1. ancient dualist belief system: a religious doctrine based on the separation of matter and spirit and of good and evil that originated in 3rd-century Persia and combined elements of Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Gnosticism
2. Christian religious dualism: a heretical Christian belief in the separate nature of matter and spirit
[Early 17th century. < late Latin Manichaeus< Mani (216?-276?), Persian sage]
