buddhism in the west uyghur kingdom and beyond 247
can only be outlined in this article. From Old Uyghur colophons and inscrip-
tions we know that there were official posts in the West Uyghur Kingdom that
directly related to the administration of Buddhism. A high-ranking official was
the ‘preceptor of the (Buddhist) teaching’ (OU šazin aygučı) who was directly
answerable to the Mongol Emperor in the second half of the 13th century.280
From inscriptional and manuscript sources we know some people who held
the post of the ‘preceptor of the (Buddhist) teaching’, e.g. a certain Sambodu,
whose name appears in an inscription from cave 8 (according to the new num-
bering: 18) in Bäzäklik.281 The inscriptions in this cave almost certainly belong
to the Mongol period.282 Further evidence of persons holding this post comes
from Chinese sources.283 The title šazin aygučı corresponds to Chinese zong-
tong (総統) and was second as a religious rank only to the ‘preceptor of the
state’ (Chin. guoshi 國師).284 Maybe the title was in use already in the pre-
Yuan period.285 However, the title of the highest clerical Buddhist rank in the
West Uyghur Kingdom in the 10th and early 11th centuries was evidently tutuŋ
(< Chin. 都統 dutong).286
As to the administration of monasteries, there is evidence from liter-
ary sources that the Sanskrit title saṅghasthavira, ‘abbot’ was borrowed
280 See Röhrborn, Klaus, Uigurisches Wörterbuch. Sprachmaterial der vorislamischen
türkischen Texte aus Zentralasien. Fascicles 1–6 (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1977–1998),
299 s.v. aygučı with further references and Moriyasu, “Chronology,” 204–207.
281 See Moriyasu, “Chronology,” 197–199.
282 See Moriyasu, “Chronology,” 203–204, who opts for the 12th century when the repair work
of cave 8 was carried out. The repair work and the inscriptions are interrelated.
283 Moriyasu, “Chronology,” 205.
284 Moriyasu, “Chronology,” 205.
285 Cf. Moriyasu, “Chronology,” 205, quotes two Old Uyghur documents (U 5304, U 5319) in
which the title appears and which according to him are likely to be pre-Yuan. The first
document, which refers to the economic administration of a monastery is now to be
joined with U 5591. See Raschmann, Simone-Christiane, Alttürkische Handschriften Teil 13.
Dokumente. Teil 1 (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 2007), 79 (Catalogue number 62). The second
document was issued by the government of the West Uyghur Kingdom and guarantees
the tax exemption of a monastery in Murtuk. See Raschmann, Alttürkische Handschriften
Teil 13, 45 (Catalogue number 26) with references. A new edition with German translation
is given in Moriyasu, Geschichte des uigurischen Manichäismus, 158–159. A revised English
translation can be found in Moriyasu, “Chronology,” 206–207. Moriyasu (“Chronology,”
207) draws the conclusion that the title ‘preceptor of the (Buddhist) teaching’ (OU šazin
aygučı) appeared in the 11th century.
286 Moriyasu, “Chronology,” 207–210. See also the chapter by Gertraud Taenzer in this volume
for the use of the term ‘head of the clergy’ (Chin. dusengtong 都僧統, Tib. sing tong ched
po) in Dunhuang under Tibetan and local rule.