buddhism in the west uyghur kingdom and beyond 245
It is found as well in a eulogy to a Uyghur chief (OU bäg):
[The bäg is] the cintāmaṇi-jewel, which fulfils the wishes of being rich of
those (people) suffering from being poor272
A Uyghur ruler bears this epithet in an inscription:
after His Majesty, the Kagan ǰıyagatu, having conversed earnestly2 with
our ruler who is like the cintāmaṇi 273
In the bilingual inscription on Mañjuśrī Hill a slightly damaged epithet includ-
ing the reference to the cintāmaṇi jewel can only refer to Činggis Qan:
after he ascended to the throne of Činggis Qan who honestly2 [fulfills] all
[wishes] like the cintāmaṇi jewel274
In a Mongolian text, the epithet is attested with reference to the Dalai Lama:
The Wishing-Jewel-like Dalai Lama proclaimed, [.. .] (Mong. čindamani
erdeni metü dalai lam-a ǰarliγ bolǰu ügüler-ün [.. .])275
During the Mongol period contacts of Uyghur Buddhists from the Turfan area
with other hubs intensified. In the 13th and 14th centuries printing became
fol. 2 /v/4–7/) Geng Shimin, Jens Peter Laut, Jens Wilkens, “Fragmente der uigurischen
Daśakarmapathāvadānamālā aus Hami (Teil 1),” Ural-Altaische Jahrbücher N.F. 19
(2005): 79.
272 (OU čıgay üzä ämgänmišlär[niŋ] bayumaklıg küsüšlärin kanturdačı čintamani ärdinisi)
Ed. Zieme, Peter, “Eine Eloge auf einen uigurischen Bäg,” Türk Dilleri Araştırmaları 3
(1993): 275 [reprint: Fragmenta Buddhica Uigurica: Ausgewählte Schriften von Peter Zieme,
ed. Simone-Christiane Raschmann and Jens Wilkens, 554. Berlin: Klaus Schwarz, 2009].
273 (OU ǰıyagatu kagan süüsi činṭamani täg t(ä)ŋrikänimiz birlä čın y(a)rp sözl[ä]šip, CI V, 7–8)
Geng, Hamilton, “Stèle commémorative,” 21–22.
274 (OU čintamani ärdinikä ogšatı čın kertü alku [.. .] činggiz hagannıŋ ornınta olurmıš,
inscription on Mañjuśrī hill) Geng, “Zhong xiu wenshu si bei”, lines 1–2. Also attested
is the comparison with reference to the Buddha: “our hope [i.e. the Buddha] who is as
difficult to meet with as the cintāmaṇi–jewel” (OU alp tušušguluk čintamani ärdini täg
umugumuz) (ed. Kaya, Ceval, Uygurca Altun Yaruk: Giriş, Metin ve Dizin (Ankara: Türk
Dil Kurumu, 1994), § 680.14 = reedition in Kasai, Kolophone, 103 [text no. 39a.57(14)].
Further attestations of the comparison between the Buddha and the cintāmaṇi-jewel
e.g. in MaitrH I, 15a7–8 (Geng, Klimkeit, Zusammentreffen, lines 1307–1308), MaitrH II,
2a29 (Geng, Klimkeit, Zusammentreffen, line 1509), MaitrH III, 5b30 (Geng, Klimkeit,
Zusammentreffen, line 2505).
275 Elverskog, Jewel Translucent Sūtra, 149 (translation), 152 (Mongolian text).