Mazdaznan

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Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish, founder of Mazdaznan Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish 1906.png
Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish, founder of Mazdaznan

Mazdaznan is a neo-Zoroastrian new religious movement which held that the Earth should be restored to a garden where humanity can cooperate and converse with God. [1] [2] Founded at the end of the 19th century by Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish, born Otto Hanisch, the religion was a revival of 6th century Mazdakism. [3] Adherents maintained a vegetarian diet and practiced breathing exercises. Concerned with the nature of thought, emotion and behavior, Mazdaznan taught that the practical aspects of personal health could be achieved through conscious breathing, "Gah-Llama". The word Mazdaznan is said to derive from the Persian "Mazda" and "Znan", and is supposed to mean "master thought". [4]

Contents

Mazdaznan Philosophy

In 1902 the Rev. Dr. Zar-Adusht-Hanish promoted his philosophy and lessons in a monthly journal called "Sun-Worshiper" supported by health related advertisers in the Chicago area. In the February 1902 edition this "Mazdaznan Philosophy, and its Practicability to Every day Life" is listed. [5]

Teachings

Mazdaznan has been described as a "strange mixture of occult teachings, Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Lebensreform". [6] Although the movement originally consisted of public lectures and group exercise, popular demand made a book called The Power of Breath (1958) available. [7] Mazdaznan advocated a vegetarian diet with breathing, bowel and glandular exercises for physical, spiritual and mental development. [3] [8]

Its lack of lasting popularity can be attributed to the fact that besides emphasizing the importance of the individual decision, it proclaims personal responsibility for one's own fortune. Its success as a word of mouth movement that spawned similar groups can be attributed to its "tried and true" traditions of how different physical postures and ways of breathing produce predictable and controllable mental states.

Its relationship to Judeo-Christian and other religions can be deduced from its emphasis upon three historical characters: Ainyahita, Zarathustra and Jehoshua. Ainyahita, daughter of the divinely created couple (may be related to Anahita), lived 9000 years ago and is supposed to be the origin of the Aryan race, which includes the Jews and therefore Jesus of Nazareth. The traditional God character of most religions has its Mazdaznan component in "Gah-Llama" which is referred to as "intelligence," and "In the air you breathe."

The Power of Breath discusses Gah-Llama in 10 rhythmic conscious breathing exercises with illustrations, where the main goal is self-control and mastery of your body. It is in all respects, like yoga, a non-theistic tradition, in that all words for the unknown are recognized as linguistic and semantic peculiarities, with no rules except for suggestions for health, which are accompanied with a note that you know what's best for yourself. [7]

Movement

The first centres were established in the United States in the late 19th century. Since 1917, Hanisch settled mainly in Los Angeles. By 1937 there were 52 Mazdaznan centres. [3]

In Europe, Mazdaznan was spread by the former Californian farmers David and Frieda Ammann beginning in about 1907. David Ammann was expelled from Leipzig, Germany in 1914 due to the publication of the book Inner Studies. The main centre for Mazdaznan in Europe was the Lebensschule at Herrliberg near Zürich. One of the most famous European followers of the movement was the abstract painter Johannes Itten, who taught at the Bauhaus, who insisted on shaven heads, crimson robes and colonic irrigation. [9] [10]

In the 1930s, Gloria Gasque, a wealthy follower of the movement, went to Bombay intending to restore the "true" message of Zoroaster to the Parsis. Though met with hostility, she remained there for a number of years before she returned to the United States.

Controversies

Child abuse

Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish and Mazdaznan teachers were accused of child abuse, pedophilic sexual abuse and rape which resulted in numerous lawsuits. [11] [12]

Racialism

Mazdaznan was originally not anti-Semitic as it taught that Jews were part of the "white race". [13] Mazdaznan was banned by Nazi Germany in 1935. [1] Mazdaznan taught the hierarchy of six biological human races with white Aryans at the top. Arabs and Zoroastrians were considered part of the Aryan race, whilst Indian Hindus were not. [14]

The Mazdaznan movement became associated with anti-Semitic figures from the far right in the United States. [15] C. Leon de Aryan the editor of the anti-Semitic magazine The Broom was a notable promoter of Mazdaznan during the 1930s and 1940s. [16] Robert M. Price has stated that Mazdaznan was a "racist group, [as] it allowed that only true Aryans could be enlightened". [17]

The Mazdaznan taught white supremacy and was opposed to miscegenation and race mixing between whites and blacks. [15] [18]

Literature

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Clarke, Peter (2004). Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. Taylor & Francis. p. 394. ISBN   978-1134499700.
  2. ↑ "Mazdaznan". Religions of the World, Second Edition: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices (2nd ed.). Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. 2010. p. 1841. ISBN   978-1-59884-204-3.
  3. 1 2 3 Spencer, Colin (1996). The Heretic's Feast: A History of Vegetarianism. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England. pp. 313–314. ISBN   978-0-87451-760-6.
  4. ↑ Furness, Raymond (2000). Zarathustra's Children: A Study of a Lost Generation of German Writers. Boydell & Brewer. p. 171. ISBN   1-57113-057-8.
  5. ↑ Zar-Adusht-Hanish, Rev. Dr. Otoman, ed. (February 1902). "Mazdaznan Philosophy". Sun-Worshiper. 1 (2). Chicago, Illinois: Sun-Worshipper Publishing Company: 9. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
  6. ↑ Meldgaard, Helle (1997). New Religious Movements in Europe. Aarhus University Press. p. 78. ISBN   978-8772885483.
  7. 1 2 Hanish, Otoman Zar-Adusht (1958). The Power Of Breath. Los Angeles, California USA: Mazdaznan Press. p. 132. Retrieved 24 March 2024.
  8. ↑ Bentlage, Björn; Krämer, Hans Martin; Eggert, Marion; Reichmuth, Stefan (2016). Religious Dynamics Under the Impact of Imperialism and Colonialism A Sourcebook. Brill. pp. 188–189. ISBN   978-9004329003.
  9. ↑ Forgács, Éva (1995). The Bauhaus Idea and Bauhaus Politics. Central European University Press. p. 51. ISBN   1-85866-012-2.
  10. ↑ Cimino, Eric (2003). Student Life at the Bauhaus, 1919-1933. M.A. Thesis, UMass-Boston, Chapter 3 ("Mysticism at the Bauhaus").
  11. ↑ Styles, Seth (2024). "Mazdaznan: A Footnote in Hollywood Occult History". JohnHart.
  12. ↑ Spitzzeri, Paul R. (2022). "Take It On Faith: A Wanted Poster for Dr. Otoman Zar Ardusht Hanish of the Mazdaznan Master-Thought Sect, Los Angeles, 4 June 1918". The Homestead blog. Archived from the original on October 12, 2023.
  13. ↑ Karina, Lilian (2004). Hitler's Dancers: German Modern Dance and the Third Reich. Berghahn Books. p. 32. ISBN   978-1571816887.
  14. ↑ Schwaderer, Isabella (2024). Religious Entanglements Between Germans and Indians, 1800–1945. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 40–41. ISBN   978-3031403750.
  15. 1 2 Ka, Donnie (2016). "The History of the Aryan Cult That Even the Nazis Banned". Vice. Archived from the original on January 25, 2025.
  16. ↑ "C. Leon de Aryan: The Broom, Mazdaznan, and the Radical Right in San Diego, 1930-1945". The California State University. 2014.
  17. ↑ Price, Robert M. (2003). The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man: How Reliable is the Gospel Tradition?. Prometheus Books. p. 98. ISBN   978-1591021216.
  18. ↑ Cleminson, Richard (2023). "Mazdaznan, Eugenics and the Future of the "White Race"". Revista Brasileira de História. Archived from the original on April 15, 2024.
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