Philological Study of Several Old Uighur Tantric Manuscripts Recently Unearthed from Tuyuq, Xinjiang

Abstract

Among the recent archaeological finds in Tuyuq are several Old Uighur texts related to Tantric practices in the cave monasteries in the Mongol time. A fragment from Cave 24 preserves an unidentified text related to the Mahākāla rites, which has not been attested before. A fragment from Cave 54 provides us a new kind of manuscript of the Baxšï Ögdisi, which is different from the previously identified manuscripts from Dunhuang and Turfan. Another fragment from Cave 57 preserves a list of dates that can be identified as the days on which the lamp-lighting ceremony influenced by Chinese tantric Buddhism should have been held. Three wooden tablets with Uighur texts probably belong to guest monks or donors. These materials provide precious new information on the ritual and daily life of the Uighur Buddhist community in Tuyuq.