The Role of Sogdians in the Spread of Buddhism in Southern China

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Master’s Graduate in Ancient Culture and Languages of Iran, Shahīd Bihishtī University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of Sogdian Buddhist monks in the spread of Buddhism in southern China. Sogdians played an important role in promoting Buddhism because they knew Chinese and Hindi, and they were not as merchants who only carried goods but also they were carriers of religions such as Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Buddhism. Based on available sources, such as biographies of Sogdian monks, tomb inscriptions, and Sogdian Buddhist manuscripts in Turfan and Dunhuang, this study shows how they, in their role as religious messengers, spread Buddhism in southern China during the seventh to tenth centuries AD.

Keywords

References

Asmussen, J. P. 1965. Xuāstvānīft. Studies in Manichaeism, Kopenhagen: Munksgaard [Acta Theologica Danica 7].
Beal, S. 1884. “Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World. Translated from the Chinese of Hiuen Tsiang”, AD 629, London: Trübner, pp. 43-45.
Compareti, M. 2007. “Buddhist Activity in Pre-Islamic Persia According to Literary Sources and Archaeology”. In: Transoxiana, 12, available under http://www.transoxiana.com.ar/12/compareti iranian_buddhism.php.
de La Vallée Poussin, L.; Gauthiot, R. 1912. “Fragment final de la Nilakanthadharani en brahmi et en transcription sogdienne”. In: JRAS, London, pp. 629-45.
Emmerick, R. E. 1983. “Buddhism among Iranian Peoples”. In: The Cambridge History of Iran, vol. 3 (2), ed. by Ehsan Yarshater, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 949-964.
Hui-li. 1959. “The Life of Hsuan tsang”, trs., Yung-hsi Li, Peking: The Chinese Buddhist Association, p.46.
Ikeda, O. 1965. “A Sogdian Colony at Tun-huang in the Mid-Eight Century”. In: Studies in Eurasian Culture I, pp. 49-92.
Luo Feng. 2001. “Sogdians in Northwest China”. In: Annette L. Juliano and Judith A. Lerner (eds.), Monks and Merchants, New York: Harry N. Abrams with the Asia Society, pp. 238-269.
Pelliot, Paul. 1916. “Le Cha-tcheou-tou-fou-t’ou-king’ et la colonie sogdienne de la region du Lob Nor”. In: JA 11 serie 7, pp. 111–123.
Qarīb, Badr al-Zamān. 1997. “Sogdians and the Silk Road (Sughdī-hā wa Jāddi-yi Abrīsham)”. In: Recognition of Iran (Iranshinākht), no.5, pp.247-281. [in Farsi]
Rong, X. 2001. “New Light on Sogdian Colonies along the Silk Road Recent Archaeological Finds in Northern China”, Lecture at the BBAW on 20th September 2001, available under https://edoc.bbaw.de.
Tremblay, X. 2007. “The Spread of Buddhism in Serindia: Buddhism among Iranians, Tocharians and Turks before the 13th Century”.  In: A. Heirman & S. P. Bumbacher, (eds.), The Spread of Buddhism, Leiden & Boston, pp. 75-129.
Walter, M. N. 2006. “Sogdians and Buddhism”, Sino-Platonic Papers 174, Kasım, pp. 1-63.
Yoshida, Y. 2006. “Personal Names, Sogdian i: in Chinese Sources”. In: Encyclopedia Iranica, online edition: http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/personal-names-sogdian-1-in-chinese-sources.
Yoshida, Y. 2013. “Chinese Sogdian Buddhists and the Texts Produced by Them”. In: M. Maggi (ed.), Buddhism among the Iranian Peoples of Central Asia, Vienna, pp. 155-179. 
Yoshida, Y. 2015.“A Handlist of Buddhist Sogdian Texts”. In: Memoirs of the Faculty of Letters, Kyoto University 54/3, pp. 167–180.
Religious Research
Volume 8, Issue 15 - Serial Number 15
September 2020
Pages 211-224

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics