EVIDENCE FROM WRITTEN SOURCES ON THE HISTORY OF BUDDHISM IN EAST TURKESTAN

Abstract

The article examines the history of the spread of Buddhism in East Turkestan and examines the monuments of Buddhism in the Turfan oasis. The significance of the Buddhist cave complexes of Dunhuang for Buddhist pilgrimage is also shown. Having originated in India as a religion and philosophical teaching, Buddhism subsequently spread far beyond the borders of its homeland. Central Asia played a key role in the exchanges between ancient India and China. Along the Great Silk Road, Buddhism spread through Central Asia and reached Dunhuang, the center of Buddhism in China. At the beginning of the twentieth century. Numerous caves with manuscripts, sculptures and frescoes left by Buddhist monks and pilgrims about Buddhism, India and Central Asia have been discovered here. Buddhist influence was present in this region from the first centuries AD onwards, and at an early stage of its development, Uighur Buddhism was mainly influenced by Tocharian and Chinese Buddhism. Already, since the XI century, the majority of Uighurs have converted to Buddhism, and Uighur Buddhism has undergone a wide and diverse development.

We learn about the Uighur pilgrimage from the preserved ancient inscriptions of Uighur pilgrims. The first comprehensive Buddhist scriptures translated from Chinese into ancient Uighur is the biography of Xuanzang. Of great religious importance are the various sacred places that pilgrims seek to visit. Among such shrines of Chinese Buddhism is Mount Utai. Religious veneration pilgrimage to Mount Utai is noted in the ancient Uighur inscriptions of pilgrims found in the caves of Dunhuang. The huge number of inscriptions representing almost all important Buddhist languages of that time and found in Dunhuang once again emphasizes the importance of the Buddhist cave complexes of Dunhuang for Buddhist pilgrimage. Numerous inscriptions in Sanskrit, Tokharian, Syriac, Sogdian, Old Uighur and Chinese indicate the multinational nature of the pilgrims who visited the holy places in the Turfan oasis.