The Turkic Peoples of Central Asia and
Buddhism
Tibor Porció
(University of Szeged, Hungary)
Brno 2014
CEEPUS Lecture 1
Introduction
• If we speak of peoples and their worlds of belief
in relationship to the Turkic peoples Buddhism
would certainly not come to mind for most (or at
least first of all),
• just as people speaking a Turkic language would
hardly come to mind with the mention of
Buddhism.
The main reason
• the majority of the Turkic peoples of today
– in terms of their geography and their
numbers – are followers of Islam.
It is precisely because of this fact that it is not wellknown
that
• in the course of their long history, the Turkic-speaking
peoples came into contact with nearly all of the major
religions
• even today we find among the Turkic peoples
Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism as well.
• the last is found among the small ethnic group known as
the Yellow Uighurs (the true descendants of the Old
Uighurs)
Uigur, Uighur, Uygur, Uyghur etc.
In Sogdian-Uygur script: ’WYQWR
In Chinese: hui-hu
In Old Tibetan: ho-yo-hor / hu-yi-gur
(In the 7-8th c.: *huyugur)
Historical Background
History of the Turkic Peoples
in the Pre-Islamic Period.
Ed. H. R. ROEMER with the assistance of
W.-E. SCHARLIPP. (Philologiae Turcicae
Fundamenta: T. III., Philologiae et historiae
Turcicae Fundamenta. T. I. Ed. L. BAZIN, Gy.
HAZAI. Berlin, 2000.)
• In the middle of the 6th century, the Turks, coming
probably from the area of the Altai mountains, made their
appearance in the Central Asian steppes.
• By bringing down the power of the Zhuan-zhuans
(ruanruan)
• they established a realm what is known as the First Turk
Empire or First Turkic Khanate (552-612) in a vast region
reaching from northwestern China to the area east of
Caspian Lake.
First Turkic Khanate (552-630)
• The conquest of most western Central Asia by
the Turks in the late sixth century was of
fundamental economic importance because:
• a part of the Silk Roads came to under their
control and
• it linked Central Asia to the major peripheral
civilizations of Eurasia–Europe, Persia, India
and China.
• But this conquest actually had very little effect on
the ethnicity of the region, although it may have
affected some other aspects of the indigenous
culture.
As was the fate of many of empire of
the steppes, the realm was soon
divided into two parts, an eastern and
a western one in the 80s of the 6th. c.
• The Western Turkic Khanate had a long period
of wars and contacts both with the Byzantium
and Persia.
• The Eastern Turks annually invaded the
Chinese borders. The new dynasty, the T’ang
which came into rule in 618, only slowly
organized their defense but then moved to
attack.
The Collapse of the I. Turk Empire
• The Chinese made use of the dissent among the
various Turkic groups and one after the other,
Turkic groups were forced to acknowledge the
sovereignty of the Chinese Emperor.
The Collapse of the I. Turk Empire
• In 630 the Eastern realm collapsed
• the western confederation also lost its
independence in 659.
Second Turkic Khanate (692-742)
• In 692 a small group of Turks under
Chinese rule led by Elterish khan rebelled.
They soon united most of the Turkic
groups and founded the Second Turkic
Khanate (or the Second Turk Empire)
(692-742).
Second Turkic Khanate (692-742)
Script and language
• In the first Turkic Khanate they had used the
Sogdian language and script for chancellery
purposes and inscriptions.
• This was changed in the second Khanate and
we dispose of inscriptions written first in the
history in Turkic language and in the so called
Runic script.
The Second Turkic Khanate was defeated by a
coalition of three tribes, the Uygurs, the Qarluqs
and the Basmils.
Uygur Khanate or the Uygur Steppe Empire (744-840)
(thus being distinguished from the later settled Uygur kingdom)
• It built strong trade, diplomatic and military ties with the
Tang court.
• When the Chinese emperor was threatened by internal
revolt, he turned to the Uighur rulers for help
• An Lushan rebellion (755-762) (himself was a general of TurcoSogdian
origin)
• In 757, the Uighurs helped in re-conquering the Chinese
capitol (Chang’an)
• In 762 they occupied the strategically important Loyang
and suppressed the last rebels
Uygur Khanate or the Uygur Steppe Empire (744-840)
• Here Bügü Khagan (759-779) met with the members of
the Sogdian colony, who were for the most part the
followers of the teachings of Mani.
• In order to find protection for their ethnic and religious
cohorts, they turned towards the Uighur Khagan
• Their endeavours met with success.
Uygur Khanate or the Uygur Steppe Empire (744-840)
• an evident factor in this respect clearly being the
Sogdians’ possession of all those crucial abilities and
experiences which they had already displayed under the
First Turkic Khaganate, particularly in the areas of
• diplomacy, public governance, merchant life, literacy and
erudition.
• These were necessary to the Uighur Khagan in the
organization of his new empire.
Uygur Khanate or the Uygur Steppe Empire (744-840)
• He therefore took a few Sogdian councillors with himself to his
residence, located in Ordu-Balik.
• they were able not only to persuade the khagan himself to take up
the Manichaeist faith,
• but persuaded him as well of the advantages of the introduction of a
unifying faith.
• Bügü proclaimed Manichaeism the state religion around 762/63.
• The Uighur Khaganate has been the only country in the history of
the world in which this religion of Persian origin received such
status.
Uygur Khanate or the Uygur Steppe Empire (744-840)
• Not only in the Tang court but in the ruling Uighur circles as well, not
everyone was pleased with the strengthening of Manichean and
Sogdian influence and the anti-Chinese politics that accompanied it.
• The religious – and of course political – rivalry proved to be fruitful,
just as the simultaneous proximity of the Sogdian and Chinese
cultures.
• Literacy, and with it universal erudition, spread. In the first half of the
9th century, the news of Uighur wealth and cultivation extended far
beyond the borders of Inner Asia.
Uygur Khanate or the Uygur Steppe Empire (744-840)
• Militarily, however, the Khanate was no longer strong enough to
withstand the Kirgiz incursions from the north.
• In 840, the Uygur Khanate was overthrown by the Kirghiz.
• However, this collapse did not herald the decay of Uighur culture
and erudition. Indeed, the true efflorescence occurred only
afterwards.
Uygur Khanate or the Uygur Steppe Empire (744-840)
• The overthrow of earlier nomadic state-formations (the Ruanruans
and the Turks) was in fact only followed by a change of elites and
power.
• Most among their tribes did not wish to serve their new rulers,
looking instead for a new home as they migrated to the south and
the southwest.
Uygur Empire / Kingdom (cc. 850-
1250)
• A part of them established a new kingdom in the Turfan
oasis, in the vicinity of Qocho, which as a state
continued to exist up to the end of the 13th century.
• A smaller group settled in the territory of today’s Gansu
(China), in the area of Ganzhou and Shazhou
(Dunhuang). They came to be known as Yellow Uygurs.
Subjugated by the Tangut (Xi-Xia) Empire during the first
half of the 11th c.
• In their new homelands, both became adherents of
Buddhism.
• The Uygur Buddhist literary remains of these two
peoples date mainly from the 10th-14th century.
Buddhism and the Turks
Ancient beliefs
• totemic (?)
• shamanism
• tengrism (kök tengri)
Buddhism
• Many issues with regard to the history of
the adoption of Buddhism by Turkic
peoples remain unclear.
Western Turks
Western Turks
• It is very probable that the Western Turks of the first empire came
into contact with Buddhism, for that religion had by this time made
inroads into that part of CA they occupied. But we have no evidence
of conversion to Buddhism at this period. Xuanzang, who passed
through CA in 629, does not make any mention of Buddhism among
the Western Turks either. In so far as later Western Turks are
concerned, we do hear of Buddhist sanctuaries established by the
Turk royalty in the area of Kapiśa (Begram in today’s Afghanistan).
When the Chinese Buddhist monk Wu-kong visited Gandhara
between 759 and 764, he found here Buddhist temples, which, as
he thinks, were built at the expense of the Turkic kings.
Buddhism and the Turks
The Eastern Turks
• ’Turkish temple’ in Chang’an (end of the 50s of the 6th c.)
• A Chinese source records that Muhan (Bukan) Khagan’s (553-572)
successor, named Tatpar Khagan (572-581) was converted to
Buddhism by a Chinese monk named Hui Lin, a member of an
embassy sent to the Turk’s court by the Emperor of the Northern Qi
dynasty.
• In response to the request of Tatpar Khagan for a Buddhist text, the
ruler of the Northern Qi presented the Mahāparinirvāna-sūtra to him.
It is unclear, however, whether the text was in Chinese or in
translation, but if the latter, then it most probably would have been
translated into Sogdian.
Buddhism and the Turks
The Eastern Turks
• “Bugut Inscription” (between 572 -580/580-590)
• Persecution of Buddhists in Nord Zhou (574-577)
• Jinagupta (528-605) a monk from Kapiśa (Gandhāra;
Begram in present-day Afghanistan), together with other
monks from his native land, spent nearly a decade in the
court of the Eastern Turks (ca. 574-584) during the rule
of Tatpar Khagan, translating texts brought from India by
Chinese monks.
Buddhism in the II. Khanate
• In the Turkic inscriptions between 692 and
735 there is no trace of Buddhism.
• „Toñyuquq” inscription (726)
• Köl Tegin inscription (732)
Buddhism in the II. Khanate
Qutlug Khagan’s minister, the “wise Toñyuquq”
(726), who was himself raised in China, warned
the Turks about too close association with the
Chinese. This warning echoed in the so-called
Köl Tegin inscription (732) where the Turks are
exhorted to return to their former way of life in
the Ötükän mountains of present Mongolia.
This warning might also have implied a
disassociation from Chinese Buddhism and a
return to the native religion with its veneration of
the Tengri Heaven and the Earth Mother Umay.
Buddhism and the Turks
Uygur Khanate or the Uygur
Steppe Empire (744-840)
Uygur Khanate (744-840)
During the Uygur Steppe Empire, or in other
words the Uygur Khanate (744-840), only a
single reference occurs to the fact that
Buddhism was also prevalent among the Turks
of steppes before their immigration to regions
mentioned. The famous trilingual Karabalgasun
inscription, written in Chinese, Uygur and
Sogdian, informs us about the Uygurs adopting
Manichaeism, and there is a reference to
“carved and painted images of demons” which
were to be destroyed, and cannot be ruled out
that some of these were Buddhist figures.
Uygur Empire / Kingdom (cc. 850-
1250)
From the time of their arrival until the 10th century it probable that
the Uygur ruling elite in Qocho (near Turfan) continued to profess
Manichaeism. However, towards the end of the 10th century there
appears to have been a shift by the ruling elite away from
Manichaeism towards Buddhism which was followed by the majority
of the inhabitants of the northern Tarim Basin. When the Song
Chinese envoy, Wang Yande visited the city of Qocho in 982, he
noticed only one Manichaean temple in comparison with 50
Buddhist monasteries and a Chinese Buddhist library. This is also
the time when the Uygur elite began to sponsor the translation of
Buddhist scripture into their own language.
The reasons for conversion by the Uygur
rulers from Manichaeism to Buddhism
• Larry Clark (1984): it was an attempt to unify the
kingdom, whose populace was in the majority Buddhist,
against the expanding Islamic Krahanids.
• Kōgi Kudara: In order to establish and maintain their
country in a respectable way in this area, they needed to
adopt Buddhism at the state level. Perhaps they believed
that by choosing Buddhism they could maintain friendly
relations with China, the great Buddhist empire to the
east.
The Sources of Uygur Buddhism
The Turks of Central Asia must have been very
susceptible to the culture and religions of those
people with whom they lived or had long been in
contact. Thus they adopted e.g. Manichaeism,
Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and Islam. Among
these religions it was undoubtedly Turkic
Buddhism which developed to the most colorful
stage. While e.g. Manichaeism and
Zoroastrianism were transmitted to the Turks
practically only by the Sogdians, Turkic
Buddhism was influenced by several sources.
The Sources of Uygur Buddhism
They turned to the three Buddhist cultures extant in their
area:
Kucha-Karashar-Turfan
region:
• Sogdian
• Tokharian
Beshbalik-Turfan-Dunhuang
area:
• Chinese
• (Tibetan in the Yuan era)
Sogdian, Tokharian
Kucha-Karashar-Turfan
Chinese (and Tibetan)
Beshbalik-Turfan-Dunhuang
The Sogdian influence
Difficulties:
• no extant translation from Sogdian into
Uygur
• the general scarcity of texts from the
earliest formative period
The Sogdian influence
Support:
• the role of the Sogdians in the spread of Buddhism in
Central Asia (also Manichaeism and Nestorianism);
• ~ were among the early translators from Sanskrit into
Chinese;
• ~ engaged in the Turkic chancellery and diplomatic
activities;
• the inscription of Bugut;
• the use of Sogdian script by the early Turks;
• the vast majority of Uygur literature written in the
Sogdian-Uygur script;
• some of the basic Buddhist terms in Uygur are of
Sogdian origin.
The Tokharian influence
• colophons: translated from Tokharian into
Turkic (toxri tilintin … türkčä ävirmiš);
• a bilingual Tokharian-Turkic hymn (10th/11th. c.);
• large group of Sanskrit loanwords came into
Uygur via Tokharian;
• many loan-words of Sogdian origin were
replaced with Sanskrit words in Tokharian form;
• the introduction and the use of Brāhmī script.
The Chinese Buddhist influence
• From the 9th/10th century, if not earlier,
Buddhist texts were rendered in Turkic
from Chinese. The Chinese Buddhist
influence became especially apparent
from the early 11th century translations of
Šingqo Šäli Tutung (from Beshbalik) ,
whose various translations also include
the biography of Xuanzang, and other
activities.
Tibetan influence
During the Yuan dynasty (1280-1368)
Tibetan also became an important source
for Uygur Buddhism.
Scripts used
• Sogdian-Uygur (Uygur): a modified form of
the Sogdian cursive script.
• Sogdian script
• Brāhmī script
• Tibetan script
• Sometimes the Uygur text is accompanied
by Brāhmī glosses or by Chinese
characters.
The forms of the texts
• pustaka format
• Chinese book-roll
• folding book
• xylographs printed from carved blocks
The origins of the texts
(Elverskog 1997)
• largest number were translated from
Chinese
• 16 texts were translated from Tibetan
• 3 texts presumably were based on
Tokharian originals
• 9 from Sanskrit
• 3 are original Uygur compositions
• not determined at present
Phases of translation
According to Peter Zieme
1992. Religion und Gesellschaft im uigurischen Königreich
von Qočo. Opladen.
Pre-Mongolian (9-12. c. AD)
• Tokharian
• Chinese
Mongolian (13-14. c. AD)
• Chinese
• Tibetan
• Sanskrit
According to Moriyasu Takao
1990. „L‘origine du bouddhisme chez les Turcs et l‘apparition des textes
bouddhiques en turc ancien”. ACFJ Kyoto: 147-165.
last decades of 10th-the 1st
decades of 11th c.
11th-beginning of 13th c.
Mongol period (13-14th c)
•Sogdian (?)
•Tokharian
•Chinese
•Chinese •Chinese
•Tibetan
(+ the use of
blockprinting)
According to Kōgi Kudara
2002. „The Buddhist Culture of the
Old Uigur Peoples”, Pacific World: 183-195
„Since at that time people
lived in multi-lingual and multi-ethnic communities
around Turfan and
Kucha, I think that it is not necessary to identify a
single source of initial
Buddhist influence upon the Uigur people.”
(p. 188)
The technique of translation of
Buddhists texts in Central Asia
“Sie ist nicht das Werk eines Kopfes, der die
Schöpfung eines zusammenhängende Ganzen
vor Auge hatte. Stil und Qualität der
Übersetzungen werden wahrscheinlich erheblich
variieren, weil man damit rechnen muß, das
Šingqo Šäli mit verschiedenen Kollegen und mit
verschiedenen
„Wortübersetzern“ zusammengearbeitet hat.“
(Klaus Röhrborn)