buddhism in the west uyghur kingdom and beyond 207
influenced Uyghur Buddhism on different levels,81 the impact of the former
being the most significant in the early period, i.e. in the tenth century, and
probably already in the second half of the ninth century. Chinese Buddhism
became the hallmark of Uyghur Buddhism around the turn of the first millen-
nium. The classical phase of Uyghur Buddhist culture (11th–early 13th centu-
ries) is characterised by translations from Chinese Buddhist works (Mahāyāna
sūtras, commentaries, apocryphal texts, dhāraṇīs, narrative and hagiographi-
cal literature etc.).
It has to be underlined that there is not a single Old Uyghur text which
was demonstrably translated from Sogdian.82 It is, however, true that a sig-
nificant amount of words which belong to the basic Buddhist vocabulary in
Old Uyghur were borrowed from Sogdian or via Sogdian.83 Some of these
terms such as č(a)hšap(a)t (‘precept’ << Skt. śikṣāpada), nom (‘teaching’ <
Sogd. nwm ~ nwmh, corresponding to Skt. dharma), nizvani (‘defilement’ < Sogd.
nyzβʾny [Manichaean script] ~ nyzβʾnʾk [Sogd. script]), corresponding to
Skt. kleśa) go back to a Manichaean Uyghur intermediary and cannot be
regarded as directly influenced by Sogdian Buddhism,84 but this is not true for
all Buddhist concepts of the basic vocabulary.85 Old Uyghur glosses are found
in Buddhist Sogdian manuscripts; a Uyghur scribe (named Kutlag) was respon-
sible for copying a Vajracchedikāsūtra manuscript in Sogdian from Turfan.86 In
a Uyghur colophon to a Sogdian text from the Turfan Collection in Berlin (So
18274) the scribe El Tutmıš says that he wrote down the Sogdian text.87 And fur-
thermore, some Old Uyghur Buddhist texts are written in the formal Sogdian
script, a fact inexplicable if only Tocharian and Chinese Buddhism had made
an impact on Uyghur Buddhism in the preclassical and classical phase of
Uyghur literature. Thus, it is obvious that Sogdian Buddhist texts were held in
high esteem among the Uyghurs. Studying and copying these texts certainly
was regarded as a meritorious deed.
81 A similar view is expressed in Kudara, “Buddhist Culture,” 188.
82 Zieme, Religion und Gesellschaft, 23–24, discusses a possible Sogdian source text of some
Old Uyghur Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra fragments and remains sceptical. However,
Sogdian elements are discernible in these fragments.
83 Cf. Laut, Der frühe türkische Buddhismus, 143–148.
84 Moriyasu rightfully underlined this fact in several articles.
85 See, e.g., OU karte ‘a person who lives at home; householder’ < Sogd. kʾrtʾk < Skt. gṛhastha
(cf. TochB kattāke / TochA kātak / Khotanese ggāṭhaa).
86 Yoshida, Yukata, “Die buddhistischen sogdischen Texte in der Berliner Turfansammlung
und die Herkunft des buddhistischen sogdischen Wortes für bodhisattva,” trans. Yukiyo
Kasai in collaboration with Christiane Reck, Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum
Hungaricae 61.3 (2008): 341.
87 Yoshida, “Die buddhistischen sogdischen Texte,” 342–343.