Reviving Ancient Wisdom on the Northern Silk Road: Research on Old Uyghur Buddhism and Buddhist Scriptures

Dear Colleagues,

The historical record is unclear regarding the introduction of Buddhism to the Uyghurs. However, from the second half of the 11th century, Buddhism gradually replaced Manichaeism as the dominant religion among Uyghurs. Buddhism thrived among the Uyghurs from the 11th to the 14th centuries, particularly in the Qocho, Beshbaliq and Ganzhou regions. This period left behind a significant number of manuscripts and block prints with Buddhist content. During the early period of Old Uyghur Buddhism, translations were mainly sourced from Tocharian. However, later, Chinese became the primary source of translation, although some texts were also translated from Sanskrit and Tibetan. Old Uyghur Buddhists not only translated texts, but also created their own literature. They rewrote some Buddhist texts, composed stories and alliterative poems with Buddhist content and left various notes on the manuscripts they read or sponsored, as well as on the walls of the temples they visited.  Brahmi letters and Chinese characters were commonly used in Old Uyghur Buddhist manuscript culture. Old Uyghur Buddhists recited Chinese Buddhist scriptures in the Inherited Uyghur Pronunciation of Chinese, using a similar method known as Ondoku in Japanese Buddhist practice. They also established a system of Uyghur reading of Chinese characters, which is similar to Kundoku in Japanese Buddhist practice. This Special Issue aims to explore aspects of Old Uyghur Buddhism and the unique manuscript culture of the Old Uyghurs, who played an important role in the transmission of religion, knowledge and techniques on the ancient Northern Silk Road.

This Special Issue welcomes contributions dedicating to the discussion of various aspects of Old Uyghur Buddhism, including a historical review, research on monastic life and religious practices in Old Uyghur Buddhist society, and the interaction and conflicts between Old Uyghur Buddhism and other religions such as Manichaeism, Christianity, Daoism and Islam. It gives special place for the contributions that discusses various aspects of Old Uyghur Buddhist scriptures, including manuscript culture, editions or re-editions of Old Uyghur Buddhist texts, translation techniques and linguistic features. We welcome reviews of recent research on Old Uyghur Buddhism, Old Uyghur manuscript culture and research on Old Uyghur Buddhist scriptures. We are delighted to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor, Prof. Dr. Abdurishid Yakup ([email protected]), or to the Assistant Editor of Religions, Ms. Margaret Liu ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Abdurishid Yakup
Guest Editor

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• Old Uyghur Buddhism
• Old Uyghur manuscript culture
• transmission of religious knowledge
• interaction of religions
• translation technique of Buddhist scriptures
• plurilingualism
• Dunhuang
• Turfan
• the Northern Silk Road

Title: Vapxuaki, Xayemdu and Sivšidu: On the Old Uighur Buddhist Kolophons and Scribbles Rediscovered in Liaoning Museum

Abstract: A group of Old Uighur manuscripts has been rediscovered in the collection of manuscripts from Dunhuang and Turfan in Liaoning Museum, China. In addition to Buddhist literatures, there are some colophons and scribbles left by Buddhist monks, preserving important information on the history of Uighur Buddhism and the Uighur Buddhist society in Turfan. Eight colophons are related to the Old Uighur translation of Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra, i.e., Vapxuaki in Old Uighur, revealing previously unknown information on this widely accepted scripture, including the names of the translator and the donors. A group of scribbles were left by the Uighur monk Sivšidu and his contemporaries, whose names were previously attested from manuscripts collected at Tuyuq sites dating to the 13–14 cc. This implies the origin of the collection be Tuyuq site. Another scribble includes a Uighur monk’s signature in clumsy Chinese with misuse of characters. More than an indicator of his Chinese level, it shows that the Uighur monk seemed to be ignorant of the original meaning of his name, which was borrowed from Chinese in an earlier period. Keywords: Old Uighur; Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Sūtra; Vapxuaki; Tuyuq

Title: Pratītyasamutpāda, Arising from Causation in Old Uyghur Buddhism: A Study of Printed texts

Abstract: Dependent arising or interdependent arising, Skt. Pratītyasamutpāda, Chin. 緣起 yuanqi, is a basic Buddhist doctrine shared by all Buddhist schools. To date, 12 Old Uyghur fragments have been identified as fragments of the Pratītyasamutpāda. They come from at least two different block prints. The Berlin Turfan collection has three fragments of the text, and on all three fragments the text is surrounded by double margins on all four sides (we call them the Turfan fragments). Eight block-printed Old Uyghur fragments, currently in the Tenri University Library in Nara, come from a folded book. They were brought from Dunhuang by the late Chinese painter Zhang Daqian 張大千 in 1943 and given to Tenri University Library in 1960 by Nakayama Shōzen中山正善, the second Shinbashira 真柱 (Central Pillar) of Tenrikyo 天理教. A fragment in the Princeton University East Asian Library is from the same print as the one in the Tenri Library (we call them the Dunhuang fragments). Both the Turfan and Dunhuang fragments of the text represent a very unique Abhidharma text in terms of its form as a print and as an Abhidharma text that is unlikely to have an exactly identical version in other languages, and are therefore of particular importance for understanding various aspects of Old Uyghur Buddhism and Old Uyghur print culture. Key words: Pratītyasamutpāda, Old Uyghur Buddhism, Abhidharma text, printed versions

Title: Studies on an Old Uyghur “Food Offering Liturgy” Fragment Unearthed from the Northern Grottoes of Dunhuang

Abstract: The front page of the fragment B121:38 in Old Uyghur excavated from the northern grootoes of the Dunhuang Mogao Caves was published in the book The Northern Grottoes of Mogaoku, Dunhuang (Vol. 2) compiled by Peng Jinzhang, Wang Jianjun and the Dunhuang Academy. However, due to the absence of the back cover, the document has not received much attention. Through site investigation, transcription, Chinese translation, annotation and comparison with parallel Tibetan texts, it is confirmed that B121:38 is a fragment of the tantric literature Shi shi yi gui (施食儀軌, Food Offering Liturgy), which consists of three parts: the gatha of praise for the five dakas, the transfer of merit, and the mantra. The fragment provides strong evidence of the popularity of Tibetan tantric practice among the Old Uyghurs.

Title: The Role and Identity of Women According to the Old Uyghur Buddhist Texts

Abstract: Women, one of the two parties that make up the institution of the family, the smallest unit of society, have played an important role in social, cultural and political life throughout the history of the Turkish people. The geography and culture in which they lived and the religion in which they believed had a great influence on the role played by women. When Old Turkic texts are considered in terms of family relationships, it is evident that women are referred to in these texts as "mother, wife, daughter, sister, daughter-in-law, princess, stepmother, servant", as well as being given a mythological or celestial higher identity such as "Umay". This study examines the role, identity and status of women in Uyghur civilisation and society along the Silk Road according to the religious, cultural, social and sometimes political changes in the light of the Old Uyghur texts, with particular emphasis on the Old Uyghur Buddhist texts.

Title: Japanese contribution to the study of Old Uyghur Buddhist texts in the 21st century

Abstract: Japanese scholarship occupies a special place in the study of Old Uyghur philology, Central Asian history and religions. The volume edited by J.P. Laut and K. Röhborn in 1988 provides an overview of Japanese studies of Old Uighur Buddhism and presents some representative works published up to the 1988. For publications after 1988, there is a short survey by M. Ölmez, although it does not deal in much detail with publications on Buddhism. This paper presents an overview of the main contributions to the study of Old Uighur Buddhism published in Japanese in recent years, which are difficult to access for scholars who are not familiar with the Japanese language. It tries to review the most important works in a rather detailed way. Key words: Japanese study, Old Uyghur Buddhism, 21th century

Title: An Old Uyghur commentary on the Lotus Sutra

Abstract: This paper presents a philological study of an Old Uyghur manuscript, Mainz 778, from the Berlin Turfan collection. P. Zieme (2005) mentioned this fragment and pointed out the translator of the text. The content of this manuscript corresponds to the Miao-fa-lian-hua-jing-xuan-zan, Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, written by Kuiji, one of Xuanzang's disciples. From the colophon of this manuscript, we know that the sutra text was translated by Širmir Biži T[utuŋ], who was from Kočo. In this paper, I will present a complete transcription and translation of the text together with a detailed commentary. There will also be more detailed research on the translator of the text, comparing other fragments of the commentary with old Uyghur Buddhist texts.