Die drei Körper des Buddha, von Jens Wilkens

The doctrine of the Three Bodies of a Buddha (Body of the Law, Body of Enjoyment and Transformation Body) is doubtless one of the principal tenets of Mahayana Buddhism. Two Chinese versions of the Sutra of Golden Light deal with this important conception in detail whereas the extant Sanskrit text does not contain this section. One of these translations which was carried out by the famous Buddhist scholar Yijing was again translated into Uygur and is well-known under the title Altun Yaruk Sudur. With regard to the number of extant copies the Altun Yaruk Sudur is the most important work in Uygur Buddhism. This translation which is attributed to Ši?ko Šäli Tutu? contains some longer glosses that are not to be found in any other version of the Sutra and display a special development of the doctrine of the Three Bodies. In this study the chapter in question is edited by making use of the famous manuscript which is housed in St. Petersburg in consideration of the variants found in the fragments of the Berlin Turfan Collection. The Berlin fragments are edited seperately as a whole in transcription and transliteration. A fresh translation is confronted with the original Uygur text. An extensive commentary and an Uygur-Chinese-Tibetan-Mongolian-German glossary complete the edition. In the introduction questions of textual tradition, parallels in other works and the problem of different translations into Uygur are discussed in detail.