Transmission of Buddhism
Late Buddhism on the Silk Roads
Toward the end of the 1st millennium, conquests by Turkic kingdoms brought Islam to Central Asia, and it soon became the dominant religion on the Silk Roads. The kingdoms of the Uyghurs and the Tanguts were some of the last to adopt and support Buddhism in Central Asia.
The Uyghur Kingdom of Qocho
The ancient Uyghur Turks were a nomadic people who established a powerful empire in Mongolia in the 8th century. The empire or ‘Khaganate’ ruled for around a century, and during this time they adopted Manichaeism as the state religion.
After the fall of the Uyghur Empire in 840, some surviving Uyghurs migrated to the eastern part of the Silk Road and settled in Ganzhou (in modern Gansu). Others travelled further west and settled in the oases of the northern Silk Road, such as Kucha and Turfan, which became the Uyghur Kingdom of Qocho.
Influenced by the original inhabitants of the northern Silk Road oases, most of the Uyghurs of Qocho converted to Buddhism. A collection of Theravada texts were translated into Uyghur, mainly from the local languages of Kucha and Karashahr. Other scriptures, mainly Mahayana, were translated from Chinese and Tibetan. The Uyghurs also sponsored the construction of Buddhist caves, such as some found in the Bezeklik cave complex. Buddhism thrived in Qocho, and remained until the 14th century when the Chagatai Khanate conquered Qocho and converted its subjects to Islam.
Uyghur illustrated manuscript
This illustrated manuscript is a fragment from a copy of the Dasakarmapathavadanamala, or The Garland of legends pertaining to the ten courses of action. The text is in Old Turkic language, written vertically in the Uyghur script, and was likely translated from a version in the ancient Indo-European language Tocharian A. It is one of the most important surviving Buddhist narrative works in the Uyghur language.
The Garland of Legends is a collection of Buddhist stories focusing on the workings of karma, each chapter dealing with one of the ten Kammapatha, or ‘paths of action’. The illustration, which depicts several people in prayer, one figure in flames, and two people entwined with a large serpent, bears the influence of the Uyghur Manichean art style. During the Uyghur Empire of the 8th century CE, the Uyghurs adopted Manichaeism as the state religion. After the fall of the empire, those that migrated and established the Uyghur Kingdom of Qocho shortly converted Buddhism.
The Tanguts
The Tangut were a people of Tibetan origin who lived North-West of China. The Tangut were under the control of China until the 11th century, when a Tangut leader gained independence from China and declared himself emperor. The Tangut established their own state called Western Xia (known to the Chinese as Xi Xia) at the eastern end of the Silk Road. They occupied land as far west as Dunhuang, and it stretched north to what is now Mongolia and south to the Tibetan plateau.
The Tangut emperors and their subjects followed Mahayana Buddhism, which became the state religion. The Tanguts spoke a language related to Tibetan, but created their script on the model of Chinese. With the help of Chinese and Tibetan monks, the Tanguts translated a large number of Buddhist texts into the Tangut language. In the 12th century, they translated a complete Tripitaka, and printed it from wooden blocks.
Fragment of Tangut Mahaprajnaparamita sutra
This is a fragment from a Tangut copy of the Mahaprajnaparamita sutra, dating from 1000 – 1400 CE. It was discovered in Kharakhoto, an abandoned city built by an ancient civilisation known as the Tangut Empire. The empire, also known as Western Xia, flourished from the 11th to 13th centuries CE. The Tangut Empire was dedicated to Mahayana Buddhism, and during its reign translated an abundance of sutras into the Tangut language.
The Mahaprajnaparamita sutra or ‘The Large Sutra on the Perfection of Wisdom’ is a collection of Prajna Paramita sutras. These sutras are concerned with the idea of ‘transcendental wisdom’, knowledge of the ‘illusory’ nature of all reality. They are some of the most important scriptures in Mahayana Buddhism. This Tangut copy of the text was likely copied for the accumulation of religious merit of spreading the Buddha’s word.
Buddhism continued to thrive throughout the period of Tangut rule. In the thirteenth century the Mongol army of Genghis Khan targeted the Tangut state and conquered it in 1227.
As Islam became the dominant religion in Central Asia, Buddhism disappeared from the Silk Roads. Buddhist practice continued however in places such as China, Mongolia and Tibet.
