Mengji Huang

Recently, a Mongolian manuscript—dated to the late thirteenth century—was unearthed at the Toyuq Grottos in Turfan, China. This project provides a comprehensive philological analysis of the Mongolian text, establishes its connections to other Buddhist scriptures, and investigates its nature and functions. Furthermore, it delves into the socio-historical context surrounding the production of the manuscript at the excavation site, and it explores the transmission of related scriptures in various languages from historical and transcultural perspectives. The dissertation argues that the text on the manuscript represents the Mongolian version of the Huayan repentance liturgy—originally composed in Chinese—and suggests that its emergence could be associated with the traditions of Uyghur Buddhism and the Uyghur Buddhists.