Eski Uygur Türkçesi Metinleri Üzerinden Budizm ve Maniheizm’in Savaşa Bakışı
Türkler, tarihte ortaya çıktıkları ilk zamandan bugüne kadar farklı dinî inançları benimsemişlerdir. Buna bağlı olarak bulundukları bölgelerde çeşitli kültür daireleri de meydana getirmişlerdir. Göktürk Devleti’nin ortadan kalkmasından sonra Türk İmparatorluğu’nun yeni varisleri olan Uygurlar arasında Gök-Tanrı inancı zayıflamaya başlamış, Maniheizm ve Budizm yaygınlaşmıştır. Uygurlar henüz Ötüken bölgesinde iken Mani dini ile tanışmış, Ötüken Uygur Devleti Kağanı Bögü Kağan bu dini resmen devlet dini olarak kabul etmiştir. Uygur halkı da Koço ve Turfan bölgelerine göç etmelerinin ardından Maniheist inancın zayıflamaya başlamasıyla gittikçe Budizm’i benimsemişlerdir. Uygurların yerleşik hayata geçerek kentler ve ibadethaneler inşa etmeleri, Maniheizm ve Budizm’in kültür yapılarına intibak sağlamaları sonucu söz konusu dinlerin inanç esaslarını yeni mensuplarına tanıtmak ve öğretmek için büyük bir tercüme faaliyetine girişilmiştir. Özellikle Çinçe, Tibetçe, Toharca, Soğdça ve Sanskrit dilinden Eski Uygurcaya tercüme yoluyla birçok eser kazandırılmıştır. Uygurca olarak yazılmış metinlerin büyük bir kısmı Turfan, Koço, Hami şehirleri ile Kansu şehrinde bulunan Tun-huang mağaralarında gerçekleştirilen kazı çalışmaları sırasında ortaya çıkarılmıştır. Hem Maniheizmin hem de Budizm’in bir milletin belki de kaderini belirleyen en önemli prensiplerinden biri “can alma” dolayısıyla “savaşma” eylemine tamamen karşı olmalarıdır. Bu eylemin son derece kötü olduğuna ve büyük cezalar gerektirdiğine metinlerde sıkça yer verilmektedir. Çalışmamızda öncelikle Eski Uygurların kurdukları devletler hakkında kısaca bilgi verilecek, ardından Budizm ve Maniheizm’in temel felsefesi izah edilerek Uygurlar’ın bu inanç sistemleriyle ne şekilde tanıştıkları üzerinde durulacaktır. Daha sonra Uygurlar dönemine ait Budizm ve Maniheizm’in esaslarını konu alan eserlerde “savaş”ın ne şekilde yer aldığı, savaş ve savaşçılardan, ayrıca “öldürmek” fiilinden nasıl bahsedildiği ortaya konulacaktır. Bunu yaparken belirlenen eserlerden alınan örnek metinlere yer verilecektir.
Buddhist and Manichaeist Views on War on the Old Uyghur Turkish Texts
Turkish people have adopted many different religions from the era this tribe had known until now. Consequently, they cultivated many cultural environments. After the collapse of the Kokturk Empire, the belief of Kok-Tanrı started to weaken between the Uyghurs, who were the new inheritors of the Turkish Empire, and Manichaeism and Buddhism spread across the region. The Uyghurs discovered Buddhism while they were in the Otuken region. The kagan of Uyghur State in Otuken accepted Buddhism as a state religion. After the migration to Khocho and Turfan, the belief in Manichaeism got weaker, and the Uyghur people adopted Buddhism. As a result of beginning to settle life and construct towns and temples, the people adapted to the cultural structure of Manichaeism and Buddhism. A major translation activity began to teach the new members the rules of these religions. Many works had been translated into Old Uyghur Turkish from Chinese, Tibetan, Toharian, Sogdian, and Sanskrit. These works written in Old Uyghur Turkish were found İn Turfan, Khocho, Hami, and Tun-Huang cave-Kansu. Both Manichaeism and Buddhism have the same principle of not killing anyone or anything, so they came out against war. In Buddhist and Manichaeist literature, it was said that to make war came with heavy penalties. In our study, brief information will be given about the states established by the old Uyghurs. Basic principles of Buddhism and Manichaeism and the acquaintance of Uyghurs with these religions will be explained, then the style of raising war, warriors, and killing will be expressed. To do this, sample texts will be examined.
Religions not only give direction to people’s lives but also affect tribes’ futures. Turks had the belief of Gok-Tanrı until the establishment of the State of Uyghur. After Bogu Kagan was throned, Manichaeism was accepted as the religion of the state. Learning of Manichaeism by Uyghurs came five hundred years later. They discovered this religion when they were in Otuken through Sogdians, the merchant missionaries of the Silk Road. This religion had never been accepted so commonly until the Uyghurs. Uyghurs, whose government was collapsed by Kirghiz, immigrated to the national boundary of China and the regions of Turfan and Tarim. Some of them came to Khansu and established Khansu Uyghur Khanate, which was where Buddhism vastly spread. The other Uyghurs who had not been placed in cities had gone to Turfan and established the Turfan Uyghur State. This state is known as the State of Khocho Uygur. Many works had been translated from Chinese, Tibetan, Tocharian, Sogdian, and Sanskrit to Old Uyghur Turkish. These works were about the principles of Buddhism and Manichaeism, and they aimed to teach these principles to the people who accepted the religions. So, Old Uyghur literature is based on works about religion. Most of the works have been found out to be in Turfan, Khansu, Khocho, Hami, and the caves of Tun-Huang. One of the most important principles of both these religions is not to harm any human being or any other organisms. A Manichean was forbidden to take any life, and he also must never damage any matter that contains light. Similar to Manichaeism, Buddhism is against murdering or killing animals. So these religions do not tolerate war. In these doctrines, believers cannot fight for their countries. In our work, we aim to determine how Manichaeist and Buddhist works talk about making war or killing. For this, we examined “Huastuanift,” “Irk Bitig,” and texts from Manichaica I, Manichaean poems analyzed by Reşid Rahmeti Arat in “Eski Türk Şiiri” for the Manichean area. For the Buddhist area, we examined “Altun Yaruk,” “Daśakarmapathāvadānamālā,” “Üç İtigsizler,” “Maytrısimit,” “Kuanşi im Pusar,” and “İyi ve Kötü Prens Öyküsü.” When we pay attention to these works, we see that murdering or killing animals can be done by people who have bad souls. Heavy penalties, which are the result of these actions, take place in these works. How people who killed anyone or anything must behave and what they have to do is told, especially in repentance texts. There are many war scenes in these texts, but almost all of them are about the wars between gods or boddhisatvas and the devil. To have a spiritual meaning, this war must be absorbed. In these scenes, many war equipments also occur in texts. Names of most of the equipments are Turkish. This can be a reflection of daily life, and it shows that these equipments belong to the period of the belief of Gok-Tanrı, i.e., before accepting Manichaeism and Buddhism. In only one condition is killing acceptable: A person can sacrifice his life for any other lives, which seems to be a virtue of these works. There is only one way to protect the country from enemies: Believers and especially the lord have to process the rules of religion and read and protect the sacred books. If not, the doctrine cannot be protected. People will have bad intentions and will lose the country by making war. And poverty, illnesses, and the danger of the enemy can never be eliminated. İn the Süü Ülüş part of Altun Yaruk, it is said that the book had been written to repent from killing animals and to save from penalties. In this work, we tried to show Buddhist and Manichaeist perspectives on war in the Old Uyghur Turkish texts.
