Buddhist terminology of Mongolian and Oirat translations revisited
The paper considers the Buddhist terminology of Mongolian- and Oirat-language texts of the
well-known translated work The King of Aspiration Prayers (Bhadracarya). The composition was translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan in the 8th – 9th centuries, and then from Tibetan to Mongolian
and Oirat during the period of active dissemination of Buddhism in Mongolia in the 16th –
17th centuries. Being a part of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, nowadays The King of Aspiration Prayers
exists among Mongolian-speaking peoples in the form of a separate text which is recited at the
end of regular Buddhist practices or during funeral rites. With evidence from Tibetan, Mongolian
and Oirat texts and applying a comparative-textual method, the paper analyzes Buddhist terms
emphasizing the lexical groups as follows: anthroponyms, toponyms, concepts of Buddhist mythology,
and philosophical terms. The article reveals that the Mongolian and Oirat versions
of The King of Aspiration Prayers contain a number of borrowings from Sanskrit, Uighur, Chinese,
Sogdian and Tocharian languages. A comparative analysis of the Mongolian and Oirat
translations shows that the Mongolian text is characterized by more active use of Uighur forms
of Sanskrit words, while the Oirat text interpreter attempted to restore the original Sanskrit
forms of such words. In addition, the Oirat text is characterized by a stricter adherence to the original
Tibetan text: each Tibetan term has only one translation equivalent in the Oirat text, whereas
the Mongolian version may apply differing translation variants for the same Tibetan word.
Alekseyev K. V. Mongol’skiy Gandzhur: genezis i struktura [The Mongolian Kangyur: genesis and structure]. In: Strany i narody Vostoka. Vyp. 36: Religii na Vostoke [Countries and peoples
of the East. Iss. 36. Religions of the East]. I. F. Popova, T. D. Skrynnikova (Eds). Moscow,
Nauka, Vost. lit., 2015, pp. 190–228.
Badmayeva G. Yu. Molitvennyye napevy obryada matsg (den’ posta) [The prayer melodies
of the rite of matsg (day of fasting)]. In: Kalmyki [The Kalmyks]. Moscow, Nauka, 2010,
pp. 350–351. (Narody i kul’tury [Peoples and cultures]).
Bakayeva E. P. Buddizm v Kalmykii. Istoriko-etnograficheskiye ocherk [Buddhism in Kalmykia.
Historical and ethnographic essays]. Elista, Kalm. kn. izd., 1994, 127 p.
Bakaeva E. P. Lamaism in Kalmykia. In: Religion and politics in Russia. M. M. Balzer (Ed.).
New York, London, 2010, pp. 220−223.
Bakayeva E. P. Kalmyki: religiya i eye etnicheskaya spetsifika [Kalmyks: religion and its
ethnic specifics]. Buddizm Rossii. 1998, no. 29–30, pp. 51–55.
Bakayeva E. P. K etnicheskim kharakteristikam kalmytskogo buddizma: obryad “matsg”
[To the ethnic characteristics of Kalmyk Buddhism: the rite of “matsg”]. Scientific Thought
of Caucasus. 2011, no. 1, pt. 2, pp. 120–123.
Bakayeva E. P. Ob osobennostyakh sovremennoy religioznoy situatsii v Kalmykii (buddizm
i “posvyashchennyye”) [The peculiarities of the modern religious situation in Kalmykia (Buddhism
and the “initiated” ones)]. Etnograficheskoe obozrenie. 2004, no. 3, pp. 23–39.
Bira Sh. Mongol’skaya istoriografiya (13–17 vv.) [Mongolian historiography (13th–17th centuries)].
Moscow, Nauka, 1978, 320 p.
Charleaux I. Nomads on Pilgrimage: Mongola on Wutaishan (China), 1800–1940. Leiden,
2015, 471 p.
Kudara K. The Buddhist culture of the Old Uigur peoples. Pacific World. 3rd series. 2002,
no. 4, pp. 183–195.
Poppe N. The Turkic loan-words in Middle Mongolian. Central Asiatic Journal. 1955, vol. 1,
pp. 36–42.
Rona-Tas А. Some notes on the terminology of Mongolian writing. Acta Orientalia. 1965,
vol. 18, no. 7, p. 121.
Shogaito M. On Uighur elements in Buddhist Mongolian texts. The Memoirs of the Toyo
Bunko. 1991, no. 49, pp. 27–49.
Kara G. Knigi mongol’skikh kochevnikov (sem’ vekov mongol’skoy pis’mennosti) [Books
of Mongolian nomads (seven centuries of Mongolian writing)]. Moscow, Nauka, 1972, 229 p.
Korneyev G. B. Nekotoryye problemy tibeto-mongol’skoy interferentsii v oyratskikh rukopisnykh
pamyatnikakh 17 v. (na materiale sutry “Tsar’ blagikh pozhelaniy”) [Some problems
of Tibeto-Mongolian interference in Oirat manuscript monuments of the 17th century (on the
material of the sutra “The King of Good Wishes”)]. Oriental Studies. 2014, no. 3, pp. 111–118.
Korneyev G. B. O traditsii domashnikh moleniy v kalmytskom buddizme: spetsifika tekstov
[On the tradition of domestic prayers in Kalmyk Buddhism: the specificity of texts]. Oriental
Studies. 2015, no. 2, pp. 104–110.
Kosse A. D. Buddiyskiye terminy so znacheniyem ‘religiya’, ‘propoved’’, ‘ucheniye’, ‘traktat’
v mongol’skikh tekstakh yuan’skogo perioda [Buddhist terms with the meaning ‘religion’,
‘sermon’, ‘doctrine’, ‘tract’ in the Mongolian texts of the Yuan period]. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Series 9. Philology. Asian Studies. Journalism. 2007, iss. 3, pt. 1, pp. 108–114.
Kuchera S. R. Mongoly i Tibet pri Chingiskhane i ego preyemnikakh [Mongols and Tibet under
Genghis Khan and his successors]. In: Tataro-mongoly v Azii i Evrope [Tatar-Mongols in
Asia and Europe]. Moscow, 1970, pp. 255–270.
Mongolyn uran zokhiolyn toym. II devter (17–18 үe) [Compendium of Mongolian literature.
Devter II (17th–18th centuries)]. Ts. Damdinsuren, D. Tsend (Eds). Ulaanbaatar, Shinzhlekh
ukhaany akademiyn khevlel, 1976, 672 p. (in Mongolian)
Muzrayeva D. N. Sravnitel’nyye issledovaniya mongol’skikh i oyratskikh perevodov
buddiyskoy literatury (osnovnaya problematika) [The comparative studies of Mongolian and
Oirat translations of Buddhist literature (fundamental problems)]. In: Mongolica 15: Sb. st.
[Mongolica 15. Coll. art.]. St. Petersburg, Peterburgskoye vostokovedeniye, 2015, pp. 16–23.
Muzrayeva D. N. Tibeto-mongol’skaya povestvovatel’naya literatura 17–18 vv. [The Tibetan-
Mongolian narrative literature of the 17th–18th centuries]. Elista, Dzhangar, 2013, 150 p.
(Perevodnyye pis’mennyye pamyatniki na mongol’skom i oyratskom yazykakh [Translated written
works in Mongolian and Oirat]).
Patrul Rinpoche. Slova moego nesravnennogo uchitelya [The words of my perfect teacher].
St. Petersburg, Nartang, 2007, 504 p.
Torchinov E. A. Vvedeniye v buddizm [Introduction to Buddhism]. St. Petersburg, Amfora,
2005, 432 p.
Tsendina A. D. Dva mongol’skikh perevoda tibetskogo sochineniya “Kniga syna” [Two
Mongolian translations of the Tibetan composition “The Book of a Son”]. In: Mongolica 5, 2001.
St. Petersburg, 2001, pp. 54–74.
Tsybikov G. Ts. Izbrannyye trudy: V 2 t. T. 2: O tsentral’nom Tibete, Mongolii i Buryatii [Selected works: In 2 vols. Vol. 2: On the Central Tibet, Mongolia and Buryatia]. Novosibirsk,
Nauka, 1981, 240 p.
Uspenskiy V. L. Buddiyskiy kanon [The Buddhist Canon]. In: Kniga Mongolii. Al’manakh
bibliofila [The Book of Mongolia. Bibliophile’s Almanac]. Moscow, 1988, iss. 24, pp. 191–200.
Vanchikova Ts. P. K istorii mongol’skogo rukopisnogo Gandzhura i o sovremennykh
issledovaniyakh buddiyskikh kanonicheskikh kompendiumov [To the history of Mongolian handwritten
Ganjur and about contemporary researches of the Buddhist canonic compendiums]. Humanitarian
Vector (Gumanitarnyi Vektor). 2016, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 157–165.
Vvedenie v izuchenie Ganchzhura i Danchzhura: Istoriko-bibliograficheskiy ocherk [Introduction
to studies of the Kangyur and Tengyur: Historical and bibliographic essay]. R. E. Pubayev
(Ed.). Novosibirsk, Nauka, 1989, 199 p.
Vladimirtsov B. Ya. Raboty po mongol’skomu yazykoznaniyu [Works on Mongolian linguistics].
Moscow, Vost. lit., 2005, 952 p.
Zlatkin I. Ya. Istoriya Dzhungarskogo khanstva (1635–1758). 2-e izd. [History of the
Dzungar Khanate (1635–1758). 2nd ed.]. Moscow, Nauka, 1983, 336 p.
Buddhist terminology of Mongolian and Oirat translations revisited // Сибирский филологический журнал. 2019. № 3. Pp. 205–214. DOI: 10.17223/18137083/68/18.