‘Buddha’ in different contexts: a perspective from Manichaean Middle Iranian and Chinese texts

Manichaeism was a world religion and the Manichaean community preached in multiple languages. In Middle Persian and Parthian (two dialects of Middle Iranian) texts from Central Asia, we see the proper name ‘Buddha’ attested a few times. In Chinese texts, however, especially in the Hymnscroll, which preserves a large number of Chinese translations of the Middle Iranian hymns, ‘Buddha’ has become the most frequently used term to address various gods. In the medieval period, how did Iranian-speaking people and the Chinese differ in their understanding of ‘Buddha’? Based on Middle Iranian texts of various genres from different time periods and Chinese texts in prose and verse, this paper attempts to reveal the semantic development of the term ‘Buddha.’