An Old Uighur Fragment on the Buddhist Concept of Six Consciousness

Abstract

Buddha nature, an influential concept in Mahayana philosophy, consists of phenomena that have coexisted incidentally in the human body. According to Buddhist belief, all living creatures are born with these phenomena; in other words, with desires, and they constantly remain in the birth-death circle -namely in sasara-unless they overcome these desires. In Buddhism, an entity is born with six sense organs, or six consciousnesses -eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind. The term aayatana in Sanskrit corresponds to 'six objects, six senses, and six essential elements.' Such objects pose no threat to an individual with innate sense organs. Instead, they are intermediary objects leading individuals away from transient existence and towards the ultimate reality. Individuals potentially lead themselves to the right path or undo calamity only through their thoughts and deeds. In other words, self-salvation is entirely an issue of personal choice. Therefore, one should avoid becoming enamored with the six objects of desire that are senseless, transient and deceptive. According to the six principles of consciousness in Buddhism, which is also the primary topic of the article, one aspires to refrain from sasara and attain Buddhahood without being captivated by the sense organs. A text passage, which determinedly belongs to an Old Uighur fragment on the concept of six consciousnesses in Buddhism, is currently preserved in the Berlin Turfan Collection with archive number Mainz 299 (o.F.). This study, therefore, aimed to reveal the transcription, transliteration, translation into Turkish, explanations, index and dictionary of this fragment, all of which have yet to be published.