PACIFIC WORLD - The Institute of Buddhist Studies

100Pacific Worldscriptures. This shows that there existed a strong internationalnetwork of Buddhist society at that time. It also reflects the richinternational flavor of the city. Many Indian Buddhist scriptures(mainly of Nikåya texts) as well as some Buddhist texts in theTokharian language were discovered here. On the outskirts ofKucha, in Kizil and Qumtura, many cave temples with wall paintingswere constructed.(4) The significance of Tokhara may need further explanation.Tokharians were ethnically Indo-European. However,lingistically they are not related to the eastern branch of Indo-Iranian language families. Their language is closer to the westernbranch of Indo-European languages, such as Greek or Latin.This ethnic group was supposed to have moved to the Europeancontinent in the west, but for unknown reasons they strayedinto the northern edge of the Taklamakan desert in the east andsettled near Kucha and Turfan.(5) Turfan/Gaochang: Turfan is an oasis city surrounded by mountains.It flourished as a center of Buddhism in East Turkistan untilthe fourteenth century. Many different ethnic groups coexisted inthis area, including Iranians, Indians, Tokharians, and Chinese.Various languages, scripts, and religious traditions could be foundin Turfan. In the outskirts of the city, in Bezeklik, Toyoq, andMurtuq, many cave temples with wall paintings were constructed.(6) Dunhuang: Chinese settled in this city from the early period.Although occasionally the city was occupied by Tibetans, it wasgenerally maintained as a stronghold of Chinese Buddhist society.It is an important site for Buddhist cultural heritage, as seen inMagaoku, the Cave of One Thousand Buddhas. In Dunhuang, theArchives Cave (Cave 17) became particularly famous for thediscovery of tens of thousands of Buddhist manuscripts. Thesemanuscripts were sealed for about one thousand years, and sincemany of them are lost or unknown in China, their academic valueis enormous. The majority of the discovered manuscripts arewritten in Chinese, followed by Tibetan texts. The collection alsoincludes Buddhist texts written in Uigur, Sogdian, as well asTokharian, but the numbers of these are very small. The ArchivesCave appears to have been sealed in the first half of theeleventh century.