An Old Uyghur appeal to <i>T(ä)ngrikän Tegin T(ä)ngrim</i> to renounce secular life

An Old Uyghur text written on the back side of a long Chinese scroll and currently kept at the Beijing National Library presents an appeal to T(ä)ngrikän Tegin T(ä)ngrim, presumably a laywoman highly respected by the Old Uyghur Buddhists, to go forth and become nun, that is, to renounce secular life. The text is unique from various points of view. First of all, it is the first Old Uyghur text that presents an appeal to a laywoman to renounce secular life, and presumably was used by laymen and laywomen later; secondly, it is written by Old Uyghur Buddhists in consultation with a similar Chinese text, and the Chinese characters found in the text are taken from the Chinese text that served as a basis for it; thirdly, the structure of the text is unique, each passage starts with a sentence of same structure and most passages end with the same or similar expression; fourthly, it contains a certain number of lexemes, functional words and expressions that are not known in the hitherto-published Old Uyghur texts; finally, although the text is basically written in prose, it contains a considerable number of alliterative verses, including some verses with end rhyme, demonstrating a rather unique style.