Buddhism Buddhism played an important role in the history of Turkic peoples, with the first Turkic state adopting and supporting the spread of Buddhism being the Turkic Shahis and the Göktürks. The Göktürks syncretized Buddhism with their traditional religion Tengrism and also incorporated elements of the Iranian traditional religions, such as Zoroastrianism. Buddhism had its height among the Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region. Buddhism had also considerable impact and influence onto various other historical Turkic groups. In pre-Islamic times, Buddhism and Tengrism coexisted, with several Buddhist temples, monasteries, figures and steles, with images of Buddhist characters and sceneries, were constructed by various Turkic tribes. Throughout Kazakhstan, there exist various historical Buddhist sites, including an underground Buddhist cave monastery. After the Arab conquest of Central Asia, and the spread of Islam among locals, Buddhism (and Tengrism) started to lose ground, however a certain influence of the Buddhist teachings remained during the next centuries.
buddhism buddhism played an important role in the history of turkic peoples with the first turkic state adopting and supporting the spread of buddhism being the turkic shahis and the göktürks the göktürks syncretized buddhism with their traditional religion tengrism and also incorporated elements of the iranian traditional religions such as zoroastrianism buddhism had its height among the uyghurs in the xinjiang region buddhism had also considerable impact and influence onto various other historical turkic groups in pre-islamic times buddhism and tengrism coexisted with several buddhist temples monasteries figures and steles with images of buddhist characters and sceneries were constructed by various turkic tribes throughout kazakhstan there exist various historical buddhist sites including an underground buddhist cave monastery after the arab conquest of central asia and the spread of islam among locals buddhism (and tengrism) started to lose ground however a certain influence of the buddhist teachings remained during the next centuries