Caucasian Buddhist monks of Ancient Asia?

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; Wiki edit; (E. P. Vining)

The Buddha, Central Asian (Gandharan)

This is an ancient Caucasian Central Asian [Eurasian] Buddhist monk, possibly an Indo-European Sogdian, teaching an East Asian monk, perhaps a Chinese or Turkic Uyghur, on a 9th-century AD fresco from the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves near Turfan, Xinjiang, China.

It is a detail from Praņidhi, Scene No. 5 in Temple No. 9. The book that this painting is reproduced in has full descriptions of these two figures. [But what is that entheogenic mushroom or lotus flower hanging in the air between them?] Here are the relevant details:

"The figure on the right is a young [Chinese] Buddhist monk painted in a stereotypical East Asian style. He stands with downcast brown eyes directed in reverence as he hears the teachings of the figure on the left.

"The figure on the left [a Scythian, Afghan, Gandharan, Bactrian, Sakastan, or Shakyian Buddhist monk] is painted in a style that is not East Asian in character.

"The two [jewelry?] circles on either side of his chin are remarkably unusual [possibly piercings?]. He features a strongly-set nose and clear blue eyes. His skin color is darker. His hair and beard color is reddish brown with brown shades. He stands looking at the younger monk, raising his hand in a teaching gesture as he speaks."

In "Tafel 19" of his Chotscho: Facsimile Reproduction of Important Findings of the First Royal Prussian Expedition to Turfan in East Turkistan (Berlin, 1913), Albert von le Coq identified the figure on the left as a "Tocharer" (Tocharian) and the figure on the right as "Ostasiate" (East Asian).

A history of Buddhism (ranajitpal.com)

In other murals of the Bezeklik Buddha Caves, however, foreign-looking Caucasian men have been identified as ethnic Sogdians (an Eastern Iranian people). For instance, Scene No. 6 in Temple No. 9, in the same temple as this mural, modern scholars have identified the kneeling men draped in silk robes as Sogdians.

[See Gasparini, Mariachiara. "A Mathematic Expression of Art: Sino-Iranian and Uighur Textile Interactions and the Turfan Textile Collection in Berlin," in Rudolf G. Wagner and Monica Juneja (eds.), Transcultural Studies, Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg, No 1 (2014), pp. 134-163. ISSN: 2191-6411. See also Endnote #32 for further information on source material)].

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