PACIFIC WORLD - The Institute of Buddhist Studies

98Pacific WorldWe need to remember that those who first introduced Buddhism toChina and participated in the early translations of Buddhist sutras into theChinese language (early translation period, 178–316 CE) were not Indianmonks but Iranian monks and lay persons (merchants). This is known fromthe names of the translators, who used the names of their home countriesas their surnames. For example, An Shigao was from Parthia (Anxi);Zhiqian and Zhilou Jiachen were from Kushana (Yuezhi); and KangSengkai was from Samarkand (Kangju). Among the thirty-seven knownnames of translators active in the old-translation period, the majority arefrom countries in the Iranian cultural sphere.These countries were eventually absorbed by Sasanian Persia (226–651). Sasanian Persia was established with the ideal of restoringArchaemenes Persia, which had been destroyed by Alexander the Great.Zoroastrianism was declared the state religion, but the practice of otherreligious traditions was tolerated. Therefore, within its territory, Buddhists,Christians (especially Nestorian Christians), Jews, and, later, followersof the Iranian religion Manichaeism, coexisted peacefully.However, the age of Buddhism in the western part of Central Asia wasovershadowed with dark clouds when the Sasanian Empire was destroyedin 651 by the attacks of rapidly emerging Islamic powers. In the eighthcentury, the Islamic armies began invading Turkistan. First they enteredSogdiana, and after winning a battle against the army of Tang China at theTalas River in 751, their invasions intensified. By the latter half of the ninthcentury, Islamic powers completely dominated the region of westernTurkistan. As a result of the series of invasions by the Islamic powers, manyBuddhists and Christians living in the areas, including Samarkand,Ferghana, Tashkent, Herat, and Bactria, either reluctantly converted toIslam or fled to eastern Turkistan.Because western Turkistan was converted to Islam in this early period,it was long assumed that there was no chance that Buddhist texts would bediscovered in this area. However, this assumption was shattered by thediscovery of a group of manuscripts in northern Afghanistan. In the 1990sthe manuscripts were taken out of Afghanistan and were eventuallypurchased by the British Library. Among the Bactrian manuscripts discoveredin northern Afghanistan (most are official documents and secularwritings), there were two Buddhist texts. 5 The texts mention “all Buddhas”and introduce the names of the six past Buddhas before Ûåkyamuni as wellas the names of various bodhisattvas and other Indian deities. These textsare highly valued as Bactrian Buddhist texts discovered in westernTurkistan. Because of the historical context mentioned above, it is highlypossible that there might be Buddhist texts in the Parthian language here.However, such texts have yet to be discovered.