Two Fragments of the Old Uyghur Saṃyuktāgama from the Berlin Turfan Collection

The Āgamas hold significant importance in the context of Old Uyghur Buddhism, as evidenced by the discovery of over 100 fragments of Old Uyghur translations from Turfan and Dunhuang. Of particular significance are the two fragments housed in the Berlin Turfan Collection, U 5464 and U 5501, which contain an Old Uyghur translation of the Chinese Saṃyuktāgama, inscribed on both sides of a repurposed Manichaean manuscript. These fragments correspond to the 22nd and 23rd fascicles of the Chinese source text. This study provides a comprehensive introduction and an edition of these two fragments, accompanied by a comparative analysis with a parallel Old Uyghur translation from Manuscript N, housed in Tokyo. The analysis reveals significant variations, particularly in translation strategies, suggesting the existence of multiple Old Uyghur versions of the text.