the ‘outside’ other 65
Chinese society and the Chinese state, in general. Th ere, the religion
did not have any meaningful independent existence since in contrast
to Europe and the Middle East, socialization through the channels of
the state organization in China was considered better and more trust-
worthy than when done through religion. In other words, there was
no institutionalized denomination in China and for that reason the
acceptance of any of the “Chinese” traditional religions went together
with the process of sinicization. Th is ‘double threat’ was leading the
nomads to a de-nomadization and, hence—to a loss of their social
and military background. Th erefore, we face the interweaving of sev-
eral factors resulting in the rejection of the “Chinese” religions: not
only were they perceived through the prism of the foreignness and in
opposition to the nomadic lifestyle but, at the same time, they were
considered dangerous from a political point of view.^188
In the best case, the nomads living to the north of China, or nomadiz-
ing next to the Great Wall, were choosing Buddhism as their religion.
It had a considerable number of followers in the Middle Kingdom,
but there it had never been considered a local religion.^189 Maybe it was
one of the reasons that some of the early Turkic khagans, specifi cally
the above-mentioned Taspar/Tobo (572–581) and Nivar (581–587),
tried to introduce Buddhism as a state religion in the khaganate; as
it could act as an ethno-generating factor from the point of view of
the opposition with China.^190 However, this attempt failed.^191 Th is was
despite the fact that Taspar khagan was converted to Buddhism by the
Qi monk Huilin and established contacts with the emperor of one of
the two North Chinese dynasties (Northern Qi), whom he asked for
cannonical Buddhist books. Th e greatest merit for the introduction
of this religion belongs to the Gandhara monk Jinagupta/Chinagupta,
(^188) Khazanov 1994, 23 f.
(^189) Khazanov 1994, 24.
(^190) A similar hypothesis is in accordance with one of the regularities mentioned by
A. Khazanov (1994, 30), namely in accepting some of the world’s religions among the
nomads. According to him, this was “either opposition or adjustment”. Golden 1992,
131, 150, also speaks about the diff erent religions that existed in the First and Second
Turkic khaganates. 191
See details in the Bugut stela. Also see, Sinor and Klyashtorny 1996, 333—Taspar/
Tatpar khagan had an ambitious program and launched a campaign for the building
of Buddhist temples and monasteries; the khagan also gave money for the translation
of Buddhist books while his brother Nivar made the khagan’s court the main center of
Buddhism in the First Turkic khaganate. Also see, Liu Mau-tsai, 1958, 461–462; Chris-
tian 1998, 251; Bichurin 1950, 233 f.—esp. for Taspar/Tatpar khagan.