzhou. It is an extremely rare Mani temple site with a unique "Mani Light Buddha statue" that is perfectly preserved. It is hard to imagine that it survived several disasters over nearly 700 years and finally saw the light of day. The Mani Light Buddha stone carving was engraved in 1339. The statue itself has a "Taoist appearance and Buddhist body," wearing a monk's robe, with two strands of hair hanging down, hands in a meditation mudra, and a face in light blue, hands in pink, and clothing in gray-white. It was carved using three different natural colors of the rock. The back has a "radiating light" pattern, with distinct features. Master Hongyi once called it a "literary Buddha." For a significant period, local residents confused it with Buddhist statues, allowing it to survive to this day. 【🔥 Why is it said to be the only remaining Mani Light Buddha stone carving?】 In Persia, Central Asia, and Xinjiang, Mani religion did not have idol worship (e.g., the main worship of the Tree of Light in Cave 38 of Bezeklik). The Mani Light Buddha stone carving is a product of the spread of Mani religion along the Fujian coast, and no second stone carving has been found in Fujian. In 1330, Chagatai Khan Tarmashirin began converting to Islam. By 1342, under Ali Sultan Khan, the Chagatai Khanate and its successors regarded Islam as the orthodox religion and began suppressing other religions. The region with the most Mani followers in Central Asia lost its color, and the exchange between the Fujian coast and Central Asia's Mani religion was cut off. It began to grow wildly, eventually absorbing the styles of Buddhist and Taoist statues, resulting in this Mani Light Buddha statue. 【🔥 Is Quanzhou the last place where Mani religion disappeared?】 Until the 1930s, the local Cai clan in Dongshi, Jinjiang, still formed the "Mani Public Ten Friends Association," engaging in activities in the Jinjiang area under the name of Mani religion and had exchanges with Master Hongyi. From this perspective, it is not inappropriate to say that Quanzhou is the last place where Mani religion disappeared. However, at that time, Mani religion had largely undergone a process of localization for hundreds of years, differing from the Mani religion popular in Persia and Central Asia, becoming a special local folk belief in southern Fujian. "Cao'an divination poems," as a divination ritual after the folkization of Mani religion, have similarities with the southern Fujian practice of throwing divination blocks and have not been lost to this day. Divination can be performed in Cao'an. 🔥 The village of Sunei still has the "Five-Tailed Water Capital Palace" temple, enshrining the two gods "Dutian Lingguan" and "Qin Jiaoming Envoy," which are the localized names and images of the Mani gods "Xianyi" and "Yishu." These are evidence that Mani religion once existed. - ✨ PS: Saying it is the world's only remaining Mani temple site is a bit exaggerated. There are nearby sites like Fuzhou Puxi Fushou Palace and Xiapu Feilu Pagoda site, and distant sites like the Gaochang Ancient City K site in Turpan, Xinjiang, Bezeklik Cave 38, and Tuyugou Grottoes. There are more than one Mani temple site that I have visited. It is not the origin, so don't believe small bloggers' nonsense. Its accurate positioning should be "the world's only remaining Mani Light Buddha stone carving." In addition, a Mani Light Buddha wood carving was once found in Sunei Village, Jinjiang, which I have not visited and do not know if it still exists.