Eski Uygurca Tantrik Bir Metin: Avalokiteśvara-Sādhana

Abstract

In this study, Old Uyghur Avalokiteśvara-sādhana, written in the sādhana genre, which is a product of Tantric Buddhism, is discussed. Avalokiteśvara-sādhana is a meditative ritual text written for the visualization of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva, known as the “Goddess of Mercy” in Buddhism. The Uighur version of the text was translated by Puṇyaśri in the 13th century during the Yüan dynasty, and its fragments were reproduced by block printing method in 1333 and 1336. The text consists of U-coded fragments registered in the Berlin Turfan Collection. In the first publication of the text, the fragments was evaluated as different texts under the headings of “B”, “C” and “E” in BT VII in 1976 by Kara and Zieme. In this study, transcription and German translation of the fragments are given, and explanations are made with footnotes when necessary. After the publication of Kara and Zieme, there was no comprehensive publication of the text. In this study, it has been tried to make a comprehensive publication of the text with the most current fragment information. For that purpose, the study consists of the following chapters: Introduction in which the historical background of the text and the understanding of Buddhism are explained; The Text in which the place of the text in Buddhism, its translator, colophons, the publications about the text, the distinctive orthographic features of the text, the distinctive language features and the ways followed while studying the text are explained; Transliteration and Transcription in which the physical properties of fragments are given and read; Sorting and Comparing the Text in which the text is edited and compared with readings in previous publications; Translation to Turkish in which the text is translated; Explanation of Buddhism Terms and Expressions in which the religious terminology in the text is explained; The Index in which the grammatical index is made of all the words in the text, and Facsimile in which the fragments are given.