Reflections On Uyghur Culture Through Manuscript Studies

This thesis aims to illuminate, through study of manuscripts, some important aspects of Uyghur culture:the pattern of development, the cultural frame "Four Elements" and ideas on nature, spirit and life. Methodology used here includes cultural linguistic methods such as etymological analysis of the meaning of words and comparative study of texts. History, archeology and folklore materials are also used to support the main points.This thesis contains four chapters and an appendix. The first chapter functions as a preface. The second chapter deals with the pattern of development of Uyghur culture:to take boldy from other culture, to assimilate and then develop into something of its own. The third chapter is about the origin and development of the cultural frame "Four Elements", as well as its fully manifestitation in the famous Old Uyghur book Wisdom of Happiness. The author holds that "Four Elements" originated from the primitive idea about time and space of the Old Turkish people. A creative analysis of the four heroes of Wisdom of Happiness is also made in the frame of "Four Elements". The last chapter points to ideas about nature, spirit and life. The author reveals the core of the Uyghur idea about nature as worship and respect toward heaven and earth, plants and water. The author defines the Uyghur idea of spirit and life, pointing out that the essence of Samanism and Mazar worship in the Uyghurs is the worship of spirits, which also deeply influences their idea about life. The appendix is a study on the Old Uyghur version of the Chinese Buddhist text Master Fu’s Gathas on Jing’ gangjing Sutra. It is also one of the proofs of the Uyghur pattern of cultural development. The author makes a comparative study on the Uyghur translation and the Chinese text, and luckily finds that some verses of it were actually translated from another Chinese original.