buddhism in the west uyghur kingdom and beyond 239
into a religious and a political sphere to an agreement between Qubilai and
Pakpa (Tib. Phags pa) in the 13th century, but this ascription rather belongs to
the realm of religious hagiography. In Mongolian texts, we find, for instance, the
‘system of religion’ (Mong. nom-un yosun) vs. the ‘system of the state’ (Mong.
törö-yin yosun). Here, törö designates—such as in the Old Uyghur Biography of
Xuanzang—the non-religious sphere. In a deviating terminology, törö stands
for ‘system, order’, viz. the religious sphere is termed nom-un törö whereas we
find, e.g., qaγan törö ‘order of the king’ as a designation of the ‘secular’ sphere.236
A source such as the White History is missing in Old Uyghur Buddhist litera-
ture, thus it must remain an open question whether the two systems were ever
dealt with systematically. It is more likely that the division into an inner and
an outer sphere belonged to an inherited tradition of Uyghur rulership
and religious politics and was thus taken for granted. The early epigraphic
source from Karabalgasun confirms that it must be an old Central Asian
concept and not an invention from the Yuan period.
In epigraphic sources and in manuscripts, the transfer of merit evokes dif-
ferent complementary binary concepts—most of them spatial—such as inside
(religion) vs. outside (politics),237 above (heaven, associated with blue colour)
vs. below (earth, associated with brown colour), male vs. female, far and near
etc. The assignment of religious and political functionaries to an inner or outer
sphere of the Uyghur realm respectively not only draws a highly significant line
of symbolic demarcation but also was important in terms of the more practical
employment of the concept during almsgiving.238
Roesler, Ulrike, “Die Lehre, der Weg und die namenlose Religion: Mögliche Äquivalente
eines Religionsbegriffs in der tibetischen Kultur,” in Religion in Asien? Studien zur
Anwendbarkeit des Religionsbegriffs, ed. Peter Schalk et al. (Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet,
2013), 139–140.
236 Further terms in Sagaster, Weiße Geschichte, 10. On the meaning of törö in Mongolian see
Skrynnikova, Tatyana, “Die Bedeutung des Begriffes törö in der politischen Kultur der
Mongolen im 17. Jahrhundert,” Asiatische Studien 63.2 (2009): 435–476.
237 Zieme, Religion und Gesellschaft, 70, cites a text (U 3528 verso 8–11) which names ‘the pure
and holy dharma and teaching’ (OU arıg ıdok nom šazin) for the inner sphere and ‘the
realm and the land’ (OU el uluš) with the addition of ‘their kings and chiefs’ (OU eligläri
bägläri) for the outer sphere.
238 See Zieme, Peter, “Stifter und Texte von der Seidenstraße nach Zeugnissen des
altuigurischen Buddhismus,” in Stifter und Mäzene und ihre Rolle in der Religion. Von
Königen, Mönchen, Vordenkern und Laien in Indien, China und anderen Kulturen, ed.
Barbara Schuler (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2013), 43.