Zoroaster — "Anyone in the world here below can win purity for himself, namely, when he clean…"
Anyone in the world here below can win purity for himself, namely, when he cleanses himself with Good Thoughts, Good Words, and Good Deeds.
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About Zoroaster (c. 1500-1000 BCE (debated))
Iranian prophet who founded Zoroastrianism, the first major religion of cosmic dualism between good (Ahura Mazda) and evil (Angra Mainyu). Closely associated with The Buddha (near-contemporary Eastern moral-cosmological revolutionary). For an intellectual contrast, see Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher of 'beyond good and evil' — Nietzsche appropriated Zarathustra's name for Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883) precisely to invert the original's moral cosmology — the historical Zoroaster founded the good-versus-evil framework Nietzsche's character announces the end of.
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Understanding this quote
What it means
Anyone, anywhere, can achieve moral and spiritual cleanliness through their own effort. Purity is not something granted by priests, rituals, or birth status. It comes from consistently choosing good thinking, honest speech, and right action. These three practical disciplines, applied in daily life, are enough on their own to make a person righteous. The path is open to every human being without exception.
Relevance to Zoroaster
This triad, Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds, is the core ethical formula Zoroaster preached and the motto still recited by Zoroastrians today. As a reforming priest who rejected the ritual animal sacrifices and caste-bound piety of his society, he insisted individual moral agency, not priestly intermediation, determined one's standing before Ahura Mazda, placing ethics above ceremony.
The era
Zoroaster lived in ancient Iran, likely around 1500-1000 BCE, among Indo-Iranian tribes whose religion centered on elaborate sacrifices, intoxicating haoma rituals, and warrior-caste gods. Ordinary herders and farmers depended on priests for access to the divine. By teaching that any person could earn purity directly through ethical conduct, Zoroaster broke with that sacrificial priestcraft and introduced one of the earliest individualized, universal moral frameworks in recorded history.
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