A Study in the Uighur Versions of Stories of Buddha’s Life

　　　　　　　　 ——Centred in Turpan Manuscript Mainz 131 (T II Y 37)

by

YANG Fuxue

Few Uighur fragments discovered at Yarkhoto, Qočo, Hami that recount the Buddha’s life, and in particular explicate the teaching of dependent origination, were identified by F. W. K. Müller, W. Radloff, J. P. Laut and Peter Zieme etc. as Uighur versions of the Chinese Lalivistara Sūtra, Aśvaghosa’s Buddacarita and Tocharian Maitrisimit and so on respectively. The paper gives the delaited study in the Turpan fragment Mainz 131 (T II Y 37) “Buddha Biography” which is kept in the Turfansammlung of Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften. This fragment describes the life of the Buddha, especifically concerning the Buddha’s “five great dreams” on the night of his enlightenment. Comparing it with a number of Chinese versions, it can be found that the order of events and characters of the Uighur version do not correspond to any of them.

Key words: Buddhist Literature; Uighur; Texts; Turpan

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