buddhism in the west uyghur kingdom and beyond 223
Kingdom,130 so the Uyghurs received some texts from the Central dynasties in
China, but the bulk of texts were certainly imported from Dunhuang.131
It is probable that in later times, namely in the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368, 元),
some of the Uyghur texts translated from Chinese were re-imported to
Dunhuang. One example is the just mentioned Uyghur version of a com-
mentary to the Lotussūtra (Miaofa lianhua jing xuanzan 妙法蓮華經玄贊,
T. 1723), because two manuscripts were in all probability unearthed from
Dunhuang Cave 446 (P. no. 181) at Mogao.132 This version in Old Uyghur prob-
ably came from the Turfan region.
With the decision to translate Buddhist texts from different source languages
(Tocharian A, Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit), and due to the ever-increasing need
for new texts and genres of Buddhist literature, Uyghur Buddhist culture was in
a state of constant flux. It is still not certain whether this ever led to the compi-
lation or translation of a Buddhist canon in Old Uyghur.133 The adoption of new
ideas and new religious movements did not mean that the traditional Buddhist
culture was abandoned. Older forms of worship persisted next to new ones.134
130 But see the remarks in Zieme, Religion und Gesellschaft, 23, which are, broadly speaking, to
the point: “Für die alttürkischen Übersetzungen waren in den meisten Fällen die damals
neuesten oder die gängigsten Versionen maßgeblich. Daß bisweilen aber auch auf ältere
Fassungen mancher Sūtratexte zurückgegriffen wurde, spricht dafür, daß die alttürkischen
Buddhisten aufs engste mit den verschiedenen Versionen und Überlieferungen vertraut
waren.”
131 See Rong, “Relationship,” 284–285. According to Rong the “Return-to-Allegiance Army”
was “very familiar with the collection of Buddhist texts in Turfan” in Chinese. Cf. Rong,
“Relationship,” 287.
132 Kudara, “Uigurische Fragmente,” 50 and Rong, “Relationship,” 289.
133 The problem is dealt with in Wilkens, Jens, “Hatten die alten Uiguren einen buddhistischen
Kanon?“ in Kanonisierung und Kanonbildung in der asiatischen Religionsgeschichte, ed.
Max Deeg, Oliver Freiberger and Christoph Kleine (Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen
Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2011), 345–378.
134 In the early phase of Uyghur Buddhist literature, the cult of the Buddha Maitreya
was highly important. Although other Buddhist teachings and practices came up in
the course of the centuries, to be reborn in the tuṣita heaven remained an important
religious goal expressed in poetic colophons of the late phase of Uyghur Buddhism.
See Zieme, Religion und Gesellschaft, 86. The Insadisūtra, one of the very late texts in
Uyghur Buddhism, contains a long section which is comprised of a hymn to Maitreya.
See Zieme, Peter, “Zur Interpretation einer Passage des alttürkischen Maitreya-Lobpreises
(BT III, 1014–1047),” in Turkologie heute—Tradition und Perspektive: Materialien der dritten
Deutschen Turkologenkonferenz, Leipzig 4.–7. Oktober 1994, ed. Nurettin Demir and Erika
Taube (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1998), 317–324 and Zieme, Peter, “Ein alttürkischer
Maitreya-Hymnus und mögliche Parallelen,” in Die Erforschung des Tocharischen und die