6th International Symposium Oriental Studies

The 6 th International Symposium on Oriental Ancient Documents Studies 108 The source of the Tangut text has not yet been identified. S. Arakawa (2008) thinks that it could be part of an ode ( sòng 頌 ) or prayer ( yuànwén 願文 ) translated into Tangut from a Tibetan Buddhist scripture. However, based on philological and linguistic evidence we think that it was probably translated from Chinese (but from a text pertinent to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition). We should note that above-mentioned fragment of a sūtra from Wuwei Museum also contains the name of the Buddha Suparikīrtitanāmagheyaśrī: 羖 备界疥藉緳萚緽 (in reverse Chinese translation fromTangut: 南無善名稱功 德佛 ) “Homage to Suparikīrtitanāmagheyaśrī Buddha” which appears on the first line of the described fragment as well: 竀紴瞭镀緳筟肅界疥藉緳萚緽 “the Tathāgata, the Arhat, the Samyaksa ṃ buddha Suparikīrtitanāmagheyaśrī Buddha” (this line would correspond to the following pattern in a hypothetical Chinese scripture if it was a source for the Tangut translation: 如來、應供、 正等覺善名稱功德佛 ). The appearance of both names in the described fragment, as well as its order, which is similar to the order of names in the list of thirty five Buddhas, shows that the text is possibly connected with the their cult, which could be used as clue to the further identification (not only the source for the translation, if it was translated, but also a full text or its parts as well). Key words: Tangut script, Tangut language, Tangut characters, Tibetan transcription, Tangut fragment, phonological reconstruction.