People sometimes tend to think of Religion in Human terms; and humans in terms of ethno-collective categories. Humans, however, are not Religion; nor is it necessary identical to its human structures (Religion As Object And The Grammar Of Law). Likewise, peoples have tended, as eras of human development pass from one stage to another, to slip into and out of the embrace of a particular religion to suit the times. Roman pagans used to be Christians; Syrio-Palestinians used to be Christians before most became Muslim, and most were pagan before that. Iranians used to be Zoroastrians to a large extent. And those who inhabited in ancient Arabia were both Jews and pagans. Religion sometimes attaches and sometimes detaches form a people; but that has more to do with the character and conditions of the human than with the character and content of religion--that is, Religion remains true to itself even as humans do the same, each in their own way.
It is with that in mind that one might approach the quite fascinating history of the Uyghurs, now identified with Islam; once a Buddhist people. Thsi is the object of Johan Elverskog in his recently published work, "A History of Uyghur Buddhism" (Columbia University Press, 2024). The abstract provides an excellent summary:
Today, most Uyghurs are Muslims. For centuries, however, Uyghurs were Buddhists. By around 1000 CE, they, like many of their neighbors, had decisively turned toward the Dharma, and a golden age of Uyghur Buddhism flourished under the Mongol empire. Dwelling along the Silk Road in what is now northwestern China, they stood at the center of Buddhist Eurasia, linking far-flung regions and traditions. But as Muslim power grew, Uyghur Buddhists converted to Islam, rewriting their past and erasing their Buddhist history.
This book presents the first comprehensive history of Buddhism among the Uyghurs from the ninth to the seventeenth century. Johan Elverskog traces how the Uyghurs forged their distinctive tradition, considering a variety of social, political, cultural, and religious contexts. He argues that the religious history of the Uyghurs challenges conventional narratives of the meeting of Buddhism and Islam, showing that conversion took place gradually and was driven by factors such as geopolitics, climate change, and technological innovation. Elverskog also provides a nuanced understanding of lived Buddhism, focusing on ritual practices and materiality as well as the religion’s entanglements with economics, politics, and violence. A groundbreaking history of Uyghur Buddhism, this book makes a compelling case for the importance of the Uyghurs in shaping the course of both Buddhist and Asian history.
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