Der alttürkische Kommentar zum Vimalakirtinirdesa-Sutra

The book is the first edition of the Old Turkish commentary on the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-Sūtra. All fragments that were identified belonging to this commentary are now preserved in the Berlin Turfan Collection. The relevant commentary may have been based on a Chinese text, whose author was a representative of the Tiantai school. However, some lines in the Old Turkish version are the additions of the Uyghur translator or, more specifically, author and clearly show the strong influence of the Yogācāra school, which was then studied with keen interest in Dunhuang, the neighbouring city of Turfan. This fact indicates the close relationship between this Uyghur author and the Buddhism in Dunhuang. Moreover, the Old Turkish version of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-Sūtra (published by Peter Zieme as Berliner Turfantexte XX) is preserved. The comparison between these two texts shows, however, that both texts were independently translated into Old Turkish.