Mazdaznan

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As Mazdaznan ( Persian مزدزنان, DMG Mazdaznān ) is a religious teaching which, according to our own understanding, is based on a reformed Zoroastrianism . It is a mixed religion with Zoroastrian, Christian and some Hindu / Tantric elements.

It was founded by Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish ( Persian آتمان زرادشت هانیش), bourgeois Erich Otto Haenisch , who himself stated that he was born on December 19, 1844 in Tehran . In fact, he was born as the son of the Viktualienhändler Heinrich Ernst Haenisch and his wife Anna Dorothea geb. Schmidt was born on December 19, 1856 in Posen and baptized as a Protestant on December 28, 1856. He died in Los Angeles on February 29, 1936 . In contemporary newspaper reports there is repeatedly talk of a sun cult .

The devotees are vegetarians , follow their own nutrition teachings, and attach great importance to daily breathing and meditation exercises , including some tantric exercises. There is an organized following in Germany and Hungary; There are trailers in France and the USA, the former focus and headquarters.

In the lexicon of new religious movements and world views , the Mazdaznan doctrine is described as an “expression of the western reception of Asian ideas and practices of salvation”. The teaching varied the racial doctrine of the then successful new religious Indian-Aryan theosophy of Helena Blavatsky and took over elements of yoga in the breathing exercises.

Founder and Movement

Otoman Tsar-Adusht Ha'nish

Little data is available on Otoman Zar-Adusht Ha'nish . He is known to the public exclusively by this art name. It has been in use since 1890 when Ha'nish in Chicago began to spread his reformist way of life. It was there that he received his doctorate in medicine (MD) around 1900 and gave lectures on vegetarian diet and colon cleansing .

According to statements by some students based on Hanish's information, he is said to have been the son of the Russian ambassador in Tehran and a mother of noble origin of German origin. There is no evidence for this information. On the German-language website of the movement it says: “When and where he was born, not even his next disciples know; because these and other details of his private life never seemed important enough to him to talk about. ”He was supposedly sent by his parents to a Zoroastrian community in the Iranian highlands because of a serious heart defect . There he is said to have learned to heal the heart disease using special breathing techniques . According to his own account, Hanish was trained there for around 25 years before he decided to spread this traditional lifestyle worldwide. Allegedly he was initially a typesetter by profession .

At least since 1890 lived Hanish in the United States, first in Chicago, from 1902 in New York and from 1917 in Los Angeles , where he Reorganized Mazdaznan Temple Association of allies God (Engl. Reorganized Mazdaznan Temple Association of God founded). Since 1907, the teaching was also spread in Europe.

The critic Upton Sinclair claims in Profits of Religion in Book Six The Church of the Quacks that Otoman Tsar-Adusht Ha'nish is a grocer-boy (son of a grocer) from Mendota , Illinois, was named Otto Hanisch.

“I have traced his career in the files of the Chicago newspapers, and find him herding sheep, setting type, preaching prestidigitation, mesmerism, and fake spiritualism, joining the Mormon Church, then the 'Christian Catholic Church in Zion', and then the cult of Brighouse, who claimed to be Christ returned. Finally he sets himself up in Chicago as a Persian Magi, teaching Yogi breathing exercises and occult sex-lore to the elegant society ladies of the pork-packing metropolis. "

“I followed his career through the newspapers in Chicago and found him there as a shepherd, typesetter, preacher of a [...] false spirituality, member of the Mormon Church , then the 'Christian Catholic Church in Zion' and then the cult of Brighouse [ ...] After all, he pretended to be a Persian magician in Chicago and taught breathing exercises and occult sexual practices [...]. "

- Upton Sinclair

Move

Ha'nish founded the first Mazdaznan Center in Chicago ( Mazdaznan Peace Center ) around 1890 . In 1900 the Mazdaznan Temple Association of Associates of God was founded, with headquarters in Chicago. Since 1998 the official name has been The Mazdaznan Temple Association .

The Mazdaznan doctrine was spread in Germany on behalf of Ha'nish since 1907 by the Swiss couple Frieda and David Ammann . They had operated an orchard in California for a number of years. In 1907, under the direction of David Ammann, several offshoots were set up in Leipzig , Dresden, Chemnitz, but also in Weimar, Hamburg and other large cities in Germany. The organization took place in lodges , so z. B. in Leipzig the Zarathustra Society and a year later the Mazdaznan Temple Association for Germany and the German-speaking countries , which from 1914 called itself Mazdaznan Association . The latter had its own publishing house and a shipping company for dietetic foods.

At the beginning of the First World War in 1914 after the publication of the book Inner Studies from Leipzig, Ammann was expelled from Leipzig as an undesirable foreigner because it described tantric practices , and he returned to Switzerland. In 1915 he founded a Mazdaznan settlement in Herrliberg on Lake Zurich, which he called Aryana . In 1923 he died under unknown circumstances. Today's Mazdaznan supporters still assume a conspiracy. Ha'nish himself visited Europe in 1911 and after the death of David Ammann in 1923 regularly until 1932.

A well-known fan of Mazdaznan in German-speaking countries was the Swiss painter, designer and Bauhaus teacher Johannes Itten . From October 1919 on, he worked as a teacher at the Bauhaus in Weimar, where he also recruited supporters. Itten designed z. For example, as his contribution to the first Bauhaus portfolio, a quote from Hanisch: "Greetings and salvation to hearts which are enlightened by the light of love and are not misled either by hopes for heaven or by fear of hell".

A leading figure in the Swiss Mazdaznan cult around 1900 was Karl Heise , who was a supporter of Rudolf Steiner , Guido von List and thus the Völkische Movement . Together with his brother Heinrich, he ran the “Aryana” commune near Zurich.

The Ariosoph Detlef Schmude, Reichswehr- Captain and since 1915 "brother" of the New Templar order , who also edited the Ostara magazine from 1922–1927 , described Hanish in one of his literary works as the "composer of the odes to the god" and praised "Masydayasnan" as "Zoroastrian temple order, which still works today in a beneficial way for the salvation of the Aryan race".

Conversely, National Socialism and the “ Third Reich ” as well as sterilization laws and Nazi racial doctrine were welcomed in Mazdaznan's writings, and it was pointed out that “Mazdaznan had demanded such things earlier and much more consistently”

Despite the ideological proximity to National Socialist thinking, the movement of the Mazdaznan Federation was temporarily banned in Germany in 1935, the distribution of Mazdaznan literature was also prohibited in 1938 and the movement was finally banned in 1941. After 1945 this ban remained in place in the GDR , so that a new establishment was not possible there, while work could be resumed in the FRG. In 1959 the modern diet and life school was founded in Bringhausen am Edersee . Today there are said to be several thousand Mazdaznan fans in Germany. The American headquarters were in Los Angeles from 1917 to 1980 . Then it was moved to Encinitas, near San Diego .

Teaching

Beliefs

Mazdaznan (pronounced: Masdasnan ) is a word creation from the old Persian words Ahura Mazdā and Yaznan = "admirer of the most thinkable" and sees itself as the continuation of the monotheistic religion of the prophet Zarathustra. Another interpretation of the name is based on the Zend language . Here ma means “good”, zda “thought” and znan (abbreviation of jasnan ) “masterful”; Mazdaznan means “master of the thought of God”.

Mazda is seen as the one and only good God outside of space and time. His prophet is Zarathustra and later Mani . Zarathustra, on the other hand, drew from stone tablets that were recorded several millennia ago by a truth seeker named Ainyahita , who lived in Tibet .

In the material world, Jehovah reigns , who is considered to be a combination of good (Mazda) and evil. The doctrine regards Moses and Mohammed as prophets of Jehovah .

Mazdaznan also teaches that Zarathustra prophesied three Redeemers, all of whom will be born of a virgin. These were Krishna , Buddha and Yehoshua (wrongly called Christ). Their teachings were later falsified.

Hanish also named as the source of his teaching the revelations of Ainyahita from southern Tibet, the alleged ancestress of the Aryans . Both Zarathustra and Jesus merely modified their teachings.

The followers do not speak of faith, but of "life science", which should serve to achieve the state of perfection through a disciplined way of life up to asceticism .

Racial theory

A declaration on discrimination, racism and xenophobia can be found on the website www.Mazdaznan.eu in 2016:

Who is the Mazdaznan Embassy for?

Mazdaznan is a message to all of humanity, for everyone, regardless of creed, social class or skin color, and proclaims the 'peace that surpasses all knowledge - all understanding' and removes all misunderstandings.

Mazdaznan recognizes all that is good in thoughts, words and works. All forms of discrimination, racism and xenophobia are incompatible with the principles of the Mazdaznan philosophy.

Hanish's teaching included a racial doctrine in which races were divided into stages of development. The so-called "Aryans" also included the Semites , as well as "mixed races" like the Indians , but not colored people . The aim is the establishment of an Aryan kingdom of peace and a League of Nations, from which colored peoples are to be excluded because they are not "pure-bred". Bernd Wedemeyer-Kolwe writes: “According to the ideology of the Mazdaznan movement, the Aryan white race functions as a chosen ruling people. However, it has disintegrated through racial mixing and can only find its way back to the actual old power through breeding, eugenics and physical and spiritual purity ('think well, talk well, act well'). "He attests to the movement an" eclecticism from Far Eastern, theosophical and social Darwinist elements ”.

In the foreword to the 1st edition of the book Masdasnan Race Teaching from August 14, 1919 by David Ammann it says: The Masdasnan Race Teaching Dr. O. Z. Hanishs is the most far-sighted thing that has ever appeared about race issues and human development. This Ammann work appears to be a translation of articles from the English magazine The Federator , which was not published by Hanish. The content there is in contrast to other content, so that Hanish's own theses are difficult to verify and conclusions appear to be influenced by the zeitgeist from 1919 onwards. Today the Mazdaznan movement avoids any reference to statements about the human races, the corresponding publications by Ammann are no longer distributed.

Physical culture, breathing and nutrition theory

Mazdaznan was particularly well received in circles of the life reform movement and the physical culture movement.

According to the Mazdaznan nutritional theory, a healthy diet is based on vegetarian, wholesome, varied (see Mazdaznan monthly advice), seasonal foods and is to be individually designed according to age, state of health and work.

One focus of the Mazdaznan diet is whole grain cereals. Yeast should not be used to bake bread , as it would ferment in the body . Fresh foods are preferred; Vegetables should only be steamed or fried, but not boiled. Vegetables are all plants that have a maximum of 14 months between sowing and harvest. If it takes longer to ripen, it is defined as “small fruits”, an intermediate form of fruit and vegetables. The oil may only be vegetable, as animal fats are considered indigestible.

The consumption of meat is fundamentally rejected because the killing of animals is seen as a contradiction to the fifth commandment of the Bible . The diet is therefore purely vegetarian , but not vegan ; Eggs and dairy products are allowed. Cheese supposedly promotes acidification in the body. Pure raw food is rejected because the cooking of food is a characteristic of civilization and the control of nature. Two thirds of the diet should consist of vegetables and one third of foods that contain starch , fat and protein . Special rules must be observed for the composition of the meals, as, similar to the food combining, certain foods should not be eaten together. However, the separation principle is completely different. Allegedly, foods with a similar structure, such as those that each contain protein, hinder digestion. Since the morning and the afternoon are considered to be the “main elimination times” of the body, nothing should be eaten at these times.

The Mazdaznan doctrine divides people into three types: material, spiritual, and intellectual . This distinction comes from “ phrenology ”, which assigns different face shapes to different types of people a priori. There are dietary recommendations for each type. The choice of food is most restricted by the spiritual type, who should also largely avoid dairy products, since they have the best opportunities to reach the highest levels of the Mazdaznan doctrine. In addition, dietetics for the sick is presented in its own work, the main aim of which is to prevent the perishable fermentation processes in the body.

In 1908 the first German-language edition of Hanish's nutrition theory appeared. Lush food and indulgence are considered great evils. The consequences of overeating are physical and mental disorders, but also arrogance , class thinking , the urge to conquer and the decline of culture. The first chapter of nutritional science begins with the sentence: “Man is not on earth to collect everything that forest, meadow, field or garden throw away in his stomach as in a kind of food store, not even around a kind of churchyard or being a graveyard for dead animals. Rather, it should prove the power of the spirit over matter here on earth. "

At Mazdaznan, distilled water is mostly drunk , but never with meals. Beer, wine, coffee and black tea are accepted in moderation.

From a scientific point of view, the recommendations for the selection and composition of the food are incomprehensible. Nutritionists criticize the recommendation of distilled water because it does not contain any minerals. Otherwise, the diet is quite suitable as a permanent food.

literature

Publication by Hanish and followers of Mazdaznan
  • OZ Hanish: Mazdaznan encyclopedia of dietetics and home cook book . 5th edition Mazdaznan associates of God, Chicago IL 1909. ( digitized at archive.org )
    • German translation by David Amman: Dietetics and Cookbook. Leipzig 1908.
  • Detlef Schultz: The healing power of song. Mazdaznan harmony. 1911.
  • Mazdaznan. Respiratory and medicine. Zoroastrian lesson letters from OZA Hanish. no year
  • Otoman Tsar-Adusht Hanish: Yehoshua Nazir. Jesus the Nazarite. Life of Christ . Mazdaznan Press, Los Angeles 1917. ( digitized at archive.org)
    • German translation by David Amman: The life of Jesus: revelations according to previously unknown oriental sources. Mazdaznan, Leipzig undated (around 1920).
  • Harmony teaching. International Mazdaznan Temple Community, Zurich 1925.
  • Manthra. Avesta in song and prayer. 6th to 10th edition. Mazdaznan, Leipzig 1927.
  • The meat question. Mazdaznan, Leipzig 1929
  • OZA Hanish: Mazdaznan. The race theory. Translated into German by D. Ammann. Leipzig 1933.
  • OZA Hanish: self-diagnosis. Mazdaznan, Leipzig 1933.
  • The original religion. After OZA Hanish. Mazdaznan, Leipzig 1933.
  • Othmar Böhm: Mazdaznan, bridge between east and west. Sonnenkreuz, Trogen 1953.
  • Universal religion "Syncretism" Madaznan. Mano, Oberehrendingen 1972.
  • The power of breath, the magical key to self development. Humata, Bern 1982, ISBN 3-7197-0307-X .
  • Mazdaznan, biblical present, currently the most significant explanation of the Bible. Call to the World, Hanover 1985.
  • Mazdaznan, supplementary teaching. Call to the World, Hanover 1985.
  • Mazdaznan, the world program of the new civilization. Call to the world, Hanover 1986.
  • Alternative ways of conscious nutrition, vegetarianism, whole foods, Mazdaznan nutrition, macrobiotics, anthroposophic nutrition, Hay's food combining. AID, Bonn 1992.
  • Mazdaznan Breath and Health Studies. Ruf an die Welt, Hanover 2003, ISBN 3-00-011839-X .
Secondary literature
  • Johannes Graul: Nonconforming religions in the sights of the police. An investigation using the example of the Mazdaznan religion in the German Empire. [ Religion in Society, Vol. 37.] Ergon Verlag, Würzburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-89913-988-4 .
  • Ramona Jelinek-Menke: "Such a child is a true savior" - eugenics and the religious construction of human normality in Mazdaznan. In: Journal for Young Religious Studies, 8th 2013, pp. 29–55.
  • Otto Dreher, Ernst Ganz: What is Mazdaznan, a presentation of Mazdaznan life science. Humata, Bern / Freiburg i. Br./Salzburg 1964.
  • Kurt Hutten: seers, brooders, enthusiasts. The book of sects. Stuttgart 1950, 12 A. 1982, pp. 409-431.
  • M. Krawielitzki: The New Salems Movement, The Mazdaznan Temple Association. Harp, Bad Blankenburg 1931.
  • Ulrich Linse : Mazdaznan - the race religion of the Aryan kingdom of peace. In: Stefanie von Schnurbein , Justus H. Ulbricht (Hrsg.): Völkische Religion and Krisen der Moderne. Drafts of "native" belief systems since the turn of the century. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2001, ISBN 3-8260-2160-6 , pp. 268-291
  • Christoph Wagner: The Bauhaus and esotericism: Johannes Itten , Wassily Kandinsky , Paul Klee . Kerber, Bielefeld 2005 ISBN 3-938025-39-5
  • Bernd Wedemeyer-Kolwe: "The New Man": Physical culture in the German Empire and in the Weimar Republic. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2004, pp. 153–164 ( available from Google Books)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ev. St. Petrikirche zu Posen, Church Register of the Born and Baptized in 1800 Six and Fifty, Page 253 No. 156
  2. ↑ see Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke : The occult roots of Nazism: the Ariosophists of Austria and Germany 1890-1935. Aquarian, Wellingborough 1985, ISBN 0-85030-402-4 , p. 234.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h Mazdaznan . In: Harald Baer u. a. (Ed.): Lexicon of new religious groups, scenes and world views . Herder
  4. ↑ sphinx-suche.de ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ^ Upton Sinclair: Profits of Religion . abstract
  6. ↑ See Paul Citroen: Mazdaznan at the Bauhaus. In: Eckhard Neumann (ed.): Bauhaus and Bauhäusler. Memories and confessions. Cologne 1985, pp. 87-95. Peter Schmitt: Johannes Itten and the Aryana Bund in Herrliberg. In: Christa Lichtenstern u. a. (Ed.): Johannes Itten and the modern age. Contributions to a scientific symposium. Ostfildern-Ruit 2003, pp. 139–155.
  7. ↑ Uwe Puschner, Walter Schmitz, Justus H. Ulbricht: Handbook on the "Völkische Movement" 1871-1918. KG Saur, Munich 1999, p. 235.
  8. ↑ Manfred Spalinger: Karl Heises "Entente Freemasonry and World War", attempt at assessment. , accessed September 7, 2012.
  9. ↑ Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke: The Occult Roots of National Socialism. Graz 2nd edition 2000, pp. 44 and 53f. Goodrick-Clarke refers to Ellic Howe : Astrology and the Third Reich. Wellingborough 1984, p. 85 (German translation: "Urania's children". The strange world of astrologers and the Third Reich. Weinheim 1995, p. 119) and James Webb: The Occult Establishment . La Salle, Ill. 1976, pp. 32, 74.
  10. ↑ Here, quoted from Franz Wegener: Neu-Vineta: The Ariosophians' race settlement plans for the Darß and Zingst peninsulas. KFVR, Gladbeck 2010, p. 27. ( available from Google Books), there are further explanations on Schmude.
  11. ↑ Bernd Wedemeyer-Kolwe: "The new man": Physical culture in the German Empire and in the Weimar Republic. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2004, pp. 153–164, here 163 ( available from Google Books).
  12. ↑ See also Klaus Bellmund, Karel Siniveer: Cults, leaders, light figures . Esotericism as a means of right-wing propaganda. Knaur, Munich, 1997, p. 227ff. Rolf Peter Sieferle: India and the Aryans in the race theory. In: Journal for Culture Exchange, 37, 1987, pp. 444-467. Helmut Zander: Occultism and Theosophy in the Empire. In: Uwe Puschner (Ed.): Handbook on the “Völkische Movement” 1871–1918. KG Saur, Munich., 1996, p. 235.
  13. ↑ Cf. Corinna Treitel: A science for the soul: occultism and the genesis of the German modern. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2004, pp. 221ff, esp. 229f. Bernd Wedemeyer-Kolwe: "The New Man": Physical culture in the German Empire and in the Weimar Republic. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2004, pp. 153–164, here 164. Ulrich Linse: Mazdaznan - the racial religion of the Aryan kingdom of peace. In: Stefanie v. Schnurbein, Justus H. Ulbricht (Hrsg.): Völkische Religion and Krisen der Moderne. Drafts of "native" belief systems since the turn of the century. Würzburg 2001, pp. 268–291, here 285.
  14. ↑ Marco Trautwein: FAQ. In: mazdaznan.eu. Retrieved November 11, 2016 .
  15. ↑ Bernd Wedemeyer-Kolwe: The new person. Physical culture in the German Empire and in the Weimar Republic. Würzburg 2004, p. 154 ( available from Google Books ).
  16. ↑ Bernd Wedemeyer-Kolwe: The new person. Physical culture in the German Empire and in the Weimar Republic. Würzburg 2004, p. 154 ( available from Google Books ).
  17. ↑ See Bernd Wedemeyer-Kolwe: "The new man": physical culture in the German Empire and in the Weimar Republic. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2004, p. 153ff with further literature.
  18. ↑ Claus Leitzmann u. a .: Alternative forms of nutrition. Stuttgart 1999, chapter Mazdaznan , p. 75 f.