1.1. The Nako Monuments in Context

Buddhism in Central Asia I

“…With the possible exception that among the stone sculptures of Sichuan (四川) we sometimes find isolated examples of Kṣitigarbha and Avalokiteśvara within the same niche, indicating that the pair of saviours do have a conceptual pre-history in the earlier Tang material,46 we have no documented or cul- 45 Cf. e. tic precedents of the presence of this pair of primary bodhisattvas elsewhere in the material from Dunhuang.…”

“…from above) on the Anfumen (安福門) street, originally the city gate, in Chang'an (長安, modern Xi'an 西安). 47 Thus the ideas about kut form a pre-Buddhist and pre-Manichaean layer within Uyghur culture. As in the instance in the Biography of Xuanzang quoted at the beginning of the paper, a place can be imbibed with kut.…”