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IATS 2010 Panel Abstracts

(Please use the embedded pdf bookmarks to navigate to the appropriate day of the conference quickly)

I. Monday, August 16th, 2010

1. Conservation and Restoration Pamela Logan (Kham Aid Foundation) and Wu Bangfu (Kham Aid Foundation), Guardians of Minyak Gongkar: Status and Preservation of Minyak Language, Architecture, and Art The Minyak region of Kham is a treasure trove where traditional stone houses and towers, some over 700 years old, still survive, where the walls of some houses and temples are adorned with Buddhist paintings nearly as old, and where an ancient Qiangic language is still spoken. Yet these relics of centuries past are in danger of loss, not from deliberate or systematic destruction, but because Minyak people find their ancient culture increasingly irrelevant to their modern values and aspirations. This paper reviews the current status of Minyak architecture, art, and language, describes efforts by the author’s organization and others to preserve them, and notes some important work that remains to be done. Maggie Mei Kei Hui (The Chinese University of Hong Kong),From House to Monastery: Sacred Spatiality in the Architecture of Labrang Vernacular houses and the spatial encounters of people’s daily living reflect various socio-cultural forces within the context of region and time. The organisation of space and its usage in the built environment is displayed through the interaction between a person’s body and the physical environment. In Tibetan daily living, where religious practices form the major body-space activities in their everyday living experience, the body continues to travel between the realm of the sacred and profane, and also from the domestic houses to the public spaces of the settlement. This shows the relationship between body and space must be considered in order to complete our understanding of Tibetan vernacular architecture and settlement. This paper concerns the phenomenology of the body acting as pivot in influencing architecture of different forms. It aims to clarify the relationship between the body and the architecture through a description of spatial behaviour and the architectural intervention. The research was conducted by examining the spatial transformation of the settlement fabric and the house space at the site of Labrang which lies on the periphery of the Tibet Plateau. Labrang was established as a monastic settlement in the early 18th century and it has attracted lay Tibetan to settle in close proximity to the monastery. The type of data collected are: spatial organisation and their usage in the houses, the body’s spatial interaction with the physical fabric of the site through everyday religious practice, as well as the origin and transformation of the site fabric and village layout relating to the monastery. The paper shall provide a new means of looking into how architecture and the associated spatial qualities deal with the everyday living practice of this Amdo Tibetan settlement. The findings range from the intervention on the physicality of the architecture to the flexibilities in the arrangement of event-space, as

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well as governance of bodily behaviour. Apart from providing a new layer on reading the architecture at Labrang, this also suggest a set of new perimeter when studying the Architecture of other Tibetan settlement in future. Knud Larsen (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), An Architectural Reconstruction of the Chakpori Medical College, Lhasa The first medical college on the Chakpori Hill in Lhasa was built by Thangtong Gyalpo. Later it was expanded, supposedly by the 5th. Dalai Lama. During the uprising in 1959 it was bombed by the Chinese troops and heavily damaged. The ruins were later removed and replaced by a huge radio mast, which today is visible all over Lhasa and considered extremely unattractive especially because of its proximity to Potala. There is at present plans to continue the clearing up among the modern constructions around Potala. This also involves the TV building, which will possibly be removed and replaced by a park. In that connection it is quite possible that also the radio mast will go. In that case it is possible to rebuild the Medical College and possibly turn it into a Museum of Tibetan Medicine (according the late Professor Dungkar all the interior equipment from the college is preserved). A reconstruction of the actual building would be extremely important for the Tibetan people, for tourism and for the Lhasa skyline. The city planning authorities claim that they have no recordings of the original building and therefore are unable to do any reconstruction. In a conversation with Knud Larsen however they agreed to assess the plans if he could provide them. Now Knud Larsen has reconstructed the exterior of the building from old photographs in Western archives while Rinpoche, Professor Minyag Chokyi Gyaltsen has gathered information on the interior structure of the building and the different rooms from two doctors who worked at the college before its destruction as well as from other local sources. Together they have now a complete picture of the college, which has enabled them in producing architectural drawings good enough to do a rebuilding of the building on the actual site. Hubert Feiglstorfer (Austrian Academy of Sciences),TheArchitecture of the Temples of Nyarma: Comparative Analyses of Early Buddhist Temples in the Western Himalayas Probably built in AD 996, Nyarma was one of the earliest and also one of the most important Buddhist monuments in Western Tibet at this time, on account of its size and the rank of its founders, whom Tibetan sources record as the royal lama Ye shes ’od and the Great Translator Rin chen bzang po. Despite its significance as a major historical and archaeological religious site attesting to the appropriation of Indo-Buddhist civilization in Ladakh (Mar yul of the Tibetan sources) around the turn of the 10th/11th century, no detailed and comparative study of this Buddhist temple complex has yet been carried out although the understanding of its architectural concept would provide a key to the study of architectural concepts of early temples in the region of the Western Himalaya. The circumstance of the scientific negligence of this temple in previous architectural studies is certainly also due to the fact that the majority of the original structure has long been ruined and is in a state of deterioration. Because of the deteriorated state of the temples of Nyarma most of the remaining buildings are out of use and completely neglected by the owners of the site. In the case of the temples of Nyarma one can talk of an archaeological site. Its ruined condition makes an architectural analysis of the original structures disproportionately difficult as is the case at other temples of a similar period like the original main temple (gtsug lag khang) of the chos khor in Tabo in Himachal Pradesh (AD 996) which is in a much better

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condition and therefore still used. At the temples of Tabo the construction is in many parts the original one. At the temples of Nyarma only the external walls of the temples have survived albeit in a damaged condition. All wooden elements, constructive as well as ornamental are lost, which makes the survey of the construction with a precise localization of the roof and the pillars almost impossible. The knowledge about the former position of these missing elements would facilitate conclusions to be drawn about the three-dimensional internal proportional organization of the temples. The internal surfaces of the remaining walls are in most cases plastered. Some of them show remains of the colour of a wallpainting. All of these paintings have vanished. The surrounding wall around the main temple (gtsug lag khang) as well as the one around the whole complex (called chos skor, ‘religious enclosure’) are only partly preserved. A detailed survey of the current state of the temples of Nyarma forms the basis for further architectural analyses and allows to a great extent the illustration of the original architectural concept. These analyses can be concretized by comparative studies of the architecture of other temple-sites belonging to the phase of the ‘Later Spread of Buddhism’ (bstan pa’i phyi dar). Based on these comparative studies it is possible to understand and to reconstruct missing links from the original structure of the temples. A comparative study is a fundamental part of this research and enables insights into the architectural system of other temples of this early period which are so far similarly very sparsely recorded. Based on recent field research on the architectural remains of the archaeological site and the discovery of a hitherto unknown substantive report (including drawings and measurements) by Joseph Gergan from the early 20th century, the layout of the whole complex (called chos skor) and the architecture and spatial structure of the individual temples will be discussed and presented on the basis of detailed measurements and plans, with the main focus being on the original main temple (gtsug lag khang) and its ambulatory (skor lam). In particular, the system of proportions underlying the construction plan of this temple will also be analysed against the background of contemporary regional building traditions and relevant sites in other areas. As comparable objects, which will be explained in this context in a detailed way, I will use temples and temple-sites of the early period located in the Western Himalaya with a focus on sites located in Western Tibet. These include temples and temple-sites which have hitherto not been analysed according to their structure and architectural composition. These studies are partly based on recent field studies in Western Tibet carried out within the framework of a research project at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna. The architectural documentation and analysis of these temples located in a region which is most difficult to access for scientific research lays the foundation for further studies of temples of the early period in the region of the Western Himalaya. This comparative typological perspective will be supplemented by a fresh look at the historical process of how Indic religious concepts were ‘translated’ into the societies of Western Tibet and the sacred architecture adjusted accordingly and the effect this had on sacred architecture. This will also provide new insights into the contemporary relationship between Tibetan patronage and Buddhist art and architecture. Andre Alexander (Berlin University of Technology);Discussant Early post-Tibetan empire sources credit Songtsen Gampo with having erected either 12 or 42 (or even more) temples at strategic locations across Tibet, in order to pin down a demoness. Sources of the empire period do indeed mention numerous temples being erected by various kings, but not in connection with either Songtsan Gampo nor geomantic schemes.

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The paper tells of a research project, carried out partly in cooperation with the Tibetologist Institute in Leipzig and TASS, to identify the temples. Several of these have slipped into obscurity, and many are in remote locations. After identification, all temples were visited, surveyed and documented, with the aim to determine whether any facts supporting a geomantic scheme can be found. Preliminary results by the time of writing this abstract indicate that many of these temples seem indeed date back to the empire period. They also share a number of characteristics that help to identify empire period buildings. Hans Christie Bjoenness (Norwegian University of Science and Technology),Gyatse UnderThreat- on Conservation of ‘place’ in a Tibetan Context The aim of the paper is to address threats and opportunities now facing the Gyantse historic township and cultural landscape – a case of traditional Tibetan built form and heritage highly exposed to transformation. This is reviewed in a perspective of Lhasa as ‘World Heritage City’ (since 1994), and in the light of contemporary international conservation doctrine and discourse. Central questions are raised as to whether the ‘World Heritage system’ might provide a relevant tool for safeguarding the complex qualities expressed in a historic urban landscape such as Gyantse’s. Are there other options to safeguard this unique environment ahead of the exponential growth expected after a national rail-network connection? To address the rationale of conservation efforts in a context of development, a threefold theoretical background is proposed – building on local territorial relations, ethno–development and eco–development (territorial relations constitute a sound resource base for a community, ethno–development addresses self–determination of all groups within a pluralistic society, and eco–development builds on socially culturally and ecologically sound practices). In Lhasa the Potala Palace Complex was in 1994 (with Shöl) inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and extended with Jokhang Temple Monastery in 2000 (with Barkor) and Norbulingka in 2001. The formal designation provided national and international recognition of the significance of built Tibetan heritage. In a globalising world, an uncountable number of historic urban environments suffer under impacts of neo-liberal urban development. Processes of uncontrolled commercialisation destroy ‘knowledge of place’ embedded in the historic fabric and structure. However, legitimate needs to improve housing quality and prime urban infrastructure also contribute to change of the historic township. Discussions on threats to cultural continuity in urban conservation are well known, in Lhasa expressed for instance as rapid secularisation of sacred sites. Despite constructive efforts to protect the fabric of Old Lhasa, the loss in heritage value has been hugely significant with more than 85% of traditional-historic buildings demolished in the decade from 1995 to 2005 (from about 350 to 50; Sinding–Larsen, 2009). The context in Gyantse is unique, the significant sacred sites with Palkhor Chöde monastic complex, the dzong, the livelihood traditions of urban villages and the landscape relations of Gyantse representing the ‘cosmos’ of a traditional Tibetan township. The new grid town of Gyantse left the traditional urban villages between the monastic complex with the ‘Great Stupa’ and the Gyantsedzongto themselves. Urban farmers, female headed households and senior Tibetan citizens have found refuge in the urban villages of Gyantse.

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The official land-use map (1996) advocated further urban expansion on arable land. With the planned railway connection between Lhasa and the Indian border, conversion of arable land for urban use in Gyantse could explode. An appropriate strategy needs to safeguard heritage resources within a frame of development that is positive and sustainable for the community. Protection at international level, with potential increased volumes of tourism and secularising of sacred sites, local gentrification and marginalisation of the indigenous population could prove a threat to Gyantse’s unique resources. A conservation strategy should open for the continuation of Buddhist practice at the sacred sites and improved livelihood conditions for urban farmers and marginalised groups within a protected cultural landscape. Peder Boellingtoft (The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts),Tibetan Traditional Wall Painting: Scientific Research into Pigments, Glues and Painting Techniques—a Tool for Future Conservation Work in Tibet In Tibet it is even today normal practice to repaint old wall paintings instead of doing conservation work. Many wall paintings in monasteries and temples are furthermore destroyed because of water coming from leaking roofs, thick layers of soot from butter lamps and new protection layers of modern oil varnish. This is a problem if you want to preserve an essential part of Tibetan culture together with the important information about ancient techniques and materials hidden in these paintings. In spite of the fact that the main part of wall painting has disappeared in Tibet within the last decade, there still exist a great number of ancient wall paintings which desperately need to be conserved. As an alternative to using modern synthetic materials for conservation work it would be preferable in a Tibetan context to use the same materials as the ones represented in well-preserved ancient wall paintings. These materials have already shown a wide range of stability. To find out about the properties and characteristics of traditional Tibetan wall painting a team of experts representing Tibetan thangka painters, conservation scientists and scientific conservators was formed in 2007 to analyze materials used in wall paintings. Instead of researching materials and techniques in old wall paintings it was decided to focus on materials and technologies used in traditional wall paintings today. This was done for two reasons. First of all the team wanted to know the exact characteristics of the materials and techniques used in traditional Tibetan wall paintings today, because it is believed that new and old wall painting methodology is the same. Secondly the team wanted to know if it was possible to get reliable scientific results when analyzing Tibetan wall paintings with advanced laboratory equipment. To confirm this the laboratory at Royal Institute of Cultural Heritage in Brussels acted as a blind partner analyzing the materials and techniques used in a new traditional wall painting made in Copenhagen in the year 2007–2008 by thangka and wall painting experts from Tibet University in Lhasa. The inorganic and organic colours, gold and animal glue for the painting was brought in from Tibet University in Lhasa. This paper gives a presentation of the wall painting process in Copenhagen, the scientific analysis of the wall painting materials and how the results can be used as a tool for future conservation work and understanding of the methodology used in ancient wall paintings in Tibet. Minyak Choekyi Gyaltsen (China TibetBuddhist Institute)

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2. Buddhist Visionaries and their Practices in Eastern Tibet Jann Ronis (University of Virginia), A Terton in a Monastery: Longsel Nyingpo (1625-1692) at Katok and the Creation of a Kama-based Cycle of Treasures

Longsel Nyingpo (1625-1692) was a treasure revealer and court chaplain of Degé who became the first treasure revealer to sit on the abbatial throne of Katok Monastery. Longsel Nyingpo was born in Litang and in his twenties trained under Dündül Dorjé (1615-1672) for a time. After studying under Dündül, Longsel began his own prolific treasure career. Several of his treasures are anthologized in the great nineteenth-century collection of terma, the Great Collection of Precious Treasure (Rinchen Terdzö; rin chen gter mdzod). Longsel Nyingpo also attracted royal patrons including a notorious descendant of Guśri Khan and the Degé royal court.

Prior to Longsel Nyingpo's appearance at Katok in the 1670s no non-celibate revealer of Treasures

had ever served as the head of the monastery. With the rise of the Degé kingdom in the late 1630s and early 40s – concurrent with the founding of the Dalai Lama's government in Lhasa, the Ganden Podrang (dga' ldan pho brang) – Katok Monastery became subject to a powerful, new regional polity. The new kingdom exerted its control over the monastery by imposing Longsel Nyingpo as the new head lama of Katok. Longsel Nyingpo arrived at Katok with many family members and had an enormous impact on the monastery, especially on the monastery's administration and liturgies. Longsel altered the administration of the monastery by establishing his family members and students at the head of the see. Some of Longsel’s successors were lay, some were reincarnated lamas, and most were neither monks nor scholars. Longsel also had an impact on the liturgies and contemplative practices at Katok through instituting the practice and recitation of his treasures. As the non-Terma scriptural tradition of called the Kama (bka' ma) had always had a central role at Katok, the question is raised whether Longsel perceived a need to modify any of his treasures to be complementary with the established Kama traditions? Such is certainly the case as relates to the single cycle of treasures Longsel discovered at Katok, the Cycle of the Distilled Secret of the Magical Net (sgyu 'phrul gsang ba yang khol gyi skor). As can be seen from the very title of this treasure cycle, these works present themselves as intimately connected to the Secret Nucleus, the iconic Mahāyoga suite of tantras of the Nyingma Kama. This paper will 1) explore the narrative and rhetorical strategies in these treasures employed by Longsel Nyingpo to promote them as being in complete accord with Katok's Kama-based traditions of scholastics and ritual practice; and 2) assess their reception history in the immediate aftermath of their introduction by Longsel himself and over the ensuing century. In doing so this paper makes a contribution to the study of Nyingma monasticism and visionary movements, more broadly, but especially to the investigation of their interaction in a concrete historical instance. Heather Stoddard (Tibet Section, INALCO, Paris), The Yogi from Khams & the Dalai Lama. gter chen Las rab gling pa (1856-1926), and rgyal dbang Thub brtan rgya mtsho (1876-1933): A Glimpse of their Friendship This paper is based on two lengthy and eventful life stories: 1) Thernam par thar pa Ngo mtshar rin po chei phreng ba, vols.Ka & Kha of The Collected Works of the Dalai Lama XIII, New Delhi 1981 & 1982; and 2) the rnam thar of the great 19th-20th century treasure-finder gter stonbSod rgyal (1856-1926), also known as gter chenLas rab gling pa,compiled by his disciple, mChog sprul Tshul khrims bzang po in 1942.

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Theofficial account of activities of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thub brtan rgya mtsho (1876-1933) provides a detailed record of events throughout the pontiff’s life, including brief narratives of his two flights into exile in Mongolia and China, and then to India, as well as his relations with the 9th Panchen Lama. Especially noticeable is the constant flow of visitorsfrom all over his vast realm of influence, as well as his on-going preoccupation with the safeguarding of Tibet, as a whole, from the threat of « border armies » mtha’ dmag. The Life of Las rab gling pa is more of a personal mystical journey, and although it does not bear the title ofgsang bai rnam thar, it is full of dreams and prophecies, and the discovery of countless treasures. It is also a remarkable document of thetimes, demonstrating once again, in strikingly similar terms, the Tibetan point of view and the manner in which attempts were made to keep out the « border armies » during that critical period of Tibetan history. This paper is a follow up of the author’s presentation at IATS in Bonn, 2006, on the first British invasion of Tibetan territory, in 1888, known as the Pi ling dmag zlog. This time the focus will be on the exchange between the young Dalai Lama and Las rab gling pa, who was a direct disciple of ‘Jam dbyang mKhyen brtse’i dbang po (1820-1892) and ‘Ju Mi pham (1846-1912),two of the great ris med or non-sectarian masters from Khams. The 13th Dalai Lama and Las rab gling pa were in frequent contact, from 1888, ie. precisely the year of the first British invasion of Tibet, until the second « expedition » led by Colonel Younghusband in 1904. The assassination attempt made against the Dalai Lama, in which Las rab gling pa played an unwitting role, is sandwiched in between. The mutual friendship that developed between the pontif and the yogin, and their deep concern for Tibet - Khams, A mdo and dBus gtsang - as well as their ideas on how to deal appropriately, in Tibetan terms, with outer and inner enemies, will be addressed. Hanna Havnevik (University of Oslo), Nyingmapa Lives in Central Tibet during the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries The lives of a number of noteworthy Nyingmapa (rNying ma pa) practitioners in Central Tibet, both male and female, from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have escaped academic attention. Some of these religious adepts achieved fame during their lifetime and there are written documents, such as religious biographies (rnam thar), celebrating their activities. About others, particularly female adepts, only their names and scattered information have come down to us. This paper draws attention to some Nyingmapa practitioners active in Tibet during the century before 1950; their lives will be contextualized, and aspects of their religious practices, institutional affiliations and patronage will be analysed Antonio Terrone (Northwestern University), Reading the Mirror and the Heroic Vulture’s Flight: The Visionary World of Mkha’ ’gro Dpal chen lha mo This paper will discuss the life and religious activities of mkha’ ‘gro dpal chen lha mo, a woman who currently lives in the Eastern Tibetan area of Nang chen (Yushu TAP). Devoted practitioner and visionary personality, dPal che lha mo assists her husband bKra shis rgyal mtshan’s revelation practices with the performance of what she calls the “heroic vulture’s flight,” in which she visualizes herself inhabiting a vulture’s body to seek the place of the next Treasure to be revealed. Additionally, dPal chen lha mo is also known for her prognostication skills such as the mirror-divination, which she continually puts in the service of all who make requests.

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The key points I will discuss in this paper are dPal chen lha mo’s role in her community, her daily activities, and her status as the main income earner in her household. Among other things my research seeks to answer a basic question: how do religious professionals operate in present-day Tibet?This is particularly relevant considering the March 2008 riots across Eastern and Central Tibet. This paper will explore the ways in whichmKha’ ’gro dPal chen lha mo has been able to maneuver very successfully through the turbulent post-2008 political climate. Despite the ongoing shifts in religious policies and the Chinese authorities’ classification of most non-institutional religious practices as “superstitious” dPal chen lha mo and her husband operate undisturbed in their milieu. Just like this couple, many religious specialists have a vital role in their communities today and the continuing waves of political turmoil don’t seem to dampen their traditional functions. mKha’ ’gro dpal chen lha mo’s role and local reputation as visionary and diviner is increasing, making her the most prominent lay female religious figure in the area. Additionally, her divination activities are an important source of income for her household. This includes not only family members, but also a number of male and female monastics who live with them and follow dPal chen lha mo and her husband’s religious teachings. Lce nag tshang hung chen, Gos dkar lcang lo’i sde las bud med sgrub sbyong pa ste sngags ma bshad pa/ reb kong ko’u sde’I sngags ma dper bzung nas brjod pa Tiina Hyytiainen (University of Helsinki),Ngakmas, the female lay tantric practitioners in Repkong In 2007 and 2008 I conducted fieldwork for my doctoral thesis among Amdo Tibetan laywomen in a remote farming and semi-nomadic village that lies at an elevation of about 3000 metres and is situated in Repkong County in the Malho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. The village consists of around 100 households and 700 people who are all subsistence farmers or herders. The average annual income from farming and herding is low. Some extra cash for school fees and hospital bills, however, is made through collecting caterpillar fungus. The women in this village are ordinary Tibetan laywomen with multiple family and farming duties. As in a typical Tibetan farming village, the women are busy being farmers, herders, wives, mothers and daughter-in-laws. What makes this village unusual, however, are the numerous ngakmas (sngags-ma), the female lay tantric practitioners. The ngakmas and their male counterparts, the ngakpas (sngags-pa) can be described as ordinary householders with family, children and work who at the same time have extensive commitments to daily Buddhist practices and periodical meditation retreats. Monks and nuns renounce the external world, for example, by observing celibacy and abstaining from alcohol. Yet ngakpas and ngakmas rely mainly on internal renunciation, in other words, controlling disturbing emotions in their daily life and relationships. A Buddhist monastery on a nearby mountain is visible from the village. Its present master, Alakh (a-lags, a lama in Amdo dialect) is a married lay practitioner in his sixties and the third incarnation of his lineage. His small monastery has both resident monks and ngakpas, lay male tantric practitioners that are a common standout sight in Amdo with their long hair and red and white robes. Around the year 1988 some of Alakh's ngakpa disciples were performing a ritual together, and their wives asked Alakh if they could join in the ritual. Alakh agreed. This pioneering group had nine women who started and continue to perform religious rituals together, and at present about forty ngakmas between the ages of eighteen to sixty-four have joined the initial group. There is no proper religious lineage to trace back to, however, only a few known examples

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of ngakmas from the past. Contrary to her male counterpart, a ngakma cannot be recognized from her outer appearance, as she looks like an ordinary Tibetan farmer woman in her sheepskin robe and a braided hair. In the village ngakpa temple, in a ritual ceremony, Alakh has granted the ngakpas and ngakmas, and other villagers, five lay precepts. The ngakmas have taken at least two of the five precepts, to refrain from killing, stealing, false speech, sexual misconduct, and taking intoxicants. Moreover, the ngakmas have committed themselves to daily Buddhist practices, both individual and collective. At present, according to Alakh's instructions, in addition to individual recitations at home, the ngakmas are mostly doing the preliminary practices (sngon-'gro) for purification and preparation for later teachings and meditation practices. Some ngakmas have already completed them four times. In 2007, for the first time, the women received formal Buddhist teachings and instruction for rituals and ritual instruments in a training course that lasted for thirty days. Twice a month, on the tenth and twenty-fifth day of the Tibetan lunar calendar, the ngakmas also perform a collective ritual practice either at the village ngakpa temple or at a patron's house. The patron has usually commissioned a ritual for certain purpose, for instance, to bless the household or performing the funeral ceremonies. In this paper, based on my interviews and observations in the village, I will firstly discuss the reasons why these ordinary laywomen have turned to committed religious practices and have become ngakmas, and secondly, the effects the religious practices of this kind bring to the overall community. Sarah Jacoby (Northwestern University), The Vairocana Cave Dakini: The Life and Activities of Mkha’ ’gro rin po che in Present-day Eastern Tibet The quest to understand the significance of the term “dakini” (Tib. mkha’ ’gro ma) is an elusive one. Dakinis’ long history predates Buddhism entirely, referring in their earliest incarnation to Indian classes of flesh-eating female deities who served under Durgā, Kālī, and Śiva. Their status as intermediary figures between earth and sky, human and divine, malevolent andbenevolent, and life and death continued in their transformation into the Indian and later Tibetan Buddhist pantheon. Tibetan Buddhist dakinis can be enlightened female figures, worldly demonesses, or human women endowed with extraordinary capacities as Tantric consorts. Though the Tibetan term mkha’ ’gro ma can refer on its most exoteric level simply to the wife of a well-appointed religious man, it can also signify the supreme embodiment of the true nature of reality, emptiness itself. Dakinis’ unbounded symbolic potential has led to a surfeit of interpretations by Western scholars. Some have understood dakinis to be enlightened exemplars for women striving to uncover their innate divinity (Shaw 1994: 41).Others have suggested that the abundance of sexual depictions of dakinis in Tibetan Buddhist iconography are “a powerful representation of the repressed feminine aspects of the male psyche” (Sponberg in Cabezon 1992: 28) and therefore serve the needs of the male meditator. But in our search for the meanings of the term dakini, we must also ask, what symbolic potential does this figure have for actual Tibetan women? As a beginning to answering this question, this paper is an exploration of the complex layers of meaning expressed in the designation “mkha’ ’gro ma” through a study of Mkha’ ’gro rin po che (b. 1954), who has become renowned in parts of Eastern Tibet as an embodiment of this potent cultural and religious symbol. As a laywoman and mother of five who came of age during the political and religious repression of the Cultural Revolution, Mkha’ ’gro rin po che doesn’t initially appear to be a likely leader of religious revival in contemporary Tibet. This paper will chart the ways in which Mkha’ ’gro rin po che has navigated her

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apotheosis from laywoman to cave-meditating mkha’ ’gro ma, focusing on the social functions and religious significance of being a dakini in contemporary Eastern Tibet. Rta mgrin rgyal, Sngags pa dang bod sman gdon bcos bar gyi ’grel ba 3. Old Tibetan Studies III Mark Aldenderfer (University of California), Pre-Buddhist Era Phalliform Artifacts from Kyunglung, Far-Western Tibet Although not common, phalliform artfacts are being discovered in increasing numbers in pre-Buddhist archaeological contexts in far western Tibet. In this paper I discuss the discovery of an archaeological complex near Kyunglung that is comprised of a stone cairn or mound covered with dozens of phallus-shaped artifacts. These objects are described and compared to other phalliform artifacts, notably rdo-ring, from western Tibet. An argument is offered as to their potential ritual and religious significance for the pre-Buddhist cultures of the region. Amy Heller(CNRS Paris),Preliminary Remarks on Painted Wooden Panels from Tibetan Tombs This presentation in the IATS 12/ Old Tibetan Studies panel, will present research in progress on painted panels recovered from Tibetan tombs in Qinghai. In 2002 Xu Xinguo, director of the Qinghai Archeological Institute, excavated two tombs with several painted coffins panels in Guolimu county. The principal themes painted on these panels show hybrid creatures - animals and birds - as well as several hunting scenes of reindeer and wild yak, ceremonial banquets taking place in a tent encampments, amorous scenes and a commercial caravan (see Xu Xinguo, “New Discoveries in Qinghai” in China Heritage Newsletter, No. 1, March 2005: http://chinaheritagenewsletter.org/articles.php?searcherm=001qinghai.inc&issue=001; see also Luo Shiping “A research about the drawing on the coffin board of Tubo Located at Guolimu, Haixi, Qinghai province, Wenwu 2006/ 7: 68-82). Since Xu Xinguo’s 2002 excavation of the painted coffin panels of Guolimu, several other painted panels have subsequently been discovered which are now conserved in private collections and museums and these panels will be presented here. Their comparison is fruitful. On the whole, there is correspondence in terms of the themes illustrated on the panels, notably the hunt of the yak (which will be discussed by Brandon Dotson in IATS 12/ Old Tibetan Studies panel in the context of the famous passage from the Old Tibetan Chronicle, Tibet’s first narrative history of its imperial period (c.618–866), where Princess Sad mar kar sings of a yak killed in the course of the hunt). Additional literary and cross-cultural references will be explored in this presentation. These painted panels yield concrete documentation of the mobile habitat of the btsan po and his entourage during the sPu rgyal dynasty. The study of the women and men portrayed on these panels – their activities, weapons, cooking utensils and drinking vessels, costumes, jewelry and face make-up, and the accoutrements of their habitat - yield clues to better understanding of daily life in ancient Tibet while simultaneously relating to customs prevailing in nomads of western Tibet during the 20th century. Sam van Schaik (The British Library), Towards a Typology of Early Tibetan Writing Much of the discourse and debate in the palaeography of European manuscripts has been based on the existence of script typologies, in which different writing styles are defined and linked to specific social roles,

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geographical locations, and/or dates. In this paper I will suggest the outlines of a typology of the styles of writing current during the latter part of the Tibetan imperial period – the late 8th to the mid 9th centuries. This typology is based on the earliest sources for written Tibetan: pillar and rock inscriptions from Central Tibet, Ladakh and Amdo, paper and wooden documents from imperial-era Tibetan forts in Central Asia, and the vast manuscript cache from the library cave at Dunhuang. Based on the study of hundreds of such exemplars, the typology represents a preliminary attempt to provide a framework for approaching Tibetan written sources from the imperial period. The typology is based on a palaeographical analysis of key letter forms, showing how different writing styles usually express changes in the "ductus" – the order and direction of strokes. I will also address the social context of the manuscripts, and suggest how writing styles were closely linked to the social function of the scribe and the manuscript. The question of the relevance of the sources from "marginal" areas to development in the "centre" of Tibetan polity during the empire will also be discussed. Towards the end of the paper, I will give a brief description of the rapid development of calligraphic writing styles after the fall of the Tibetan empire, and suggest how we might be able to date manuscripts to the imperial or post-imperial periods based on their palaeographical features. I will discuss the question of two different approaches to palaeographical analysis – the analysis of styles and the identification of individual scribal handwritings – arguing that one cannot be present without the other. In conclusion I will suggest the ways that the typology presented here needs to be challenged, developed and refined in future palaeographical research. Gertraud Taenzer(FU Berlin),The ‘A-zha Country Under Tibetan Ruler in the 8th and 9th Centuries: A Survey of Land Registration and Taxation Based on a Suit of Three Manuscripts of the Stein-Collection from Dunhuang The ‘A-zha were a branch of the Xianbi who left their original pastures in Manjuria at the end of the third century CE. They wandered westward to finally settle in the region of the Qinghai lake. They are known in the Chinese sources as Tuyuhun or Tuihun. Their history has been recorded in various Chinese historiographies, up to the time (663CE) when they were subjugated by the Tibetans and their king fled with several thousand families to China. From then onwards the ‘A-zha were regarded as being a part of the Tibetan empire by the Chinese. References to their culture are found in Chinese sources relating to the time before their subjugation by the Tibetans. According to them they were mainly pasturalists, they dominated peoples of various ethnic backgrounds and no strict organisation of their state existed before the Tibetan conquest. Their ethnic provenance is not quite clear but it has been suggested that they probably originally were proto-Mongols (Pelliot: T’oung Pao, 1921). The history of the ‘A-zha who stayed is reflected in the Tibetan Royal Annals and in IOL Tib J 1386 which records the events from 706 to 715 when the ‘A-zha country was apparently a vassal state of the Tibetan empire. Tibetan dignitaries went there on several occasions to carry out acts of administration (mkhos). Especially the ‘pha-los’ census is to be noted which must have had the result that from then on (734) the Tibetans kept registers of the ‘A-zha families. Although the ‘A-zha were mainly pasturalists they also engaged in agriculture as can be seen from the following suit of manuscripts.

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Starting with this suit of manuscripts on land registration concerning the ‘A-zha country (IOL Tib J 1243, Tib J 1456, the two fragments which can be joined IOL Tib J 836 and 835 and 834, text I, III and II respectively) the system of the taxation of land and the structure of the society of the ‘A-zha living in a particular region will be analysed. Two of these manuscripts were published and translated by Thomas (Tibetan Literary Texts and Documents Concerning Chinese Turkestan vol II, 1951). As recent research established that this suit concerns land registration in the ‘A-zha country (the Author: IATS 2006: the ‘Mthong-khyab’ Military Units of a thousand from the 8th to the 9th century- forthcomming) and as the meaning of the term ‘rkya’ in the system of taxation (Iwao Kazushi: Tohogaku, 113, 2007) and the origin of the title ‘she’u’ or ‘che’u’ (Takata Tokio: Asia Major, 2006) have been clarified, a more detailed interpretation is possible. This suit of manuscripts is a part of a register which must have consisted of a number of sheets. The first part of text I is the end of one register of a ‘brgya’ tshan’ (100-‘tshan’, a subunit of a unit of a thousand ‘stong sde’) the name of whose leader is lost due to damage of the paper. The second part is the register of Khri-tang Bor-to head of a ‘brgya’ tshan’. In its first part the demarcation of the fields of this ‘brgya’ tshan’ are outlined and the neighbouring fields are named. This description is continued in text III, the two fragments of text II and the beginning of text II. The second part of text II is the description of the lands of a ‘khram-tshan’ a subunit of this ‘brgya’ tshan’. There the fields are given in exact measurements and the neighbouring lands are given as well. Thus enough information is available to have an insight into the system of registration and taxation of the fields in the ‘A-zha country. This suit of manuscripts will be analysed not only with regards to the taxation system but as the families and heads of ‘tshan’ of the neighbouring lands are also named, it is possible look into the ethnic composition of the ‘A-zha of the time of this area. As far as land allocation and taxation are concerned a comparison with Chinese manuscripts (e.g. S9156, S5822) and a manuscript from the Dunhuang region from the Stein-collection which could be assembled from two fragments (Vol.73,fol.2 and IOL Tib J 940) will be made. In this way the similarities and differences of the land registration and taxation of these two regions can be pointed out. The Dunhuang region was predominantly inhabited by Chinese and its fields were irrigated, therefore two regions with a completely different agricultural situation and cultural background are studied. Thus it is possible show how adjustable the Tibetan system of taxation was regarding the quality of land and the structure of the society. A short look will be taken at land which was not included into the taxation system, i.e. land that belonged to officials who were not liable to pay tax. Looking at the taxation and administrative system of the ‘A-zha county the question will be asked whether the ‘A-zha country was it administered similar to the areas under military government the ‘khrom’ or the Li country (the Khotan region). Zhu Lishuang (Peking University), The Annals of the Noble Land Khotan: A New Translation of a Chapter of rGya bod yig tshang chen mo Composed in 1434 by sTag tshang rdzong pa dPal ’byor bzang po (alias Śrībhūtibhadra), rGya bod yig tshang chen mo, or Archives of China and Tibet (hereafter referred to as ACT) provides a fairly detailed account of the Sa skya-Mongol Yuan relationship as well as general information on Tibet and surrounding regions. It was first explored in 1886 by Sarat Chandra Das, who drew from the section on Khotan in his

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article “Buddhist and Other Legends about Khotan”, though he neither cited the source nor presented the original text in its literal translation.1 Elsewhere, he also translated the section dealing with the Mongol dominion over Tibet in the same manner in 1904.2 More than half a century later, the manuscript was thoroughly examined by Ariane Macdonald.3 In 1985, a typographical version was published in Chengdu, Sichuan, with a brief foreword by the famous Tibetan scholar Dung dkar Blo bzang ’phrin las.4 The following year, a Chinese translation by Chen Qingying was published in Lhasa.5 A number of studies have drawn their treatment of subject from the ACT, with most of them dealing with Sino-Tibetan relations. Yet the work also contains many other valuable sources that remain unmined, such as the chapter concerning ancient Khotan, or “Li yul [Li country/land]” in Tibetan, the once-great oasis state on the southern Silk Road. Traditionally, Li yul lung bstan pa and a number of related works that were incorporated into the Tibetan Buddhist canons, together with Tibetan manuscripts from Dunhuang, such as PT 960 (Li yul chos kyi lo rgyus), have been viewed as the major corpus for the pre-Islamic history of Khotan.6 This paper shows that ACT is also an indispensable source for the study of this famous Buddhist kingdom. My study provides a new translation, with detailed annotations, of the chapter on Khotan from ACT. Even though there already exist an English and a Chinese translation respectively as mentioned above, a new translation is deemed necessary upon further investigation. While translations of Das and Chen are among the great achievements of research on the ACT, they have relied exclusively on copies that go back to a single manuscript in the Densapa library in Gantok.7 Because Das and Chen failed to consult other relevant sources on Khotan, such as Li yul lung bstan pa, there remained confusions over many proper names and unreadable passages. And while Das’ work may be excused for its early completion, Chen’s work also failed to utilize the vast achievements in the field of Khotan studies, both linguistically and historically. Recognizing the importance of linking this body of materials with ACT, my work examines the chapter in question in light of the larger corpus of materials on Khotan. A critical comparison reveals that the chapter on Khotan in the ACT is similar in content to Li yul lung bstan pa, Li yul gyi dgra bcom bas lung bstan pa and dGra bcom pa dge ’dun ’phel gyis lung bstan pa. It seems to have been extracted from the latter texts, but not reproduced verbatim. Not only is the text of the ACT much more concise than those earlier texts, but it also provides many different proper names and divergent narratives about certain events. Are they simply misspellings? Or were they drawn from sources still unknown to us that were inaccessible to authors of those other works? Because the Tibetan Empire once played a strong role in shaping the history of Central Asia, Tibetan records on the history of Central Asia are one of the most valuable materials concerning this region. Regrettably, long after pioneering works by Thomas and Emmerick, Tibetan sources regarding Central Asia have not received proper attention. The present study of the ACT as well as other Tibetan works such as Bu ston chos ’byung and mKhas ba’I dga’ ston demonstrates that the contribution of Tibetan historiography to knowledge of ancient Khotan and greater Central Asia must receive its deserved attention. Brandon Dotson (University of Oxford), Dividing the Fallen Yak: Hunting Metaphors and Cultural Values in the Old Tibetan Chronicle Over a long historical trajectory different governments, rulers and communities in Tibet developed a variety of legal codes, documents and structures. Deliberate attempts were made, that is, to formulate laws and codes, to specify forms of wrong, redress and punishment, to regulate the judicial activities of officials and to regularise forms of adjudication, inquiries into truth and processes for the determination of conflicts. The aim of this panel is to use comparison and a long historical perspective to reflect upon the development of law in

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Tibet in its social, political and cultural contexts. We welcome papers which deal with any of these activities. We particularly encourage papers on legal developments in the empire, on the narratives concerning law-making in post-dynastic histories and on legal developments in the Ganden Potrang government, including record-keeping at individual, regional or central locations. We also encourage contributions on non-government law-making, such as tribal and village-level codes and documents. Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim (University of London),Central Asian Melange: Early Tibetan Medicine from Dunhuang

This paper will deal with the Tibetan medical manuscripts from Dunhuang, which are of great importance not only for our understanding of the development of Tibetan medicine, but also for the understanding of transmission of substances and ideas in and around Dunhuang. These medical manuscripts are largely practice-based, but nevertheless include important information for understanding some of their theoretical assumptions.

Tibetan medical histories refer to the early stages of Tibetan medicine as multi-cultural, deriving from

all great traditions neighbouring Tibet. The main focus of this paper will be assessing whether the Tibetan medical manuscripts from Dunhuang indeed reflect this multi-cultural character of early Tibetan medicine. Focusing on materia medica which appear in these texts, particularly those whish seem to be loan-words, I shall explore this question both from a linguistic point of view and a historical one. Tsuguthito Takeuchi (Kobe City University of Foreign Studies),glegs-tshas: Writing Boards of Chinese Scribes in Tibetan-ruled Dunhuang Among the Tibetan texts found in Dunhuang there are a group of manuscripts characterized by the exceptionally large size and thick quality of paper, on both sides of which are found various kinds of Tibetan and Chinese writings, including letter drafts, contracts, sutras, graffiti, personal names, verses and so on. As I briefly mentioned in my book on contracts, they were glegs-tshas 'cover paper for Sutras' used by Chinese scribes as their writing paper boards. Since then, many more of them have been found. In this paper, through an extensive examination of so far identified glegs-tshas texts, I wish to discuss the sociolinguistic backgrounds of the use of literary and colloquial Tibetan by non-Tibetans. Kazushi Iwao (Hoyogo, Japan), On Tibetan Śatasāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā sūtra from Dunhuang It is well known that, in Tibetan ruled Dunhuang (786-848), the Tibetan authority established a scriptorium that was ordered to copy various Buddhist texts written in both Tibetan and Chinese on behalf of the Tibetan emperor. The best examples among them are the cases of the Aparimitāyur-nāma sūtra (in Chinese and Tibetan), the Śatasāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā sūtra(in Tibetan) and Mahā-prajñāpāramitā sūtra (in Chinese). These sūtra were copied so much that they comprise a large part of the Tibetan Dunhuang documents. Marcelle Lalou, having analysed all of Śatasāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā sūtra in Pelliot collection preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, published several articles between 1950’s and 1960’s. In these articles she pointed out that:

(1) There are two formats of Śatasāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā from Dunhuang: pothi and roll.

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(2) The pothi type comprises two types: the large one (75 cm x 25 cm) and the small one (70 cm x 20 cm). The former was sent from Central Tibet as an exemplar for local scribes and the latter was copied in the scriptorium in Dunhuang. (3) The roll type also comprises two types: type 1 was sent from Central Tibet as an exemplar while type 2 was copied in the scriptorium in Dunhuang.

Lalou’s notions have been more or less accepted by scholars. Today, that is almost fifty years later, having accumulated knowledge about codicological features of the contemporaneous Dunhuang paper and an increasing amount of documents are available, we are thus in a position to re-examine Lalou’s notions. Moreover, the author, having investigated many folios of Śatasāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā preserved in the British Library and the Bibliotheque nationale de France, could find several codicological features of these manuscripts, which have been unnoticed before. In this paper, the author will analyse codicological features of Śatasāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā sūtra, and try to make clear where the roll type was from. Pasang Wangdu (Tibetan Academy of Social Sciences), Dynastic Sources from Central Tibet: Some New Findings I my paper I will present results from my recent research on dynastic sources. In particular I will give an introduction to some Budhhist manuscripts from the dynastic period, which are kept in Grong mkhar chos sde in south Tibet and 'Bras spungs monastery in Lhasa. These are Tibetan Prajnaparamita texts going back to the 9th century. In relation to these works I will discuss my recent findings on dynastic manuscripts either produced in Dunhuang and then taken to Central Tibet or produced in Central Tibet by a Dunhuang team of scholars. These teams of mixed ethnicity consisted of both Tibetans and Chinese who were trained in Tibetan and worked as scribes. Looking at the recently retrieved dynastic works against the background of Buddhist manuscripts from Dunhuang preserved in various libraries in China, France and England it is possible to identify some of the key-figures in the process of translation, editing and distribution of early Tibetan Buddhist sources. Robert Mayer with Cathy Cantwell (University of Oxford),Padmasambhava’s Possible Contribution to the ‘Phags pa thabs kyi zhags pa padma ‘phreng gi don bsdus pa’i ‘grel pa’ as Preserved by the Dunhuang Manuscript (IOL Tib J 321) IOL Tib J 321 was one of the most remarkable Dunhuang finds: a commentary on the 'Phags pa thabs kyi zhags pa padma 'phreng gi don bsdus pa(The Noble Noose of Methods, the Lotus Garland Synopsis). This undamaged manuscript in 85 folios is the only complete commentary from Dunhuang on a famous rNying ma Mahāyoga root tantra. The entire root text of the tantra is also contained within the commentary in the form of lemmata, and copious marginal notes further expand on the commentary. These marginal notes contain slightly cryptic references to Padmasambhava, implying him to have an important role in the creation of the text, perhaps as the author or inspiration of the commentary, or even as the source of the root text. One of these annotations is connected to an enigmatic homage which completes the text. Here, we seek to shed light on the role of the figure of Padmasambhava in this tantra and its commentary, as well as on early Tibetan understandings of Padmasambhava in this tantric tradition.

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4. Contributions to Tibetan Literature: Texts, Genres and Generic Terms Jim Rheingans (Universität Bonn),“Collected Writings” (gsung ‘bum) in Tibetan Literature: Towards a Systematic Study of Their Compilation, Redaction and Composition and Its Use for Genre Classifications The so-called “collected writings” (gsung ‘bum), an allegedly complete edition of the literary works of a Tibetan scholar, is a well-known core concept of and invaluable source for the study of Tibetan literature. Next to canonical and encyclopaedic collections, it figures as one of the most prestigious achievements in Central Asian Buddhist book-culture. Yet, the origin of the idea as such, its historical development and the process of what we may roughly call“compilation” or “redaction” have not been systematically studied. And it is especially an understanding of these procedures and principles of compilation and organisation that seems to be helpful for an analysis of indigenous generic terms and classifications. This paper employs various early, medieval and late collected writings as case studies and aims at a systematic exploration of their authorisation, redaction, and production. It then discusses the implications this process has for indigenous concepts of genre and authorship and contextualises the findings with those of other academic disciplines that concern pre-modern literary cultures. The used sources range from the writings of Lama Zhang brTson ‘grus grags (1123–1193), sGam po pa bSod nam rin chen (1079-1173), and Tsong kha pa Blo bzang grags pa (1357–1419) to Karma ‘phrin las pa (1456–1539), Karmapa Mi bskyod rdo rje (1507–1554), and the late Dil mgo mKhyen brtse (1910–1991). By investigating the history of selected textual corpora with the aid of spiritual biographies (rnam thar) and tables of contents (dkar chag), I will—in a first step—compare how the act of gathering and arranging texts for the collected works was authorised. After the responsible persons for grouping specific texts under the heading of one genre-term have emerged (mostly one of the main students or the respective scholar himself), the paper will focus on the different ways to organise literary genres. Taking questions and answers (dris lan) and meditation guidance (khrid) as examples, I will point to common and divergent strategies, such as, for example, title-based and content-based classification. It will be juxtaposed with approaches from academic literary studies. To conclude, this paper will raise the question how we can learn from indigenous classifications and achieve a set of reliable terms and definitions that are suitable to academic research. Peter Verhagen (Leiden University),Tools of the Trade of the Tibetan Translators Throughout the long history of translation activities in Tibet the translators indubitably have availed themselves of various tools and instruments in their efforts to optimalize their translations. Given the truly impressive wealth of literature translated into Tibetan it is in a way remarkable that not many more of such instruments specific for the lo-tsā-ba’s task, in the form of works of reference etc., have come to light. In fact only a few are known to us, the most important of which are of course the Sanskrit-Tibetan lexicon Mahāvyutpatti and a commentary on a selection of entries from that lexicon entitled Sgra-sbyor-bam-po-gnyis-pa, both dating from the late eighth/early ninth century. In this paper I will take a look at some of the main ‘tools of the trade’ available to the Tibetan translators of the Snga-dar and Phyi-dar periods, specifically in terms of the lexicographical sources that stood at their disposal. In connection with this I also examine some regulations and restrictions that were stipulated for their work. Mahāvyutpatti and Sgra-sbyor-bam-po-gnyis-pa, which constitute the cornerstones --and the

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touchstones-- of the lexicographical tools in the hands of the eighth/ninth-century translators, will be the first focus of my attention. Specifically, I will compare some salient features of the two versions of the royal edict concerning the translation of Buddhist scripture which are now available (dated 783 or 795, and 814 CE respectively) forming the introductory section of Sgra-sbyor-bam-po-gnyis-pa, pertaining to translation techniques and conventions. I will also touch on the systematics of Mahāvyutpatti, a matter which has only recently been taken up seriously within Tibetan studies. Finally, I will briefly discuss the question whether the grammatical genre of the Dhātupāṭhas, inventories of verbal roots forming part of the indigenous traditions of Sanskrit grammar, may have served a lexicographical function too for the later translators. Lara Braitstein (McGill University), Making History? Reading rdo ring pa bstan ‘dzin dpal ‘byor's rnam thar The late 18th century was a time of tremendous upheaval and change in Tibet, and one of the pivotal figures of that period is the 10th Zhva dmar pa Chos sgrub Rgya mtsho. So controversial were his life and death, that a 171 year long ban on his reincarnation followed his death in Nepal in 1792. The received narrative of the 10th Zhva dmar pa's role casts him as a villain who, in collusion with the rulers of Nepal, masterminded an invasion of Tibet that led to the looting of Bkra shis Lhun po monastery. This narrative, however, is seriously vexed by a close reading of the rnam thar of the Bka' Blon Rdo ring pa Bstan ‘dzin Dpal ‘byor. Rdo ring pa was a member of the Tibetan delegation sent to negotiate a resolution to Tibet’s wars with Nepal. On his second mission he was taken hostage, and spent a year in Kathmandu as a “guest” of the government of Nepal. During that year, he kept a meticulous journal of his daily life - this constitutes a sizable portion of his rnam thar - during which time he was in regular contact with the 10th Zhva dmar pa up until his death in 1792. His rnam thar provides a first-hand account of his interactions with the 10th Zhva dmar pa and the only eye-witness description of events leading up to and following his death. What he describes challenges what is thought to be known about that period. Though a fascinating and apparently revealing text, the greatest methodological challenge I face is to determine how much credibility can be granted to a text that is, after all, a single, subjective account of a critical historical moment. This paper poses questions regarding the credibility and role of rnam thar as a genre for providing historical information, and whether the genre rnam thar may even be viewed as a stable generic category given the startling differences between a text like this and, for example, the rnam thar of Mila ras pa composed at the dawn of the 16th century. It also examines the ways in which this particular rnam thar has been deployed in composing histories of the 18th century, most notably by Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa in his Tibet: a political history. Ulrike Roesler (University of Freiburg), Classifying Literature or Organizing Knowledge? Some General Remarks on Genre Classifications in Tibetan Literature The late 18th century was a time of tremendous upheaval and change in Tibet, and one of the pivotal figures of that period is the 10th Zhva dmar pa Chos sgrub Rgya mtsho. So controversial were his life and death, that a 171 year long ban on his reincarnation followed his death in Nepal in 1792. The received narrative of the 10th Zhva dmar pa's role casts him as a villain who, in collusion with the rulers of Nepal, masterminded an invasion of Tibet that led to the looting of Bkra shis Lhun po monastery. This narrative, however, is seriously vexed by a close reading of the rnam thar of the Bka' Blon Rdo ring pa Bstan ‘dzin Dpal ‘byor.

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Rdo ring pa was a member of the Tibetan delegation sent to negotiate a resolution to Tibet’s wars with Nepal. On his second mission he was taken hostage, and spent a year in Kathmandu as a “guest” of the government of Nepal. During that year, he kept a meticulous journal of his daily life - this constitutes a sizable portion of his rnam thar - during which time he was in regular contact with the 10th Zhva dmar pa up until his death in 1792. His rnam thar provides a first-hand account of his interactions with the 10th Zhva dmar pa and the only eye-witness description of events leading up to and following his death. What he describes challenges what is thought to be known about that period. Though a fascinating and apparently revealing text, the greatest methodological challenge I face is to determine how much credibility can be granted to a text that is, after all, a single, subjective account of a critical historical moment. This paper poses questions regarding the credibility and role of rnam thar as a genre for providing historical information, and whether the genre rnam thar may even be viewed as a stable generic category given the startling differences between a text like this and, for example, the rnam thar of Mila ras pa composed at the dawn of the 16th century. It also examines the ways in which this particular rnam thar has been deployed in composing histories of the 18th century, most notably by Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa in his Tibet: a political history. Roger R. Jackson (Carleton College), Borrowed Texts, Fluid Genres, and Performative Licence: Reflections on a Dge Lugs pa Offering Ritual

As the charter for this panel makes clear, the systematic study of classical Tibetan literature still is, relatively speaking, in its infancy. Since the 1996 publication of José Cabezón’s and my Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre, a number of fine translations and specialized studies have added to our collective appreciation of many of the genres covered in that volume, including spiritual songs (nyams mgur), doxography (grub mtha’), polemical texts (dgag len), tables of contents (dkar chag), special instructions (gdams ngag), and mind-training texts (blo sbyong). In addition, genres not represented in Tibetan Literature have received much-deserved attention, such as autobiographies (rang rnam thar), question-and-answer texts (dris lan), esoteric instructions (man ngag), and encyclopedias (shes bya mdzod), to name just a few. Nevertheless, we still are a long way from achieving a comprehensive description of the structure and typology of Tibetan literature, and only occasionally have the contents of the literature been subjected to the sophisticated tools of literary analysis developed in the West—or, for that matter, in Tibet itself. This paper seeks not to contribute to the task of delineating the genres of Tibetan literature begun in Cabezón’s and my collection but, rather, to suggest that the very attempt to establish “bright lines” between and among various types of texts is to some degree misguided. I will argue that this is so because many texts turn out, on close inspection, to be far less bounded and far more fluid than their location under such-and-such a title or such-and-such a genre might lead us to believe. There are three important ways in which at least some Tibetan texts are fluid: (1) they often include unacknowledged borrowings from earlier texts, as when a historian or doxographer simply takes over whole passages written by a predecessor; (2) they often combine passages from different genres within the same composition, as when an autobiography is interwoven with spiritual songs; and (3) they sometimes entail a performative dimension that goes beyond the printed wording—and even ordering—of the text, as in special-instruction or ritual texts.

The particular window through which I want to view the fluidity of Tibetan texts is that of the literature on ritual offering (mchod pa). This literature is, of course, vast, and I cannot possibly do it full justice. To make things manageable, I will take as my proof-text a single, influential Dge lugs pa ritual, the

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Bla ma mchod pa (Offering to the Guru), composed by the First Paṇchen Lama, Blo bzang chos kyi rgyal mtshan (1570–1662). Bla ma mchod pa is perhaps the most frequently performed of all Dge lugs pa liturgies, being de rigueur on the tenth and twenty-fifth day of each lunar month, and in many monasteries is recited daily. As the title indicates, Bla ma mchod pafocuses, both literally and figuratively, on the person of the lama or guru, who for Dge lugs pas is the “root of the path” (lam gyi rtsa ba). The First Panchen’s basic text draws from both sūtra and mantra traditions, and includes visualizations and prayers related to the three jewels of refuge, generation of a field of assembled gurus and deities (tshogs zhings), recitation of a seven-limbed pūjā, requests to various gurus and deities, absorption of the guru’s blessing, review of the stages of the path to awakening (lam rim), and a final dedication of merit and recitation of auspicious verses. In most cases, Bla ma mchod pa is recited in conjunction with a ritual-feast offering (tshogs mchod) that has become associated with it, the Bla ma mchod pa tshogs mchod composed by the First Panchen’s teacher, Mkhas grub Sangs rgyas ye shes (1525–90/91). The Tshogs, in turn, usually incorporates a tantric song, the “Song of the Spring Queen” (Dpyid kyi rgyal mo glu dbyangs) of the founder of the Dge lugs, Tsong kha pa Blo bzang grags pa (1357–1419). Apart from certain formulaic prayers and mantras, the basic text of Bla ma mchod pa as found in the First Paṇchen’s gsung ’bum appears to be an original composition, free from unacknowledged borrowings. The “performance” versions of the texts published by modern Tibetan printing houses, however, almost invariably include the Tshogs, and usually the “Song of the Spring Queen,” as well. The Tshogs is usually found directly after the basic text of Bla ma mchod pa, though in practice it is generally chanted and performed between the absorption of the guru’s blessing and the review of the stages of the path. Various “stage directions” have been added to most modern editions to assist the participants in properly practicing the rite, though they tend to vary from edition to edition. Still other editions, including some prepared for Western practitioners, will add further visualizations, prayers, and mantras, so as to make Bla ma mchod as complete a practice as possible. The point in all this is that Bla ma mchod pa displays the three marks of textual fluidity mentioned earlier. At least in its fully developed version, it incorporates a multiplicity of texts, whose authors are rarely credited. It also incorporates elements of a number of different genres, including sādhanas, seven-limbed prayers, tantric songs, and lam rim poetry. Finally, it entails a performative dimension, in which the details and order of the ritual may be altered to suit the occasion. I will support my argument about Bla ma mchod pa by briefly comparing it to another important Dge lugs pa ritual text, the Sbyor chos skal bzang mgrin rgyan of Blo bzang ‘jam dpal lhun grub (1845–1919), a lam rim-centered pūjā that incorporates elements of the Gaṇḍavyūha Sūtra and the verse of Tsong kha pa, as well as Bla ma mchod pa; includes various sorts of poetic genres; and, like Bla ma mchod pa, maintains a certain performative flexibility. By way of conclusion, I will cautiously draw out the implications of my analysis of Bla ma mchod pa for our reflections on the nature of Tibetan literature, suggesting that the threefold fluidity we find in it is present in many ways in many texts. The acknowledgement of this fluidity, I argue, need not subvert our ongoing attempt to make sense of the mass of materials that lie before us but should make us recognize the inevitably constructed nature of the categories applied to literature, by modern scholars and traditional Tibetans alike. Volker Caumanns (Ludwig-Maximilians Universität München), The ‘Collected Works’ of Paṇ-chen Shākya-mchog-ldan (1428-1507) in Tibet and Bhutan

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gSer-mdog Paṇ-chen Shākya-mchog-ldan was one of the most outstanding Tibetan masters of the Sa-skya tradition during the second half of the 15th century. His profound learnedness is visible in the writings that fill more than twenty volumes of his Collected Works. During his long life he taught and composed texts on almost every topic from the traditional Tibetan fields of learning, ranging from scholastic and tantric exegesis to grammar, poetics and lexicography. His writings cover a wide range of literary genres including commentarial works and treatises, praises and different forms of prayers, registers, epistles, speeches, as well as hagiographical and historiographical works. Some of these writings, such as the controversial gSer gyi thur ma‒ a treatise dealing with contested points of Sa-skya Paṇḍita’s sDom gsum rab dbye‒, were carved as blockprints already during his lifetime thanks to the support of wealthy patrons. In 1975 Shākya-mchog-ldan’s Collected Works‒ which for centuries were believed to be lost ‒ became accessible once again. The Bhutanese publisher Kunzang Tobgey brought out a facsimile edition based on a 24-volume manuscript set that had been discovered in Thub-bstan Phung-pho-ri'i monastery in Pha-jo-sdings near Thimphu (Bhutan). This set of the gsung 'bum was compiled in the mid-18th century at the behest of the monk-scholar Shākya-rin-chen, who served as ninth head abbot of Bhutan ('brug rje mkhan po) at that time. From several passages of his autobiography we learn that he obtained volumes of Shākya-mchog-ldan’s works from gSer-mdog-can monastery, the latter’s see in gTsang. Moreover, we are told how much he spent for the sheets of paper needed for copying the volumes, and how much he had to pay for the scribes enlisted to do the work. Interestingly, at the beginning of the first volume of this Bhutanese manuscript set of the Collected Works there is a register (dkar chag) which reproduces the contents of the original Tibetan gsung 'bum version on which Shākya-rin-chen’s compilation project was based. Attached to this dkar chag is a colophon with some valuable information on the persons involved in the production of this earlier set. It remains unknown whether this Tibetan edition of Shākya-mchog-ldan’s works or at least parts thereof have survived. But there even seems to have existed a precursor to this Tibetan blockprint of the Collected Works. In the Shākya-mchog-ldan hagiography composed by the Jo-nang master Kun-dga'-grol-mchog (1507-1566) we are told that shortly after Shākya-mchog-ldan’s death in 1507 “gTing-skyes Chos-rje and his two brothers” prepared 18 volumes of Shākya-mchog-ldan’s writings; however it is not clear from this passage if they only gathered already existing manuscripts and/or blockprints, or prepared a completely new edition. Additionally, Kun-dga'-grol-mchog specifies the titles of the individual works contained in these volumes and informs us that he obtained their reading authorization (lung). In fact, in one of his autobiographies he gives a report of this event supplying us with another list of Shākya-mchog-ldan’s writings. The aim of my paper is to sketch the various stages by which the compilation of the Collected Works was carried out in Tibet and Bhutan starting with the first blockprints that were produced already during Shākya-mchog-ldan’s lifetime. Thereafter I will explore the different lists of individual works (found in Kun-dga'-grol-mchog’s hagiography of Shākya-mchog-ldan, in his autobiography and in the dkar chag included at the beginning of the Bhutanese gsung 'bum set) compiled in the 16th century as descriptions of the contents of his Collected Works. These lists will be analysed in respect to their content and structure. Finally I will provide a short and preliminary overview of works by Shākya-mchog-ldan that survive as 15th/16th-century Tibetan manuscripts or blockprints, for it seems that some of this material is referred to in the recently published 'Bras spungs dkar chag (Beijing 2004). Giacomella Orofino (University of Naples), The Long Voyage of a Trickster’s Story from Ancient Greece to Tibet

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I will analyse a curious tale belonging to the collection of folk stories about Nyi chos bzang po and

recently published in Tibet. This text corresponds, with some small variations, to an obscene episode found in the ancient Greek well-known masterpiece The Book of Xanthus the Philosopher and Aesop His Slave. Through the ancient Greek story, our comprehension of the Tibetan tale is facilitated and several obscure passages are clarified. In this way we can add another piece to the jigsaw puzzle of the formation process of Tibetan folk literature and its connection with the ancient western world. Kurtis R. Schaeffer (University of Virginia), Nature and Emotion in Nineteenth Century Tibetan Lyric

The published corpus of the nineteenth century figure Zhabs dkar Sna tshogs rang grol (1781-1851) offers a wide vantage point from which to view the history, form, and function of Tibetan lyric poetry (mgur, glu, or glu dbyangs). With an estimated poetic catalog of two thousand poems, Zhabkar stands as the most prolific poet in Tibetan history. Zhabkar was a poet and performer, and he was also a theorist of poetry, its performance, and its history. The present essay sketches the twin themes of nature and emotion in Zhabkar's lyric, Zhabkar's comments on poetic intention and audience, and briefly compares Zhabkar’s perspective on these issues to that of the famous kavya theorist Khams sprul 04 Bstan 'dzin chos kyi nyi ma (1730-1780), all in hopes of contributing to heightened sense of the history of literary form and style in Tibetan literary studies.

Ekaterina Sobkovyak(Universität Bern), Classifications of the fields of knowledge according to the treatise “Enumeration of Terms Concerning Art, Medicine and Astrology” (tib. bZo dang gso ba skar rtsis rnams las byung ba’I ming gi rnam grangs bzhugs so) written by Klong rdol bla ma

Klong rdol bla ma (1719-1795) was one of the most eminent Buddhist scholars-encyclopedists, the author of a large number of treatises including lists and biographical data on important persons of the religious history of Tibet, explanations of different rituals, omens and signs, terminology, and a verse religious autobiography of himself. He also devoted five texts to the enumeration and explanation of terms concerning the Five Major Sciences. In the beginning of his treatise “Enumeration of Terms Concerning Art, Medicine and Astrology” (two editions of this text were involved - Gsung ’bum (Collected works) of Klong rdol ngag dbang blo bzang, New Delhi, 1973, Śatapiṭaka, v. 100, 744-792; Klong rdol ngag dbang blo bzang gi gsung ’bum (Collected works of Klong rdol ngag dbang blo bzang), Lhasa, Bod ljongs bod yig dpe rnying dpe skrun khang, 1991, v. 1, 689-738)Klong rdol bla ma presents seven different classifications of the fields of knowledge. The first of them is the traditional classification of the Five Major Sciences (tib. rig gnas che ba lnga) – Grammar, Logic, The Inner Science (The philosophy of Buddhism), Medicine and Arts and Crafts. The second one is the classification of the Five Lesser Sciences (tib. rig gnas chung ba lnga) four of which – poetics, metrics, study of synonyms and drama are the branches of Grammar and the fifth one – astrology was considered as subordinate to Arts and Crafts. The Division of knowledge into the Five Major Sciences is the most well-known classification system in Tibet and proved to be very influential in the development of Tibetan culture and socio-religious organization. It was applied in arranging the structure of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon as well as laying the ground for the curriculum in the great Tibetan Buddhist monastic universities. The structure of those institutions (faculties) was tightly connected with that classification.

In his treatise Klong rdol bla ma enumerates five more classifications of the same number of subjects

– all in all eighteen. The content, however, differs. Klong rdol bla ma does not give the full titles of the

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sources from which these classifications originated (he just mentions that these are Vinaya (tib. ’Dul ba lung), Kosala-alaṃkārayatattvasaṃgrahatika (tib.Ko sa la’i rgyan), Abhidharmakośa (tib. mDzod) and Kālacakra-tantra (tib. Dus ’khor). While the former four classifications, in spite of they are placed in the texts of Buddhist tradition, deal with “neutral” knowledge or knowledge connected with non-buddhist philosophical schools the fifth classification (the origin of which was not mentioned by Klong rdol bla ma at all) is of pure Buddhist character. The first four subjects agree with the four subjects of the Five Major Sciences. The rest describe different aspects of Buddhist philosophy.

The paper concentrates on the analysis of the above-listed classifications of the fields of knowledge

presented by Klong rdol bla ma, devoting special attention to their origins, nature, importance and extend of adaptation to the Tibetan culture. In a careful analysissome versions of in fact the same classifications derived from treatises composed by various authors in different times (Sanskrit-Tibetan terminological dictionary Mahavyutpatti, The History of Buddhism by Bu ston, Lam rin chenmo by Tsong kha pa, sNyan ngag me long gi ’grel pa dbyangs can ngag gi rol mtsho by Bstan-’dzin-chos-kyi-nyi-ma, dPags bsam ljon bzang by Sum pa mkhan po te shes dbal ’byor, to mention but a few) will be compared in orderto trace the development (or to state its absence) of the classifications in question. In this way an attempt to clarify particular details of the transmission of certain aspects of Brahmanical and Buddhist traditions of Ancient India to the ground of Tibetan culture will be made. 5. The State of Tibetan Anthropology: Old Predicaments, New Direction SESSION I: The Boundaries of Tibetan Anthropology: Reflections on Borderlands and Ethnogenesis Chair: Charlene Makley Geoffrey Samuel (Cardiff University), “Zomia”: New Constructions of the Southeast Asian Highlands and Their Tibetan Implications In a paper at an IATS conference some years ago, I argued for the Southeast Asian Highlands as an important context for understanding Tibetan societies. I referred both to specific features of Tibetan societies (social structure, lack of political centralization, aspects of their religious life) and to ways in which the anthropological literature on the Southeast Asian highlands problematised issues such as ethnic identity that had been largely taken for granted within Tibetan studies. Recently, Willem van Schendel and James C. Scott have provided new perspectives on the Southeast Asian highland region, which van Schendel has labelled "Zomia" (after zomi, a term for “highlander’ in several regional languages) to emphasise its distinctive character. Van Schendel's 2002 article “Geographies of knowing, Geographies of Ignorance”' uses Zomia as a case study for the artificiality of the "areas" (South, Southeast, East, etc) into which Asian studies have been divided, arguing our need to develop alternative geographies and more fluid and variable concepts of regional space. In The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia (Yale UP, 2009), James C. Scott sees Zomia as a region of resistance to the intrusions of surrounding states. This theme resonates with my own suggestions (in Civilized Shamans and elsewhere) that pre-modern Tibetan societies too had a strong "stateless" element, and were never more than partially integrated into state structures. In this paper I explore the relevance of van Schendel and Scott's work for the study of Tibetan societies. How far are their analyses of "Zomia" valid, and how far is it useful to see Tibet as part of "Zomia"?

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Gerald Roche (Griffith University/Qinghai Normal University),The Ethnographic Corpus and General Anthropological Theory: Comparing Highland Southeast Asia and Tibet Edmund Leach's work on the Political Systems of Highland Burma marked not only the establishment of a new regional object of inquiry in ethnography – the Southeast Asian highlands – but also a new field in general anthropological theory – the study of social, political, and ethnic fluidity. Geoffrey Samuel has argued that the anthropology and ethnography of highland Southeast Asia might serve as a model for the anthropology of Tibetan societies. This paper argues that this model is inadequate; theory derived from Tibetan societies is needed. It is further noted that Leach's seminal work was only made possible by long-term in-depth fieldwork, and by the presence of an ethnographic corpus left primarily by colonial administrators and Christian missionaries. This paper argues that no ethnographic corpus of comparable breadth and depth exists for Tibetan anthropology, particularly for the conceptually important region on the eastern perimeter of ethnolinguistic Tibet. In-depth field studies are also lacking. It is argued that due to the absence of these two conditions, no theories have yet emerged from Tibetan studies contributing to general anthropological theory, or to general theory in any discipline. Drawing on insights from grounded theory practices, this paper argues for the importance of establishing an ethnographic corpus on Tibetan societies, particularly those in the borderlands. This will assist in generating theory which is simultaneously derived from and relevant to the context of Tibetan societies, and is applicable in the broader anthropological context. The paper concludes by discussing the difficulties and possible solutions for building such a corpus, and the role of fieldwork in doing so. David Holmberg (Cornell University), A New Ritual Form: Tamang Lhochhar in the New Ethnic Politics of Nepal

In decades past, western Tamang organized annually for large scale rituals known by Tamang as Chhechu (Tib: tshes-bcu) in which village communities produced themselves in resistance to the encompassing Nepali state through an array of dance-skits, some historic, some comic, some exorcistic, and some mythic. This dance drama fell out of practice in recent decades in many Tamang communities and although it is being revived, it is being superceded as a political ritual by lhochhar, the celebration of the Tamang new year, an event they make quite distinct from the Tibetan lhosar. The later they refer to as gyalbo lhosar.and their own as sonam lhochhar: the new year’s of the kings and of the farmers. Tamang Lhochhar is a comparatively new ritual for western Tamang. They celebrated a “new year” in the past but it was a minor affair following greater Nepali practice and occurred on the first of the new year according to the Nepali calendar. For the last five to ten years performances of lhochhar have increased in scale and frequency and have been the context for political organization by the key Tamang ethnic associations. This paper examines the rise of this ritual and its developing form in the new Nepal, particularly how ritual productions relate to social productions. I conclude with a comparison between the performances of chhechu and lhochhar on these grounds. Jinba Danzeng (Tenzin) (Boston University), Center and Periphery: “Marginalized” Gyarongwa at the Han-Tibetan Frontiers

Based on the extensive field research in Gyarong Tibetan region, specifically at Suopo Township, Danba County, Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, this paper is going to reexamine the concept of marginality, and reevaluate the center and periphery relations in the contexts of Gyarongwa’s

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engagement with grassroots politics and modernity proper. It aims to contribute to the concerted efforts towards a new direction in the anthropological studies of Tibetan societies by deconstructing the category of ‘the Tibetans’ and highlighting the internal differentiations within the Tibetan Society on one hand and the common socio-political space shared between the Tibetans and the Han (and other minorities) on the other hand.

Drawing especially on contemporary research that demonstrates how marginality is fluid, sometimes voluntary, multidimensional, situational and contextual, and thus sometimes reversible, I argue that in different contexts Gyarongwa are situated or situate themselves as marginal, central or as something-in-between. Moreover, I propose that to avoid either the “center-biased” approach that extols resistance at the margin by degrading the center or a “periphery-biased” approach that sees the marginal as passive receptacles of “cultural dumping” from the center, I suggest bridging the two positions by seeing both the constraints from the center and elasticity of the margin as well as the dynamic interactions between the center and periphery.

Finally, to balance the usual opposition between an authoritarian (Chinese) state and ever-rebellious Tibetans, I propose seeing central state/local state/local Tibetan society relations as a dynamic intercourse. To overcome the macroscopic framework of studying Tibetans politics and a compartmentalized approach of exploring a certain social sector, I look at local Tibetan society as both sharing socio-political space with Han Chinese and having local (regional, political, ethnic, cultural, etc.) specificities. SESSION II: Beyond Genealogy and Descent: Tibetan Idioms of Kinship and Relatedness Chair: Charles Ramble Nancy E. Levine (UCLA), Reexamining Household and Descent in Tibetan Societies Relationships that anthropologists have conventionally categorized as kinship-based display remarkable uniformities across the Tibetan Plateau, with the same concepts and terms found in places as distant as Ladakh and Chamdo and Nepal and Golok. Research on these topics has been biased toward single case studies, with some attention given to cross-cultural comparison and to developing schema for classification. Overall, the emphases of these studies and the direction of analyses of kinship concepts and practices have run parallel to prevailing concerns in socio-cultural anthropological theory, including whether kinship constitutes a distinct domain of social action and whether it is grounded in a fundamental morality or on economic self-interest. Far less attention, however, has been given to how kin relations are experienced in the everyday lives of Tibetan individuals. This paper will begin by reviewing the disciplinary contexts in which studies of household and descent in Tibetan societies have been produced, including debates about lineage theory and models of corporate households and of house societies. The second part of the paper will draw from my own research on concepts and practices associated with households in northwestern Nepal and western Tibet and lineages among pastoralists in Golok and Dzachuka, in Sichuan and Qinghai Provinces. In the third part of the paper, I will examine the ways in which households and lineages provide a special identity marking an individual’s place, status, and affiliative ties in his/her larger social world. The paper will conclude with some suggestions for future research on Tibetan kinship. Heidi Fjeld (Oslo University), Polyandry, the Household and the House: Current Developments in the Organisation of the Relatedness Among Tibetan farmers in Tsang, TAR

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As early as 1978, Barbara Aziz1 pointed to the interconnectedness of polyandry and the organisational principle of residence in farming communities in Central Tibet. In later publications on polyandry other central scholars, such as Goldstein (1971)2 and Levine (1988),3 have to various extents given analytical emphasis on the household aspect of local residence units. Based on five months of fieldwork in an agricultural village in Panam county (Shigatse prefecture) this paper has two main purposes; first, to present new empirical material on what seems to be an ongoing increase of polyandry in this area, and second; to discuss the implications of these new findings on our understanding of the organisation of relatedness among Tibetan farmers, primarily in terms of the analytical value given to categories such as lineal decent, residence and household. My vantage point is that in order to develop the analytical potential of ‘residence’ as already suggested by Aziz, we need to move away from ’household’ as an analytical term, and explore the Levi-Straussian concept of ‘House’ in the Tibetan context. For villagers in Panam today, the arrangements of polyandrous marriages are closely linked to the establishment and/or the perpetuation of named social units that could be understood as ‘Houses’. A house-perspective on marriage and relatedness in agrarian Tibet proves particularly valuable for analyzing polyandry as it includes, but moves beyond, the economic sides and delineate the significant socio-symbolic meanings and values of the residence units within which polyandrous marriages are arranged. Employing such perspective, the paper will explore the parallel processes of increased polyandry, on the one hand, and a turn from households to Houses, on the other, which, I will argue, could fundamentally be seen as processes of social mobility among farmers in Tsang today. Giovanni da Col, The Strange(r) aporia of g.yang and other Predicaments of a Fortune Society: Mana-terms, Analogic Kinship, Poisoning and the figure of the Parasite aong Bde chen Tibetans Timm Lau (University of Calgary), Tibetan Trade and Relatedness in India In this paper based on ethnography of Tibetan sweater traders in India, I discuss how Tibetans establish relatedness through the material objects exchanged in trade relationships. I argue that objects mediate agency in this context as well as in Tibetan Buddhist protective practices, and that an underlying Tibetan understanding of the establishment of relatedness in both is expressed in the idiom of yid ches.

Since Miller’s (1956) discovery of formalized systems of mutual aid, anthropological studies have done little to ethnographically explore relatedness in Tibetan economic activities. Inspired by Gell’s (1998) anthropological theory of art, this paper argues that Tibetans establish relatedness with Indian merchants and customers through the material objects exchanged. The sweaters are interpreted by the Tibetan traders to mediate both beneficial and exploitative agencies of Indians and Tibetans in long-standing exchange relationships, enabling the trade in spite of otherwise near-categorical stereotyping of Indians as ‘bad’.

Tibetan Buddhist practices of protection and obstacle-removal, such as rituals and the use of blessed objects and protective amulets, are also enabling the Tibetan trade and also involve the mediation of agency through objects. Their religious efficacy is explained through the idiom of yid ches, translatable as ‘belief’ or ‘trust’. Taking one trader’s identification of trade relations as also being based on yid ches as a starting point, I argue that this idiom of ‘trusting’ relationships displays an underlying understanding of relatedness which is effective in Tibetan trade as well as Tibetan Buddhist practice. SESSION III: Morality, Ritual and Exchange Chair: Giovanni da Col

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Marcia Calkowski (University of Regina), Morality, Ethics, and the Life Story of a Disrobed Tulku (Sprul sku) A current discussion in anthropology draws from Bernard Williams’ (1985) distinction between morality and ethics, wherein morality is understood as obligations or external rules which ‘justify’ an agent’s actions, and ethics, which are shaped by social interaction and resist objectification (Keane 2008, Laidlaw 2002), from the inversion of this distinction (Zigon 2007, 2008, who, in turn, resonates with Burridge 1960, 1969, 1979), and also from Aristotle’s concept of virtue (e.g., Lambek 2000, 2002, 2008). This paper builds on this discussion by tracing several pivotal events in the life of a disrobed tulku (sprul sku), who happens to be the last born of triplets. Although his parents initially attempted to conceal his birth, the fact of his appearance in the world was soon revealed and neighbors castigated his parents for their role in the phenomenal birth. Familial and local perceptions of the triplets’ birth were radically transformed, however, once two of the triplets were recognized as tulku and the third slated as a tulku candidate (eventually the third was also found to be a tulku). While pursuing his studies at Ganden (Dga’ ldan)Monastery in the late 1950s, news reached him of the troubling events in Tibet. This news convinced him to run away from the monastery to join the Chushi Gangdrug (Chu bshi Gangs drug), and he became a bodyguard to the Dalai Lama. He followed the Dalai Lama into exile and later disrobed and married. I consider these major events in the tulku’s life in terms of moral/ethical tensions and in light of the tulku’s reflections on his judgements. Anya Bernstein (New York University/University of Michigan),The Body as Gift: Gender, the Dead, and Exchange in the Chöd Ritual Economy

In this paper, I address a ritual technology known as chöd (gcod) employed by contemporary Buryat Buddhist women, which involves virtual body dismemberments and offering one’s body as food to the spirits. Death, sacrifice, and in particular, self-sacrifice, have long been linked to agency and performances for sovereignty, as bodies of modern martyrs, such as hunger strikers, jihadists, or self-immolating Buddhist monks have been used as powerful weapons (and in some cases, literal weapons) in contemporary necropolitics. What can chöd tell us about the ways in which female bodies become sites, onto which broader sociopolitical processes are being inscribed?

Instead of viewing the practice of giving away one’s body as an example of an absolute expenditure and anti-economy (as Bataille would have it), I propose to consider chöd in the context of specific ethico-political ruptures experienced by Buryats since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Rather than being a “free gift,” this symbolic death allows women, whose roles were newly retraditionalized in the post-Soviet Buryatia, to create their own economy based on exchange between the living and the dead. By this logic, deceased socialist and shamanist ancestors re-theorized as “karmic creditors” come to play a prominent role among the multiple recipients not only of the gift of the dismembered body, but also of the gift of the Buddhist teaching offered at the final stage of chöd.

Engaging a wide range of literature, from classis works by Mauss and Malinowski to Laidlaw, Parry, and Raheja to the more recent commentaries by Derrida, Bataille, and Bourdieu, I elucidate the complex and ethically fraught relationships between givers and receivers, men and women, bodies and persons, and human and non-human agents bound by the literal “life-and-death” obligations in the chöd ritual. Ultimately, I argue that in order to understand why chöd recently became a contested site in the indigenous self-fashioning, it is necessary to consider its embeddedness not only in the long-standing Buddhist patterns of consciousness but also in the three broad shifts key to postsocialism: the transformations of the ideas of gender, morality, and exchange.

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Charlene E. Makley (Reed College),The Politics of Presence: Rethinking Deity Possession In this paper, I draw on my fieldwork in Amdo Rebgong (2005-2008) to rethink the nature and import of deity possession practices among Tibetans. Rebgong's summer klu rol festival and associated deity mediumship is among the most elaborate and formalized of mountain deity cults found among Tibetans. As such it is a rich site for a reconsideration of the anthropological literature on phenomena labeled "possession", a topic of inquiry that has arguably played an important role in defining the field itself. Here, I both take inspiration from and move beyond earlier psychological and structural-functionalist theories of possession that, in concert with statist categories of "religion" versus (secular) "modernity," tended to relegate forms of possession to either individual pathology or to a marginalized and static social realm of exotic "religious" or "folk" experience. By contrast, I bring analytic tools from linguistic anthropology into dialogue with recent theories of perspectivism, intersubjectivity and moral economies to take deity possession seriously as a consequential form of communication and moral exchange with divine Others. This broader analytic horizon, I argue, allows us to consider Tibetan deity possession as both a local and a translocal phenomenon. That is, from this angle we can see Tibetan deity mediumship as an emergent cultural politics of embodiment and authoritative presence amidst intensifying development pressures. Tibetan deity mediums, far from being exotic aberrations, must be taken instead as fundamentally commensurate agents with modernist state officials and development workers. Urmila Nair (University of Chicago),The Discourse of the Nechung Oracle in the Exile Tibetan Community

In recent years, the role of religion in politics has become increasingly important globally. Within academia, this relationship has been the subject of particularly intense debate in relation to what may be termed violent action, as exemplified in the writings of Talal Asad, and Stanley Tambiah. How may one think critically about the relationship of religion, politics, and violent action in case of the exile Tibetan community? This paper will examine the discourse of the Nechung Oracle in his responses (bka’ lung) to questions put to him by the exile Tibetan government in relation to various exile political affairs (lung zhu), during the Nechung Invocation ritual (gnas chung spyan ’dren). I shall juxtapose the views and advice expressed by Nechung on the one hand, with, on the other, the ritual chants of the Nechung monks during their daily performance of the Propitiation ritual (bskang gso) to the Nechung and other Dharma Protectors, at the monastery in exile at Dharamsala. The discourses of the Nechung ritual, and the Nechung Oracle differ in their conceptions of violent action in relation to religion and politics. The former exhort the Oracle, in accordance with Tibetan Buddhist conceptions, to destroy the Enemies of the Teachings. The Nechung deity himself, however, in support of the Dalai Lama’s Middle Way policy, discourses regularly on peaceful relations with the Chinese may be achieved and maintained. How may the relationship between religion, politics, and violent action be understood here?

I shall argue that the apparent difference in discourses is due to differences in logics underlying the conceptions of violent actions: In case of wrathful acts (drag po’i las) by a Buddha, or a Bodhisattva such as Nechung, the violent appearance of a wrathful act is understood via a set of Tibetan Buddhist logics related to the conceptions of karma, and of Emptiness: The appearances of violent acts by Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are in fact (don du) acts performed with the pure motivation of great compassion, which benefit the Enemies of the Teachings (bstan dgra), functioning to prevent them from accumulating tremendous amounts of bad

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karma. Furthermore, at the ultimate level of reality, the violent actor, the one acted upon violently, and the violent action are all empty of inherent existence. The discourse of the Nechung Oracle, on the other hand, draws on the discourses of the Dalai Lama’s Middle Way policy of peace. This is a policy that has been formulated within the framework of international politics and globalization in the present historical moment. This policy is therefore underlain by a different set of logics than the Nechung bskang gso ritual.

To sum up, this paper will examine the pronouncements of the Nechung Oracle (gnas chung bka’ lung), and the discourses of the Nechung bskang gso ritual performed daily at Nechung monastery in exile. I shall argue that the relationship of religion, politics, and violent action within the exile Tibetan community must be studied critically, in light of the heterogeneity of logics underlying different discourses that co-exist in exile. 6.Recent Research on Ippolito Desideri and the Catholic Missions to Tibet Robert Trent Pomplun (Loyola University Maryland),Ippolito Desideri’s Refutation of Reincarnation (Skye ba snga ma): Text and Context This paper represents my current research on Ippolito Desideri’sQuestions Offered by the Christian Lama Ippolito to the Scholars of Tibet Concerning Their Views on Reincarnation and Emptiness(Mgo skar gyi bla ma i po li do shes bya ba yis phul ba'i bod kyi mkhas pa rnams la skye ba snga ma dang stong pa nyid kyi lta ba'i sgo nes zhu ba). Although the Jesuit’s magnum opusis the first sustained philosophical encounter between Roman Catholic and Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, it is the Jesuit’s only major writing that has not been published in either a critical edition or a facsimile. My paper for the 12th Seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies will address four interrelated issues concerning Desideri’s Skye ba snga ma: 1) the state of the manuscript and the circumstances of its composition; 2) the Tibetan sources that Desideri used to compose it; 3) the relationship of the Skye ba snga ma to Desideri’s other Tibetan writings; and 4) its role in Desideri’s larger missionary endeavours. After briefly outlining these findings, I will offer an outline of the occasionally surprising nature of Desideri’s arguments against reincarnation and address their cogency in terms of the Tibetan scholasticism that he encountered and the Western scholasticism that he inherited. Michael J. Sweet (University of Wisconsin-Madison),Clockmakers or Logicians: Capuchin and Jesuit Missionary Strategies in Eighteenth-Century Tibet

Missionaries of the Jesuit and mendicant Catholic orders shared the goal of winning the souls of Asian pagans for Christ, but differed widely in the methods they advocated for achieving their conversion. In China and Japan Jesuits and Franciscans had sharp differences in outlook, the former emphasizing the “top-down” cooption of native elites and the latter grassroots preaching and organization among poor peasants and others of lower socioeconomic status, although recently historians have argued persuasively that these distinctions were not always clear in practice. The present paper will contrast the approaches of Catholic missionaries in Tibet during the period 1707-1745, utilizing the writings of the Capuchin priests in Tibet for most of this period and those of the Jesuit missionary Ippolito Desideri, in Tibet from 1715-1721.

Broadly speaking, Desideri recommended that missionaries to Tibet be academically gifted men armed not only with sound theology but with higher philosophical training, able to engage intellectually with learned Gelukpa scholars. As he puts it in his “Missionary Manual,” after hooking these “big fish” through

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superior reasoning and argumentation, the mass of smaller fish will fall into the Christian nets. He also believes that the successful missionary should be adept in the ways of the aristocracy, so as to be able to move easily in the arena of political power, ideally converting kings and prime ministers, or at least gaining their protection and patronage for the mission. In practice, Desideri followed the more gentle (soave) approach considered to be characteristic of Italian Jesuits: accommodation as far as possible to Tibetan customs and culture, including acceptance of those aspects of Tibetan Buddhism that did not contradict Christian beliefs or practices and the use of Tibetan scholastic terminology and style of argumentation. Desideri mingled with the highest circles at the court of Lajang khan as well as with geshes and incarnate lamas; while he provides excellent observations of the life of ordinary Tibetans he seems to have had no sustained social contacts with them.

The Capuchins, on the other hand, strove to convert the poor, primarily through their provision of free medical care, as well as by public preaching and later by distributing printed catechisms and tracts in Tibetan. Their ideal missionary was a man with medical or other practical skills, such as clockmaking, rather than an academically trained theologian who is “otherwise inept at everything.” We will look at the successes and failures of these two contrasting strategies, their relation to wider political and ideological conflicts between the Society of Jesus and other Catholic orders, and the Tibetan reception of the subtle dialectics of Desideri and the more aggressive polemics of the Capuchins. Leonard Zwilling (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Desideri Goes to Lhasa: Accounts and Evasions

Ippolito Desideri’s decision to leave Ladakh and proceed to Lhasa initiated a chain of events that was to prove fatal for his career as a missionary, although fortunate for our knowledge of Tibet. We know that he was dragooned into making the perilous winter journey across the Tibetan plateau by his travelling companion and Superior Fr. Manoel Freyre for reasons that are still somewhat obscure. For this we have Desideri’s own letter to the Father General of the Society of Jesus, Michelangelo Tamburini, written on the eve of his departure from Leh in which he vividly recounts his argument with Freyre, the reasons Freyre gave him for going on to Lhasa, and his threat that in the event Desideri refused to accompany him he, Desideri, would have to answer to a charge of insubordination. Desideri wrote that his vow of obedience requires him to follow his Superior but he makes it clear that he does so only under duress and against his better judgment. Later on, when his motives in going to Lhasa became a significant issue in the litigation (causa) between the Jesuits and the Capuchins over the right to missionize Tibet, and when it came time for him to render an account of his journey to Lhasa in the Historical Notices of Tibet, Desideri was forced by circumstances to avoid telling the truth about what had actually transpired in Leh. In this paper I will discuss the reasons for such evasion, why the Capuchins, who knew the letter to Tamburini, did not use it to their advantage in the litigation with the Jesuits, and the varying cover stories for his journey to Lhasa that Desideri proffered in the course of producing the four drafts of the Historical Notices. Enzo Gualtiero Bargiacchi (IsIAO (Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’OrienteSGI (Società Geografica Italiana)), Noteworthy Hidden Manuscripts on Tibet. An Intricate History of Negligence and Ostracism

After a long, eventful journey across Ladakh and western Tibet, Jesuit missionary Ippolito Desideri reached Lhasa in March 1715, with some knowledge of the Tibetan language. After staying about five years there, he acquired not only full competence in the language but also expert understanding of the complex religious system and its philosophical basis after careful study of the fundamental canonical texts. In the early 18th century he was thus able to produce an important and fully informative treatise on all aspects of Tibet

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and the life and culture of its inhabitants. As well as bulk of geographical, historical and anthropological information the work provided an extensive presentation of the Buddhist philosophical and religious system which is still exemplary today in many aspects.

Why was this manuscript never published? Why was no research carried out on it for almost one and

half centuries? And why, when it was found in 1875, was it necessary to wait another three decades for its partial publication, only in Italian, by Carlo Puini? This, despite the announcement of its publication in England between 1878 and 1880.

In an attempt to answer these questions, this paper entwines the series of particular sectorial and local

events with more general matters pertaining to ploys on an international scale. The intricate story of Desideri’s manuscripts, in which there is a combination of negligence and ostracism, is revealed with unpublished documents, and opens interesting viewpoints of the West’s contest to discover Tibet with an often irresoluble intertwinement of desires for knowledge and political-economical or religious ambitions in the researches carried out by adventurers, explorers, missionaries and scholars.

Even after the enthusiastic acknowledgements of highly respected scholars such as Sven Hedin, in the

field of geography, and Giuseppe Tucci, in the philosophical and religious sector, and following the publication of the English edition by Filippo De Filippi, Desideri’s work did not received the recognition it deserves. The critical edition of Desideri’s Italian manuscripts, scrupulously edited in the 1950s by esteemed historian Luciano Petech, is still untranslated in English, like the Italian missionary’s important manuscripts in Tibetan. These were partly translated into Italian by Giuseppe Toscano in the 1980s.

The result is that many publications about Tibet, while not completely ignoring Desideri, mention him

only incidentally as a precursor of Tibetan studies in footnotes. As well as the reasons leading to the neglect of such a significant volume – not only in historical terms but also for its value in our times – the paper discusses the reasons for the renewed interest in Desideri which has already produced valuable works and will fill the lamentable gaps with Michael Sweet’s critical edition and English translation of Desideri’s Relazione, as well as the English translation of the missionary’s lengthier Tibetan manuscript (still entirely unpublished) by Donald Lopez and Thupten Jinpa, and the publications and research still in progress by other scholars such as Trent Pomplun and myself. 7. Teaching and Learning Tibetan as a Second/Foreign Language in Higher Education Tsering D. Gonkatsang (University of Oxford), Reflections on Learning and Teaching Tibetan as a Foreign Language in Higher Education. According to the topic of the panel, this paper will refer to theories of learning and teaching English as a Second/foreign language and discuss personal experience of teaching Tibetan to non-Tibetan students in higher education through an integrated, communicative approach in developing reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. Theoretical frameworks for Second /Foreign Language Learning Learning a second/foreign language presents a number of different perspectives from learning the first

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language or one's mother tongue. For example, Brown (1980) argues that the analysis of errors made in language learning reveals the development of an 'inter-language' a set of rules made up by the learner that map the new language onto their native language. According to Brown, correction of errors is important in helping the student understand the grammar of the new language. Students from different language backgrounds face different problems in learning Tibetan. Krashen (1981) argues that ‘acquisition; processes are more critical than ‘learning’ processes and should be encouraged through activities that involve communication rather than vocabulary or grammar exercises. Many language researchers emphasize the inter-relationships among listening, speaking, reading, and writing processes (e.g. Clark & Clark, 1977; Cohen, 1990). Learning a second or more language is a challenging prospect as you reach beyond the confines o one’s first language and into a new language, a new culture, a new way of thinking, feeling, and acting. Given the limited time available to studying Tibetan language within the academic curricular framework and short term times, the onus of learning is on the learner and the teacher is more like resource person who is there to facilitate learning according to one’s rate of progress and learning focus - whether to acquire academic and library skills of reading or communicative skills or both. To help non-Tibetan students 'learn' Tibetan as a foreign language successfully, the 'teacher' shoul know something about how one learns or fails to learn a second /foreign language by trying to answe the following key questions: Who? Who does the learning and teaching? What? What aspects of the nature of the Tibetan language require focus in teaching to non-Tibetan learners?

What are the fundamental grammatical aspects to master? What is communication? What methods work and what don’t work? What learning strategies do and should the students apply?

How? How does learning of Tibetan as a Second/Foreign language be measured? When? When to teach and learn grammar and when to teach and learn communicative skills? Where? Are the learners attempting to acquire the second language within the cultural and linguistic milieu

of the second language - that is, in a "second” language situation in the technical sense of the term? Why? Finally, the most encompassing of all questions: Why are learners attempting to acquire? I shall attempt to answer only the salient aspects of some of these questions with examples drawn from firsthand experience and practice in the classroom. Tsetan Chonjore (University of Virginia), Tibetan Language Teaching Methodology As a Tibetan Language Analyst and Instructor of the Tibetan language to Westerners there are two very important things to know. Firstly, one must understand the unique qualities of the Tibetan language concepts that are so different from that of English. In my experience of over two decades, it is clear that using English language as a model to teach Tibetan language is not the right way. In order to impart the genuine knowledge of Tibetan language, we must look deeper into three aspects: verb conjugation with adverbs of time, perspectives, and evidential categories. Even a gray haired native speaker will not have all the answers to these important pedagogical questions. One will have to figure it out within a contextual conversation. Secondly, as we say, textbooks don’t teach themselves. The best-organized language book still needs

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someone to teach the language. Therefore, a teacher’s goal is to make the student read, write and speak accurately, faster and closer to a standard of a native speaker. To achieve this goal, merely having the above knowledge will not fulfil everything. So here I would like to talk about the effective use of the above linguistic knowledge in a contextual teaching methodology, one that is both gradual and systematic in the teaching of colloquial Tibetan. Thus, pedagogical knowledge and a contextual teaching method must go hand in hand to achieve our goal of the target language. The systematic usage and examples of all the above aspects will be presented in the paper. Gedun Rabsal (Indiana University, Bloomington) Tenzin Norbu Nangsal (Columbia University), Teaching Tibetan Grammar to Non-native Speakers Sonam Yangkey (Foreign Service Institute) 8. Western Perceptions of Tibet Judith Susanne Neeser (Institute for the Science of Religion, Bern),Moravian Missionaries in the Western-Himalayas: Experiences of foreignness and Coping Strategies The Herrnhut brethren initiated their mission in the Western-Himalayas in 1855. In the course of time, they established six mission stations in Kyelang, Khalatse, Leh, Poo, Chini and Simla. Various sources were left behind by the missionaries ranging from annual reports and official documents to personal correspondence and scientific books. In particular their linguistic studies, translation projects and publication of the la dvags kyi ag bar (1904-1909), one of the first Ladakhi journals, has to be mentioned. The goal of this project is to use these sources in order to reconstruct the interreligious and intercultural relations between the Tibetan-Buddhist indigenous population and the protestant missionaries from Herrnhut/ Germany. The various notions of foreigness - on both sides - are deemed to be essential for an adequate understanding and representation of these relations. As a second step, the mutual reaction of the discourse participants to the experiences of foreigness will be focused on. What coping strategies are developed in regard to interreligious conflicts or the clash of Buddhist and Christian concepts and practices? Unfortunately, there are but very few Himalayan indigenous sources. Thus, this project will mainly deal with German sources which are all found in the Archive of the Union of Brethern in Herrnhut. The annual reports and the correspondence of the missionaries will form the biggest part of the corpus. The time frame is limited to the period from 1898-1914 but there is no limitation of the spacial frame – all six mission stations will be the object of the present study. Laurent Pierson (Université de Perpignan),André Migot (1895-1960): Orientalist and Traveller in Eastern Tibet When speaking of French travellers in Eastern Tibet in the XXth century, names such as Jacques Bacot or Alexandra David Néel come to mind, but little is known about Doctor André Migot (close friend to both) who, in 1946, set out alone for a 30 month journey into the Tibetan Marches at the heart of the Chinese civil war. Migot did not content himself with his original mission : he had been charged by the Ecole Française d’Extrême Orient with the task of carrying out research into various aspects of Buddhism ; he also attempted to reach Lhassa disguised as a mendicant monk following tea caravans, and later he was initiated into the rituals of the Gelugpa sect. Because he was personally concerned by Buddhism, and especially because

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intellectual and bookish knowledge was certainly not enough to fully plunge into the Tibetan world, he subjected himself to meditation and reclusion. Throughout his life, Migot was fascinated by deserts and barren landscape: first the French Alps where he became a fine climber (a peak in Mont Blanc’s ridge bears his name), then Eastern Tibet where he stayed 8 months in a retreat near Derge once his mission was fulfilled, and eventually Antarctica in 1954 where he joined an Australian expedition. Adventurer and orientalist, Migot wrote and spoke Tibetan (he had been Jacques Bacot’s student in Paris), he had « a streak of mysticism in his character which enabled him to enter into the spiritual side of their (Tibetans) life » as Peter Fleming put it, and an extraordinary endurance. André Migot’s contribution to Tibetology is also found in linguistics, a field that he enriched by his meticulous research on Eastern Tibet dialects. Migot is the last western witness of the traditional Tibetan society before the Chinese invasion. In Caravane vers Bouddha (Tibetan Marches, translated by Peter Fleming), the reader discovers a vivid and unusual travelogue where intellectual knowledge mingles with a personal spiritual approach. Enrique Galvan-Alvarez (Universidad de Alcalá),Faded Horizons, Hybrid Tulkus: Tibet in the Spanish Imagination

Although much has been written about the way Tibet has been imagined by and in the Western world, it is also true that this West is mostly the English-speaking West, namely the United Kingdom and the United States. But, how are Tibet and its diaspora imagined in the non-English-speaking-West?

The aim of this paper is to approach such unexplored space, particularly the subspace of the Spanish-speaking West, through four different events. The first of these is the film Rosa Rosae(1993), possibly the first movie in Spanish which mentions Tibet as a utopian horizon for eccentric characters. The second is the visit of the Sakya Trizin (sa-skya khri’dzin)in 2006 for consecrating a Sakya (sa-skya) temple in Spain. The third is the Dalai Lama’s visit to Barcelona in 2007 and his encounter with Catalan nationalists. Finally, the fourth is the publication in 2009 of a remarkable interview with Osel (od-gsal) Hita Torres, a Spanish born tulku (sprul-sku) who was brought up in (exilic) Sera (se-ra) and eventually gave up monastic life. By looking closely at how these four events were discursively mediated we can access various representations of Tibet, Tibetan culture, religion and politics and its diaspora. Even though they are ordered in a chronological fashion I do not wish to suggest that they represent, necessarily, four landmarks in an evolutionary process. They represent in themselves four different ways of approaching the interaction of Tibet, both as an actual place and as a disembodied nebulous presence, and the Spanish-speaking world. Thus, I do not treat these four events as the articulating points of a comprehensive history, but as illuminating instances of the various discourses circulating about Tibet in the Spanish-speaking world.

Considering that there were no Spanish missionaries in Tibet, as far as we know, and that the Spanish

Imperial project had well collapsed at the time British Empire was trying to access Tibet, most exchanges between Tibet and the Spanish-speaking world took place after 1959. However, the first Tibetans start arriving in Spanish-speaking countries in the 1980s and do so mainly because of Buddhism. Thus, this interaction has a very recent history and is not under the direct spell of British colonial narratives. Although such narratives also affect representations of Tibet in the Spanish-speaking world, they are appropriated and

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mediated in different ways. Consequently, even though the film Rosa Rosae uses Tibet as a utopian horizon, this is a horizon that has already faded before being reached. Analogously, the perplexed journalists who tried to report the complex rituals involved in the visit of Sakya Trizin(sa-skya khri’dzin) did interpret them in terms of local Catholic notions of ritual. Again, when the Dalai Lama met Catalan nationalists the political cause of Tibet was mediated through the Catalan nationalist narratives and, thus, problematically localized. Finally, the case of the hybrid Osel (od-gsal), Spanish born and Tibetan bred, was dealt with in terms of captive narratives and as an example of the dangers of hybridity and cultural miscegenation. Nadine Plachta (Universität Bern), “Going beyond Buddhism”- Politics of Adaptation in the FPMT

One of the primary conditions for the successful transplantation of a Buddhist tradition in a new cultural setting is the attempt of its adherents to creatively combine the continuous maintenance of traditional factors with newly invented forms of expression. Especially the latter should, so the argument which is often brought forward, meet the demands of the modern and globalised world. Cultural adaptations and innovatively created approaches to form and content are legitimatised with reference to the preservation of the essentially authentic doctrines of the tradition. Thus, Buddhist groups are certainly aware of the challenges which are resulting from a transplantation of a religious tradition in a new cultural context. They are actively implementing different strategies of acculturation by designing various programmes and cultural/ritual performances. For a comprehensive understanding of the strategies Buddhist groups are mapping out and pursuing, an analysis of their binary concepts of “tradition” and “modernity” as well as “authenticity” and “authority” seems to be of utmost importance.

Up to date hardly any case study about singular Buddhist groups and their intrinsic mode of adaptation to the new cultural and religious environment has been published. To bridge this gap the presentation is focused on the manifold processes of transformation and adaptation in the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT). The FPMT is rooted in the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism and was founded particularly for Western students in the early seventies by the Tibetan monk Lama Thubten Yeshe (1935-1984). It is currently directed by Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche and consists of approx. 152 monasteries and nunneries, centres and study groups, social projects and publishing houses worldwide.

This paper concentrates mainly on the arguments the FPMT is drawing to legitimise its distinguishing

form of Tibetan Buddhism in a global setting. It will be pointed out how these attempts are meant to overcome the continuous tension of the preservation of its religious tradition on the one hand and the willingness of its rearrangement in a globalised world on the other hand. This will be shown by a selection of different programmes and projects the transnational religious community is offering which in their most extreme form even renounce any kind of Buddhist vocabulary and try to introduce a complete secular terminology for spreading its ideas of a universal applicable education for humanity. 9.Applied Scholarship in Tibet Thubten Phuntsok (Central Nationalities University;Founder of Tibetan Aids Prevention Association) In my understanding, global health describes the health of all sentient beings, including humans, animals, and the natural environment. The maintenance of human life and management of health is the most important consideration of human beings no matter what time or place.

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I. The Four or Five Elements II. The law of the Unity of Opposites III. Impermanence and Cycles: Positive (Increase) and Negative (Decrease) IV. Formation of the External World V. The Four seasons VI. Secondary Conditions which Harm Health or Cause Disease VII. Causes of Disease – Seasonal Causes and Provocations VIII. Disease in Ancient Tibet IX. Other Causes of Disease – Diet and Conduct X. The Interaction between the Health of the Individual and the Health of Society, or the Ecosystem XI. Modern Medical Science and Epidemics XII. Tibetan Medicine and Global Health

Conclusiosn ��������������� �� ������� � ���������� ������������ ���� � �� �������������������� � ��� ���������������� � As long as the global and ecological systems remain healthy Both the harvest and the dharma teachings can flourish, And all things auspicious can be realized, While all aspirations can be achieved. Sangay Gya (Qinghai Normal University;Deputy Director of Qinghai Snowland Great Rivers Environmental Protection Association), Experience of University Teachers Involved in Social Development

In the ongoing talks between the envoys of the Dalai Lama and its Chinese counterpart, one of the most contentious issue is the definition and delineation of Tibet. Is it Greater, traditional, historical, or simply Tibet? Does the territory suggested under greater Tibet unreasonably split neighbouring provinces of Gansu, Sichuan, Yunan and Qinghai as alleged by the Chinese government? What is the validation of an argument that pre-1951 government of Tibet (Depa Shung) didn't administer adjoining territories hence the Dalai Lama cannot claim these territories? Is there any legal recourse or comparative context which will shed light on how best to address this seemingly intractable issue? I will examine all these issues and more on the basis of right of self-determination by analyzing Chinese laws particularly the Constitution of 1982 and Minority Nationality Act of 1984. Also historical validity or irrelevance could be addressed by examining the definition and delineation of Tibet within the comparative context, particularly the five major Autonomous Regions of Peoples Republic of China. This paper will also address the claimed impracticality and un-reasonableness of delineation of Tibet. Mark Turin (Cambridge University;Director of World Oral Literature Project), Collect, Protect, Connect: Reflections on Innovation, Commitment and Community Involvement in Collaborative Research Projects in the Himalayas Modalities for conducting fieldwork in Tibet and the Himalayan region are fast changing. Some of these transformations are related to technology access and information flow, which can compress the distance

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between the ethnographer and the observed. Others relate to political access, as communities find a voice in their struggles for representation and initiate public discussions about the ownership of cultural heritage. Gone are the days when researchers worked ‘on’ communities in a manner which I have elsewhere termed ‘extractive ethnography’. Present engagements are necessarily more collaborative—working ‘with’ communities on applied projects that are of use to them. Scholars embarking on new field projects should be aware of the fast changing topography of expectations among Himalayan communities, who increasingly want to be exposed to research findings, will read publications and are likely to request an engaged approach that results in scholarly and/or material benefits that are of direct use to them. To address these issues of applied scholarship, I will focus on the Digital Himalaya Project <www.digitalhimalaya.org>, established in 2000 at Cambridge University. The project began with three primary objectives: 1. to preserve in a digital medium anthropological materials from the Himalayan region that were fast degenerating in their current form, including film, photographs, audio recordings, field notes, maps and rare publications 2. to make these resources available online so that they might be used by researchers and students 3. to make these resources available on DVD to the descendants of the people from whom the materials were collected Thanks to financial support secured in the United Kingdom and later in the United States, and through partnerships with larger digital library initiatives such as the Tibetan and Himalayan Library, the project has become a important contribution to the landscape of Himalayan scholarship. In the second part of the presentation, I address the unexpected turns that the Digital Himalaya Project has taken over the last eight years with a view to understanding how collaborative projects can be of real benefit to communities and by addressing the range of ethical responsibilities that scholars have in the wider dissemination of information. While Digital Himalaya began as a strategy for salvaging, archiving and disseminating the products of (primarily colonial) ethnographic collections on the Himalayas—both for posterity and for heritage communities—the project has now become a collaborative digital publishing environment which brings a new collection online every month. The website has grown from being a static homepage with occasional updates to a more dynamic platform for the delivery of online content, including over 40GB of archived data. Similarly, the website has moved from being almost exclusively used by members of Western universities to providing a range of services to a global public, with a particularly strong user base in Asia. Digitisation has been ‘off-shored’ to Nepal, dramatically reducing operational costs and increasingly productivity. And perhaps most importantly, our funding no longer comes from national grant-giving bodies in Europe or the States, but from users, Web referrals and individual donations from around the world. Sienna Craig (Dartmouth College; Co-founder of Drokpa), Amchi, Solar Cookers, Clinical Trials, and "Safe" Births: Anthropological Reflections on Health-Related Engagements in Culturally Tibetan Communities 10.Tibetan History: Politics and Law

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Elliot Sperling (University of Indiana), Early 18th Century Administration and the Mongol Presence in Tibet Edwina Williams (Lehman College, CUNY), Gift Exchange: Origins and Implications of a Reciprocal Relationship between Dagyab, Kham and Lhasa, Central Tibet

This paper analyzes the origin and persistence of a gift exchange system between Dagyab, one of the Lama States of Kham, and Lhasaduring the period of Gelupa ascendency from the mid-17th century until 1959. The paper draws upon unpublished biographies of the First, Fourth, and Seventh Dagyab Lamas, which exist only in manuscript form, as well as 1953 ethnographic data.

Although tribute was usually a coercive process in which a more powerful central government demanded specified amounts of goods from subject areas, in East Asia relationships more often involved complex transactions resembling gift exchange. Receivers offered return gifts, often worth more than the tribute itself. Tremendous amounts of wealth were transferred between East Tibet and Lhasa in a reciprocal patternthat formed only a small part of a vast and complex gift exchange network extending into other parts of East Asia including China and Mongolia. Within Tibet gift exchanges continued until 1959. In 1953, when the Ninth Dagyab Lama, spiritual head of Dagyab State, traveled to Lhasa to study at Drepung monastery, among the valuable goods carried by his caravan were 200,000 silver coins hauled by 125 mules. In Lhasa this wealth was distributed to monks, monasteries, and government officials, with the expectation that when the lama completed his study he would travel back to Dagyab with return gifts, in the form of craft and exotic goods, worth double the value of the original gifts. Why and how did this system arise and how did it function? Why did it occur during the period of Gelupa ascendancy? Since considerable resources and effort were expended, what advantages accrued to each side of the transaction? This paper argues that the exchange process conferred distinct advantages to both the Lhasa center and Dagyab’s local government. Through gift exchanges, Lhasa gained the allegiance of local polities in this loosely centralized country, and, with little economic loss, a degree of political domination over outlying districts. Lhasa also gained authority and funds for expansion. Dagyab, on the other hand, was able to maintain a high degree of autonomy, resisting domination through escalating gift giving that put the central government under obligation to return gifts and services. A major advantage of the system was that it continually legitimized Lhasa’s religious authority. This authority, recognized by all parties, enabled the central government to play a critical political role, that of conflict resolution through mediation. Ryosuke Kobayashi (Tsukuba University), The Dalai Lama Government’s Rule of Kingdom of sDe dge (Derge) During the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

This paper will examine the situation and historical significance of the Dalai Lama government’s rule of Eastern Tibet (khams) during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by focusing on the Kingdom of sDe-dge’s case.

There were many indigenous leaders, semi-independent states, and tribes in the Eastern Tibet, over

whom the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912) claimed authority through the Native chieftain system (Chin. Tusi

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zhidu) from early eighteen century.In 1865, however, after the Dalai Lama government suppressed the conquest led by mGon po rnam rgyal, who was one of the powerful indigenous leaders in Nyag rong, the Dalai Lama government dispatched the Governor-General of Nyag rong (Nyag rong spyi khyab) to rule the Nyag rong region and incorporated other neighbouring several indigenous leaders in Eastern Tibet into the regime of the Dalai Lama government. Although many scholars have discussed the regional history of Eastern Tibet during this age, it is still not fully clarified how the Dalai Lama government effectively controlled these indigenous leaders, and how the indigenous leaders reacted to two external powers, i.e., the Dalai Lama government and the Qing dynasty. In order to make actual political conditions of this region clearer, I focused on the relationship between the Dalai Lama government and the Kingdom of sDe dge as the case study.

sDe dge was the largest state in Eastern Tibet holding a large territory and a large administrative structure, with the royal family going on for generations. Although the Qing dynasty tried to rule sDe dge through the Native chieftain system from 1728 onward, it was not effective. sDe dge continued to maintain their own power base. After the Dalai Lama government began to control sDe dge in 1865, however, the King of sDe dge’s authority gradually became weak, and local chiefs (i.e., the sDe dge royal family and aristocrats) were divided over succession to the throne. This internal struggle in the sDe dge Kingdom gave the Sichuan Government of the Qing, which tried to bring Eastern Tibet under direct control during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the chance to interfere in the kingdom and strengthen its influence in this region. The political situation of sDe dge was thus getting unstable and it caused serious friction between the Qing and the Dalai Lama governments. Whereas most preceding studies on the internal struggle of sDe dge have discussed the issue within the framework of the “pro-Qing” or “pro-Tibet,” relying solely on Chinese sources, a recent study by Hartley, L.R., A Socio-Historical Study of the Kingdom of sDe-dge (Derge, Kham) in the 19th century: Ris-med views of Alliance and Authority (MA thesis, Indiana Univ., 1997), has provided a closer investigation of the religio-political structure in the Kingdom of sDe dge in the late nineteenth century by using rich Tibetan materials. However, I think that there are still more archival and manuscript sources to be consulted and that we need to reexamine the complicated procedure through which the interaction between the Dalai Lama government and the sDe dge Kingdom actually took place. In this paper, I will mainly refer to archival and manuscript sources written in Chinese, English, and Tibetan, including the official records kept in the National Archives and the Indian Office Library, London, as well as the Biography of the thirteenth Dalai Lama, the chronicles of the sDe dge Kingdom, and the letters of the sDe dge King. My aim is to clarify the following points: 1) First: After 1865, the Dalai Lama government established a strong rule over the sDe dge Kingdom by

having control of marriage, collection of various taxes, bureaucrat appointment, and dismissal right of high ranking officials. In comparison with other indigenous leaders under Tibetan rule, the sDe dge King was more intimately bound up with the Tibetan government.

2) Second: the two parties into which sDe dge royal family was divided due to the internal struggle are not easily characterized as “pro-Qing” and “pro-Tibet.” They acted rather opportunistic and strategic in order to maintain and justify their authorities in the region. For this purpose, they are supposed to have resorted respectively to the external powers, i.e., the Qing dynasty and the Dalai Lama regime. The fact is that the sDe dge Kingdom used connection with the Qing through the Native chieftain

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system as well as with Tibet through the strong relationship with the Dalai Lama government. I would like to elucidate this complicated political status of sDe dge in detail.

3) Third: Because of the above-mentioned complicated situation, sDe dge, like Nyag rong, became the most disputed district between China and Tibet after the collapse of the Qing empire. In the last part of this paper, I will briefly discuss the development of the issue in the context of the diplomatic problems among China, Tibet, and Britain in the early twentieth century.

Fernanda Pirie (Oxford), Religious Law and Secular Disputes: Ideological Tensions in Historic Tibet It has been noted that religion and religious principles play a marginal role in the management of local disputes in all parts of the Tibetan region. This is remarkable, given the historical ideology of unity between politics and religion in the region and ongoing attempts by both Tibetans and western academics to portray legal processes as governed by religious norms. While each local case study is comprehensible on its own terms, is it possible to see any over-arching reasons for this gap between the politico-religious ideology and local practices of dispute management? In this presentation I examine the historical evidence of relations between law and religion in Tibet, starting with the empire of the 7th to 9th centuries and ending with the government of the Dalai Lamas in central Tibet in the 17th to 20th centuries. I examine the relations between Buddhism as a state religion and law a symbol and instrument of government, within their changing political contexts. I suggest that the development of Tibet’s distinctive political ideology in the latter period, in which harmony between the religious and the political was the basis for the political regime, actually hindered the development of a more extensive and centrally-controlled legal bureaucracy and the elaboration of a more complex system of law. In the circumstances, practices of dispute resolution remained decentralised, fragmented and governed by local imperatives, which rarely included the influence of religious practitioners and norms. Hanna Schneider (University of Bonn), Tibetan Private Seals of South-Western Tibet—A Preliminary Inquiry

As the genre of Tibetan private seals has not yet been a topic of more detailed research so far, my paper intends to give an introduction to this field of Tibetan sigillography. Private seals form an important branch of Tibetan diplomatics inasmuch as they provide valuable insights into various aspects of Tibetan district and local administration. They form an important means of authentication of a given contract and are therefore indispensable for the understanding of Tibetan private law. Tibetan private seals are most commonly round seals or signets with a standardised diameter. Apart from that fact, they show the individual taste and self-image of their bearers, e.g., through various types of ornamentation and differing script-forms. Last but not least, the process of their imprint can be preceded and accompanied by special rituals which will be described here as well. Alice Travers (UMR 8155, CNRS), The drung ’khor rtsal rgyugs at the beginning of the 20th century and the question of the military identity of the Tibetan aristocracy

The pillar of the lay Tibetan aristocracy and of the lay officials’ (tib. drung ’khor) identity was not a military one during the first half of the 20th century. To begin with, only a small number of officials of the Dga’ ldan pho drang government served in the army. According to my reconstruction of the careers of 441

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officials, only one in six did serve in the army. Moreover, military careers were not reserved for lay men, since monk officials (tib. rtse drung) could and did occupy these positions.

Yet, all new lay officials had to go through a compulsory examination of shooting with different

weapons from a galloping horse. This examination, for which every official had to train, sometimes for months on end, seems to have been a remnant from the past, and certainly a fading one. Indeed, this test evolved as it came to be organized less and less frequently during the first half of the 20th century. At the same time, according to descriptions made by some aristocrats, the contest was an important moment in every lay official’s life.

Mainly based on written biographical and autobiographical materials (published in TAR and in India)

and on oral accounts given by aristocrats (interviewed in Lhasa, India and the United States), this paper aims at discussing the origins of this military exercise, at describing its evolution as the drung ’khor rtsal rgyugs (litt. « examination of the lay officials’ capacities ») during the period under observation and the symbolic role it seems to have played in linking the administrative elite of the 20th century to the glorious military period of ancient Tibet, and to a former more warlike identity of the aristocracy. Jamyang Norbu, Origins of Modern Tibetan Nationalism – A Preliminary Inquiry Ngawang Thondup Narkyid (Independent Scholar), The 9th Penchen Rinpoche’s Collaboration with British and Chinese Government Shin’ichiro Miyake (Otani University) 11. Approaching the Buddhist tradition of early modern Mongolia: texts and images prior 1930 Uranchimeg Tsultem (UC Berkeley), Rje btsun dam pa’s Pure Land: Secret Narrative and Visual Prophecy This panel will explore aspects of the life and work of several eminent Mongolian Buddhist figures prior to the socialist purges of the 1930s: the Eighth Jebtsundampa Bogdo Gegeen (1870-1924), Zavaa Damdin (1867-1937), and Danzan Ravjaa (1803-1856). The discussions will focus on how best to conceptualize early-modern Mongolian Buddhism as a distinct and localized tradition. Specifically, panelists will highlight strategies and tropes employed by these scholars to narratively and visually imagine, remember and create a Buddhist Mongolia (and by consequence, perhaps also a Mongolian Buddhism) in relation to Tibet. Tying together disparate research from various disciplines (art history, literature, history and religious studies), the discussion will explore interdisciplinary approaches and theoretical frameworks, such as 'critical cosmopolitanism', in the study of the Tibet-Mongol interface in the early-modern period. Born in Central Tibet and brought to Mongolia at the age of five as the Eighth Jebtsundampa, Bogdo Gegeen was actively involved in political and cultural life of Khalkha Mongolia. Bogdo Gegeen’s lung-ston writings will be analyzed in light of his unusual paintings in Ikh Khüree.

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Zavaa Damdin Lam was a Gobi Buddhist scholar and hermit on the eve of the socialist purges. His narrative strategies in constructing a localized Mongolian Buddhist identity and religiosity while writing in the Tibetan chos 'byung genre will be discussed. Danzanravjaa, the 5th Noyon Khutugtu and one of the most important figures in nineteenth century Mongolia, was a monk, scholar, poet and a fierce opponent of Manchu rule. The discussion will focus on the linguistic, cultural and historical implications of his poetry, through a comparison of the Tibetan and Mongolian versions. Matthew King (University of Toronto), Tibet in the Story of Khalkha Buddhist History: Agency and Locality in the hor chos ‘byung of zawa Damdin Lam (1867-1937)

Understanding the role that Mongolian Buddhists have played in Tibetan religion, and conversely the ways that Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism have informed Mongolian religious and cultural identity, is a very complex and understudied topic. This paper takes up these questions in relation to the life, education and textual output of the early twentieth century Khalkha Mongol Buddhist scholar and hermit Zawa Damdin Lam (1867-1937). Better known to researchers of Tibetan religious history by his authorial names Blo bzang rta dbyangs, Sog po bLo bzang rTa mgrin, or rTsa ba rTa mgrin, his career is representative of the final engagements with Tibetan religious culture by Khalkha Buddhists on the eve of the brutal purges of the Mongolian People's Party in the late 1930s. As such, his life is indicative of some of the challenges scholars have faced in conceptualizing not only the adoption and adaptation of Tibetan Buddhist culture in Mongol areas, but in the active Mongolian participation in late 19th and early 20th century religio-political developments in Tibet proper. As Johan Elverskog and others have shown, the study of Buddhism in Mongolia has to date often been marginalized vis-à-vis Tibet and Tibetan Studies1. Drawing upon Hildegard Diemberger and Uradyn Bulag's call for a 'critical cosmopolitanism'2 in the study of Mongol-Tibet cultural interface, this paper attempts to highlight some of the dynamic analytical perspectives required to properly situate the study of Mongolian Buddhism in relation to Tibet. Specifically, this paper examines Zawa Damdin's own biography (such as I have been able to reconstruct it) and his historiographical output to try and characterize how they construct a localized Khalkha Mongol Buddhist identity in relation to the dGe lugs religious and political centres of Dbu and gTsang. I argue that while Buddhism was in general regarded in Khalkh as a predestined manifestation and continuation of Buddhism from Tibet, polymaths such as Zawa Damdin acted self-consciously to creatively localize the dGe lugs tradition in their homeland by way of, among other things, unique ritual collections, philosophical deviations, historiographical innovations and their own religious careers. Living from 1867 to 1937, the eclectic life of Zawa Damdin spanned the end of the Qing dynasty, the Mongolian Independence period, the formation of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party and the first decade or so of the socialist Mongolian People's Republic following the Bogd Gegeen's death in 1924. Though no rnam thar of Zawa Damdin are known to exist, this paper partly reconstructs relevant parts of his life based on the three volume thob yig3 found in his gsung 'bum4, western and Mongolian scholarship on his works, and original ethnographic interviews done with contemporary monks in his home Gobi monastery. Born in Uijung gung in the central region of the Gobi Desert, Zawa Damdin received an extensive dGe lugs education in the monastic city of Ikh Khuree (otherwise known as Urga, contemporary Ulaanbaatar) before travelling to China, Tibet and possibly (I argue) Buryatia. The last two decades of his life were spent revitalizing monastic education based on the model of the 'Bras spungs monastic colleges in Ikh Khuree and composing texts at his Central Gobi monastery Delgeruun choira. As was normative practice at the time, his

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many formal compositions on Buddhist subjects were written in the Tibetan language, in dialogue with standardized Tibetan dGe lugs commentarial traditions and according to traditional Tibetan stylistic conventions and systems of organization. However, in dialogue with these templates, Zawa Damdin incorporates Mongolian and other non-Tibetan sources, tropes and legitimizing symbols to create a localize identity for Khalkha Buddhism. Of central focus to this paper in this regard are Zawa Damdin's celebrated works on the history of Buddhism in Mongolia, and the Khalkh regions specifically. Though he assembled several monastic chronicles and biographic works, the two most famous historical pieces are his short, versifiedbyang phyogs hor gyi yul du dam pa'i chos rin po che 'byung tshul gyi gtam rgyud bkra shis chos dung bzhad pa'i sgra dbyangs5 and his celebrated 450 folio 'dzam gling byang phyogs chen po hor gyi rgyal khams kyi rtogs pa brjod pa'i bstan bcos chen po bpyod ldan mgu byed ngo mtshar gser gyi deb ther6. This latter work was the last full length Mongolian chos 'byung produced before the socialist period, and presents perhaps the most mature purview from which to assess the positioning of early-modern Khalkha Buddhist identity in relation to Tibet. As we see in Zawa Damdin's chronicles, Khalkha Mongols identified themselves as being indebted to Tibet for their Buddhist culture, while simultaneously maintaining a staunchly independent and regional Buddhist history. Periodizing Mongol conversion to Buddhism into three distinct phases, the gSer gyi deb ther and the bKra shis chos dung bzhad pa'i sgra dbyangs do not efface Mongol religious identity or agency in relation to Tibet. Instead, while locating Mongolian Buddhist history in close continuity with Tibet, these texts creatively use, among other things, conventional narratives from Tibetan Buddhist historical literature, Mongolian borjigid clan histories, Indian scriptural prophecy, Uighur Buddhist steles and Chinese sources to create a distinct spatial and temporal manifestation of Buddhadharma in Khalkh. This paper queries instances of these final, pre-socialist statements by Zawa Damdin on Khalkha Mongol religious identity to try and characterize the complex narrative strategies used by the author to locate a (Khalkh) Mongolian Buddhism in relation to Tibet. Though sharing a common imagined community with Tibet (and by extension Buddhist India and Qing China), Zawa Damdin's historical works challenge the researcher to account for the agency, innovation and self-conscious deviations of Mongolian Buddhists from Tibet. Elaborating upon Diemberger and Bulag's 'critical cosmopolitanism' analytical paradigm on the basis of Zawa Damdin's histories, this paper attempts to locate the Tibet of the Mongolian imaginaireand the complex (and sometimes contradictory) ways that Mongolians saw their cultural identity in it's light. Karénina Kollmar-Paulenz (University of Berne), To Hell and Back Again: Newly Discovered Molon toyin-Tales and Hell Picture Books from Mongolia At the turn of the 16th/17th century the famous translator Siregetü güsi corji, active in the regions around Köke qota, translated the `Phags `dus pa chen po byang chub sems dpa’ me’u gal gyi bu’i ma la phan bdag pa’i mdo into the Mongolian language, under the title Qutuγ-tu yekede ciγuluγsan neretü bodi sedkil-tü mutgalvani köbegün eke-degen tusa kürgegsen sudur. This sūtra proved to be extremely popular among the Mongols, especially in its various simpler and often illustrated versions. Although a couple of illustrated manuscripts of the sūtra are extant in various libraries around the world, there is still a considerable gap in our knowledge about the transmission of the different Mongolian versions, the possible Chinese influence on them, their connections to the popular Tibetan death narratives, and the cultural milieu in which they flourished.

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The (probably largest private) collection of Tibetan and Mongolian manuscripts and block-prints of the Swiss chemist and nobel laureate Richard Ernst contains no less than six illustrated Molon toyin-tales, dating from the late 18thcentury to the early 20th century, as well as two picture books of the Tibetan hells. These texts, which have only recently come to light in Mongolia, are lavishly and colourfully illustrated, one text even consists only of illustrations. The Molon toyin-tales are written in Mongolian, while some of the hell books contain Tibetan glosses or are biglottes. In my paper, apart from providing a brief description of these newly discovered texts from Mongolia, I will try to shed some light on the socio-religious and cultural milieu which promoted the production and circulation of these works from the late 18th century onwards. Tshering Yangzom Delun (Tibet University), On Alasha Ngawang Tendar’s Tibetan Poetic Work An Banquet of Ethic Admonition Andrey Bazarov (The Centre of Oriental Manuscripts and Xylographs), Buddhist Canon and Social Reality: Some Results of Field Research in Buryatia (2006-2009)

Some experts in Buddhist studies suggest that the literature of shastras (or systematic treatises) play a fundamental role for Buddhism of Inner Asia. This opinion is true in respect of everyday monastic life of the region. As for secular Buddhists, their everyday religious life is mostly influenced not by shastras but by the complex of texts of Kangyur. Taking into account an assertion that “social reality” is determined not by processes within the intellectual elites of society but by everyday life of a simple man, five social-archaeographic expeditions were organized by the Institute of Mongolian, Tibetan and Buddhist studies of Siberian Branch of Russian academy of sciences during 2006-2009 period. The field research has covered 41 settlements (9 districts) of Republic of Buryatia; over 100 respondents have been interviewed and 70 private collections have been studied. The research was directed to (1) book assortment; (2) cult practice and preservation of the tradition; (3) social portrait of a keeper of a book collection.

I. Bookassortment.

The most popular text among lay Buddhists is Suvarnaprabhasasottamasutra (Tib. gSer ‘od’, Bur. Altangerel). Just slightly less popular among Buryats is Pancaraksa (Bur. Banzaraksha). In addition to the mentioned books of special popularity is a collection of texts titled Zungdui. This text is found in private collections in Tibetan only.

Besides the texts of Tantra section of Tibetan Buddhist canon broadly scattered are texts of

Prajnaparamita cycle: Satasahasrika (100 thousand strophes, Bur. Yum),an abridged version Astasahasrika (8 thousand strophes, Tib. brGyad stong pa), and a separate text Vajracchedika (Tib. rDo rje gcod pa).ThesetextscanbefoundbothinTibetanandMongolianversions. A well known commentary to Prajnaparamita – Abhisamayalamkara Prajnaparamita Upadesa is also included in some private collections of books. No less popular are such texts as Itegel (Ritual of taking refuge in Three Buddhist Gems, Tib. sKyabs ‘grosemsbskyed), Naiman gegen (Eight manifestations, Tib. sNang brgyad), etc.

II. Cult practice and the tradition preservation.

The cult practice related to the texts is manifested in various forms of worship and preservation of the

books. Booksarebeingnormallypreservedinthe so-called khoimor, or most respected northern corner of a house.Usuallybooksareputonagungarba (special box for religious subjects). A book is wrapped in a piece of

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cloth (janshi), or placed in a special box (khairsag). There is another form of book keeping: putting them into family stupas (suburgans). Both separate texts or even collections of books can be put into stupas.

Cultpractice consists of various rituals related to books. Theyare: takhikh – to worshipbooks;

aryulkha – to daily purify books; hebikhe, eridekhe – to turn pages; dallaga khekhe –to bring books to datsang and keep them on one’s knees during religious service; goroo khekhe – to circumambulate the settlement holding books in one’s hands. The most important part of book ritual practice is chanting. The local Buddhist books are written in two scripts and languages – Tibetan and Mongolian. As for Tibetan literature, Buddhist lay people normally don’t master Tibetan and thus invite monks to chant them. In a calendar year they do it usually in June, sometimes in January-February, during Sagaalgan, lunar New year. Inadditiontoannualchanting, monkscanbeinvitedtochantBuddhistbooksin case of everyday life problems. Faithfuldonotunderstandthemeaningofchantedwords. There is a movement in the Buryat society for translation of Tibetan texts into native language and Buryatization of rituals.Today, notsomanyBuddhistmonkscanreadMongolian. However, up to 1930s every monk could read Mongolian texts.NowTibetanoftenistheonlylanguagetheyuseinreligiouspractice. It should be noted that in the districts of Buryatia some lay Buddhists of older age still can read Buddhist texts in Mongolian script. Another way of chanting texts is growing popular nowadays: Buddhist texts written in Buryat Cyrillic and adapted to modern literate Buryat are being distributedamong believers. Lay people can read Buddhist literature both individually and in groups. Individual chanting is usually performed in the beginning or in the end of day (before and after working hours). Groupchanting (ofspecialcollectionSangaril) is performed on 8th, 15th and 30th days of each lunar month.

III. Social portrait of a book keeper.

The research was undertaken in the rural areas, where the Buddhist religious tradition is preserved to a greater extent. That’s why within the frames of our project a book keeper is primarily a villager.Thus the most typical social example of a keeper of traditional book culture is a woman from a countryside, who isa cattle breeder, 70 years old, having from 3 up to 4 children. As a result of this research it is necessary to note that the social reality develops more slowly in comparison with social events. The events of 1990shave still not changed the situation in the Russian social realitycardinally. As to the influence of Buddhist canon on the social reality in Republic of Buryatia, it always had place; and it always was the fact during the antireligious propagation of the Soviet regime. Nonetheless, full restoration of this influence on the social reality of the region is a long and slow process. Elisabeth Haderer (University of Hamburg), The Sacred and the Profane—On the Portrayal and Iconography of Tibetan Buddhist Lineage Holders in Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhist Art Due to the great significance of the the spiritual teacher (skt. guru; tib. bla ma) as the central aspect of the Buddhist refuge in Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhism, lama representations have always been a popular genre in the various Buddhist art traditions of Tibet and Mongolia. Being regarded as a fully spiritual accomplished being, a buddha(tib. sangs rgyas), the leaders and lineage lamas of the different Tibetan Buddhist traditions were considered the holders of the authentic Buddhist teachings and meditation practices that have been transmitted from realized master to student since the time of the historical Buddha Śākyamuni (tib. sangs rgyas shakya thub pa) (c. 560-478 B.C.).

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With the introduction of the tulku (tib. sprul sku) system, meaning the rediscovery of a consciously reborn Buddhist master1, the tradition of lama portraiture started to gain even more importance within the different Tibetan Buddhist art traditions. Both the Menri (tib. sman ris) and the Karma Gardi (tib. karma sgar bris) art tradition, the major painting styles within Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhist art, developed special methods and concepts for depicting the successive lineage holders of the distinct Tibetan Buddhist traditions. In general, Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhist lama portraits combine a variety of idealized and individual characteristics. Being regarded as awakened beings, the lamas are on the one hand represented with the 32 major and 80 minor perfect marks of a buddha expressing the enlightened state of mind. Among these features, which are already referred to in the classical Indian treatises on art like the Citralakshaṇa or the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa, are for example a golden skin, a fine hair (skt. urna) between the eyebrows and a slight head bump (skt. uṣṇīṣa). On the other hand, they are portrayed with the unique physiognomic marks and character traits of a mortal person. As a guideline for the representation of lamas in the form of painted scrolls (tib. thang ka), wall paintings (tib. logs bris) or statues (tib. sku 'dra), Tibetan and Mongolian artists have used written, oral and artistic sources until today. Concerning the portrayal and iconography of a certain Tibetan lineage holder, even contemporary artists still consult the written accounts (tib. rnam thar) on the depicted person's life. These life stories can contain some important details on their looks and character in addition to the information which is given on their Buddhist education, preferred meditation practices, important events in their lives, travels, teachers and students of them a. s. o. Another important point of reference are special depictions of Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhist lamas which have the function of prototypes. Such “originals” are traditionally referred to as nga 'dra ma- („just like me“, „a good likeness of me“) and nga 'dra ma phyag mdzad- („self-portrait“) and form a specific topic within the genre of Tibetan lama portraiture2. A famous example for such a kind of representation is the self portrait statue of the eighth Karmapa Mikyö Dorje (tib. Mi bskyod rdo rje) (1507-1554), which is said to have been made by himself3 and which is still used as an iconographic model by modern Karma Gardri-artists of the 21st century. In my paper some chosen thangkas of the Tibetan Menri- and Karma Gardri-art traditions from the 18th to the 21st century will be discussed, showing the most important lineage holders of the Karma Kagyü- and Gelug-tradition of Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhism such as the Karmapas and Shamarpas (tib. zhwa dmar pa)4, the Dalai and Panchen Lama (tib. pan chen bla ma)5 and the Jebtsundampa Khutuktus and the lCang skya Qutuqtus6, the highest Buddhist lamas of the Gelug order in Outer and Inner Mongolia. In comparing the paintings with each other, the different methods and prototypes of the distinct Tibetan and Mongolian art traditions concerning the reproduction of the portraits and iconography of these spiritually, historically and politically most important Buddhist lamas shall be analyzed. In order to do so, additionally particular Tibetan sources on the lives of these lineage holders7 as well as instruction manuals for Tibetan Buddhist artists shall be taken into consideration. On stylistic grounds, the development of various artistic aspects such as the layout of composition, the placement of main and minor figures, the application of color or the way of rendering the details such as landscape elements, clothes and specific motifs shall be investigated.

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With my presentation I want to provide a new continuative contribution to important fields in the research of Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhist art. Simon Wickam-Smith (University of Washington, Seattle), Danzanravjaa in Tibetan: Some Ideas on the Circumstances Surrounding the Tibetan Versions of the Fifth Noyon Hutagt’s Poetry

Before the nineteenth century, the importance of Tibetan culture to Mongolian Buddhism had resulted in secular, as well as religious, literature being written in Tibetan. In addition, the political hegemony of the Manchu had created a situation in which the Mongolian people were linguistically controlled by non-Mongolian forces.

The 5th Noyon Hutagt Danzanravjaa (1803-1856) was not only a huvilgaan (sprul sku) but also a

pedagogue, dramaturge, poet, artist, statesman and ardent nationalist. Over the course of his life, he wrote several hundred poems and established a highly influential system of education for both girls and boys, in addition to being one of the most popular and well-respected spiritual teachers in the region. Unlike most of his contemporaries, however, Danzanravjaa never travelled to Lhasa, remaining rather in the Gobi, in an area around the modern town of Sainshand, ministering to the nomadic livestock herders and to the monastic community which he had established at Hamriin Hiid.

At least one third of his poems appear in both Tibetan and Mongolian versions, but it has yet to dbe

established for certain which constitutes the original version. The implications of this question touch on politics and spiritual authority, as well as on poetics and literary practise. After all, if Danzanravjaa chose to write in Mongolian rather than Tibetan, was this a comment on his nationalist sentiment, his desire for Buddhism in Mongolia to have a Mongolian, rather than a Tibetan, appearance? Or was it because he wanted to establish the creative and religious importance of Mongolian poetry, or else of Mongolian culture in contrast to that of the ruling Manchu?

This paper will address some of the issues surrounding the influence of Tibetan buddhist culture in

Mongolia during the first half of the nineteenth century, and especially as they relate to the biography and influence of Danzanravjaa, both as a political and as a literary figure. A brief analysis of the Tibetan and Mongolian versions of his most popular and influential poem will also be offered, which might suggest ways of addressing the literary and doctrinal issues at stake.

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II. Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 Plenary Session Gene Smith (Tibetan Buddhist Resource Centre) Andre Alexander Committee for the Study of Historic Tibetan Architecture (CSHTA) Early post-Tibetan empire sources credit Songtsen Gampo with having erected either 12 or 42 (or even more) temples at strategic locations across Tibet, in order to pin down a demoness. Sources of the empire period do indeed mention numerous temples being erected by various kings, but not in connection with either Songtsan Gampo nor geomantic schemes. The paper tells of a research project, carried out partly in cooperation with the Tibetologist Institute in Leipzig and TASS, to identify the temples. Several of these have slipped into obscurity, and many are in remote locations. After identification, all temples were visited, surveyed and documented, with the aim to determine whether any facts supporting a geomantic scheme can be found. Preliminary results by the time of writing this abstract indicate that many of these temples seem indeed date back to the empire period. They also share a number of characteristics that help to identify empire period buildings. Yang Enhong (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) David Germano (Tibetan and Himalayan Digital Library; University of Virginia),Locality, Participation, & Morality in Our Academic Relationship to Tibet All of us have our individual disciplinary commitments – religion, anthropology, history, geography, environmental science, literary studies, computer science, and so forth – but what defines us is our common commitment to a region of the world, namely Tibet. Whether our focus is on ancient civilization, or contemporary issues like geology and the environment, we are inextricably intertwined in a complex relationship with those who live within that region, the Tibetans. Regardless of the recent transformations of life on the plateau, Tibetans and Tibetan communities across the plateau and in the world-wide diaspora are the genetic, linguistic, cultural, and territorial inheritors of the past, ancient and recent, which we all study in one way or the other. As such, we have an irreducible ethical obligation to these communities, regardless of our discipline, our nation, or our ethnicity. Yet does the standard paradigm of an academic teacher and researcher - one which we inherit from our professional training, are reinforced in by our institutional settings, and transmit within our disciplinary guilds - fulfil those ethical obligations? We can similarly ask about how local communities relate to our practices of knowledge – its creation, its refinement, its dissemination. There is an immense and profound knowledge held within these communities, and yet how do local communities in Tibet relate to how we produce and publish knowledge in the academy? Are our current practices adequate to the challenge of understanding Tibet in all its complexities across space, across time, across subject? in its profoundly local character, as well as its plateau-wide communalities? Yet if our academic practices are judged inadequate in terms of knowledge and ethics – what in Tibetan

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Buddhism terms we might call wisdom and compassion – what is an alternative vision and practice? How can we be other than we are, or other than we have been? Are there other paradigms of the relationship between academics and local communities that might yield better knowledge, and simultaneously be more moral in character? If so what are they? My presentation will trace the contours of explorations towards a different Tibetan Studies that involves partnerships between universities and community service organizations, participatory knowledge initiatives, and innovative uses of digital technology. This involves a participatory and distributed model of knowledge production, and a flexible and modular model of knowledge dissemination, along with a vision and practice of knowledge as a common alchemical agent that binds together academics, local communities, community service organizations, commercial entities, and others. I will argue that the results, while tentative and partial, point to the possibility of knowledge which is better in quality, more diverse in perspective, range and form, more extensive, more appropriate and useful to audiences of a greater range, and more amenable to engaged social uses. It also produces students who from the start are learning how to do research, how to engage with minute, local details and yet produce interpretative results, and also who are actively considering how their work relates to other intellectual and social sectors in a dynamic and entrepreneurial fashion. Publication becomes more of a process and less of a discrete, fixed product – so that people get access to the building blocks as well as finished interpretative products, and the tools/rights to reconfigure, reinterpret, expand, alter, diversify, link. Finally, we begin, slowly, imperfectly, but surely, to chip away at the potentially exploitative and morally problematic character of the social and institutional settings which give us our jobs, our identity, and our realities, and address the challenge of the communities which our work can, and generally does, exclude and marginalize, even as we celebrate them to our own personal and institutional ends. 12. Toward a History of Madhyamaka in Tibet James Blumenthal (Oregon State University), Phwya ba on �� ntarak�ita: Preliminary Remarks on Phwya ba chos kyi seng ge's Commentary on theOrnament of the Middle Way (dbU ma rgyan gyi 'grel ba) It is difficult to ignore the tremendous impact Śāntarakṣita has had on Tibetan philosophical culture, from the ways philosophy has been practiced to Tibetan interpretations of central Indian philosophical ideas. One large gap towards a more complete understanding of that impact and its historical development has been an understanding of how his thought discussed and utilized in the early centuries of the later dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet, particularly the role his thought played in the bKa' gdams traditions. Due to the recent discovery of a large number of compositions from bKa' gdams authors from the eleventh through thirteenth centuries, that piece of the puzzle of Tibetan intellectual history is beginning to become more clear. This paper will discuss one of the key figures from that period, Phwya ba chos kyi seng ge, with specific regard to his interpretations of the Madhyamaka (dbu ma) thought of Śāntarakṣita. Phwya ba was a central figure in Madhyamaka polemics during the formative bKa' gdams era that set the stage for several towering figures in Tibet in the 14th and 15th centuries. The particular focus of this paper will be to make some preliminary remarks about Phwya ba's commentary on Śāntarakṣita's Madhyamakālaṅkāra, entitled dbU ma rgyan gyi 'grel ba, and how his understanding of Śāntarakṣita impacted his critical role in debates over the role oftshad ma (pramāṇa) in Madhyamaka exposition that was so heated during this era. Pascale Hugon (Austrian Academy of Sciences), The Epistemological Background of Phya pa Chos kyi seng ge’sProof that Entities are Empty of a True Nature

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The resurfacing of abundant material relevant for the study of the early developments of Tibet’s scholastic tradition at the time of the Second Diffusion of Buddhism (phyi dar) allows us to shed a new light on some influential scholars of this period. My paper will concentrate on the bKaʼ gdams pa scholar Phya pa Chos kyi seng ge (1109-1169), whose place in Tibetan’s intellectual history can be especially appreciated from the two following angles: On the one hand, Phya pa is renowned as a logician, and as such is to be appreciated as an original thinker who does not hesitate to take liberties with regard to the Indian model set by Dharmakīrti (7th c.) in order to pursue his own specific agenda. Phya is one of the most celebrated representatives of the so-called “New Epistemology” (tshad ma gsar ma) that developed around the monastic center of gSang phu Ne’u thog and his works had a long-lasting impact on the indigenous Tibetan tradition of epistemology as a whole, his views being the subject of ongoing discussions from the side of both apologists and detractors. On the other hand, Phya pa is an important figure to consider when dealing with the history of Madhyamaka in Tibet, as he stands in the midst of a eventful period consecutive to the translation, by Pa tshab Nyi ma grags (b. 1055), of Candrakīrti’s works and the new line of Madhyamaka interpretation that accompanies their diffusion. Phya pa is not an actor in this diffusion, but, on the contrary, a fervent critic of this movement, to which his foremost students have been turning. Phya pa not only stands as a leading scholar in view of his role and of the positions he developed in each of these two orientations, tshad ma (Pramāṇa) and dbu ma (Madhyamaka); his works also demonstrates the mutual permeation of these two domains, both on the formal and theoretical levels. Formally, indeed, Phya pa’s works on Madhyamaka demonstrate the use of terminology and conceptual tools developed in the context of epistemology. Further, Phya pa puts to work the resources of valid cognition — among them in particular that of inference —in view of the realization of an absolute, which, Phya pa claims, is not beyond the realm of comprehension and can be reached (albeit not established) by reasoning. Reciprocally, a look at Phya pa’s two works of epistemology quickly reveals that even when Phya pa is commenting on Dharmakīrti, his concerns have broadened in a way that includes his Madhyamaka agenda. An example of this phenomenon is the pervasive occurrence, in these works, of issues related to the inference that proves that entities are empty of a true nature, issues that overtake by far those of the proof of momentariness traditionally discussed by Indian logicians. My paper will deal with two aspects of Phya pa’s views in this regard; first, his claim that the inference that proves the emptiness of all things has for object an implicative negation (ma yin dgag), second, the way such an inference is related to, but differentiated from, a consciousness that realizes emptiness as a non-implicative negation (med dgag). My inquiry, in particular, will bear on the way Phya pa’s epistemological theory is put to use in supporting these views, in other words, on the logical background that is revealed in Phya pa’s discussion of the said inference in his Madhyamaka works, such as the dBu ma shar gsum gyi stong thun, but also in his more general treatment of inference and related themes in his summary of epistemology (tshad ma’i bsdus pa), the Tshad ma yid kyi mun sel, and in his commentary to Dharmakīrti’s Pramāṇaviniścaya. Among the themes that will be examined in this connection are, for instance, the determination of the object of the respective types of inference, the scope of the object of valid cognition (gzhal bya), and Phya pa’s distinction between direct and indirect realization (dngos rtogs/shugs rtogs). Finally, I will examine whether the discussion of these themes undergoes significant modifications in the works of Phya pa’s successors who, although they are the heirs of his epistemological system, no longer subscribe to his Madhyamaka standpoint.

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Kevin Vose (College of William and Mary), Do Madhyamikas See What the Rest of Us See? The Early Debate Over Common Appearance Among the central issues in Madhyamaka is how Madhyamaka reasoning (yukti) relates with the kind of inference (anumāna) formalized by the likes of Dignāga and Dharmakīrti. Candrakīrti’s critique of Bhāviveka for the latter’s use of “svatantra” inference is surely one of the most frequently examined sections of Madhyamaka literature in Tibet and in contemporary scholarship on Buddhist philosophy. In seeking to understand what sort of inference Candrakīrti viewed as untenable for a Mādhyamika to use—that is, in seeking to understand what he meant by “svatantra”—one clear focus are the reasons he gave, which we can take as qualities that svatantra inferences exhibit. Most prominently, Candrakīrti claimed that Mādhyamikas cannot employ svatantra inference because no inferential subject appears in common to a Mādhyamika and one of realist persuasions. The difficulties attendant upon Candrakīrti’s claim spawned lengthy discussions in later Tibetan exposition on the topic chos can mthun snang ba. One might assume that Candrakīrti had in mind Dignāga’s stipulation that an inferential subject (among several criteria) be “commonly established.” Do common establishment and common appearance cover common territory? Mādhyamikas employing inference paradigmatically do so to debate a subject’s establishment; at least since Jñānagarbha, then, the subject’s common appearance is defended. Further, Mādhyamikas utilizing inference speak of the subject appearing in the “general” perspective, one not qualified by either party’s tenets. This approach, very likely developed in response to Yogācāra critiques, appears to have satisfied Mādhyamikas for much of the second half of the first millennium. It seems that very few Indian Mādhyamikas took Candrakīrti’s critique of inference seriously, and so we see little development of his attack on common appearance or defense of inference’s utility. This situation changed dramatically upon the propagation of Candrakīrti’s major works in Tibet around the year 1100. Twelfth-century Tibetan Madhyamaka literature provides us with some of the earliest extended treatment of Candrakīrti’s critique of inference, including the issue of common appearance. This paper will examine early bKa’ gdams pa interpretations of Candrakīrti’s denial of common appearance. Phya pa chos kyi seng ge (1109-1169) provides a lengthy defense of a Mādhyamika’s use of inference and, specifically, the common appearance of an inferential subject. Given the trajectory of Candrakīrti’s importance—from little-known, conservative commentator in India to almost overnight sensation in Tibet—Phya pa’s defense is almost unique in the history of Madhyamaka. Phya pa, consistent with his Indian forebears, holds to the necessity of inference and explains how an inferential subject can appear commonly from a non-analytical perspective, extending the perspective of Jñānagarbha, Śāntarakṣita, and Kamalaśīla to meet the challenges of Candrakīrti’s suddenly popular views. Still, Candrakīrti’s newfound supporters—including Jayānanda, the only known Indian commentator on Candrakīrti and active in Tibet during Phya pa’s lifetime; Pa tshab nyi ma grags, responsible for the Tibetan translations of Candrakīrti’s major works; and Zhang thang sag pa, a disciple of Pa tshab—reject both “common appearance” and any “general” perspective. This paper will explore their reasons for doing so, reasons that extend far beyond logical concerns. By taking account of the two sides of this debate, we will be able to see more clearly how later Tibetan views grew out of these foundational positions, sometimes even conflating the two sides, and gain a greater understanding of how early Tibetan Madhyamaka connected reasoning to issues of gnoseology and soteriology.

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Jose Cabezon (UC Santa Barbara), On the Madhyamaka Views of Rog Bande Sherab Rog bande Shes rab 'od (1116-1244) was an early Rnying ma gter ston who was responsible for revealing portions of the Yang dag cycle of tantric teachings. Among his known works is a siddhānta (grub mtha') text called the Grub mtha' so so'i bzhed tshul gzhung gsal bar ston pa chos 'byung grub mtha' chen po bstan pa'i sgron me. This paper explores the Madhyamaka views of Shes rab 'od as they are laid out in this little studied work. My broader goal is to add to our knowledge of Rnying ma philosophical speculation in this early period of the school's systematization. Thomas J. F. Tillemans (University of Lausanne), What Happened in Tibet with the Third and Fourth Lemmas? The paper will look at how Tsong kha pa, mKhas grub and Go ram pa understood the third and fourth lemmas in the tetralemma (mu bzhi, Skt. catuṣkoṭi). All were faced with serious logical difficulties in understanding the fourth lemma (gnyis ka ma yin pa, Skt. nobhaya), as they tended to conflate the idea of "neither A nor B" (which is the right interpretation) with that of "not both A and B", which is wrong. These renderings of gnyis ka ma yin pa are very different: "neither ... nor ..." can be formalized as ¬A&¬B and "not both" as ¬(A & B). Given this conflation, the denial of the fourth lemma—expressed in Tibetan as gnyis ka ma yin pa ma yin— then also became unclear. And here's how things went from there: (1) The denial of the fourth lemma, i.e., "gnyis ka ma yin pa ma yin", was taken to mean "not not both". (2) The law of double negation elimination (dgag pa gnyis kyis rnal ma go ba, Skt. pratiṣedhadvayena prakṛtagamana)—which figures in both Indian and Tibetan logical writings of the Dharmakīrtian school, notably the Pramāṇaviniścaya and commentaries upon it—would oblige one to infer gnyis ka yin pa (both) from gnyis ka ma yin pa ma yin (not not both). (3) The Mādhyamikas' denial of the fourth lemma taken in this way would absurdly end up forcing them to affirm the third lemma (both). This of course is unacceptable as Madhyamaka denies all four. Go ram pa took this potential absurdity as a reason for Mādhyamikas to reject the law of double negation elimination in the tetralemma; Tsong kha pa and especially mKhas grub thought it showed the necessity to attach complicated parameters to the terms "A" and "B" and their conjuncts in the last two lemmas in order to avoid the unwanted implications – these parameters are (as usual in dGe lugs pa Madhyamaka) combinations of the words "bden par grub pa"/"rang bzhin gyis grub pa" (truly established/intrinsically established). Although both approaches – rejection of double negation elimination and parameterization – are, generally speaking, promising strategies for interpreting Madhyamaka philosophy, the inescapable conclusion is that here, in the context of the third and fourth lemmas, the complicated Tibetan discussions arose out of a basic confusion, largely due to linguistic ambiguities that lead to an inability to clearly distinguish "not both" and "neither." On the bright side of things, this confusion does not put the broad outlines of Tsong kha pa's or Go ram pa's Madhyamaka philosophies in question. However, it is probably no wonder that many Tibetan Mādhyamikas seem to have devoted relatively little attention to the third and fourth lemmas and have concentrated essentially on the first two. Yael Bentor (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Debates Regarding the Meditation on Emptiness During the Creation Stage The main part of the creation stage begins with a meditation on emptiness. In this liminal point the meditators visualize away (mi-dmigs) their ordinary reality, just before they create in their minds their new reality of themselves as deities at the center of a mandala. For the vast majority of Tibetan writers the Mantra Vehicle is part of the Great Vehicle and the emptiness meditated upon during the sādhana is no

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different from the emptiness of the Mādhyamika school. On the other hand, most Tibetan authors agree that the meditation on emptiness here is not entirely identical to the meditation on emptiness of the Perfection Vehicle, but the extent to which these two meditations differ is subject to much debate. We will look at disputes among Tibetan writers including Tsong-kha-pa, Mkhas-grub-rje, Ngor-chen Kun-dga’-bzang-po, and Go-rams-pa. In the context of the Mantra Vehicle some questions do arise that are usually not asked in the context of emptiness within Mādhyamika thought. These questions concern not only the more obvious tension between meditation on emptiness and meditation on nothing whatsoever, but also the nature of emptiness as it relates to appearances. It is not surprising that Tibetan authors found different ways of responding to these challenges. We will look at some disagreements regarding the nature of appearances during and following the meditation on emptiness in the creation stage. Much ado about nothing? Well, yes. Donald Lopez (University of Michigan), Desideri and Tongba-gni: A Preliminary Study When Ippolito Desideri left Tibet in 1721, he took with him his magnum opus, unfinished although 464 pages in length. It is entitled, Mgo dkar gyi bla ma i po li do zhes bya ba yis phul ba’i bod kyi mkhas pa rnams la skye ba snga ma dang stong pa nyid kyi lta ba’i sgo nas zhu ba (Inquiry into the Doctrines of Previous Lives and of Emptiness, Offered to the Scholars of Tibet by the White Haired Lama called Ippolito). Thupten Jinpa and I are preparing a translation of this text, with support from the American Council of Learned Societies. This paper will explore Desideri’s critique of emptiness, examining both the sources that he read during his studies in Tibet, as well as the arguments that he made in his refutation. Jongbok Yi (University of Virginia),Controversy between the Old and New Textbooks of Gomang Monastic College in Drepung Monastery Surrounding the Identification of Object of Negation in Tsong-kha-pa’s Extensive Explanation of (Candraskīrti’s) “Entry to (Nāgājuna’s) ‘the Treatise on the Middle’” (bstan bcos chen po dbu ma la ‘jug pa’I rnam pa bshad dgongs par rab gsal)

In the chapter on the object of negation in his Extensive Explanation of (Candrakīrti's) "Entry to (Nāgārjuna's) 'the Treatise on the Middle'"(bstan bcos chen po dbu ma la 'jug pa'i rnam pa bshad dgongs par rab gsal), the monk-scholar Tsong-kha-pa blo-bzang-grags-pa (1357–1419, Tsong-kha-pa henceforth) who is the founder of dGe-lugs-pa School of Tibetan Buddhism:

A clear identification of the object of negation does not emerge in other reliable sourcebooks of the Autonomy School, but the existence that is the opposite of the mode of conventional existence described in Kamalashīla’s Illumination of the Middle is to be known as ultimate or true existence, and, therefore, let us explain it that way.1 Tsong-kha-pa limits the clear textual source identifying the object of negation in the Svātantrika-

Mādhyamika to only Kamalaśīla's Illumination of the Middle.Also, he states that he managed to find it only by means of drawing out the opposite of Kamalaśīla's statement.

The textbooks of the Gomang monastic college in the Drepung monastery on the tenet systems of the

Middle School like other textbooks in other monastic colleges are commentaries written by figures based on

1 Adapted from Jeffrey Hopkins, Tsong-kha-pa's Final Exposition of Wisdom, ed. Kevin Vose (Ithaca, N.Y.: Snow Lion Publications, 2008), 189.

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Tsong-kha-pa's aforementioned text, and it is found that there is a controversy between the old and the new textbooks of the Gomang monastic college on the above obtuse presentation concerning following issues:

1) Is Kamalaśīla's Illumination of the Middle the only source demonstrating the object of

negation in the Svātantrika-Mādhyamika School among the source texts of this school? 2) What does "clear" mean? Does "clear" mean "explicit"? 3) What is the meaning of the passage where Tsong-kha-pa finds the object of negation in the

Kamalaśīla's Illumination of the Middle? What became the controversial issue with regard to the first and second questions is stated by Gung-

ruChos-'byung (16th century C.E.), the author of the old textbook of Gomang monastery,in his Final Analysis of the Middle, Entrance for the Fortunate(dbu ma mtha' dpyod skal bzang 'jug ngogs).In order to prove that only Kamalaśīla's Illumination of the Middle clearly, but not explicitly, states the identification of the object of negation, he cites two stanzas from Jñānagarbha's Differentiation of the Two Truths (bden gnyis rnam dbye, satyadvayavibhaṅga).

Responding to Gung-ru-Chos-'byung, 'Jam-dbyangs-bzhad-pa (1648-1721), the author of the new

textbook of the same monastic college, refutes this citation of the Differentiation of the Two Truths. Withinciting other sources from Jñānagarbha's text, his auto-commentary, and Śāntarakṣita's commentary, 'Jam-dbyangs-bzhad-pa makes a case that Gung-ru-Chos-'byung misunderstoodJñānagarbha’s Differentiation of the Two Truths.

After addressingthe first two questions through the avenue of this controversy, this paper will

consider where Tsong-kha-pa and these scholars find the object of negation in Kamalaśīla's Illumination of the Middle. Jonathan Stoltz (University of St. Thomas), Gendun Chopel on the Status of Madhyamaka: Truth, Knowledge, and Testimony The Tibetan philosophical tradition has long attempted to harmonize the tenets of Nāgārjuna and his followers – members of the Madhyamaka school – with the views of Dignāga and Dharmakīrti – figures we could term Pramāṇa Theorists. In essence, this is an attempt to tie together the largely metaphysical concerns of Mādhyamikans with the predominantly epistemological concerns taken up by pramāṇa theorists. A novel approach to this project is put forward by the twentieth century Tibetan scholar Gendun Chopel in his work The Adornment of Nāgārjuna’s Thought (klu sgrub dgongs rgyan).3 In my paper I will evaluate Gendun Chopel’s arguments about the relationship between truth and knowledge. In particular, I will focus on two related items. First, I will examine Gendun Chopel’s opening arguments in his essay. It will be shown that he is arguing against coherence theories of truth and justification. My goal in this section will be to show that his arguments on these matters are philosophically plausible, but that his line of reasoning brings into focus important philosophical presuppositions made by Buddhist scholars about the relation between truth and knowledge. In the second half of my paper I will address the connection that these initial arguments bear to claims about the validity of testimonial knowledge. I will call attention to the fact that Gendun Chopel downplays the epistemological strength of arguments grounded in appeals to testimonial authority. I will

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examine his arguments about the role played by appeals to authority, and illuminate the connections between these arguments and his more general views of truth and knowledge. 13. Collecting Tibet: Museums, Materiality and Memory Emma Martin (Liverpool Museum/University of London), Objects of ‘Tibetaness’: The 13th Dalai Lama’s gift to King George V On 28 June 1913, four Tibetan boys and their chaperones went to meet George V, King of England and Emperor of India. They brought with them an extensive range of gifts and accompanying letters from the 13th Dalai Lama. This meeting, often treated as a footnote in the Anglo-Tibetan encounter, had the potential to be interpreted as the meeting of two nation states, legitimizing Tibet’s position as an independent nation. While the significance of this event was not lost on the British, the choice of gifts and their meaning apparently were. Bringing together dispersed objects now located in the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, this paper will focus on those gifts, chosen by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, for this royal audience. It will consider the gifts, and their importance, in several specific ways. Firstly, it will situate the Dalai Lama’s choices within the then political landscape and particularly within the context of the 13th Dalai Lama’s claim to Tibetan Independence, pronounced just four month prior to this visit. Was this gift intended to be seen as an object of ‘Tibetaness’? A visual, tangible representation of the Dalai Lama’s vision of Tibet, as set down in his 1895 five-point article that would guide his political rule. Dibyesh Anand describes “Tibetaness” and the creation of identity as, ‘not an essence but a performance, an articulation, a discourse’. Therefore, should this gift be viewed as an attempt to place visual markers onto Tibetan identity and by extension, the Tibetan nation state for the Western World? Secondly, were the choice of objects and the narratives surrounding their supposed history and provenance constructed to further emphasize the unique position of Tibet and its long independent history? Through an examination of the objects, an art historical perspective will be used to attempt the dating of the objects that make up this gift. This potentially raises questions regarding the information supplied with the objects by the Dalai Lama, which continues to be used in museum documentation today, and, which at the time would have been used to support the individual objects’ uniquely Tibetan credentials. Thirdly, how did the British interpret this gift? For the British gift-giving was not a fixed protocol, but a negotiated encounter, determined by place, occasion and most significantly, by the individuals involved. The British had long interpreted gift-giving through modified Indian frameworks, often missing the intricacies and symbolism of the gifts given and underestimating the potential to slight of those presented in return. This occasion proved to be no exception. While for the British the gift was judged almost solely by its monetary value, the cultural value and significance was only commented on in passing. While the British may have regarded the gifts given in return as a fare exchange and , being valued in monetary terms as more valuable than the Tibet gift, as a prestigious gift, the reality was that the return gift was disastrous. Its affects undermining the work of Charles Bell to bringing Tibet under British India’s influence.

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This is a narrative underpinned by cultural misunderstandings. While the Dalai Lama may have had clear intentions when selecting the objects for the gift, the messages they represented, the visualization of Tibetan identity, seem to have been lost in translation. It highlights British inabilities to understand the significance of the gifts given, their reliance on Indian protocols, and the inappropriateness of those protocols, were encounters with Tibet were concerned. The narrative surrounding the objects, and the voices of those involved, have until now been separated from and silenced in the archives. The process of removing, as Dirks refers to it, the ‘sedimentation of history’, makes it feasible to read this reconstituted archive anew. As Anand tells us, ‘the archive shapes the imagining community, the process of imagination not only draws upon existing archive but in the process re-creates it’, and with this paper I hope to reveal and re-create the intent of the gift-giver, the 13th Dalai Lama and his political intentions regarding the governing of Tibet. Inbal Livne (University of Stirling), Collecting on the ‘Edge of Empire’ – Tibetan Collections, Missionary Collectors and Scottish Museums For the British Government in the late 19th century, Tibet represented a boundary marking the edge of geographical knowledge, Christian influence and the physical boundary of the Empire itself. Britain’s military masters worked on the supposition that as Tibet was not ‘known’ within an Imperial framework that was militarily sanctioned, and so it remained a closed land until the Younghusband Expedition of 1903 - 1904. This “Mission” was described as the “opening” of Tibet to British interests and saw the arrival of large numbers of British troops in Tibetan territory for the first time. It was also accompanied by collecting in the form of military plunder. However, the decades preceding 1904 had in fact seen numerous British men and women based in Tibetan communities both in and around Tibet’s borders. Little research has been done on these figures who as missionaries working for the China Inland Mission and the Church of Scotland Mission (as well as several European mission societies) were working in these areas for religious, Christian proselytizing purposes, rather than Imperial gain. Their lengthy postings in the Himalayas meant that they were able to establish links, trade agreements and even friendships with Tibetans. In this paper I will examine the lives of several missionaries and their work with Tibetans in the late 19th century. Annie Royle Taylor ran the ‘Tibet Pioneer Mission’ from Yatung in the late 1890s and was the only missionary to work within Tibetan borders at this time. Mr and Mrs Innes Wright also ran their own mission, the ‘Nepaul Mission’ near Ghum, who sought to undertake their evangelising mission by preaching to travelling communities of Tibetans and Nepalese passing through the area. Both these missions were independent, following their founders’ departures from more established mission societies. In contrast, Harry French Ridley worked for the China Inland Mission throughout his career, based in Gansu, China working with Tibetan communities there. In terms of the missionary drive for conversion, Ridley was the most ‘successful’ of the group examined. They worked beyond the reaches of the ‘comforts’ of empire (both physically and socially) and their vocation and working methods often marginalized them to colonial society. Despite the emphasis on the evangelical mission, these and many other, missionaries found time t o collect objects and document their surroundings both geographically and culturally. They were all skilled linguistics and some sought complete immersion into the Tibetan culture in which they lived. These collections, mainly now in the National

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Museum of Scotland, provide evidence of this immersion, their participation in local life and their friendships within the community. Many objects are personal, gifts for medical help or just friendship. These collected materials show a contrast to the later, military acquisitions (such as those made during the Younghusband Mission), being the result of negotiation with, rather than conflict against, the people they encountered. These collections also raise a series of questions about their methods of both immersion and conversion and the extent to which these methods created a rift between their ‘mission’, the expected social norms of British society and the new found freedoms that life away from Britain gave them. Most clearly, the concerns that informed both their actions and collecting practices were heterogeneous, and show there to be not one ‘missionary cause’, but many. Additionally, the collections they amassed whilst working in the field reflect another ‘edge’ on which they were positioned on their return: Scotland, as peripheral to England – and Edinburgh as peripheral when compared with London, the ‘hub’ of the Empire, was to be the resting place of these collections. Again, the reason for the choice of Edinburgh as a final depository for these collections is a complex issue, and one that I will begin to explore in this paper. Therefore, in the second half of this paper I will investigate the relationship between London and Scotland as cultural ‘hub’ and ‘periphery’ respectively, and the implications this had on Scottish Museums for the collecting of Tibetan artefacts in the late 19th century. I will particularly focus on the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art (Now the National Museum of Scotland) and Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow. Lindsay Zamponi (University of London), Relations Between the British Museum and the Younghusband Mission to Lhasa (1903-04): The Role of a Colonial Military Expedition in the Development of a National Museum’s Tibet Collection This paper will examine the role of the Younghusband Mission to Lhasa (1903-04) in the development of the Tibet collection of the British Museum, London, and will consider the colonial methods of collecting employed by the expedition and whether the Tibetan artefacts acquired are of value to the contemporary study of Tibetan art. The discussion will begin with an examination of the objects in the BM's pre-1905 Tibet collection, the BM's curatorial policies towards the acquisition of Tibetan artefacts, and the key donors/vendors who provided Tibetan artefacts to the BM during this time. The role of the collector and museum curator Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks (1826-1897; BM Keeper: 1866-1896) and his successor, the ethnographer and curator Sir Charles Hercules Read (1857-1929: BM Keeper: 1896-1921), both of the Department of British and Medieval Antiquities and Ethnography, in the formation and cultivation of the Tibet collection will be discussed, and the profiles of key donors/vendors such as the army medical officer and orientalist (later a participant in the Younghusband Mission) Lawrence Austine (Augustine) Waddell (1854-1938) and the Moravian missionary F.B. Shawe, based in Leh, Ladakh, as well as the Tibetan material they supplied to the BM, will be considered. The predominant 19th-century concept of 'ethnography' and its application to the collecting of Tibetan artefacts by individual donors/vendors and in the context of the BM will also be addressed. The paper will then turn to the background of the Younghusband Mission of 1903-04, including the main political and military objectives behind the expedition, the key figures involved, and how the collecting of Tibetan artefacts and manuscripts became a secondary objective of the expedition. This part of the paper

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will also examine the larger historical and cultural context of the Younghusband Mission, and how the 'colon ial' mindset of the time had an impact on perceptions of Tibet, Tibetans and their personal possessions, and Tibetan monasteries and their contents. The next part of the discussion will focus on the records of the British Museum (correspondence and memos) pertaining to pre-arrangements for the collecting of Tibetan artefacts and manuscripts during the Younghusband Mission, and the ultimate outcome with regard to these pre-arrangements, plus additional material presented by members of the expedition. This part of the paper will present the three members of the expedition who were the main suppliers of Tibetan material to the BM: Lieutenant Colonel L.A. Waddell, the Chief Medical Officer accompanying the mission, who was chosen to be its official collector of Tibetan artefacts and manuscripts; Captain W.F. O'Connor, Tibetan interpreter and private secretary to Colonel Francis Younghusband during the mission, who was commissioned by the BM to collect Tibetan material; and Major H.A. Iggulden, of the Sherwood Foresters, Chief Staff Officer to Brigadier-General J.R.L. Macdonald, and his second in command, who sold a large quantity of Tibetan artefacts to the BM. The types of material collected by each individual, the sites of collection (such as Palkhor Chode, in Gyantse; Tsechen monastery, Kangmar monastery, and the battlefield) and the modes of collecting employed (including looting), as described in the records of the BM (correspondence, memos and ledgers), will be examined, and the value of this material to the development of the BM's Tibet collection, and to the contemporary study of Tibet, will be assessed. Material supplied to the BM by other members of the expedition will form part of the discussion. The BM's record-keeping procedures themselves, including the compilation of ledgers containing descriptions of provenance (where, from whom, and how material was acquired), and its storage and display of the Tibetan material supplied by members of the expedition will be examined and assessed. Ethical considerations, including government orders of the time prohibiting looting, which were effectively ignored, and the British Museum's acceptance of looted material, will also be addressed. The paper will also briefly discuss other British museum collections containing material from the Younghusband Mission, for purposes of comparative analysis. Clare Harris (University of Oxford), The Imperial Archive and its Avatars: The Afterlives of British Colonial Photography in Tibet

In the last two decades important research has been conducted on the history of British photography in the colonial period. It has established how nineteenth century anthropology, Imperial administration and photographic technologies cohered in projects designed to document colonised peoples, especially in the Indian subcontinent. Some pioneering work has been done on the archives to which the resulting photographs were consigned but surprisingly little attention has been paid to the ways that this material continues to perform and provoke in the contemporary context. Tibet as a photographic subject has generally not been subject to these kinds of scrutiny, despite the fact that photography has had a substantial role to play in the production of visual representations of the country and its inhabitants since the 1880s. As Thomas Richards noted in his 1993 study The Imperial Archive: Knowledge and the Fantasy of Empire, the data collected about Tibet for inclusion in the Imperial Archive inspired some of the most popular fictions of the twentieth century: such as Rudyard Kipling’s Kim (1901) and James Hilton’s Lost Horizon (1933). This paper will demonstrate how photography produced by representatives of the British government as they encountered Tibet and Tibetans generated some potent fictions even when their intention was to establish facts. Based on

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research in museum collections in the United Kingdom (where thousands of photographs of Tibet taken before 1950 now reside) along with observations drawn from virtual and actual museums invented in Tibet, it will also examine how the existing Imperial Archive of Tibetan pictures has been pillaged to create new visual narratives. My examples will reveal that contrary to popular opinion, photographs are not dead or dormant when they rest in museums and other archival institutions. For the Imperial Archive has many avatars: the original objects it contains have manifested themselves in exhibitions, books and in multiple forms on the Internet. They have recently been deployed as “visual evidence” within the competing colonialisms of twentieth century Britain and twenty first century China. When images are apparently floating freely in cyber space, it is crucial to pay close attention to the materiality of the historic record in order to establish the validity of those truth claims. Jessica Marie Falcone (Kansas State University),This is What Maitri Looks Like: Maitreya Buddha Statues in Ethnic and Elite Tibetan Buddhisms from Shigatse to Kushinagar This paper will explore the disparate meanings and representations of the Maitreya Buddha in the various contexts and cultures of contemporary Tibetan Buddhism. Utilizing Jan Nattier’s typology of “ethnic” Buddhism (those born into the tradition) and “elite” Buddhism (converts into the tradition), I will explicate the patterns I have observed while doing dissertation fieldwork in India and Tibet on how Maitreya Buddha statues are viewed, used, and perceived by these two semi-distinct groups. In this paper I will address some of the challenges facing elite converts to Tibetan Buddhism when it comes to material culture, but I will also discuss some of the oft-ignored complexities on this score. Recently, on H-Buddhism, a professor posed a question from a student mourning the passing of his father - a Westerner who had studied and loved Zen Buddhism: would it be proper to put a few of his father’s beloved wooden Buddha statues into the casket pre-cremation? This line of questioning evoked strong responses noting the impropriety of such an act in many Buddhist cultures, but others suggested that if it would be acceptable to the Western Buddhists involved, then no harm done. One of the latter proponents noted with conviction that Westerners see statues as art or inspiration, but never as vehicles for Buddhas and bodhisattvas. If this were statement were true, then the Maitreya statue in Shigatse would be a holy object to Tibetans, but only an artistic endeavor to any elite converts visiting Tashi Lhunpo. From my perspective, this simple dualism is a fallacy. In my paper, I will argue that elite and ethnic Buddhists go through a different journey in their relationships to statues and other holy objects, but that it would be premature and problematic to suggest that all elite Buddhists view statues as motivational artwork. In fact, my research shows that inordinate effort is made by some Tibetan Buddhist converts to view statues as holy objects, especially if their ethnic Tibetan gurus tell them that it is so. One of my primary field examples on this score centers on the case of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition’s plan to build a 500-foot statue of the Maitreya Buddha in Kushinagar, India. I will show the complexity of the statue plan through the eyes of FPMT devotees and students interviewed in and around their centers in India, as well as ethnic Tibetan Buddhists who are not affiliated by FPMT. A careful study of the Maitreya Project case shows that both ethnic and elite Tibetan Buddhists have extremely complex relations with this planned vision of Maitreya. Within both communities various informants attribute their supportive, mixed, and/or negative feelings about the project to very different considerations ranging from political perspectives to guru devotion to anxieties over the plight of Kushinagari farmers. In this paper I will explicate the shifting landscape of faith, authenticity and materiality surrounding two

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disparate communities of Tibetan Buddhists in order to illuminate the fraught pre-life of the Maitreya Project’s giant statue. Denise M. Glover (University of Puget Sound), Bones, Threads, and Medicine: Tibetan Culture on Display in Shangrila The noteworthy event of 2002 when Zhongdian County changed its name to Shangrila County is by now old news to many Tibetologists. Having been present for the event (I was living in the area conducting dissertation research on medicinal plant classification in Tibetan Medicine), I revisited the area in the summer of 2009 to catch up on the changes that this name change had, in part, precipitated. I discovered that at least two new museums now exist in the town of Rgyalthang. This paper examines the construction and display of Tibetan culture in one of these. I argue that the typical displays of “ethnic otherness” (as well as nationalist-socialist rhetoric about ethnic group harmony) exist in this museum , but are accompanied by two interesting “new” trends in the display of Tibetan culture: a primordialist view that emphasizes the antiquity of Tibetan culture in the area, and the involvement of business-motivated financiers and directors promoting the benefits of Tibetan Medicine. More broadly, this seems to indicate a trend—at least at some level—of the retraction of the state in the construction and display of culture in the PRC, and the emergence of new vectors of cultural representation, most of which do not appear to be local Tibetan in origin. Leigh Miller Sangster (Emory University), Memory, Contemporary Art and Cultural Sustainability in Lhasa Tibetan Studies has in recent years grappled with tradition/modernity dichotomies. At the same time, leading voices within the field have urged increasing engagement with other disciplines and with current cultural theory. I would like to share at IATS an interdisciplinary approach to contemporary art in Lhasa, informed by Memory Studies theories, to attempt movement beyond the problems of ‘cultural preservation versus innovation’ by instead focusing on cultural sustainability. The past persists into the present, and is taking novel forms through art. Artists are contemplating, among other things, the nature of cultural inheritance and identity, and its transmission to future generations. I draw on ethnographic research in Lhasa with contemporary artists to explore the visual aspects of memory work and to understand the creative strategies artists employ to communicate their present lives. I focus on contemporary Lhasan art work as in dialogue with three arenas for representations of ‘the past’: ethnic minority (minzu) identity politics, Buddhist art historical and religious imagery, and autobiographical postmemory aesthetics. Images of China’s minzu are visually constructed by the state, including in official museum exhibitions in the 1970s and 1990s-2000s. Tibetan artists engage and respond to these images, a process embedded in prior scholarship on minorities in China and state representations of pre-modern ethnic minorities generally. Contemporary artists contribute to collective memory work and cultural sustainability by their production of work that deconstructs stereotypes and replaces them with contemporary realities. Artists must also respond to their own and others’ expectations and beliefs that stem from the Buddhist religious and artistic heritage that defines “tradition.” Previous commentary on the status of Tibetan culture utilizes religious benchmarks that often polarize ‘cultural preservation’ and innovation, ‘tradition’ and ‘modernity’. In transmitting notions of their Buddhist heritage in forms and concepts relevant to

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contemporary life, artists perform collective memory work pertinent to sustaining Tibetan identity, even in a secularizing society, by using shared visual language in broader contexts. As individuals in Lhasa introspectively investigate their personal relationships to difficult pasts and how it influences the present, I focus on portrait and self-portrait painting to explore the role of autobiographical memory,Hirsch’s“postmemory” and its aesthetics and creative strategies. I will present recent contemporary art from Lhasa from artists Gade, Nyandak, Tsewang Tashi and Nortse, which to date have received scant scholarly attention, but offer an excellent window into contemporary cultural life in Tibet. Timothy Myatt (University of Oxford), Letters and Looting: New Translations and Research relating to the 1904 British Mission to Tibet This paper will examine instances of, and the rationale behind, looting during the 1904 British Mission to Tibet. I will explore why items were taken, who stole the items, what were their motives, what was taken, where the items are now, and finally, what they can teach us about the role of the museum and libraries. Using original Tibetan government records, the contemporary diaries and letters of British soldiers, western secondary materials, and modern propaganda sources I present a new interpretation of the 'mind' of the mission. My research examines how material culture has been used to alter our perception of both ourselves and others, creating ‘Temples of Empire’ and an ‘Imperial Archive' of looted treasures and trinkets. I will also present new translations of Tibetan government documents dating from the time of the mission that catalogue what items were stolen by the British, and list government provision for loans to cover their loss. 14. History and Culture Suonan Dongzhu (Minzu University of China) Suonan Cairang (South West Nationalities University) Yelatai (Qinghai Normal University Beri Jigme Wangyal (Independent Scholar) Wandiake (Minzu University) Gendun Sonam (Tibet House, New Delhi) 15. The Use of Ritual for Healing in Bonpo and Buddhist Traditions Dawn Collins(Cardiff University),The Blessing in Breath: Ritual Healing Performed by Invisible Agents in Tibetan traditions

The paper will explore notions of empowerment underlying ritual healing in Tibetan traditions. It will discussthese in the context of healing enacted by contemporary Buddhist 'nakpa' or Bonpo 'akawenbo' using breathand spittle in curing illness. It will pose questions regarding how healing properties are thought to betransmitted via these medium and in what ways these are locally perceived as operative in healing illness onthe Tibetan Plateau.

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Such healing is linked to notions of empowerment and blessing. Ideas regarding tactility and its perceptibility will be examined in exploring how aspects of the body or its emissions can support or bear suchinvisible agents of blessing or empowerment. The paper will discuss ideas regarding what is empowered orblessed, and how that empowerment is transmitted.

The paper will attempt to understand these contemporary Tibetan healing practices by an examinationof Asian traditions containing similar notions of invisible catalysts or agents. For example, notions of qi inChinese medical theory, the adis of Mongol ritual, and adhistana in Indian thought.

Theories framing Buddhist and Bonpo rituals that could be described as tantric will be explored through the lens of the body and its expirations or excretions. In particular, concepts of the subtle body willbe investigated and visualisation techniques employed in such ritual will be discussed in the context of theirperceived powers of transformation. M. Alejandro Chaoul(University of Texas),Healing with Peaceful and Wrathful Deities

Deities are many times categorized according to the four qualities of peaceful (zhi), developing (rgyas), conquering (bdang) and wrathful (drag), and healing can take any of these forms, depending also on what kind of disease one wants to heal.

I find it particularly interesting when we find that different manifestations of the same deity can be

used for different diseases. In this paper, I will focus on the popular Bon deity of wisdom and loving kindness, Sherab Chamma, (Shes rabByam ma) in its peaceful and developing forms as well as in her conquering and wrathful manifestations as Yeshe Walmo (Ye shes Bdal mo) and Sidpe Gyalmo (Sid pa Rgyal mo), respectively.

Sherab Chamma’s liturgy is recited daily by monastic and lay practitioners, and it includes her main

eight manifestations protecting against various obstacles, including disease. She is seated and her hands hold different instruments in her different manifestations. Her golden light and healing nectar vase are visualized as healing tools for the practitioner to heal oneself as well as others. When the disease is an ‘aggressive’ one, like cancer, many times contemporary lamas would recommend the stronger and conquering manifestation of Yeshe Walmo who also carries a vase of nectar, but her action standing body is blue azure and she is surrounded by flames.

It is this particular ritual that I will focus on. Her other hand holds a meteorite sword to cut all ‘enemies’ (dgra) that are one’s own anger, attachment and ignorance and its manifestations as disease (nad). Inger Vasstveit(University of Oslo), “Layers of Protection: The Use of Amulets Among Tibetans in Exile The use of amulets has a long history in Tibet and several Tibetan studies have underlined the widespread use of amulets. Despite this, few scholars have written about amulets in detail, with some exceptions e.g. Douglas (1978), Nebesky-Wojkowiz (1993) and Skorupski (1983). These studies have focused mainly on the amulets as symbolic, religious objects and it is therefore unclear what kind of amulets that are being used today by the Tibetans (in exile) and the meaning Tibetans put into the practice. Neither is there written much about the practice of folk religion in exile. Basing my presentation on six months of anthropological research

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among Tibetans living in exile in Dharamsala in India, I will show that Tibetans in exile have continued the practice of using amulets. Throughout my involvements in the everyday life of my informants I experienced that the use of amulets is widespread in present-day exile. Hung around the user’s neck or hardly visible underneath layers of clothes the amulets as protective tools bear great significance to the user. Questions raised are; by whom and in what ways are the amulets used in the present-day exile? How can we best understand the use of amulets? And how do the use of amulets relate to Tibetan life in exile? By answering these questions the aim of the paper is to contribute to the knowledge of the practice of folk religion in exile as such, and to the use of amulets in particular. It is well known that Tibetans lay great stress upon rituals and practices intended to regulate relations between humans and the omnipresent spirit-world. In Dharamsala daily observance of sang, fragrant smoke of burnt juniper offered to the gods and spirits is one example of daily rituals, carrying amulets another. It is argued that these practices must be seen as a part of Tibetan health concern and further that being healthy points to a particular way-of-being-in-the-world. Traditionally these rituals and practices are closely related to local divinities and specific territories but by analysing various areas of utilization the paper argues that it is as much a matter of the user’s faith and trust grounded in a hierarchy of power. By classifying different kinds of amulets that are popular among Tibetans in present-day exile, the paper explores the hierarchy of power, based on the trust and faith in the empowerment of the amulets, anddiscusses how amulets might be seen not as things made but as things in the making (James William 1958). Drawing on theory of pragmatism the paper suggests that the use of amulets must be seen in the light of social landscape, i.e. an experience of place produced through daily activities (Ingold 2003) and not a specific and static territory. Tibetans living in exile are often seen as displaced and discussing this the paper argues that the context of displacement (i.e. a territory outside Tibet) should not be the point of departure analyzing everyday life of Tibetans in exile. Instead the paper argues that an analysis should be based on the social landscape, i.e. on the processes that creates a way-of-being-in-the-world based on the activities and the practices that are carried out at a place. With these insights in mind, the paper further discusses how the use of amulets relates to Tibetan life in exile. In exile amulets are implemented in a world of new expectations and new possibilities, and the paper argues that the practice might be seen quite applicable. Not so much because it is a traditional practice, but because of the faith and trust the users give the amulets. The paper stresses however that faith and trust are not simply about static belief; rather it is about doing faith. In the outcome of this (i.e. social landscape) the amulets are being helpful as a protective tool in the everyday life in exile. Frances Garrett(University of Toronto), Healing Recipes and Practices of Eating in Tibetan Buddhist Literature Although food and eating have long been objects of study for anthropologists, many of whom have focused on South Asian cultures and literatures, they are less thoroughly studied in Tibetan contexts. With a text-historical approach, this paper will articulate a healing gastrosemantics of Tibetan Buddhist ritual traditions that prescribe the special creation of and the eating of a range of substances. Most of these “foods” are created in the course of a ritual exercise by following particular instructions, or “recipes,” and they are typically “empowered” by a ritually prescribed process, after which they are to be consumed. Focusing specifically on practices aimed at healing illness or promoting health, I will consider several examples of such preparations involving both material and non-material substances meant to be consumed as food, as

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taught in a series of related practices such as ritual cake offerings (gtor ma), ransom offerings (glud), edible letters (za yig), essence extraction (bcud len), and food yoga (kha zas gi rnal ‘byor). A key question in this paper is what distinguishes a food (zas) from a medicine (sman). Where we might expect a functional definition, a medicine is rather, by some accounts, the essence or “nectar” (bdud rtsi) of a particular food substance. But how does one extract or make manifest that essence? Here I also draw on another body of literature that describes a process of activating an edible substance’s “nectar,” practices of “empowering medicine as nectar” (bdud rtsi sman sgrub). The paper will thus point to a gastrosemantically-focused body of literature that offers recipes and procedures for the healing of illness and enhancing of health, vitality and power through specialized processes of eating. Crossing perceived boundaries between medicine and religion, such eating practices are a nexus of contemplative, ritual, astrological, dietary and medical knowledge. Although such practices can be found widely throughout Tibetan history, this paper will examine the formative period of the twelfth-fifteenth centuries, an age of particular importance to the development of Tibetan medicine and its special relationship with the Treasure tradition. Source texts will be drawn primarily from works on the above topics by the students of G.yu thog yon tan mgon po (1112-1203) and by Sangs rgyas gling pa (1340-1396), Klong chen pa (1308-1364), and the first Dalai Lama, Rje dge ‘dun grub (1391-1474). Ching Hsuan Mei (Universität Bonn), bCud len Practices in the rNying ma Tradition

I have studied the development of 'pho ba liturgies for my doctorate project in the last few years. The purpose of that research is to clarify the elements of Amitābha worship in the context of 'pho ba practice. During my studies, I observed that Amitābha has possessed an important position in a 'pho ba liturgy of Sangs rgyas gling pa (1341-1396), the 'Da' ka 'chi brod 'pho ba’i gdams pa. Additionally, I noticed that Amitābha was emphasised as the central figure in Sangs rgyas gling pa’s longevity teachings. Under this context, I become aware of the importance of health caring in both ritual and medical practices. Throughout the last century, the funeral rites kept in the Tibetan culture have fascinated wide audience. Yet, it is not to be misunderstood that Tibetan people only live for death without concern of any benefit in this life. In fact, there are various ritual practices and meditation techniques designed to maintain healthy, to prolong life-span and even to achieve immortality that involve the science of healing (gso ba rig pa). Therefore, I am currently engaged in the study of longevity as a new avenue of learning the divergence of Tibetan culture.

I will present my work on bcud len practice which is a means of extracting elixir from the nature in order to against aging and extend life. It is often referred to as rejuvenation practice in western term. In my paper, I shall firstly introduce the collectable data concern the exercise of rejuvenation in both anonical and non-canonical sources. Secondly, I will take a closer look on bcud len texts transmitted in the rNying ma School. Two selected rNying ma pa masters are: Guru Chos dbang (1212-1270)and Sangs rgyas gling pa (1341-1396). These materials dated around the 13th to 14th century are the earliest texts available for me apart from the renowned transmission of rGyud bzhi. It is my interest to make the comparative study on bcud len to see whether any significant divergence can be found in different implemented contexts. Despite the rGyud bzhi has its exclusive position in the study of Tibetan medicine, the alternative materials are equally important for our understanding on the technique of rejuvenation exercised in medieval Tibet. Colin Millard (Cardiff University), The Use of Ritual in Healing in the Medical Writings and Biography of the Bon Lama and Scholar Khyung sprul ’Jig med Nam-mkha’I rDo rje (1897-1955)

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The principal medicals text of the Buddhist tradition of Tibetan medicine is the rgyud bzhi, and of the Bon tradition the ‘Bum bzhi. In these texts we find a wide range of standard therapeutic techniques which include, internal treatments such as, decoctions, powders, pills, purgatives, emetics and suppositories and so on; and external treatments such as bloodletting, moxibustion, massage, steam baths and minor surgery. As powerful as some of these methods may be, not all disease is amenable to their therapeutic activity. At the most general level disease, according to Tibetan medical theory, has four main contributory factors: diet, behaviour, seasonal influences, and spirits. When disease arises due to the activity of spirits, standard medicine alone will not suffice; this must be used in combination with ritual. There are many instances throughout the ‘bum bzhi and the rgyud bzhi which demonstrate the important interrelationship between Tibetan medicine and Tibetan religion. The clearest example of this is in the section of the third volume of the main medical text which contains five chapters which discuss sickness arising through the harmful activity of five classes of spirits: elemental spirits (byung gdon), spirits which cause madness (smyo gdon), spirits causing epilepsy (brjed byed), spirits causing stroke (gza’ gdon) and leprosy (klu gdon). The diseases described in these five chapters cannot be cured by standard medicine alone; specific kinds of ritual must also be performed and these are listed in the text. In the main medical text these rituals are not described in detail, this subject is dealt with in medical commentaries and ritual texts. This paper will begin by presenting a general discussion of the use of ritual in healing in the Tibetan tradition and then it will focus specifically on discussions about this topic in the chapter on sickness caused by Klu spirits in the medical commentary of the Bon lama and scholar Khyung sprul ’Jig med Nam-mkha’i rDo rje. The paper will also present translations of sections of his biography which describe him performing these kinds of ritual. Geshe Nyima Woser Choekhorsthang (Charles University, Prague) Ponlob Tsangpa Tenzin (Triten Norbutse Monastery, Kathmandu, Nepal) 16. Social Political, Economic, and Environmental Change Amidst Development in Tibetan Areas Delphine Lentz (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales; UTM II Toulouse),Territory, Gender, Development in Kham, an ‘Ecumenal’ Question for a Global Stake: the ‘Mediance’ of Water The right to access natural resources is one of the major stakes for societies. Water, because of its vital nature, comes first. In the case of water, the issue is not only ecological, economical and spatial but also ecosymbolic and ethical. Territoriality of water management implies thinking locally as well as globally, and taking into account the multidimensional and transverse features of an issue. In other words, it requires complex thinking, as proposed by Edgar Morin. The region of Kham has several major rivers. The province was formerly inhabited by farmers and nomads. Prior to 1950, water was managed locally with few or no plans. With Chinese policy on the one hand, and the market economy on the other hand, new values have been introduced into the province.

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Modern development projects question the ecumene (relationship of humankind with the stretch of the earth) of the population. In Kham, water is indivisible from the cosmogony which creates territory and sense. What are, beyond the ecological and spatial stakes, the cultural and symbolical implications for inhabitants? The multitude of implications can be grasped by mobilizing the ecumene proposed by Augustin Berque. Works of this author allow us to consider the transformations that occurred in the relationship between territory participants and water, considering the element/resource in its multidimensionality as the ecumene is both ‘subjective and objective, physical and phenomenal, ecological and symbolical’ (BERQUE A., 1990) Jan Magnusson (Lund University), Planned Social Change at Bylakuppe, the First Tibetan Refugee Settlement in India in 1960's My intention is to present a paper based on the Swiss files in the old archives of Lugsum Samdupling. It will primarily investigate why the proposed project of pumping water from the river Cauvery to increase the yield from one to perhaps three harvests a year, thus increasing the sustainability of the settlement, was turned down by the refugees. I have accessed and scanned the old archives of Lugsum Samdupling, including files from the 1960’s dealing entirely with the Swiss advisors from Swiss Technical Cooperation. Melvyn C. Goldstein (Case Western Reserve University) and Ben Jiao (Tibet Academy of Social Sciences), Development and Change in a Pastoral Nomadic Community in Western Tibet The paper examines two contradictory patterns of development in a nomadic community in rural Tibet. One is oriented to socialist ideology and the other to modern scientific development. The paper examines how the nomadw have adapted to both of these to maintain, for the present, in essence their traditional way of life. Luorong zhan dui (China Tibetology Research Center), The Reaction of Tibetan Household to the Change of Ecological Environment and Social Environment—Based on the Study of Change the Quantity and Structure of Household’s Livestock Elisa Cencetti (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales), Tibetan Plateau Grassland Protection: Tibetan Herders’ Ecological Conception Versus State Policies

Since 2002, the establishment of one of China’s largest ecological protection projects,the “Three Rivers’ Sources Nature Reserve”, which aims to solve the problem of grassland degradation, has had a major impact on the lives of Tibetan nomadic herders. My paper is related to grassland ecological problems, but is focused on the ecological point of view of the Tibetan herders. Their conception of grassland protection and their ecological strategies to solve grazing problems will be examined in my paper. Finally, the issue of Tibetan herders’ sedentarization will be briefly discussed from a historical perspective. This paper is based on a long period of fieldwork in Amdo (February 2009 to December 2009) as part of my Phd research on the resettlement of nomadsin new villages and the sociopolitical transformation of Tibetan clans.

During the last three decades, the grasslands of theTibetan Plateauhave been affected by a process of

gradual soil degradation and vegetation impoverishment whichhas led to increasing grazing problems and to serious flooding in eastern provinces of the P.R.C..According to Chinese authorities, the establishment ofthe Nature Reserve has the manifest target of protecting the grasslands as well as the sources of the three most important Chinese rivers – Yellow River, Yangtse and Mekong.

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Grazing bans and flock reduction are two recurring measures in this ecological protection project. As a result, Tibetan herders are sometimes obliged or “invited” to move from the grasslands and to settle down in new villages built for them. This formula takes the name of “ecological migration”. The displacement and resettlementare also related to state aims to bolster security through surveillance and control. Moreover, resettlement into a sedentary lifestyle is synonymous, in the Chinese authorities’ view, with socioeconomic and educational development.

In this complex context, ecological policies and strategies are combined with political issues. To provide

an alternative reading to the existing expert analyses of ecological problems and state reports on grasslands and grazing problems, my paper focus on what Tibetan herders, resettled in new villages, think about these topics. I will reveal the indigenous perspective on questions such as when and why grazing problems and grassland degradation started.

Tibetan herders, resettled in the new villages, judge that degradation problems have exponentially

increasedover the pastfew decades,but propose alternative solutions tothe state’s ecological policies. The strategies proposed by resettled Tibetan herders show a high degree of consciousness of and active concern over grasslands problems – despite state discourse to the contrary – and hold alternatives strategies to dealing with grassland degradation.

Finally, I will argue that the new resettlementvillages are just the latest step in a longer process of

sedentarization, which started in the 1980s. Recent academic papers present settlement policies as exclusively related to the construction of these new villages for Tibetan herders. However, according to the resettled herders, the settling of Tibetan herders is not a recent step in P.R.C. agenda, but started in the early 1980s with the grasslands fencing policy.Therefore, from an historical perspective, the new villages are only one step in themove towards sedentarization of Tibetan nomads. Tashi Nyima (University of Oslo), The Social Construction of Sanjiangyuan: An analysis of China’s Sustainable Development Discourse in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Ten years on since the campaign to ‘Open up the West’ was first launched in 2000, the protection of the grassland ecology has become, at least in policy rhetoric, a key issue in the government’s development drive in the Sanjiangyuan area, including Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. In this paper, I examine the implementation of development policies in Yushu, and the construction of Sanjiangyuan as a national-level (Chinese: guojiaji) nature reserve. Furthermore, I discuss the current problems and challenges in addressing the dual goals of environmental protection and socio-economic development, with a particular focus on the ‘Rangeland to Grassland’ (Chinese: tuimuhuancao) campaign - a policy that entails the resettlement of several hundred thousand pastoralists in the region. In the paper, I argue firstly that this policy is founded on the construction of Sanjiangyuan as a ‘threatened’ or ‘degraded’ area, and pastoralists in Sanjiangyuan as ‘backward’ and ‘unskilled or uneducated’ people. Secondly, I argue that socio-economic development coupled with environmental protection - the stated policy goal set by the Central Government - has become problematic due to its implementation by local officials who fail to engage with the pastoralists; address their concerns, utilize their traditional knowledge or take their long-term interests into consideration. Pastoralists, on the other hand, due to lack of knowledge in Chinese, Chinese state bureaucracy and law, are unable to take their grievances beyond the prefecture administration. Finally, I conclude with an array of implications resulted from the way sustainable development has been conceptualized in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

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Ten years on since the campaign to ‘Open up the West’ was first launched in 2000, the protection of the grassland ecology has become, at least in policy rhetoric, a key issue in the government’s development drive in the Sanjiangyuan area, including Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. In this paper, I examine the implementation of development policies in Yushu, and the construction of Sanjiangyuan as a national-level (Chinese: guojiaji) nature reserve. Furthermore, I discuss the current problems and challenges in addressing the dual goals of environmental protection and socio-economic development, with a particular focus on the ‘Rangeland to Grassland’ (Chinese: tuimuhuancao) campaign - a policy that entails the resettlement of several hundred thousand pastoralists in the region. In the paper, I argue firstly that this policy is founded on the construction of Sanjiangyuan as a ‘threatened’ or ‘degraded’ area, and pastoralists in Sanjiangyuan as ‘backward’ and ‘unskilled or uneducated’ people. Secondly, I argue that socio-economic development coupled with environmental protection - the stated policy goal set by the Central Government - has become problematic due to its implementation by local officials who fail to engage with the pastoralists; address their concerns, utilize their traditional knowledge or take their long-term interests into consideration. Pastoralists, on the other hand, due to lack of knowledge in Chinese, Chinese state bureaucracy and law, are unable to take their grievances beyond the prefecture administration. Finally, I conclude with an array of implications resulted from the way sustainable development has been conceptualized in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Jun Xu (Sichuan University), Research on Resettlement of Nomads in Qinghai Province Ciren Yangzon (Tsering Yangzom)(Tibet University),Research in Pastoral Areas of Women’s Ggender Role and Consciousness This paper is a case study base on the social gender theory and filed research work, gender consciousness of the married women atChild-bearing age in Nima village, Nirong County of Naqu District, by analyzing their share of family responsibility and household decision making, their expectation for children, their participation in villagers self governance, and their awareness and competence of reproduction health. It is pointed out that the construction of modern social gender consciousness needs joint efforts together from society, family and women themselves. Attention should also be paid to the educational function in nomad’s customs and culture. Thierry Dodin (University Bonn), The Geometry of Development in Today’s Tibet The paper drafts a general appraisal of our stand of knowledge (or the lack of it) about and understanding of development in Tibet. On this basis, it also attempts at providing a preliminary balance sheet of development on the Tibetan Plateau. The issue is addressed from three different perspectives:

1. Analysis of the divergent narratives about development in Tibetan areas of the PRC. Analysis of the official plans drafted by the Chinese authorities to develop the Tibetan Plateau as well as of some of the existing alternative plans (for instance those drafted in Dharamsala or by NGOs). What are their underlying normative frames, assumptions, concepts and their declared or implied long term objectives? Where do they overlap (if at all)? Where are there irreconcilable contradictions?

2. Analysis of the available empirical data about the progress of the development effort in Tibet. What do they reveal, what not? On the background of our knowledge of contemporary Tibetan society and culture, to which extent can quantitative data (from statistics, etc.) and qualitative data (from fieldwork, testimonies etc.) be seen as valid in mapping the state of development in Tibet? To which

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extent do the data confirm the success of official plans (i.e. did official plans reached their declared aims?) or the failures predicted by their critics?

Comparison of development concepts and development plans in other regions of the world which can be regarded as underlying conditions comparable to those existing on the Tibetan Plateau. Which parallels can be drawn? What lessons can be taken? To which extent is “success” measurable at all? Andrew M. Fischer (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Educating for Exclusion in Tibet: the conflictive repercussions of rapid social and economic change This paper examines the conflictive repercussions of various exclusionary processes occurring within the rapid economic growth and social change in the Tibetan areas of western China, with a focus on Qinghai Province and the Tibet Autonomous Region. It argues that educational drives implemented within segregated and assimilationist modalities of minority education provisioning, in combination with the implementation of competitive labour market reforms, which include the scaling back of affirmative employment policies, have created perverse synergies of exclusion and discontent despite rapid economic growth and moderate educational improvements. Breaking down these aspects further, on the educational side, an additional consideration is the stagnation of educational outcomes, such illiteracy rates or quality of educational attainments, despite relatively successful state-sponsored efforts to raise educational outputs, such as enrolment or completion rates. On the employment side, sectors of employment that offer greater potential for upward mobility are of particular concern, such as urban salaried employment, given that these are the sectors most targeted by graduates from the secondary level and above. In combination, the implementation of competitive labour market reforms within a context of severe educational inequalities has accentuated exclusionary dynamics along linguistic, cultural and political modes of bias despite rapid (albeit urban-centred) economic growth and increasing school enrolments since the mid-1990s. Notably, these modes of bias operate not only at lower strata of the labour hierarchy but also at upper strata. This forces us to rethink our standard ways of conceiving exclusion and marginalisation in both Tibet studies and development studies given that these are usually treated as more or less synonymous with poverty, thereby overlooking exclusionary processes that occur among the non-poor and relatively elite, or else that intensify with movements out of poverty. The resultant ethnically-exclusionary dynamics, particularly in upper strata, offer important insights into recent conflictive tensions in the region. They also reflect more broadly on the social policy paradox between the need to address special needs and yet the difficulties of doing so within systems that institutionally discriminate and segment. Geoff Childs (Washington University, St. Louis), An Entrepreneurial Transition? Development, Job Skills, and Economic Mobility in Rural Tibet China’s emphasis on rapidly developing the Tibet Autonomous Region has opened new possibilities for rural Tibetans to improve their standard of living. Nowadays most households send at least one adult member to engage in seasonal wage labor migration, a phenomenon referred to as “going for income” (yongbab la dro). Data collected by the authors from 2006-2009 through surveys, interviews, and participant observation in three villages of Shigatse Prefecture is used to illustrate ways in which villagers are acquiring new skills in an attempt to move up the employment scale and increase their incomes. We find an increasing emphasis on training young men to be carpenters, masons, and painters so they can earn more than manual laborers. Others are taking large loans to purchase vehicles that they drive to distant construction sites. Still others are becoming contractors by buying multiple vehicles, retaining a group of local laborers, and applying for

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government construction contracts. Because China has just announced that economic development will not only continue to be the centerpiece of its Tibet policy, but will increase in scale during the next five-year plan, we argue that the processes documented from 2006-2009 represent a nascent phase of an entrepreneurial transition in rural Tibet that is likely to intensify in the future. Gabriel Lafitte (Independent Scholar), Climate Change in Tibet and the New Generation of Tibetan Environmental Scientists Exile has produced a cohort of professionals in a wide range of disciplines essential to modernity, including the many sciences necessary for meaningful Tibetan participation in global debates about climate change. Diasporic Tibetan professionals seek opportunity to be recognised as stakeholders in the ongoing round of earth negotiations for future planetary sustainability. With a characteristically Tibetan emphasis on solutions as well as problematiques, these Tibetans embody a recuperation of Tibetan agency in the world, making up for the indifference of earlier generations towards modernity, with historically catastrophic consequences. How educated Tibetans exercise agency in complex intergovernmental forums, is told in an ethnography of the Copenhagen Conference of the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2009. Christina Michelle Kleisath (University of Washington), The Race to Develop: Power and Racial Construction in the Growing NGO Movement on the Tibetan Plateau Over the course of the past century, Tibet has emerged as a central ground upon which countless stakeholders continue to struggle over issues of power, representation and identity. In the past decade, in the eastern Tibetan region of Amdo, transnational development practitioners have emerged as one of these stakeholders. Since the late 1990s, this area of immense poverty and strikingly low literacy rates has seen an unprecedented rise in transnational nongovernmental activity, with millions of foreign dollars commanded by a growing number of small transnationally partnered organizations. With projects ranging in focus from education, health care, and infrastructure to cultural preservation, the powerful impact of these organizations is clear. From the perspective of an anthropologist who participated in this movement while living and working in the development world of eastern Tibet since 2003, this paper explores how power is constructed, manifested, and maintained in these organizations, and what this NGO movement might be able to tell us about Tibet’s future. This paper explores how the tools shaped by critical race theorists can be used to understand the burgeoning transnational development movement on the Tibetan plateau. Contextualized in the historical and political forces that have shaped the region, it investigates how race influences the form and function of transnational NGOs. In understanding how various stakeholders in these organizations get configured by, understand, and respond to the various racial constructions at play in transnational development cooperation, this project endeavors to reveal new pathways by which transnational partnerships can best serve the needs of Tibetan communities. Anna Morcom (Royal Holloway College, London University), Consumption, Class and ‘Progress’: Performing Arts in the Socialist Market Economy of Tibet With the increasing opening of the economy, a culture based on consumption has developed in the PRC. This has emerged in Tibetan areas most markedly in the 21st century, as state-sponsored development drives have generated wealth. This era has also seen marked socio-economic stratification with rising disparity. In this

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paper, I address issues of culture and class amidst these radical changes in Tibet, and reflect on how Tibet’s status as a ‘socialist market economy’ manifests at the level of culture. I argue that with (state-sponsored) economic development, overarching hierarchies of culture have emerged that are unprecedented in Tibetan society, as consumers are able to make choices that mark their class and class aspirations (Bourdieu 1986). Furthermore, as the production of music operates in an increasingly capitalised market-based system (both legitimate and pirate), class-based issues of access and representation can be seen operating in the new musical culture of nightclubs, recorded music, summer festivals and television as much or more than political ones. In this new socio-economic climate, critiques of market-based culture grounded in (neo-)Marxist perspectives have become highly salient in many ways. However, ironically, cultural consumption that marks class status in contemporary Tibetan culture can in fact be seen as having appropriated or grown out of aspects of the heavily developmentalist cultural and social agenda of the socialist period, where culture was rigorously ‘developed’, ‘raising standards’ from the ‘backwardness’ of the old society, and new cultural forms were created that signified ‘progress’. The intense drive to ‘progress’ of the socialist period continues unabated in economically-booming Tibet albeit conceived in different ways, and developmentalist culture and discourse created by the state in the socialist period has been given a new lease of life in the context of the social mobility and aspiration that economic development has brought. 17. Amdo Local History Jane Caple (University of Leeds),Monastic Transitions to Self-Sufficiency: Towards an Understanding of Contemporary Monasticism in Amdo This paper looks at the transition towards ‘self sufficiency’ in Gelukpa monasteries in Amdo since the re-opening of monasteries in the early 1980s. A shift to self-sufficiency is part of CCP policy and has also entered Tibetan intellectual discourse on the need for monastic reforms. While Kapstein, Hartley and Robin have analysed social critiques of the position of lamas and monasticism in Tibetan society, there has been little study of what changes have been made inside monasteries, within what contexts, and how monks understand and present these changes. Of the few empirical studies of the revival of Gelukpa monasticism (e.g by Goldstein, Cairangjia, Mei, Slobodnik, Makley) only the first two provide detailed studies of monastic economies. They are based on 1990s data and therefore shed no light on what has been happening over the last decade, during which there has been a significant but un-remarked dual trend towards increasing material wealth and a decline in numbers of monks. Moreover, these studies deal only with major monastic universities (Drepung and Labrang). Yet the Tibetan monastery is not a monolithic entity and there is considerable diversity amongst different institutions. The monasteries from which I present my findings include larger dialectical monasteries and smaller branch monasteries (dgon lags and sgrub sde),enabling analysis of patterns and difference, as well as improving our understanding of the relationship of monasteries to each other in the overall re-forming of the web of monasticism in Amdo and beyond. Drawing on original Tibetan and Chinese oral and written sources gathered during fieldwork in Amdo (2009-2010), I argue that monks do not present internal monastic economic reforms as simply a reluctant response to state policies. Their narrativesplace agency within the monastic community, regardless of whether a particular change is viewed as positive or negative - although it is noticeable thattourism development is

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treated differently due to the direct involvement of state agencies. Reforms are often presented in practical terms, reflecting aspirations and anxieties arising from not only political, but also socio-economic transformations within the monastery and society. It is not surprising that the impetus and authority for reform is not placed in the state. More strikingly, some narratives show a distancing from the authority of local sprul sku. Not uncommonly (and not always uncritically), agency is placed in a ‘younger generation’ of monks, whose inspiration is in India and is legitimised through the displaced authority of the Dalai Lama and three major monastic universities recreated in exile. Although, on the surface, the rhetoric employed by some monks to explain or advocate for monastic reforms echoes state discourses on self-sufficiency, this rhetoric is used in the service of an ultimately different ideal and framed to varying degrees in terms of the benefit to their monastery, nationality, and religion. Even where there is a privileging of Tibetan nationality, final legitimacy is placed in serving religion, therebylocatingpractices (and ideas) in a normative framework that is acceptable and meaningful to the individual in his position as a monk. Hortsang Jigme (Independent Scholar) Norbu Drolma(Independent Scholar),The Cultural Value of Religious Rituals at Kokonor This paper discusses the cultural value of religious rituals held at Kokonor Lake, including offerings, sacrificial ceremonies, and circumambulations around the lake. In the study of the development of religions, worship of mountain gods and water deities is considered to be consistent with the characteristics of ancient religions. Sharing this kind of animistic background, Tibetans consider Kokonor as a holy lake; they believe sacred naga water deities inhabit the lake and worship them. The people who live nearby Kokonor annually hold a series of ritual activities at the lake. This paper will draw on ancient Chinese sources, Tibetan historical records, and field notes in discussing and analyzing these rituals. The paper will first introduce offering ceremonies at the lake, including the origins and characteristics of the ritual. Second, the paper will discuss and the ritual of sacrifice. According to Tibetan Buddhism, it is necessary to offer different special offering substances at particular times. These substances have different functions for different nagas. The third section of the paper will discuss the ritual of circumambulatingKokonor. Lastly, this paper will focus on the cultural value of thereligious rituals held at Kokonor. Nicole Willock(Indiana University, Bloomington), Map is not Territory: Catalogue of Dentik Monastery, Written in 1956 Tshe tan Zhabs drung ‘Jigs med rig pa’i blo gros wrote this important local history for the first time in 1956. The content of this work not only enriches our understanding of this important monastery, where Dgongs pa rab gsal received his ordination vows and began the so-called second dissemination of Tibetan Buddhism, but also stakes claims on this territory as being distinctly Tibetan. Tshe tan Zhabs drung’s orientation and reliance on Tibetan Buddhist history while writing this work in the mid 1950s shows how Tibetan narratives shaped the religious landscape of Amdo. Now that the borders of Qinghai and the Hualong Hui Autonomous County are well defined, this work reminds us that maps are not territory; and that local history is often contested ground.

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Caidan Duojie (Qinghai Provincial Party School) 18. Society and Community Raissa Graumans (University of Saskatchewan),The Charismatic Tulku: Weberian Theory in Tibetan Buddhist Contexts

The people, philosophies, and traditions of Tibet have long since captivated both the attention and imagination of the world. In the social sciences significant work has been done on various sociological, psychological and anthropological dimensions of Tibetan culture. In this paper the work of one specific sociologist, Max Weber (Max Weber on Charisma and Institution Building, University of Chicago Press,1968), will be used to orient a discussion and evaluation of his theory of charisma in the Tibetan Buddhist context. More specifically, Weber’s notion of charisma will be situated within the tulku system of reincarnated lamas, which, having originated in the twelfth century, continues to exert significant influence in all areas of Tibetan society. The theoretical sociology of Weber assumes that charisma inevitably becomes routinized and thus replaced by more stable (i.e. traditional or rational) forms of legitimate authority (Weber, 1968). However, the tulku system of Tibetan Buddhism (as demonstrated in the works and lives of many lamas including those considered here: Chögyam Trungpa, the XIVth Dalai Lama and the XVIIth Karmapa) challenges this assertion, suggesting instead that within the Tibetan context, charisma is a cultivatable social phenomenon maintained most effectively through its confirmation of a Buddhist worldview and its institutionalization in the tulku system of reincarnated lamas.

Max Weber (1864-1920) developed his notion of charisma in relation to authority (predominantly

political) and religion, two elements also central to the tulku system of Tibet. For Weber, charisma is the certain quality of an individual personality by virtue of which he is set apart from ordinary men and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or a least specifically exceptional powers or qualities. These are such as are not accessible to the ordinary person, but are regarded as of divine origin or as exemplary, and on the basis of them the individual concerned is treated as a leader. (1968, p.48) By avoiding the specifics of this ‘certain quality’, Weber opts instead to present a “value-neutral” (1968) portrait of charismatic legitimization and authority. Nonetheless, it is clear that on the basis of this particular ‘quality’, charismatic individuals become the objects of great attention, affection and devotion. The four major areas used to develop Weber’s (1968) views include: the charismatic persona, the charismatic mission, charismatic authority and the routinization of charisma.

In terms of ‘persona’, Weber strongly associates charisma with the revolutionary rallying spirit of kings (1968). In the Buddhist framework, the reincarnated tulku as charismatic king does indeed maintain a powerful position of leadership amidst a version of what Weber describes as a ‘chronic state of war’. However, rather than inflating his personal status, he equalizes notions of exclusivity and maintains a strong reverence for the past.

According to Weber, the charismatic mission involves “a subjective or internal reorientation born out

of suffering, conflicts, or enthusiasm”(1968, p.53) that result in changes in attitude and action. This corresponds to the tulku’s mission in Buddhism where renouncement informed by the concepts of karma,

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interdependence & impermanence is used to counter ignorance, recognize pervasive suffering, and inspire altruism.

The three types of authority outlined by Weber (1968) include the rational, traditional and charismatic,

all three of which are displayed in the tulku system. Legitimization via lineage and personal qualities support Weber’s definition, though the open and non-proselytizing approach of the tulku, in addition to the Tibetan system’s emphasis on karma, mutual respect, and impermanence, contradict Weber’s position.

In regards to routinization, Weber’s fundamental claim is that charismatic authority is inherently

unstable and cannot effectively operate as a sustainable form of leadership. Thus, in Weber’s estimation, economic and wider social pressures lead charisma, originally an inspired, anti-establishment phenomena, to become routinized into permanent traditional or rational-legal institutions which are devoid of any charismatic quality. This, too, is contradicted in the Tibetan case given that as an institutional consequence of the wholesale appropriation of Buddhism into Tibet, the charismatic element of the tulku system has been successfully routinized on a large-scale, long-term institutional level. The charismatic qualities of any number of tulkus remain key to their success as respected spiritual and secular leaders.

The role and function of the Buddhist monastery in Tibetan society is difficult to underestimate. The

extensive and unbroken history of the monastic institution, the vast numbers of participating monks and nuns, and the inextricable socio-cultural, political and economic embeddedness of the monastery render it an institution of incomparable importance. The biographical and autobiographical sources used in this research demonstrate that in the Tibetan Buddhist cultural context charisma is a cultivatable social phenomenon. Charisma is institutionalized through the tulku system of reincarnated lamas and is effectively maintained by its reliance upon, and reaffirmation of, the Buddhist worldview and the key principles of karma, interdependence and impermanence. The degree to which Buddhism is integrated into the Tibetan cultural world creates an instance where charismatic authority becomes legitimized simultaneously in both spiritual and secular realms. Thus, a distinctive mode of charismatic leadership is successfully maintained through the institutionalization of cyclic rebirth. And despite Weber’s postulations, instead of devolving into a rigid system based on objective rationalism or rote traditionalism, charisma in the Tibetan context is cyclically regenerated, with each successive tulku reinvigorating this longstanding Buddhist society. Miaoyan Yang (University of Hong Kong),Reflecting researcher’s identity in Tibetan Studies: Perspectives from Tibetan studies researchers in China and Western countries The paper examines the influence of Tibetan studies researchers’ identity in getting access, conducting research, and interpreting data and how they negotiate the influence in process. The methods of in-depth individual interview and literature analysis are employed to elicit broader concepts. Tibetan studies researchers from China and Western countries, including both Tibetans and non-Tibetans are interviewed. The paper posits that researcher’s identity as “Chinese” and “Westerners”, “Tibetans” and “non-Tibetans” influences the accessibility, data collection and data interpretation, etc. Tibetan scholars are able to get detailed information more easily and more conveniently; whereas, non-Tibetan scholars usually meet the problems of getting access, getting “real” information when they first enter the field sites. The Western scholars, although most of them don’t speak or understand Tibetan languages and claim the difficulties in conducting research, they enjoy greater academic freedom in interpreting and presenting the data. The Chinese scholars, including Tibetans and non-Tibetans are more careful and conservative in interpreting and

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presenting the data. The paper perceives reflectivity of scholarly research: most the interviewees are conscious of their identity in spot and try to minimum the influence, although in a different way. Wuqi Chenaktsang (University of Helsinki),Tibetan Kinship Terms in Amdo The aim of this article is to examine unstable and changeable signifiers of Tibetan kinship terms used by Tibetans in Amdo. It is true that we cannot find a logical explanation for why there are so many interchangeable kinship terms in the local context, but we still can trace the origin of many kinship terms if we carefully examine them historically and culturally. It is true that meanings are stable in a particular place and time. In Amdo, kinship terms have confused many locals and non-locals alike. The information in this article may help researchers and others to gain clear picture of kinship terms in Amdo when they do fieldwork or just talk with Tibetans in Amdo. This article focuses more on spoken or day-to-day language rather than on written language. A cultural relativist framework was used to direct the research.

19. Power and Resistance in Tibetan Borderlands Dibyesh Anand (University of Westminster), Evolving Geopolitics and China-India Relations The panel aims to bring together scholars from different disciplines including anthropology, political science, cultural studies, development, history, international relations, and religious studies, in a conversation on Borders and Borderlands. How do borders get defined through a shifting dynamics of geopolitics, nation state-building and local politics? How are contemporary Tibetan cultures and lives on the Himalayan borderlands affected by the domestic and international relations of China and India? How did a contact zone of cultures transform into a border zone of separate states? How have socio-economic-culture lives evolved across the closed boundary? In Tibetan areas outside the TAR in other provinces of the People's Republic of China, what are the main sources of accommodation and tension? Do changes there imply the uselessness of historical categories of 'Inner' and 'Outer' Tibet? Can there be an anthropology of Tibetan Borderlands that does not reify and essentialise the 'Tibetan' identity or that ignores Tibetan-nonTibetan relations? How should the scholarship on Tibet make sense of 2008 protests? Does it have a significance for how the borders of Tibet get defined? Individual papers may be focused on specific historical, religious, social, cultural, economic or political issue affecting lives on the borderlands or they may be conceptual and theoretical takes on categories of borders, identity, culture, power or resistance, or a combination of both. The overall aim is to problematise and historicise the idea of borders while at the same time revealing the multiple ways in which the actual experience of life on the borders gets negotiated. The panel is open to participants with different levels of experience and welcomes young and old, new and experienced scholars. Jack Patrick Hayes (Norwich University), Authority, Trade and Violence on the Eastern Tibetan Frontier: Amdo-Khampa Trade Networks, Administration, and Intense Contact in Late Imperial and Early 20th Century China This research paper examines the economic, political and social links that tied late imperial and early 20th century Khampa to Amdo Tibetan areas on China’s western frontier and from there to wider networks of exchange. How and why has much academic research on Chinese frontier zones and their socio-economic interaction been marginalized? How have state-level conceptualizations of boundaries and political authority

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masked the dynamic interactions of these regions and their importance to wider trade networks? How did regional rebellions either disrupt or highlight the weaknesses of state authority and strength of regional economic and socio-ethnic networks? In much of the late imperial Chinese world, a number of social groups and the state tried their best to regulate and control exchanges of goods and travel. In frontier zones, especially the eastern Tibetan frontier of Khampa and Amdo regions, these administrative and economic controls often broke down in the face of local rebellions and over ethnic tensions. Despite an administrative and military presence, Chinese authorities had only nominal control of the economic and social networks of their interstate and internal frontier zones. As a zone of intense contact and nominal state authority, the Khampa and Amdo Tibetan regions and their economic and social interaction provide an excellent example of how complex and negotiated processes for intra-local, intra-regional trade and wider socio-economic linkages functioned. The paper will examine in particular the nature and scale of ethnic Han-Hui-Tibetan trade networks and their tensions on the eastern Tibetan frontier, functional loci of state and local authority, and the implications of several small and large-scale rebellions in the Amdo-Khampa region for these networks. By using these two areas as a focus of intense contact, negotiated economic, political and social transactions, this paper will examine how these regions were functionally linked, both to one another and the wider Chinese economy. It will also address how local and regional rebellions highlighted the relative strength of regional trade networks and population movement vis-à-vis wider Chinese networks of authority and trade. It will also examine the nature of ethnicity and ethnic tensions among local-state power brokers in these processes. Finally, this will allow for some discussion on themes of historical and academic marginalization of frontier regions in relation to state-centered discussions of market and authority networks, ethnicity, and local rebellions. Scott Relyea (University of Chicago) 20. Female Religious Practitioners Elisabeth Benard (University of Puget Sound), Born to Pracitce: Life of the Sakya Jetsunma—Jetsun Kushok Chime Luding Though the title of Jetsunma is found in all Tibetan Buddhist sects, in the Sakya Khon family, the Jetsunma title is reserved for daughters of the Khon family. In the case of the Sakya Jetsunmas, I argue that they are akin to the male-dominated prestigious recognized reincarnations or tulku and do not face the same prejudice that other women must confront or overcome. Prior to 1959, Jetsunmas were encouraged to remain nuns to pursue religious practice. The two prominent Khon families, the Dolma Phodrang and Phuntsok Phodrang, provided residences (labrang) reserved exclusively for the Jetsunmas to study, meditate and perform religious rituals. Everything was provided for them, including a residence, servants, food, and status. The present Jetsunma Chime Luding Rimpoche (born in 1935 and who lives in Richmond, BC, Canada), who is the older sister of the present Sakya Trizin, explains that the Khon family provided material support for their daughters. The two palaces kept the labrangs for future Jetsunmas. Thus everything, except a Jetsunma’s personal wealth was kept for future Jetsunmas. This has some similarity to a tulku’s residence and belongings kept for the next reincarnation. The Jetsunmas also were given equal opportunity to study with all the religious preceptors (lamas) with whom their brothers studied. The present Jetsunma Chimey Luding Rimpoche likes to emphasize

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that she received the same teachings and did the same retreats as her brother, the 41st Sakya Trizin when they were in Tibet. Receiving the same privileges as their brothers, the Jetsunmas did not have the same obligations or responsibilities. Their brothers, especially the oldest one, were expected to marry to produce a male heir; sometimes two brothers married one wife to ensure an heir. The male members had to study, were compelled to be knowledgeable about the significant Buddhist texts, and be proficient in required religious rituals. They had no choice. All of them were trained to be the next throne holder or Sakya Trizin although only one would inherit this position, either from his paternal uncle or his father. But the daughters of the family had no such obligations to serve the public. As various Jetsunmas have emphasized to me, “We were free.” They could study and practice religion or they could enjoy a more mundane life: it was their choice. Thus these Jetsunmas are a wonderful example of Tibetan women who were encouraged by their families and the society to be religious practitioners; and they were financially supported to pursue religious study.

I will examine briefly Jetsun Kushok Chime Luding’s life in the context of a Sakya Jetsunma.

Mary Alyson Prude (University of California, Santa Barbara),Why Women Cheat (Death) More Often than Men: A look at Gender through the Lens of the Delog

Literary-historical accounts of delog (‘das log), people who die and return to life, can be divided fairly equally between those who are male and those who are female. My recent fieldwork in eastern Tibet suggests that today, female delog outnumber male delog roughly three to one. I argue that in contemporary practice, “going delog” is a gendered phenomenon. Emic explanations regarding this question fall under three basic rubrics. The first invokes stereotypical psycho-ethical characteristics of women’s minds and behaviors. According to informants, women are calmer and more spiritually-inclined than men and, as a result, more ethical. As one informant stated, “Women are more sincere, spiritual, and pure. They… don’t usually commit the five major sins. Someone who commits one of these actions cannot be a delog. That is why delog are usually women and rarely men.” A second explanation invokes physiological differences between male and female bodies. According to Tantric theories of the subtle body, the channels (rtsa) in a woman’s body are more open than those in a man’s body. This greater openness makes it easier for a woman's consciousness to leave and then return to her body. From this point of view, since it is easier for women to engage in otherworldly travels, there are more female than male delog.

The third type of reason is functionalist and focuses on the purpose of a delog: a delog dies and

returns to life in order to relay messages to the living. Compared to some lamas who can rescue a consciousness from one of the lower realms and deliver it to a Pure Land, the delog plays a supporting, somewhat passive role. Simply a messenger, a delog isunable to aid those whose suffering she witnesses. According to some scholars, delog cannot even retrieve messages from the recently-deceased without the support (rgyab skyor) of a deity. It is the deity that controls the delog’s death, information-gathering, and return to life. One lama described the delog’s actions as appropriate for women, reflecting the gendered bifurcation of Buddhist doctrine wherein wisdom/emptiness is seen as female and method/means as male.

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In this way, the institution of delog serves as a window into Tibetan conceptions of what it means to be a man and a woman. In addition to the three emic explanations, my research suggests a fourth sociological rubric: the category of delog helps fill a gap in the number of religious vocations available to Tibetan Buddhist women. Whereas men can be lamas, oracles, clairvoyants, treasure-revealers, etc., women’s options are more limited. Since delog are not as highly-revered as reincarnate lamas and khandromas, delog is a role that women may assume without facing heavy censorship from the male-dominated monastic community, the final arbiters for questions of spiritual authority and authenticity. The fact that “going delog” is a gendered practice reveals how Buddhist doctrine can be used to justify gender roles and stereotypes and sheds light on the inseparability of religion and society in Tibetan culture. Padma’tsho (Southwest Nationalities University), The Roles of Nunneries in Contemporary Tibetan Communities in Kham This article is based on fieldwork conducted at two large nunneries in the region of Kham: Yachen Nunnery (Palyul city khromtha’ town)and Lharong Nunnery(Serda city Lharong town). Using a comparative methodology, I will analyze the variety of social and religious roles that nunneries play in contemporary Tibetan communities. Specifically, I will analyze the status and function of the two nunneries in relation to monks’ monasteries of similar size in the same region. The paper will investigate specific aspects of monastic life for women, including physical environment, education, discipline, ritual, and interactions with the surrounding lay community. I will compare the two nunneries model which are shas grwa and sgrub grwa located in Yachen and Lharong. The analysis of these two Khampa nunneries will be organized in four parts: (1) The origin of the nuns and nunneries, and the management systems that the nuns use to organize their monastic lives; (2) Their systems of education and practice; (3) The discipline and ritual that structure life in the nunneries; and (4) The status of the nunnery in its socio-economic interactions with the surrounding lay community. The objective of the study is to better understand how the two nunneries differ in their structures, how they are perceived and supported by their families and donors in their communities, and how they are likely to develop in future. Sarah Harding (Tsadra Foundation; Naropa University), Lady of Illusion: Seeking Niguma

Niguma was a Kashmiri woman who seems to have lived some time in the eleventh century. She is known as the main source of the teachings that became the core praxis of the Shangpa lineage, one of the "Eight Great Practice Lineages" of Tibet. Her numerous pithy works are found in some editions of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon. Yet much of Niguma's influence can be attributed to the spiritual visions of later Tibetan adepts. Even the founder of the Shangpa tradition, Khyungpo Naljor, was admittedly under the influence of either dream or vision during their encounters in the charnel grounds of India. He later wrote down all that he learned from her, and it is this that comprises her body of work. Can we find an actual woman there who is the subject of her own story? Or is she only the beautiful embodiment of the yogin's epiphanies; the feminine voice of his wisdom?

This paper attempts to find Niguma through research and analysis of the few known details of her life and teachings. It examines her brief biography and other lineage stories, which are translated in the paper, as well as the various yogic visionary accounts. Niguma's birthplace, time, teachers, and relatives are all illusive, yet provide tantalizing hints. I will dispel the western insistence that she was the consort of the great Naropa, who is clearly identified as her brother in all Tibetan accounts. Then I'll explore those qualities that identify her and others like her as "dakinis of timeless awareness," such as the ability to receive instructions directly

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from Buddha Vajradhara, to manifest the rainbow body, and to dwell on the pure spiritual levels. Using Niguma as an example, this paper pursues the mystery of the Tibetan lore of the dakini and the so-called feminine principle in Tibetan Buddhism.

Finally, I will provide examples of what might be Niguma's own voice, including one or two short translations of her teachings. This paper will ultimately form part of the introduction to a book of Niguma's collected works in translation. The main, and only, treatise attributed to her is called "Stages in the Path of Illusion." This theme—illusion (maya)—is the one thread that runs through everything that Niguma said and everything that we know about her, and is the consistent thesis of this paper. Karma Lekshe Tsomo (University of San Diego), Awakenings: Educating Tibetan Buddhist Nuns In the traditional Tibet, women rarely emerged as leaders in religious, social, and political life. The system of religious education found in the major Buddhist monastic universities of Tibet, which produced highly qualified scholars, teachers, and practitioners for centuries, was rarely available to women. Recently, however, new educational opportunities have begun to open up new pathways for women in both secular and religious life. Over the last 20 years, attempts have been made to promote greater gender equity in religious education and the traditional system of religious education that was previously accessible only to monks has been introduced in a limited number of monasteries for women throughout the Himalayan region. The result has been a marked increase in the number of female religious specialists and a major change in perceptions of Buddhist women’s potential. This paper will explore the changes that have occurred for Tibetan Buddhist women in recent years and the challenges that nuns continue to face in their pursuit of Dharma. First, I will summarize the institutions and educational programs that have been established for Buddhist women since 1959 in India and Nepal. Second, I will examine the curricula of these institutions and programs from both pedagogical and sociological perspectives. Third, I will explore the ramifications of these institutions and programs for future generations of Buddhist women in Tibet and the Tibetan diaspora. In the traditional Tibet, women rarely emerged as leaders in religious, social, and political life. The system of religious education found in the major Buddhist monastic universities of Tibet, which produced highly qualified scholars, teachers, and practitioners for centuries, was rarely available to women. Recently, however, new educational opportunities have begun to open up new pathways for women in both secular and religious life. Over the last 20 years, attempts have been made to promote greater gender equity in religious education and the traditional system of religious education that was previously accessible only to monks has been introduced in a limited number of monasteries for women throughout the Himalayan region. The result has been a marked increase in the number of female religious specialists and a major change in perceptions of Buddhist women’s potential. This paper will explore the changes that have occurred for Tibetan Buddhist women in recent years and the challenges that nuns continue to face in their pursuit of Dharma. First, I will summarize the institutions and educational programs that have been established for Buddhist women since 1959 in India and Nepal. Second, I will examine the curricula of these institutions and programs from both pedagogical and sociological perspectives. Third, I will explore the ramifications of these institutions and programs for future generations of Buddhist women in Tibet and the Tibetan diaspora. 21. The Jo nang pa: Narrative, Transmission, and Tradition Reconsidered

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Michael Sheehy (Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center), Revealing the Gsang ba’I ye shes: Reflections on the Autobiography of the Female Jo nang pa Adept Rje btsun ma ‘Phrin las dbang mo (c. 1585-c.1668) Presenting on personal reflections and tensions revealed in a rare autobiography of the 17th century female Jo nang pa adept ‘Phrin las dbang mo, a disciple and consort of Tā ra nā tha (1575-1635) and one of the major figures in the Jo nang transmission lineage of gzhan stong. Zoran Lazovic (University of California, Santa Barbara), Kun dga’ grol mchog’s the Jo nang khrid brgya: An Anthology of Buddhist Practice Instructions

This paper is a study of the 16th century anthology of Buddhist practice instructions known as the Zab khrid brgya dang brgyad kyi yi ge (Jo nang khrid brgya) or the One Hundred and EightProfound Instructions. The anthology was authored by a renowned Tibetan scholar-saint Kun dga’ grol mchog (1507-1565/66), whose writings attracted the attention of modern scholars as an important source for the history of Buddhist ideas. The main characteristics of Kun dga’ grol mchog’s approach in composing the Jo nang khrid brgya are: 1. the gathering of materials from a wide variety of Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna traditions; 2. the inclusion of the most distinctive and renowned instructions together with less known materials regardless of their institutional background; 3. the condensing of the great systems of Buddhist teachings in the form of pith practice instructions. Comparison of Kun dga’ grol mchog’s text with Indian and Tibetan antecedents highlights the unique features of his work and helps to explain its influence on the development of the 19th century ris med movement.

There are some anthologies predating Kun dga’ grol mchog's work such as Vajrāvalī and Niṣpannayogāvalī authored by Mahāpaṇḍita Abhayākaragupta of Vikramaśīla monastery in the late 11th or early 12th century. In these works Abhayākaragupta systematized the ritual usage and iconographic presentation of Buddhist deities and their maṇḍalas. Although these collections include visualization procedures, they were (and still are) used as art manuals, not as meditation manuals. Furthermore, Kun dga' grol mchog did not attempt to systematize or amalgamate instructions, but to preserve their most distinctive characteristics.

More akin in method to Kun dga’ grol mchog’s approach is a 12th century Indian collection of sādhanas called Sādhanamālā. Since each sādhana provides clear visualization instructions, this collection may be considered as a predecessor of the Jo nang khrid brgya. However, Kun dga' grol mchog's focus was not merely on the generation phase of tantric practices (as presented in these sādhanas), but on the inclusion of a much larger variety of Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna instructions. While the unknown compiler of the Sādhanamālā did not give the origin of the sādhanas, Kun dga’ grol mchog emphasized the unique lineage of each of the practices. He meticulously recorded the sources of instructions thus preserving even the lesser known and perhaps vanishing traditions. Similar to the Sādhanamālā in its scope and composition is the 13th century Tibetan collection called Sgrub thabs brgya rtsa (The Hundred Sādhanas) compiled by a Snar thang scholar Mchims Nam mkha' grags pa (1210-1267/1285). Its comparison with the Jo nang khrid brgya therefore yields to similar conclusions.

Another Tibetan anthology predating Kun dga’ grol mchog’s work is the Blo sbyong glegs bam

(Volume on Mind Training) by Mus chen Dkon chog rgyal mtshan (1388-1469) and Gzhon nu rgyal mchog (n.d.). Blo sbyong glegs bam is a collection of mostly exoteric Mahāyāna instructions on mind training (blo sbyong) originating from the Bka’ gdams and Sa skya traditions. In contrast to the authors of Blo sbyong

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glegs bam, Kun dga’ grol mchog gathered teachings from a manifold of major and minor lineages and condensed each of the complex instructions to their most essential features.

Situating Jo nang khrid brgya within the history of Buddhist anthologies reveals the unique

characteristics of this text. The organizing principle of the entire work was arranging distinctive methods for accomplishing the Buddhist path without privileging any of them. It isevident that Kun dga' grol mchog's deepest concern was the preservation and dissemination of a wide variety of essential practice instructions, regardless of their political or institutional support. His simple yet comprehensive method served to displace entrenched sectarian identities and prejudices that formed the prevailing cultural pattern in his time. In addition, Kun dga' grol mchog emphasized his own trans-sectarian identity in the text Kun dga' grol mchog gi rnam thar yal 'dab bcu gnyis recalling his former rebirths as a luminary of many divergent Indian and Tibetan traditions.

Kun dga' grol mchog’s approach, which upheld the entirety of Buddhist practices as

equally authentic methods on the path has become particularly influential during the 19th century "Non-Sectarian" (ris med) movement. The leaders of the movement perceived his life and works as the paradigm for their own approach. 'Jam mgon kong sprul blo gros mtha' yas (1813-1900) claimed the same line of rebirths as Kun dga' grol mchog, and was directly inspired by this connection to compose his seminal Gdams ngag mdzod. He incorporated the whole of Jo nang khrid brgya within his own anthology, and adopted Kun dga' grol mchog’s compositional method.

The results of my research presented in this paper attempt to fill the gap in our knowledge about Kun dga' grol mchog and his Jo nang khrid brgya, place this text within the history of the genre of Buddhist anthologies, and show its lasting influence on the non-sectarian approach.

Urban Hammar (Stockholm University), T∑ranatha’s Dus ‘khor chos ‘byung – A Jo nang pa History of K∑lacakra.A Presentation of Taranatha’s Dus ‘khor chos ‘byung (1575 – 1635) compared to the Dus ‘khor chos ‘byungs of Bu-ston (1290 – 1364) and Phyogs las rnam rgyal (1306 – 1386). In 2006 I presented the text Dus ‘khor chos ‘byung by Phyogs las rnam rgyal. At the time I did not know for sure the authorship of this text which has now been identified by Cyrus Stearns as the disciple of Dol po pa Phyogs las rnam rgyal. From my supposition that the author must have been a disciple of Dol po pa I presented a comparison of this text with Bu ston’s Dus ‘khor chos ‘byung which I had translated previously in my dissertation. The article is since two years under publication in the Proceedings of the IATS Seminar in Bonn 2006. Now my aim is to compare these two texts with the Dus ‘khor chos ‘byung by T�ranatha. I will present a summary of its content and will make an analysis of the context of this text in the light of the two earlier mentioned texts. There are some interesting differencies which can shed some light on some aspects of the importance the Kalacakra in the Jo nang pa school. The lineage masters of the ‘Bro school of Kalacakra were many of them also lineage masters of the Jo nang pa and this makes the study of the Kalacakra lineage of this school all the more interesting for the general study of the history of the Kalacakra teaching in Tibet. I will present translations of parts of the text. In these historical texts there are also interesting information to be found besides the names of the tradition holders and I have also treated these parts of the text from a more general interest in the Jo nang pa school.

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Kaie Mochizuki (Minobu, Japan),On the Third Chapter of the Dbu ma theg mchog by Taranatha Taranatha Kun dga’ snying po (1575-1635), who is well known as an author of the history of Indian Buddhism, is one of the great masters in the Jo nang pa school. Though he is said to have developed the teaching of the great Madhyamaka (dbu ma chen po) or other-emptiness (gzhan stong) of Dol po pa Shes rab rgyal mtshan, it is not clear how he analyses this teaching in his works. In the collected works of Taranatha we can find many tantric commentaries, but there are only seven small texts named with the term “the great Madhyamaka”. One of them is the Theg mchog shin tu rgyas pa’i dbu ma chen po rnam par nges pa (dBu ma theg mchog),which has eight chapters.We can also find a commentary on the dBu ma theg mchog by his disciple, Ye shes rgya mtsho (16th/ 17th cent.), the Theg mchog shin tu rgyas pa’i dbu ma chen po rnam par nges pa’i rnam bshad zin bris dbu phyogs legs pa, in the collected works of Taranatha. In the third chapter named “the definition of Buddha nature and the realm of dharmas (sangs rgyas kyi snying po chos kyi dbyings gtan la dban pa)”, the author refers to the theory of the Buddha nature or the tathagatagarbha theory. It is written in 56 verses with various meters. I examine this chapter with the help of its commentary and make it clear how he interprets the theory of the Buddha nature in this text. This paper will present an analysis of Taranatha’s view on the Buddha nature in his dBu ma theg mchog. David Templeman(Monash University), “The Last Tantric Teachings From India”: Was Tāranātha the Victim of Textual Marginality? Tāranātha (1575-1634) comes to our attention largely through eulogistic and hagiographic material which stands up to only light scrutiny. A close reading of much of that material reveals considerable information on his strategies to ensure the uniqueness and the legitimacy of his lineage. In previous papers I have examined a range of Tāranātha’s various approaches based on themes of his self-understanding, his preservation of his considerable authority and the perpetuation of his links with India. In the present paper I build on an earlier presentation from 2009 which demonstrated that Tāranātha had competition for the Jo nang lineage in his inheritance of the mantle from Kun dga’ grol mchog. I show here that what Tāranātha referred to as the outrageous slanders against him from the 5th Dalai Lama’s Sanskrit tutor had a clear basis in the struggle of powerful families for rank and position. Suffering greatly from these assaults, I show how a considerable proportion of Tāranātha’s literary strategy was aimed at correcting what he regarded as those misapprehensions. Reading both his Autobiography and Secret Autobiographies in that light demonstrates that he was very much a man of his turbulent, jostling times, and such a realist reading allows us to see new and vital aspects of the man. 22. Modern Dialogues: Discussions, Conversations and Debates in Tibet Francoise Robin (INALCO, Paris), Pastiche and Gender: Questioning Motherly Figure in today’s Tibetan women’s poetry

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The famous intellectual and poet Ju Kalsang (’Ju Skal bzang, b. 1960) published in 1994 a versified poem called “Tibet, Mother, Mani” (Bod / a ma / ma ni). Its fluidity, melody and craftiness have attracted attention and praise and it has been republished several times and translated in Western languages. It reads as a three-fold celebration of Tibet, Buddhism and Tibetan mothers who are depicted as the upholders of the religion and the transmission of Tibetan values. About a decade later, Tseringkyi (Tshe ring skyid, b. 1983), a young woman poet from Amdo, published a pastiche, conferring it a somewhat similar title: “Mother and Mani” (A ma dang ma ni). This piece of free verse poetry contests the restricted role assigned to the archetypical Tibetan mother and it criticises the part played by religion in women’s lack of self-building as a modern subject. Beginning with a comparison of these two poems, this paper will illustrate the contrasting and evolving views on the figure of motherhood in contemporary Tibetan women poetry. After the celebration of loving and sympathising mothers, supporters of their daughter’s fate, mothers have increasingly been depicted in women’s poems as unquestioning agents of a male-dominated world, following a pattern of evolution attested in Chinese poetry a few decades ago. This paper will document the “dialogue” between Ju Kalsang and Tseringkyi, as well as women poets’ evolving views on mothers. Sherab Gyaltsen(University of Oslo), Tibetan Traditional Motifs in Modern Clothing -Characteristics features, similarities and differences of 3 different painting styles -Realistic style (Lhasa) before 1991 as expressed in Mother and Son ( oil 1mx1m) - Experimental Buddhist style from 1991 exemplified by Skulls (oil, 1mx1m) - a blending of traditional Tibetan art and modern western art (Roots and Mandala, pencil 1x80cm and People in the Swamp, 60cmx60cm) Kun Fang (Peking University), Internet and the Reconstruction of “Shangri-La”—Tibetan students SNS Behavior and National Identity Study (SNS: Social Network Site) The Internet development has undergone the stages of early networking of traditional information; personalization of network resources; and up to today's social network relations. The rapid rise of SNS in recent years in China has not only transformed the basic network ecology, but also has penetrated into China's social system, politics, economics, cultural activities, as well as people's daily intercourse. This paper analyzes those young Tibetan college students’ network behavior, who were born in 1970s and 1980s, have experienced the rapid modernization and have received better education. They stand on the forefront of Tibetan "modernization", which has demonstrated the conflict, cooperation and reconstruction between political ideology and traditional culture. This should be viewed as a new perspective of the study of contemporary Tibetan society. This paper carries empirical studies on the contents of 1000 Tibetan students’ sharing of "SNS" (Social Network Site), as well as in-depth interviews with dozens of Tibetan scholars on cultural identity. Try to outline the Tibetan college students’ network behavior and their fundamental values. Then further analyze the relationship between and ethnic minorities’ Internet use and national identity. Hildegard Diemberger (University of Cambridge), Transforming Technologies and Buddhist Books In Tibetan the notion of debate (rtsod pa) can apply both to a formal debate as well as to the more loose idea that something is an object of discussion. It is against this later sense of the word debate that I am looking at

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contrasting views surrounding the production and reproduction of Tibetan books in light of technological innovation. I will explore the relationship between Buddhist culture and technological transformations by looking at "the book" as artifact, medium for communication, symbol of political authority, and ritual object in the context of Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan book culture reflects Buddhist ideas that texts are relics and that their distribution is an act of merit. These ideas had a significant bearing on the invention of printing in 7th century China (Barrett 2008) and on its later spread throughout East Asia and the Mongolian empire, including Tibet. Inspired by the notion that books are embodiments of the words of the Buddha, Tibetans treat them as persons worthy of respect who can bestow blessings and act on people. These ideas and attitudes led to the adoption of printing technologies in Tibet and the development of a unique and unrivalled culture of books reaching far beyond the Tibetan plateau. A Buddhist morality of the book propelled the development of networks of patronage involving rulers and members of lay and monastic communities, both within Tibet and beyond, in support of printing projects. Frequent political upheavals in the Tibetan areas resulted not only in the destruction of Buddhist books, but also in more sustained efforts to recover and preserve texts. Similarly after the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) networks of monks, nuns and lay scholars emerged to search for lost collections, re-order monastic archives and recover texts; an effort now being assisted by the adoption of digital technologies. A Buddhist morality of the book seems currently to inform this effort, which is often seen as part of the yang dar, i.e. the further spread of the Buddhist doctrine (in continuity with the ‘earlier spread of the doctrine’ and the ‘later spread of the doctrine’). This sustained effort to make Tibetan books accessible often with the help of digital technologies has also raised contrasting views about the appropriateness of these operations and the handling of the derivate objects.In my paper I will present some example of early printing from Central Tibet (including a 1407 print of the Perfection of Wisdom made at Shel dkar) and of the usage of digital technologies in text reproduction, reviewing debates surrounding the nature of books, their production, their format, the ways in which their handled, stored and distributed. Isabelle Henrion-Dourcy (Université Laval), Debates in Happy Life: Tradition, Modernity and Morality in a Recent TV Serial This paper aims to look at the form and content of the dialogues in the TV comedy Happy Life (sPro-snang ldan-pa’i ‘tsho-ba). This serial, comprising twenty half-hour episodes and featuring well-known actors, was written and produced by Tibetans in Lhasa in August 2007 and met with immediate success after being broadcasted on TAR TV channels. The VCD set has been widely sold and enjoys continuous popularity in Tibetan home showings. It chronicles in a humorous mode the ups and downs of an ordinary family living in contemporary Lhasa. It depicts how father, mother and son are affected by the rapid life changes brought about in the city by improved economic conditions. Most of the episodes detail how the parents observe a generation gap between their son’s lifestyle and their own, and are prompted into reflexive ponderings about tradition and modernity as they prepare for their nightly sleep. In matters of music, entertainment, food, or the more intimate affairs or love and relationships, they try to make sense of the changes that are affecting their family. Other episodes deal with the new social relationships brought about with the current city lifestyle: how are they to relate to neighbours, the poor and the rich, Tibetans from the countryside or foreign travellers? What are their values and expected conduct? In its form, the series proposes a realistic renewal of gtam-gleng, the dialogue genre made popular in the 1980-90s by famed Lhasa comedians Thub bstan and Mig dmar. The paper will probably focus on one of the episodes, highlighting how issues of tradition and modernity are debated and resolved within the family setting.

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Drawing from a feminist political economy framework, I first discuss the origins of social arrangements that made the weavers commit to long-term employment in this carpet factory. I argue that the interplay of family patriarchy and pro-market policy practices fostered conditions for the formation of a stable and underpaid female labour force in this context. Then, I elaborate two examples of women who were able to improve their occupational status by drawing ideological and symbolic resources from socialism or Buddhism. The stories show how shared economic interests and religious beliefs facilitated collective or individual actions by the weavers. Last, I continue my discussion on the Buddhist weavers, who were critical of marriage and perceived weaving carpets as a means to female autonomy. I use their stories as a basis for comparing the similarities and differences between this group of Tibetan migrant workers’ responses to privatization and the labour struggles that emerged from similar social processes in Chinese regions. This paper offers a new approach to analyzing continuities and ruptures in contemporary Tibetan society. I argue that investigating people’s everyday experience of life and work in particular institutions is important to understanding the patterns and logic of long-term social change. Also, this analysis of subject formation teaches us about how people make and re-make Tibetan society through active negotiations. Further, my discussion of Tibetan carpet workers highlights intertwined gender and ethnicity factors in the complex and diverse pro-market policy processes that realize capital accumulation in post-Mao China Robert Barnett (Columbia University), Love, Movies and Ethnicity: Tibetan Cinema and Interethnic Romance Popular commercial romance films made in China in the last 20 years with their settings in Tibet have attracted little attention from foreign observers, for whom art house works have generally been seen as more significant. A number of the romance dramas feature love matches between couples of different ethnicities, most notably Hong he gu(Red River Valley, 1997). At least two recent projects by Tibetan film directors have had similar themes, which are sometimes encountered in television dramas such as Wencheng Gonjo (CCTV, 1999), as well as in novels. Some references also can be found in television sketches, including in the work of Phun tshogs Bkra shis. These works can be seen as part of an on-going discussion in Tibetan society about exogamous romance and marriage, a practice with a long and varied history, encouraged in the revolutionary era but apparently less popular in the 1980s. Much of that history and debate is buried, as with other topics of social sensitivity, but there are indications that it is quite frequently discussed in private among Tibetans. This paper looks at the signs and traces of that debate in Tibet in recent decades, based on informal interviews and stories on the one hand, and on public products in film, literature and song on the other. The paper suggests that with topics of social etiquette, debate in Tibetan society often takes the form of a proposition presented through public art in the cinema and a counter-proposition circulating through private discussion in the home and workplace. It asks whether connections can be shown to exist between these two propositions, and whether this form of debate differs significantly from the forms taken by discussions in earlier decades concerning social conventions regarded as too delicate to debate in public.

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Xénia de Heering (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales), Another Look at Books: Elements for an Ethnography of Reading and Public Discussions. A Preliminary Study of Book Circulation and Reading Practices Among Tibetans Living in France Over the last few years, an increasing number of studies providing a variety of literary and social perspectives on modern Tibetan literature have become available. Lauran Hartley (2005) has stressed the importance of literature, and in particular that of literary journals distributed in Tibetan areas inside the PRC as well as outside the PRC, in the constitution of a “Reading Tibet”. Lauran Hartley and Patricia Schiaffini-Vedani (2008) similarly emphasise the importance of literature as a discursive site. However little attention so far has been specifically directed at the concrete ways and means by which such literature circulates and spreads, as well as at defining the identity of its readers and describing the characteristics of their reading practices. Publications through the media of books, journals and self-published works can all be regarded as forms of public discourse. From a sociological or anthropological perspective, the very concrete dimension of the circulation of printed matter deserves to be taken into full consideration, as its material, technical, and commercial modalities of production and circulation bear important implications on the reception of texts, thus affecting their role as vehicles for the exchange of ideas. Ethnographic research, moreover, enables to grasp the circulation of books in what might be called a “non material” or “virtual” form - by means of discussions, conversations, debates, etc. Examining the concrete forms and modalities of the circulation of printed matter, while concurrently paying attention to the discussions and conversations that take place around these works, can thus provide important insights on the ways in which ideas actually spread through society - and in the case of contemporary Tibetan society, also spread across borders. While introducing the specific methodological perspective sketched above, this paper will be centered on the presentation of a preliminary analysis of ethnographic data collected among Tibetans living in Paris and surrounding areas. In what ways and in what spaces do people access printed matter? Is the difficulty to locally access books in Tibetan experienced as a problem? If so, is this problem defined primarily in terms of an impossibility to take part in a certain form of public discussion, or is it framed in other ways? Who reads, and what do people read? How do people hear about new books? How do they manage to get hold of new books when they seek to do so? Do people talk about books, and if so, what kinds of books are “hot” topics of discussion? Is the Internet a privileged site of reading and source of information about contemporary literature? The proposed paper thus aims to shed light on the various ways readers come into contact with texts and interact with them, as well as around them. In doing so, I hope to demonstrate the pertinence of the devised approach for the field of reception studies, as well as its relevance for providing an empirical basis to discuss the diverse uses of literature, as a form of discourse but also as an object of discussion. Lobsang Yongdan (The University of Cambridge), How did a Round Earth Come from the Flat Hear of Gendun Chophel? A Critical Look at Gendun Chophel and the Debates Gendun Chophel (1903-1950), a scholar, poet and translator, is considered by many Tibetans, from the Dalai Lama to uneducated nomads in Amdo, and students of Tibet studies in the West as a “cultural hero” and “icon” of Tibetans. The mere mention of Gendun Chopel often raises great emotion and excitement. Gendun Chophel is lavished with all sorts of names—from the greatest Tibetan scholar in the twentieth

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century to the artist, the traveler, the scientist, the philosopher, and the revolutionary—there is no shortage of names for him. From the 1980s until now, Gendun Chopel’s works have been published several times and they are considered some of the best Tibetan language sellers in both the Tibetan diasporas and inside Tibet. He is likely the most quoted author in Tibetan since 1980s. Yet, many of his works have not been solidly studied and his claims have not been thoroughly examined; an emotional tendency that precludes objectivity has been intertwined with the study of Gendun Chophel. Towards the end of 2009, a series of debates challenging or promoting the long-held idealization of Gendun Chopel have taken place in the Tibetan blogosphere, of which I have participated. As expected, there were many emotional exchanges and the topic was hotly debated by bloggers. Through these debates, it can be seen that the intellectual debates themselves have not much to do with Gendun Chophel and his works, but rather, the debates are about the imaginations of Gendun Chophel and the social and political issues that surrounded us as Tibetans. In this paper, I shall raise several questions about these debates surrounding Gendun Chophel and his literary legacies in Tibetan history. While most of us are familiar with the idealized narrative of Gendun Chophel’s intellectual legacy, I will provide a brief overview of the critical arguments. I will briefly examine new ideas that he supposedly introduced to Tibetan intellectual discourse such as the round earth, electromagnetic spectrum, and the studying of Dunhuang documents and Chinese historical sources. I will raise some questions about Gendun Chophel’s life and his works; for example, his claim of being the first Tibetan to master Sanskrit after a nearly eight hundred year break in intellectual exchange between Tibet and India; and his questionable adoption of German philosopher Christoph Meiner’s (1747–1810) “binary racial scheme” that single out the “Mongoloid” and “Aryan” races as the only two races in the world. Secondly, since the 1980s, Gendun Chophel has been the most important Tibetan scholar in the twentieth century. What is behind the emergence of this ‘cultural hero in Tibetan society? Who are the actors on both sides of the debate? What does this say about contemporary Tibetan society? I shall examine the ideas of the Cultural Revolution and its influence among young government scholars and their position on Tibetan culture. For those outside of Tibet, I deploy the term “cultural constructions” to describe Gendun Chophel’s rise among Tibetans in exile and scholars of Tibetan studies. I will also look at the group of Tibetans, inclusive of myself, who are putting forward a new, criticalnarrative of Gedun Chophel. Finally, I will examine the debates about Gendun Chophel and his legacy by posing the question: why is there a debate and what lies behind it? In this way I hope to raise several questions about contemporary Tibet. 23.Tibetan Inscriptions Kurt Tropper (Vienna University), The Buddha-vita in the White Temple of Tsaparang The apse of the white temple at Tsaparang in Ngari features a cycle of wall paintings with various scenes from the life of the Buddha. The paintings are combined with narrow bands of inscriptions, which were documented in detail during a recent field trip to Western Tibet. In my paper I will discuss the contents of these short epigraphs as well as their possible sources. Building on previous studies on similar cycles, I will also address the relationship between the paintings and the inscriptions.

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Ben Wood (University of Toronto), Records of Fifteenth-Century Conflicts at Zhwa lu Monastery in Inscription and Biography: Cautionary Narratives in their Historical and Literary Contexts" This paper focuses on a paper inscription located at Zhwa lu monastery, and specifically examines a sermon that describes a conflict given by an abbot of Zhwa lu, 'Jam dbyangs Grags pa rgyal mtshan (1365-1448), found within it. I attempt to clarify the historical events narrated within the inscription, as well as the literary features of the inscription itself by comparing the inscription to the nineteenth-century Zhwa lu gdan rabs, which, like the inscription, narrates a conflict at the monastery in another of 'Jam dbyangs Grags pa rgyal mtshan's sermons. Through comparing these two records of conflicts, this paper explores how the Zhwa lu gdan rabs and the inscription (similarly and differently) narrate past conflicts. This paper suggests that these documents skillfully portray abbots as accomplished orators of cautionary narratives to facilitate conflict prevention and resolution, dramatically and meaningfully ennobling abbots' characters amid struggles local to Zhwa lu and specific to its history. Namgyal Lama Kunsang (University of Paris IV, Sorbonne), Inscriptions on Tsha tsha: A Preliminary Survey

In the wake of the contributions presented to IATS by Braham Norwick (1979 and 1982) and by Toni Huber (1989) on tsha tsha, I propose to discuss in my paper the inscriptions found on these clay mouldings and stampings. These objects represent not only unique iconographic material but also a writing medium that has not yet been thoroughly researched.

Thanks to the large number of tsha tsha now available we are able to build up series and to undertake

analytical and statistical studies taking into account various characteristics (material, formal, stylistic, epigraphic, etc.) and highlighting their geographical and chronological distribution throughout the Tibetan world, as well as the abundance or scarcity of some items. Apart from the archeological value of this material still so far hardly used by researchers, we also have at our disposal many textual sources about the techniques used for making them and about their ritual uses which provides a complementary approach for investigating the complexity of these objects.

Based on a large corpus of about 1,600 items, I will present a typology of the tsha tsha bearing

inscriptions (just under half), an inventory of the inscriptions, their scripts and any possible association between them. I will also focus on possible links between these inscriptions and the images depicted on them, between the inscriptions and the destination of the object (used as consecration or funeral deposits...), and finally, between the inscriptions and the presence of a text (gzungs gzhug) inside the tsha tsha. Nathan W. Hill (SOAS), Une nouvelle interpretation de l’incipit de l’inscription du Rkong-po L'inscription du Rkong-po n'est pas seulement une source superbe pour la compréhension des relations de l'empire tibétain à l'un de ses états subjugués, il contient également le récit le plus explicite du mythe deGnyag khri btsan po en tibétain ancien et une discussion sur les interactionsentre mythe et rituel. Malheureusement, ces informations précieuses sont contenues dans un passage très difficile et obscur. tibétologues différents ont tiré des conclusions sensiblement différentes sur ce passage. Cette communication vise à fournir une compréhension plus précise du passage à travers une analyse philologique attentive de la diction et la grammaire du passage en question.

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Cristina Scherrer-Schaub (University of Lausanne and CHWH, Vienna), Classifying, Questioning, and Interpreting Tibetan Inscriptions 24.Sectarian Articulations: Creative Processes of Lineage Formation Annabella Pitkin (Columbia University), The Mountains are Fullof Hikers but No-one Comes to Varanasi: The Rhetoric of Renunciation and the Creation of a Border Crossing Non-sectarian Identity This paper focuses on the Tibetan Buddhist ideal of renunciation as a central element in the representation of non-sectarian Buddhist identity. The twentieth century Himalayan Buddhist teacher and polymath Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen (Khu nu bla ma Bstan 'dzin rgyal mtshan, 1895-1977) is often described in biographical materials as both a renunciant par excellence, and as an unconventionally non-sectarian figure, knowledgeable not only about multiple Buddhist traditions, but also about Hinduism. After studying with masters from many Buddhist lineages throughout the Tibetan region and India, Khunu Lama in later life often distanced himself not only from Buddhist institutions but also from conventional Buddhist places of practice (like mountain hermitages, as noted in this paper’s title). Some of his choices, in particular his residence in a Varanasi ashram, his periodic adoption of Indian renunciant’s clothing, and his familiarity with Indic religious systems, proved startling for Tibetan colleagues and students. His relationships with Indian religious practitioners placed him in a potentially ambiguous relationship with mainstream Tibetan Buddhist culture, in which he was educated, and to which he contributed as a teacher of prominent contemporary figures, including the current Dalai Lama. A challenge for the community that remembers Khunu Lama is interpreting his unusual affiliations and activities. I argue that a key narrative strategy in oral and written portrayals of Khunu Lama’s complex lineage affiliations, unconventional life choices, and the non-sectarian approach for which he became known involves assimilating him to the Tibetan Buddhist ideal of the bya bral ba (“hermit-” or “beggar-yogi”), and to the heroic exemplars of Milarepa and the Kadampa masters. This strategy of appropriating famous renunciant figures of the past to construct a ‘practice-lineage’ for Khunu Lama serves to locate him firmly within valorized Tibetan Buddhist tradition. One effect of posthumous articulations of Khunu Lama’s non- sectarian persona specifically within a narrative of renunciation is to legitimize his boundary-crossing interactions with non-Buddhists in India. This process renders him a figure of contemporary interest for Tibetan Buddhists negotiating post-diaspora relations with adjacent South Asian religious communities. Khunu Lama’s oral and written biographical materials do reveal sectarian concerns, however, displaying some anxiety vis a vis his ‘proper’ sectarian lineage affiliation. I examine differences between oral and written representations of these concerns, and contradictions between oral and textual narratives that result. More broadly, the use of the bya bral ba ideal type in the case of Khunu Lama reveals potential conflicts between the idealized figure of the non-sectarian, renunciant master, and the lineage system’s need for generative figures who can give rise to further links in the lineage sequence. This paper considers tensions between the efficacy of Khunu Lama’s bya bral ba persona in enabling his personal and intellectual autonomy and establishing him as a border-crossing non-sectarian figure, and the degree to which the same bya bral ba behaviors may have limited his role as a lineage holder or founder of a new lineage.

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Elijah Ary (École Pratique des Hautes Études), Shifting Lineage through Sacred Biography Sacred biography (rnam thar) in Tibet can serve various purposes. A master’s life-story can function as a user’s manual of sorts, helping to guide its readers along a particular path to heightened spiritual states;it can be a means by which reverence and faithare engendered in the hearts and minds of the work’s readers;it can also act as a window onto another time and place or even as an example of a model life, one that isto be emulated if one wishes to achieve enlightenment. Sacred biographies also play a major part in formulating, maintaining, and above all authenticating lineage lines that connect a person or even an entire tradition to its glorious past through the telling and retelling of a master’s life, or lives, and his connectionsover time to specific teachers. As such, sacred biographycan also be used to award or acquire status, a function that has yet to be studied in depth. My paperwill look at one particular case in which biography is used to award a particular status to it’s hero through the repeated elevation of another figure who is not even the putative subject of the biography at all. This double elevation had an important effect on subsequent formulations of this particular lineage, shifting the focus to a new set of masters and eventually strengthening religious and political claims within the dGe lugs pa tradition. Carl Yamamoto (Towson Unviersity), Was Lama Zhang a Bka' brgyud pa? Lineage and the Symbolic Formation of Tradition Over the course of several centuries, there has evolved, among Tibetan religious practitioners who identify themselves as “Bka’ brgyud pa,” a striking narrative describing their spiritual descent from the buddha Vajradhara and the Indian yogins who received his original teachings. The standard lineage story is simple, memorable, and leaves the impression of (1) a pristine core of teachings passed without alteration down a line of masters, and (2) a self-conscious Bka’ brgyud pa religious order existing from early on, with its own identity as well as a sense of its difference from other orders. That the actual historical record found in chronicles, biographies, records of teachings received, and other such documents is considerably messier should come as no surprise: there is very little reason to believe that Bka’ brgyud lineal succession stories were intended to function exactly like “histories” in the modern sense. Still, one cannot help wondering why that should have been the case, what was really going on historically, and what exactly the point of the lineage narratives was, if not to record “history.” I will, in this paper, address these issues by focusing on one early Bka’ brgyud pa, Zhang Brtson 'grus grags pa (1122-1193)—best known simply as “Lama Zhang”—a colorful and controversial lama who played a prominent role in twelfth-century Central Tibetan politics and religion. Zhang is known to the tradition as the founder of the Tshal pa—one of the “Four Great” (che bzhi) suborders of the Bka’ brgyud pa. As such, sectarian lineage histories make much of his relationship with the teacher Sgom pa Tshul khrims snying po (“Sgom Tshul”), nephew and successor to the great Sgam po pa, thereby positioning Zhang directly within the standard Bka’ brgyud lineage tree. Zhang’s actual writings, however, show a rather more complex picture. Zhang, despite the undeniable importance of his relationship to Sgom tshul, received teachings from a broad array of teachers, often ones associated with lineages not traditionally identified as Bka’ brgyud. All of this suggests a religious landscape

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rather more fluid than that pictured in sectarian lineage stories, one where an array of loosely affiliated lineages mix and exchange teachings fairly freely. My goal in the paper is threefold: (1) to trace in detail the lines of influence that run through Lama Zhang’s life, and compare them to official Bka’ brgyud lineage narratives; (2) to ask to what extent there even existed, at that relatively early period, a self-identified Bka’ brygud pa order; and (3) to try to make sense of the situation by suggesting in a more general way how lineages are put together and how they—as prime examples of traditions—create identities and bind sectarian communities by linking them to a comprehensible past. Holly Gayley (University of Colorado, Boulder), Satire and Non-Sectarianism? Yogic Triumphalism in Mdo mkhyen brtse Ye shes rdo rjes’ Babble of a Foolish Man Babble of a Foolish Man: Notes on Creation and Completion, a Clarification of the Essence (Bskyed rdzogs kyi zin bris blun gtam de nyid gsal ba) presents instructions on creation-stage (bskyed rim) and completion-stage (rdzogs rim) practices in an extended dialogue, mirroring the style of a dris lan text and reflecting the oral transmission of esoteric knowledge. Through this dialogue, Mdo mkhyen brtse Ye shes rdo rje (1800–1866) dramatize sectarian tensions, embodied in its two main characters: a young dge slong of unspecified gsar ma affiliation, representing monastic scholasticism, and a sngags pa, explicitly Rnying ma, representing an esoteric non-monastic milieu. Why does Mdo mkhyen brtse create an imaginary encounter between representatives of different generations and religious vocations? What literary techniques does he use to first heighten and then diffuse sectarian tensions? How are the initial differences between these characters reconciled and transcended? To address these questions, this paper examines the literary techniques employed by Mdo mkhyen brtse, particularly the role of satire and allegory. While its contents are esoteric, the style of instruction in Babble of a Foolish Man is purposefully humorous and colloquial; as the colophon specifies, the text is an explanation condensed into "an amusing discourse, elucidated through the colloquial expressions of villagers" (grong pa'i ngag tshig gis bkral ba'i mtshar gtam). While the instructions of the old sngags pa can be taken literally, their encounter can also be read allegorically as an assertion of non-sectarianism (ris med) on Rnying ma terms. In a close reading of the text, I trace the conversion of the dge slong, initially condescending in his queries, into a devoted disciple as much through the old sngags pa's perspicacious advice as by his self-effacing humor. In the process, Babble of a Foolish Man critiques everything from the rote performance of rituals to the outward facade of monastic conduct. I argue that the rhetoric of non-sectarianism allows Mdo mkhyen brtse to critique prevailing practices among monastic and yogic communities alike and to offer a particular type of sectarian articulation, which at once harmonizes monastic scholasticism with tantric meditative techniques and arranges them in a hierarchical relationship. In the final analysis, I suggest that the rhetoric of non-sectarianism sets the stage for a yogic triumphalism, articulated through a longstanding Rnying ma schema that positions Rdzogs chen at the pinnacle of the Buddhist path. While focusing on Babble of a Foolish Man, I include comparisons to other works in the genres of dris lan, zin bris, and zhal gdams by nineteenth-century contemporaries, such as 'Jam mgon kong sprul Blo gros mtha' yas and Rdza dpal sprul O rgyan 'jigs med chos kyi dbang po. Josh Schapiro, Locating a Literary Lineage: Patrul Rinpoche, Life-Advice, and Non-sectarianism"

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Contemporary Dharma publications regularly introduce Patrul Rinpoche (Rdza Dpal sprul O rgyan ‘jigs med chos kyi dbang po, 1808-1887) by associating him with the famed ris med, or non-sectarian, movement of mid-nineteenth-century Khams. Is this determination historically accurate? Might there be a more productive way of conceptualizing Patrul’s participation in Tibetan lineage formation?

My paper will entail two distinct steps. First, I will summarize Patrul’s relationship to the so-called ris med movement. This will entail clarifying his relationship to ris med figures Jamyang Khyentse Wangbo (‘Jam dbyangs mkhyen brtse dbang po) and Chogyur Lingpa (Mchog gyur gling pa) and thinking about his surprising absence of a relationship with Jamgon Kongtrul (‘Jam mgon Kong sprul Blo gros mtha’ yas). I will also provide examples wherein Patrul’s disciples and spiritual descendents utilize the trope of non-sectarianism to idealize their teacher Patrul. I will thus argue that while Patrul was only peripherally connected to the major figures of nineteenth-century ris med, his life was easily assimilated into the ubiquitous twentieth-century discourse that celebrates the non-sectarian activities of certain nineteenth- century Khampas. It should therefore not be surprising to us that when ris med is described as a contemporary lineage (rather than as an historical phenomenon) it often includes Patrul as one of its foundational figures.

Second, having questioned the placement of Patrul at the beginning of the so-called ris

med lineage, I will propose that we instead consider Patrul’s life-work as a culmination of what I will call a “literary lineage,” namely a lineage constituted by exemplary authors within a particular genre of literary production. Building on my dissertation research, I will briefly explain what it would mean to place Patrul within a literary lineage of prominent life-advice(zhal gdams) composers, a lineage that includes some of his direct teachers, such as Shenpen Thaye (Rdzogs chen rgyal sras Gzhan phan mtha’ yas), as well distant predecessors, such as Padampa Sangye (Pha dam pa sangs rgyas). These figures, who come up again and again in Patrul’s collected writings, constitute a virtual lineage for Patrul in that they provide him with models for his life-long effort to deliver potent yet simple dharma-advice to wide audiences.

At the heart of this paper is a larger question for our study of Tibetan religious literature. Is it valid, or even productive, to think about literary lineages alongside practice lineages and lineages of textual transmission? How might the case of Patrul help us to understand what is at stake in a literary lineage? 25. Murals Kimiaki Tanaka (The Eastern Institute),TheMañjuśrīmūlakalpaand the Origins of Thangka The Hahn Cultural Foundation in Korea, where I am working as an academic consultant, has a unique thangka, 75.5 × 49.5 cm in size and reproduced in Volume 2 of their official catalogue, Art of Thangka (Fig. 38; Seoul, 1999), which I edited. This thangka depicts a Tathāgata seated on a lotus in the centre with his hands in the gesture of teaching (dharmacakrapravartanamudrā) and surrounded by various figures listening to his sermon. Below the central figure there is a gold-lettered inscription that reads “Homage to mThoṅ ba don ldan” (mthoṅ ba don ldan la na mo). The phrase mthoṅ ba don ldan means literally “the [mere] sight [of

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something] is beneficial,” and it is sometimes applied to Buddhist images and paintings possessing miraculous powers (byin rlabs can).

This combination of attendant figures resembles another thangka included in the same volume of Art of

Thangka (Fig. 21). Moreover, it has also come to light that a xylograph from sDe-dge entitled “Deity Yoga of Mañjuśrī” ( 'Jam dbyangs lha'i rnal 'byor) bears a close resemblance to the arrangement of the deities in this thangka.

After a detailed analysis of the iconography, I noticed that the format of these paintings tallies with a

painted scroll (paṭa) described in the “Prathamapaṭavidhānavistara” of the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa. This discovery made clear the reason why this painting was called mthoṅ ba don ldan and why the sDe-dge xylograph was called “Deity Yoga of Mañjuśrī” even though the main deity is not Mañjuśrī but Śākyamuni.

The paṭas of the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa were already studied by Marcelle Lalou in 1930. However, the

composition of the first painted scroll restored by Lalou (Lalou 1930, Planche I) is somewhat different from that of mThong ba don ldan since she did not know any example of a modern Tibetan thangka depicting the first painted scroll of the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa.

On the occasion of the International Conference “Contribution of Tibetan Culture to Global

Understanding: Progress and Prospects” held in New Delhi in 2009, I read a paper entitled “What is mThong ba don ldan?” and made clear this fact. However, owing to time constraints, I could not deal with it from a broader perspective.

In this paper, I will discuss the significance of the discovery of the tradition of thangka based on the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa for considering the origins of thangka, the most popular genre of Tibetan art, and the historical and stylistic development of Tibetan paintings. Tsering Gyalpo (Tibetan Academy of Social Science), Gu-ge Kingdom Period Mural Paintings in the Newly Discovered Zhag Grotto in Mnga’-ris, Western Tibet General introduce Mngaris and Zhag Grotto, such as where it is, the condition and the situations of currently times and so on. 1. Firstly , I will discuss the historical background of the Zhag Grotto, which was discovered in 2009, as well as the time at which the paintings were made. 2. Secondly ,I will address the content of the mural paintings – the unique characteristics of these paintings. 3. Thirdly, I will compare these mural paintings to other murals with similar content found in the Grotto at the other Grotto in Tsamda areas. 4 And finally, I will show lot of picture Those all quite important to art historians of Western Tibet as well as those who study the history and culture of Western Tibet. These paintings are not only valuable cultural artifacts, but they also significant and contribute greatly to our understanding of the mural-painting culture and art history of Western Tibet during the Gu-ge Kingdom period.

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Petra Müller (University of Vienna),Representing Prajnaparamita in Tibet- the Temples of Nako, rKyang bu and Zhwalu The visual language and comprehensive iconography of the monumental images of Prajñāpāramitā (Tib.: Yum chen mo) in the temples of Tibet are strikingly powerful. Nevertheless, very little research has been conducted on the topic thus far. The configuration of the 11th century temple of rKyang bu is particularly remarkable. Though destroyed today, this monument once accommodated two chapels dedicated to this goddess within the sacred part of the compound. Conceptual similarities between the images of Nako in Himachal Pradesh, India, and the iconography of rKyang bu are especially noteworthy. Both show two monumental sculptures depicting Prajñāpāramitā in different iconographic settings. Today, the only preserved temple in Tibet that shows a Yum chen mo lha khang is Zhwa lu. Though little of the original structure remains due to renovations and enlargements, the Yum chen mo lha khang can be attributed to the original conception. A systematic, comparative investigation of texts and the visual imagery will enable a better understanding of this “cult” and its specific Tibetan iconography. Verena Ziegler(WHAV, University of Vienna),Wallpaintings of the Life of Buddha Sakyamuni in Zha lu Monastery The monastery of Zhalu, located in Central Tibetc a. 20 km southeast of Shigatse,was f ounded in the 11th century CE.After 1306 the complex underwent major renovations and was expanded by abbot Grabs pa rgyalmtshan. In the course of this work much of the monastery received a newly painted program that seems to have been influenced by the Nepalese Newarior Newari-Yuan style. Wallpaintings of the Life of Buddha Sakyamuni: In the first story of the temple, on the inner side of the skor lam chenmo, the skor lam of thePrajñpramit chapel , there are numerous depictions of deities and Buddhas shown larger than life-size. On the right side of the chapel´s entrance door, there is a depiction of a Buddha Sakyamuni inbhmisparamudr, flanked by two standing bodhisattvas.Around this image are placed numerous episodes of the life of the historical Buddha, all with in narrow rectangular frames, a tradition which has been associated with Newar Art. Meaning of the depictions and influences: Although selected murals of Zhalu have been published before, no thorough analysis of their programhas yet been attempted. In this paper I will identify each of the scenes from the Life of Buddha Sakyamuni composition referred to above. A comparative analysis of individual select episodes including depictions on Nepalese and Nepalese influenced thang ka paintings will allow me to determine possible sources and to ascertain the relationship to Newaror Newari-Yuan influences.

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Helmut Neumann(Independent Scholar) and Heidi Neumann(Independent Scholar),Wall paintings of Pang gra phug: Augusto Gansser’s Cave On 13 August 1936, just one year after Giuseppe Tucci’s well documented travels in West Tibet, the Swiss geologist Augusto Gansser discovered a cave with Buddhist wall paintings on his way to Kailash. Gansser included a photo of the wall paintings in the published account of this expedition. Judging from the style of the wall paintings they could be attributed to the time between the great phase of West Tibetan art in the 10th and 11th centuries and the period of its revival in the 15th/16th centuries. West Tibetan wall paintings from this intermediate period of political instability are rare. Unfortunately, but understandably, Gansser (now 99 years old) does not remember the location of this cave. The more we were pleased to find it during recent field work in West Tibet. The cave comprises a substantial iconographic programme: 1000 Buddhas surround large depictions of Green Tārā (Sgrol ma ljang khu) and Amitayus (Tshe dpag med) on the right and left walls respectively. The central wall shows the thirty-five Buddhas of Confession of Sins in the top row above the central Prajñāpāramitā (Yum chen mo) accompanied by the 7 Medicine Buddhas (Sman la mched bdun) and Śākyamuni (Sha kya thub pa), symmetrically distributed to her sides. Just below follows a row with the five Jinas in the centre, joined by Ṣaḍakṣarī Lokeśvara (Yi ge drug ma) and Vajrapāṇi (Phyag na rdo rje) on the right,Mañjuśrī (‘Jam dpal) and Uṣṇīṣavijayā (Gtug tor rnam rgyal) on the left. The lowest row consists of depictions of main events of the life of the Buddha and thus reminds of the cave with the lantern ceiling at Dungkar. In a similar sense also the geometric design of the ceiling appears to be derived from earlier West Tibetan caves. The figurative paintings, on the other side, have much less in common with their West Tibetan precursors, but appear to be influenced by styles which flourished in South Tibet. A comparison to wall paintings in the vicinity of this cave and further to the East will help to define their art-historical and religious position. Stylistic peculiarities which the paintings of this cave have in common with the paintings in the cave of the Luri stupa in Lo lead us to propose a similar date: end of the 13th century. Cynthia Col (Independent Scholar),At the Heart of the Matter: The prajnaparamit and the design of the Derge Parkhang This talk advances understanding of and appreciation for the art and architectural forms, which Tibetans have developed in the service of Buddhism. Built between 1729 and 1744,theDerge Parkhang stands today as the only remaining Tibetan press operating according to traditional methods. The Derge Parkhang also provides an important example of a later Tibetan architectural structure. While earlier forms of Tibetan architecture have received some attention by scholars, later forms have not received the appreciate they are due. The mandala concept that underlies the plan of the Parkhang is not obvious. Nevertheless, it is very much present, as I will show in this study. I argue that employing a plan that unfolds like a mandala is in keeping with the role of the Parkhang as a production site for an important edition of the Tibetan Buddhist canon. Further, I argue that the thoughtfulness of the overall design of the Derge Parkhang is deservedly understood as a performative space. The murals in the Parkhang are among the few monastic murals in Eastern Tibet that survived the Cultural Revolution. The initial construction of the Parkhang was overseen by Situ Panchen Chökyi Jungné at the

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request of Derge King Tenpa Tsering. A later expansion overseen by ZhuchenRinchen was completed by his son, Kunga Trinlé Gyatso. The first floor of the Parkhang features two assembly halls, the Protectors Hall and the Scripture Hall. This presentation is focussed on the Scripture Hall, which was part of a later expansion overseen by Zhuchen, The Scripture Hall features twenty-seven buddhafields. By reading inscriptions on photographs and correlating these with Zhuchen's account, I have identified the central Buddhas on these panels. Further, I am able to show that Buddhas that appear in buddhafields on the walls of the Scripture Hall correspond to dbu lha on folios that initiate texts of the Kanjur and Tenjur printed at Derge. In this talk I explain that the underlying scheme unifying the set of deities and lineages of masters is the Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Lines also known as the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, and also consider important reasons why Zhuchen used this set of texts to order the images in the murals. In both assembly halls the relationship that is established between the word of the Buddha (texts) and his physical presence (images) establishes the combined value of these two modes on the path to enlightenment. I will explain how the ordering in the Scripture Hall differ from the correspondence that is evoked in the Protectors Hall between the images presented in murals and the texts of the Kanjur. Finally, I demonstrating how the plan of the Parkhang, including murals and sacred objects are integral to the function of the building,and support the greater vision of spreading the Buddhist Dharma via the editing, translatingand printing of the Tibetan Canon. Pete Faggen(Columbia University),Designing Amdo: Gungru Khandro-ma, rig ‘dzin dpal mo, Paints Gendered 19th century Amdo Cultural Portrait.

While male reincarnation lineages, specifically the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama reincarnation series, are known to have played an important political and religious role in Tibetan history, the role of female reincarnate figures is less clear. Recent scholarship in the Tibetan studies field has shown that female reincarnate lineages have played important political and cultural roles throughout Tibetan history, primarily in central Tibet. However, the Gungru mkha ‘ ‘ groma lineage based in the eastern Tibetan region of Amdo has received little scholarly attention. Utilizing the method of translating and analyzing Tibetan biography (rnam thar), this paper illuminates how one of the few female reincarnate lineages in Tibetan history came to have political, cultural and social influence in Amdo. How did this Khandro-ma reincarnate lineage function with powerful religious and political lineages in Amdo? What is the significance of female reincarnation in the production of Tibetan women’s history?

My research strategy for this paper, (a shorter version of my M.A. thesis at Columbia University),

which I seek to present at this summer’s International Association of Tibetan Studies, centers around my translation of a 28-page biography of the fifth reincarnate lineage member of the series, Gungru rig ‘dzin dpal mo (1814-1891), of Drakar Monastery. (Drakar Monastery is located about 40 kilometers north of Labrang Monastery in present-day Gansu, China). I use parts of rig ‘dzin dpal mo’s biography to analyze the political and cultural climate of Amdo during the late Qing. I glean information from the biography, as well as other relevant primary and secondary sources, to illuminate how rig ‘dzin dpal mo exhibited economic and social agency as a female ritual healer in Amdo. I analyze her role as a dakini in relation to her spiritual (tantric consort?) connections to many high lineage lamas in Amdo.

In addition to translatingrig ‘dzin dpal mo’s biography, I also translated a journal article about the

successive Gungru mkha’ ‘ gromalineage members, starting with the first reincarnate in the 17th century. This three-page article chronicles the entire lineage within which I can compare and contrast rig ‘dzin dpal

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mo’slife with the lives of other lineage holders. This includes the first lineage holder who became noted for her art work/sculpture work at Kumbum Monastery in the 17th century after she returned to the Amdo region from Lhasa. Scholars currently do not have access to the rnam tharof the other six lineage holders, yet some secondary works exist about the mkha’ ‘ groma lineage, including a journal article by Tashi Tsering (g’ yu mtsho). This summer, I interviewed the seventh lineage member (1937-present) in Xining, China, with the aid of an interpreter. At age 73, this seventh-lineage holder provides a link to recent Amdo history, Sino-Tibetan history and also to Tibetan women’s history. The seventh lineage holder maintained a close relationship with the late Tenth Panchen Lama (1937-1989) and has built a monastery in Qinghai.

Accompanying my translation of the rnam thar, I use relevant case studies (Hildegard Diemberger’s

When a Woman Becomes a Religious Dynasty and Kurtis Schaeffer’s Himalayan Hermitess) to help contextualize rig ‘zin dpalmo’s place in Tibetan women’s history. I also analyze and question how historians use rnam thar, including examining the motive of the author for writing the rnam thar. For this paper, I question why thabs mkhas bstan pa rgya mtsho, would write rig ‘zin dpalmo’sbiography, a question Janet Gyatso (Apparitions of Self) and other scholars have researched. I have also translated some short works about thabs mkhas bstan pa rgya mtsho, and shorter pieces on two prominently mentioned reincarnate lamas, Gönchok Tenpé Drönmé of Labrang Monastery, and Lozang Chökyi Nyima of Gonlung Monastery in Qinghai. Elena Pakhoutova (Rubin Museum of Art), Wondrous Great Accomplishment: Painting of an Event

This paper will discuss a unique double-sided thang ka painting that employs two modes of visual and literary narratives to document and present a significant event that took place at Gendungang (dge ‘dun sgang) monastery in Central Tibet.

One side of the painting narrates a history of the construction of the stūpa to house relics of an

important lineage holder in the monastic tradition of Gendungang, the third abbot of the monastery Zhonu Changchub (gzhon nu byang chub, active in 13th – 14th century). Additionally, at the lower section on this side of the painting that shows the process of the stūpa’s construction this thang ka contains a large inscription rendered as a horizontal text panel. Another side of the painting depicts an elaborate ceremony of this stūpa’s consecration, miraculous occurrences, and the final structure completed.

This presentation will analyze this painting composition, its visual and textual contents within the

broader cultural context but alongside specific historical, religious, and artistic comparisons and evaluations. I will address general questions regarding relationships between text and image; the consecration ritual, the biographical genre and lineages in visual representations; as well as their interpretation with regard to this particular painting.

Being quite distinct from known lineage paintings, depictions of stūpas, consecrational images,

historical, and narrative paintings, this exceptional thang ka presents a special opportunity to study a confluence of cultural practices that involve creative expressions of commemoration of important occurrences within monastic lineages and methods of visual and biographical documentation.

Considering that Gendungang monastery, founded in 1225 as one of the four monastic centres

established by the great Kashmiri pandita Śakyaśrī (Shākya Shrī bhadra, 1127-1225), is still one of the less documented in both historical accounts and art, this painting is a rare example of its recorded communal

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history. This presentation makes a case about the two complementary modes of visual and literary narratives as reflective of a deliberate later recollection of the monastery’s one glorious moment.

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III. Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 Plenary Session Janet Gyatso(Harvard University),The Ethics of the Way of Humans (mi chos): Before, Within, and Beyond Tibetan Buddhism This paper will examine the history of the notion of mi chos, or the ‘Dharma of Humans.’ This is a distinctively Tibetan phrase, with little or no Indic precedents. Looking in particular at its rhetorical function when it is used to refer to pre-Buddhist Tibetan ethics, the paper will then study the adaptation of this term in Tibetan medicine, focusing upon a text from the 13th century. In the latter, the concept of mi chos manages to work in much that has affinity to classical Buddhist bodhisattva ideals, but also acknowledges and valorizes the everyday professional realities of practicing physicians. Its use in medical writings suggests a kind of cynical instrumentality, but also a moral vision with its own integrity that nonetheless avoids some of the soteriological idealizations of scholastic Buddhist ethics. This moral vision lays special emphasis on skills necessary for empathetic communication, manual dexterity, and intimate relations between the medical apprentice and his mentor. Changngopa Tseyang(Vice President of Tibet University),Preliminary note on Lhasa Rinchentso of Gongtang Regional Kingdom

During the fragment time period after the Tsanpo political power collapsed, a female character called Lha Rinchengtso, a royal descent of Tsanpo, emerged in the Tibetan history. She made tremendous contribution to the development and political stability of GongtangRegionalKingdom. Her deeds have been recorded in history, but unfortunately, she did not receive enough attention from the scholars as the concerned character is a female. Some scholars cited her deeds in their scholarly works, but they just cited either some fragment parts or without understanding of the character fully.

This presentation presents and discusses the concerned historically legendary female figure with four

chapters: discussion of the female figures in history, introduction of the historical background of the character, further discussion of the marriage culture at the time, and objective discussion on the history of Lha Rinchentso. Dram dul (China Tibetology Research Centre), jo bo rje dang lha btsun byang chub 'od kyi dri tshig bdun skor gyi dpyad gleng Tashi Tsering(Amnye Machen Institute), Blas man Mkhyen rab Nor bu: A Short Biographical Note and Brief Discussion of His Works In the past two years, Tibetan computer experts from CTRC and Tibetan University had designed and created 10 new Unicode Tibetan fonts, which cover all types of Tibetan traditional fonts, including Drutsa and Chuyig. We named the ten fonts as following names, from which we can see the type of the fonts. They are: Qomolangma-Uchen Sarchen, Qomolangma-Uchen Sarchung, Qomolangma-Uchen Sutung, Qomolangma-Uchen Suring, Qomolangma-Drutsa, Qomolangma-Betsu, Qomolangma-Tsuring, Qomolangma-Tsutong, Qomolangma-Tsumachu and Qomolangma-Chuyig. A simple sample page of these fonts is attached on this registration form. In addition to the font development, the same team also developed a Tibetan input method

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for Windows Vista and Windows 7 based on Wylie transliteration. This keyboard could be another opption for user to type Tibetan in Windows system, beside Microsoft Tibetan keyboard. A presentation of about the fonts and the keyboard will be presented on the seminar, and CD of these font files and the keyboard will be handed out on the seminar for free to use. 26. Self-Determination for Tibet—Recent Developments P. Christiaan Klieger (California Academy of Sciences), Situating Tibet: Tibetan Ethnogenesis in the Transnational Movement Over the last few years, anthropologists, political scientists, and others are realizing that the transnational Tibetan Rights movement is a phenomenon in its own right and worthy of study by the Tibet Studies community. Far from being merely a faddish popular cultural movement of the late 1960s, surfacing again in the New Age period of the 1980s, “Free Tibet” has an institutional structure that is now deeply rooted in various Human Rights and environmental initiatives. It is clear from the assessment of the “emergency” meetings of international Tibetan Rights Support groups in Delhi in late 2008, paralleled by a meeting of the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala, that the Tibetan nation is increasingly constructed by non-Tibetan Buddhist practitioners and activists. The Dalai Lama recently expanded his conceptualization of Tibet to include, not just the Tibetans inside and outside of ethnographic Tibet, but those Vajrayana Buddhists in Mongolia, Russia, other parts of Central Asia, and the millions of global practitioners. This global “nation” has, furthermore, grown from something that was primarily concerned with the maintenance of certain key traditional Tibetan institutions (the Dharamsala of 1960s-2000), to a new Tibetan nation fully engaged with the world. Current challenges are primarily concerned on how to institutionalize the movement such that it is not solely identified with the current Dalai Lama. This paper will examine current “ethnogenetic” trends within this transnational context. Lobsang Sangay (Harvard Law School), Greater or Simply Tibet? In the ongoing talks between the envoys of the Dalai Lama and its Chinese counterpart, one of the most contentious issue is the definition and delineation of Tibet. Is it Greater, traditional, historical, or simply Tibet? Does the territory suggested under greater Tibet unreasonably split neighbouring provinces of Gansu, Sichuan, Yunan and Qinghai as alleged by the Chinese government? What is the validation of an argument that pre-1951 government of Tibet (Depa Shung) didn't administer adjoining territories hence the Dalai Lama cannot claim these territories? Is there any legal recourse or comparative context which will shed light on how best to address this seemingly intractable issue? I will examine all these issues and more on the basis of right of self-determination by analyzing Chinese laws particularly the Constitution of 1982 and Minority Nationality Act of 1984. Also historical validity or irrelevance could be addressed by examining the definition and delineation of Tibet within the comparative context, particularly the five major Autonomous Regions of Peoples Republic of China. This paper will also address the claimed impracticality and un-reasonableness of delineation of Tibet.

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Fiona McConnell (University of London),Governing Lives and Livelihoods: Constructing a Tibetan Population, Welfare State and ‘Economy’ in Exile This paper seeks to examine what kind of polity the Tibetan Government-in-Exile (TGiE) and how it strives to govern in exile. Drawing on the extra-territorial and non-state centric form of power found in Foucault’s notions of governmentality and biopower, I focus critical attention on TGiE’s management of lives and livelihoods. Not only does governmentality open up the possibility of polities other than states governing, but it also allows for entities other than territory to be what is governed. As such, this paper examines the intersection of the case of TGiE with ongoing debates regarding the relationship between governmentality and the state, and governance and territory. In doing so, TGiE’s construction of three objects of governance is examined – population, civil society and the economy – in relation to which I argue TGiE attempts to construct itself as a state-like polity. Going beyond the administrative structures of ‘government’, governmentality denotes the micro-political practices through which a governing agency conditions people to act in specific ways and through which people govern themselves.At first glance there appear distinct advantages to using these ideas for examining the functioning of TGiE. First, given TGiE’s tenuous legal standing and lack of legal jurisdiction over territory, the shift away from power being dependent on sovereignty to the notion of government as an ‘art’ is a framework which appears highly applicable to this case. Secondly, in focusing on the practices, instruments and mechanisms of governance this is an approach which is appropriate for what is an often confusingly defined polity. Moreover, Foucault’s concern with the micro-political and micro-administrative practices of power also chimes with the ethnographic approaches that I have employed to examine TGiE’s governing practices. In exploring what it is that TGiE is governing in exile, and how such governmentality is operationalised in a territory-less polity, this paper examines TGiE’s construction of three objects of governance: population, civil society and the economy. Given its centrality to the concept of governmentality, the primary focus will be on the exile administration’s construction, regulation and governance of a population. Examining the range of techniques used by TGiE to bring into visibility the Tibetan population in exile, attention will focus on the importance of population given the lack of territory and the intersection of exile realities with such practices of governmentality. Attention will then briefly turn to the construction of a ‘civil society’ and an ‘economy’ in exile, sketching out TGiE’s state-like rhetoric of welfare provision, individualising strategies, archipelago of welfare institutions across the settlements, its interaction with other welfare providers and the discursive construction of nascenteconomic functions in exile. Though TGiE faces considerable limitations in providing for and governing of these spheres, nevertheless its partitioning out and attempts at managing these domains of governance in exile is significant. I will argue that it is through such strategies of governmentality that TGiE is constructed and legitimised as a governing entity. Therefore, employing a range of techniques of governmentality – from regulating the health and reproductive behaviour of its population to creating totalising visions of the development of its exile community and differentiating itself from exile NGOs and businesses – TGiE has in many regards constructed what Mitchell sees as the ‘state effect’.

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Doris Lehner (University of Vienna),The Tibetan Diasporic Community in India: Modes of Self- and Multilevel Governance For the last 50 years in India, the Tibetan refugee community under the guidance of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration also known as the Tibetan government in exile as well has been successfully resettled and rehabilitated not only with the generous support of the Indian governments (Central and States) but also with the aid of international relief organisations (state and voluntary sectors). In the context of globalisation, transnationalisation and governance theory this thesis analyses on the one hand the “glocalised” exile Tibetan system of Self-governance as well as on the other hand the different varieties of multi-level governance involving a plurality of actors (state-/ public- and/ or non-state/ private actors) on varying scales (local, regional or global etc.) which extend the spheres of social manoeuvre of the community level. Besides the interplays among the Indian governments, the Central Tibetan Administration and the international NGOs which contribute to the transnationalisation of exile Tibetan affairs on a global scale, the first part of this thesis primarily deals with the self-representation and image of the CTA’s politics of self-governance. The second part scrutinizes the Tibetan civil societal initiatives and networks represented by the largest and most active NGOs which form different communities of values and interests on the grassroots-level embedded in the day to day local life worlds of Tibetans in India. Ultimately, the third part delivers insight into the management of transnational development projects, the motivations of donors and their policies as well as administrative procedures of implementation. Susanne Duska (University of British Columbia), Communitarian Jurisprudence in the Tibetan Diaspora in India This paper takes Tibetan Diaspora studies beyond traditional confines by demonstrating pertinence to debates in legal pluralism and the accommodation of diversity. In specific, it investigates the strengths and weaknesses of informal dispute resolution systems used in Tibetan refugee settlements in India. Socio-legal scholars characterize such systems as a form of communitarian jurisprudence. In a multicultural society there are advantages to allowing ethnic and religious groups some latitude in resolving their own civil disputes. In theory, disputants gain because the conciliatory methods typically used are cheaper, deliver a morally substantive form of justice and preserve relationships to a greater extent than litigation through impersonal courts. By devolving responsibility to communities, the state saves on police and adjudication costs. The community gains by validation of its identity within the state, and a safeguarding of shared communitarian values. In practice, there are trade-offs that need to be better understood. Communitarian jurisprudence relies heavily on voluntary compliance with norms of social control. As cautioned by liberalists and legal centralists, communities can use their moral voice to oppress members and impose authoritarian structures. Particularism can condone nepotism and class privilege. There may be an inclination to suppress conflict for purposes of cohesion and harmony. Communitarian norms can foster insular attitudes at odds with the demands of a cosmopolitan society. Contextualized understanding of how different communities handle disputes can shed light on how to think about what constitutes the benefits and costs of community. Ultimately, the question is whether conciliatory models and their latent norms are consistent with constitutional rights of liberty and equality. Are they effective supports to the maintenance of order within and between sub-state communities? The Tibetan

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Diaspora in India provided fertile ground for this exercise because of its nested provisions for dispute resolution within the framework of a democratic, multicultural host country. Research completed in 2006 considered the most recurrent categories of conflict using third-party intervention in selected Tibetan settlements in India. It assessed two key provisions for dispute resolution at a communitarian level: 1) Central Tibetan Administration representatives mandated to resolve conflicts within their precincts; and 2) the Tibetan judiciary operating under the Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act. Some twenty case studies were analyzed with reference to process and outcome, against the backdrop of normative infrastructure and community dynamics. The Tibetan Diaspora is singular, but much can be extrapolated from its experience - both as affirmation and cautionary tale for proponents of communitarian jurisprudence. Settlement level processes were effective for resolving marital discord, unruly behaviours and conflict with neighbours because outcomes were socially framed. By contrast, narrow, legally framed outcomes could fall short of the justice mark for both individuals and communities in these close-knit settings. Inter-ethnic disputes over land or other issues presented a more difficult picture of legal disempowerment rooted in the refugee circumstance. Overall, dispute resolution proved to be a zone where social norms, folk law and formal law interacted in complex, often ambiguous ways that purveyors of multicultural policy would do well to consider. 27. Tibetological Library and Archive Resources: State of the Field and a Fielding of Needs Dr. Dorje (Tibetan Medical Institute, Xining), Manuscripts and Metadata Lauran Hartley (Columbia University), Tibetan Cataloging and Access Issues Yeshi Lhundrup (National Library of Bhutan), Developing a Tibetan/Dzongkha Database E. Gene Smith (Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center) LATSE LIBRARY, Pema Bhum and Kristina Dy-Liacco TIBETAN BUDDHIST RESOURCE CENTER, Gene Smith and Jeff Wallman, TIBETAN & HIMALAYAN DIGITAL LIBRARY, Steven Weinberger DIGITIZED TIBETAN ARCHIVES AT BONN UNIVERSITY: Peter Schwieger LIBRARY OF CONGRESS DIGITAL PROJECTS, Susan Meinheit ONLINE INSTRUCTIONAL AND ARCHIVAL RESOURCES AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, Lauran Hartley 28. Kham Panel: A Zone of Intense Contact—the Khams pa Region YudruTsomu (Lawrence University), Poppy Fields: Poppy Cultivation and the Opium Trade in Kham during Early 20th Century

Scholars of modern Chinese history have long recognized the importance of understanding poppy cultivation and the workings of opium trading. Nevertheless little scholarly attention has been paid to these same issues in Kham, and, in particular, the Gyarong region of present-day Sichuan province. Drawing mainly on rich archival sources concerning opium cultivation and trade in Kham housed in Sichuan Provincial Archives, this paper explores the development of poppy cultivation and trade in Kham region during the early part of 20th Century. These archival sources are also supplemented with articles on opium

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cultivation, trade and opium suppression campaigns in the Cultural and Historical Materials published by the Kardze and Ngawa People’s Consultative Conferences, as well as social investigation reports concerning the various counties in Kham. This paper explores why the Kham region, and especially the Gyarong region, became a popular site for poppy cultivation and the consequences of opium trade on the region. Of particular interest are questions such as: how did opium spread to the Tibetan area? How wide-spread was poppy cultivation in the region? What were the transportation routes of the opium trade? Who participated in these activities? What information is available to measure the economic impact of the opium trade on farmers, merchants, indigenous chieftains and headmen, warlords, soldiers, government officials and secret societies?

Benjamin Deitle (University of Virginia), Politics and Printing in Eighteenth-Century Co ne This paper looks at the history of Co ne, a once powerful and thriving principality on the Sino-Tibetan frontier of A mdo. Co ne is almost exclusively known for the publication of xylograph editions of the Bka' 'gyur and Bstan 'gyur in the eighteenth century. The Co ne Bka' 'gyur was only the second printed edition of a Bka' 'gyur produced in a Tibetan area. Its publication placed Co ne at the forefront of an eighteenth-century upsurge in the printing of both canonical and non-canonical literature on the Tibetan plateau. Despite Co ne's fame for its canonical publishing efforts, there has been almost no research into the circumstances that allowed a small regional polity to suddenly begin heavily patronizing religious institutions and the creation of religious monuments. In fact, the main source for information about Co ne in a Western language remains Joseph Rock's article "Life among the Lamas of Choni" which appeared in the November 1928 issue of National Geographic. In the more than eight decades since this pioneering piece was published, very little has been written about Co ne. In addition, Rock's brief comments on Co ne's history contain several striking errors. To correct these mistakes and shed light on the neglected history of Co ne, my paper makes use of several Tibetan sources containing rich information on the history of eighteenth-century Co ne. These sources include Dkon mchog bstan pa rab rgyas's (1801-1866) lengthy historical work on A mdo, the Deb ther rgya mtsho (also known as the Mdo smad chos 'byung); Dkon mchog 'jigs med dbang po's (1728-1791) catalogue-cum-chronicle of the Co ne Bstan 'gyur, and biographical materials such as the autobiography of Co ne bla ma Grags pa bshad sgrub (1675-1748). The study of Co ne is also important for understanding larger trends in eighteenth-century Sino-Tibetan history. The specific circumstance under which the Co ne printings of the Bka' 'gyur and Bstan 'gyur took place are paradigmatic of eighteenth-century political and cultural developments. In that century, several regional Tibetan polities rose to prominence as they increased their local authority and at the same time made alliances with the expanding Qing dynasty. In the case of Co ne, it was shortly after the king of the region, Dmag zor mgon po (b. 1686), paid a visit to the Kangxi emperor in 1716 that the Co ne court started pouring resources into the Great Monastery of Co ne (Co ne dgon chen) and into the production of religious monuments, including the xylograph editions of the Bka' 'gyur and Bstan 'gyur. Much of the principality's new wealth came from its relationship with the Qing dynasty. The Qing supported the Co ne court's rule of the region in exchange for contributing military forces in the advance of Qing interests in Mongolia and Tibet. The Great Monastery of Co ne saw tremendous growth under the leadership of the abbot Ngag dbang 'phrin las rgya mtsho(1688-1738), who was also Dmag zor mgon po's younger brother. The Co ne court, like that of the Sde dge kingdom to its south, developed a system in which the older brother became king while a younger brother became a monk and abbot of the monastery. This close relationship between the court and the monastery allowed the secular leadership to remain vital, while in other areas, such as Bla brang

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monastery and central Tibet, power had shifted decisively toward monastic establishments and the reincarnate lamas at their heads. The rulers of Co ne also continued to be generous patrons of religious cultural works. From 1753 to 1773 work was carried out on the engraving of printing blocks for the Bstan 'gyur. The main patrons of the project were queen Rin chen dpal 'dzom and her grandson Bstan srung tshe ring (b. 1744) who became ruler of Co ne around 1761. The Second 'Jam dbyangs bzhad pa of Bla brang monastery, Dkon mchog 'jigs med dbang po, wrote a catalogue of the publication which contains extensive sections on the history of Buddhism and its scriptures as well as a history of the Co ne royal family. Dkon mchog 'jigs med dbang po's work on the Co ne Bstan 'gyur was likely one of the factors that led him to begin printing texts at Bla brang monastery, laying a foundation for what would become one of the largest printing houses in the Tibetan world. The history of Co ne in the eighteenth century helps us put into perspective the relatively more well-known eighteenth-century histories of central Tibet and the Sde dge kingdom, and also the rise of Bla brang monastery as a regional power in A mdo. Through comparing the rise of Co ne with the development of other polities during the same period, we can identify important differences in the role of Buddhism and Buddhist leaders in regional politics while at the same time recognizing some of the common factors that went into the making of political and religious authority in the eighteenth century. Stéphan Gros (C.N.R.S), Spirits of the Mountains, Cliffs and Caves. Some Preliminary Comparisons in Northwest Yunnan Northwest Yunnanprovince is an area of encounter between Tibetan traditions and those of various Tibeto-Burmese people who live there. Set against the background of the exchanges and influences that took place during these encounters, the theme of mountain cults can provide an opportunity to point out a few variations and peculiarities that can be a stepping stone for a comparative endeavor. As a preliminary milestone in this direction, this paper will present ethnographic data collected among the Drung (Dulong) and Nung (Nu) on rituals addressed to spirits located in high mountains, but also cliffs and caves. It is precisely in these places invested with a special power and inhabited by powerful spirits that, among the Nung people, Tibetan Buddhism has taken root. While first building on the example of a ritual addressed to mountains deities among the Drung people, it is a regional coherence that this paper seeks to highlight, and several other rituals will be alluded to and their connections discussed. The paper will then turn to a regional level of comparison, making reference to the Kawakarpu mountain—the mountain of origin of both Drung and Nung people—and linking it with the nearby sacred mountain of Tibetan Buddhism, the Kha-ba-dkar-po, and the broader religious landscape. This papercalls for research perspective that takes as its starting point, not cultural (or ethnic) units,but shared religious views in their contextual ritual variations. Peng Wenbin (Southwest Nationalities University), Ethno-Historical Space of the Cult of Mt. Murdo on Sino-Tibetan Frontiers Cult of Murdo has been a subject of interest among anthropologists and religious historians since the early 1990s. Its uniqueness lies not only in its locally centred religious orientation mingled with the Bon and other Buddhist traditions, but in its deep association with a cosmological view intersected by a long-range frontier historical process in the Gyarong region, dramatized by large historical events (i.e., the Jinchuan War in the Qianlong reign), and by ongoing religious revitalizations and innovations in the frontier region. This paper builds on a follow-up field research project on the pilgrimage of Mt Murdo in Danba and Jinchuan. It

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discusses the cult’s connection with construction of ethno-historical space that brings to light issues of empire/state building, local myth/memory making and ethnic interactions. Peter Schwieger (Universitaet Bonn), Khams After the Establishment of the dGa’-ldan pho-brang Government in the 17th Century With the establishment of the so called dGa’-ldan pho-brang rule in the 17th century the political and religious situation in Tibet changed radically. Enforcing its claim to superiority in political as well as in religious affairs with the help of the military power of the Koshut Mongols the new administration tried to stretch out dGe-lugs-pa hegemony over the whole Tibetan cultural area. Although it was not successful in each and every direction (the remarkable failures were the wars against Bhutan and only to some extent the one against Ladakh) Tibet itself now entered into a period of stronger centralization. For the most part of the country regional political, legal and religious affairs were now controlled by the new political center of Lhasa. The far-ranging changes together with Tibet’s increasing involvement in the great Inner Asian war finally paved the way for the new Qing dynasty in China to gain imperial rule over Tibet. In my paper I will focus on the changes brought about in East Tibet after the establishment of the dGa’-ldan pho-brang government in the 17th century. In this way I will resume my former studies on Brag-g.yab, Ri-bo che, Be-ri and rGyal-thang by discussing additional sources. Koenraad Wellens (Oslo University), Elite Histories: How Muli became Tibetans This paper is concerned with demonstrating how local elites in an area of Khams inhabited by a non-Tibetan people were able to maintain their power through association with Gelug monasticism and, by extension, Tibetan culture. Today Muli is one of two so-called Tibetan autonomous counties. This administrative status seems a logical reflection of Muli’s recorded history. In 1950, at the time it was to be integrated within the newly established People’s Republic of China (PRC), Muli had been a Gelug monastic domain for almost 350 years. During this entire period it was ruled by one clan providing the head monks who had the position of gyelpo or king. When the Chinese communists invited the 19th king of Muli, Xiang Peichu Zhaba, and the other power holders into the process of integrating their territory into the PRC, they accepted the elites’ version of Muli as a Tibetan area. One of the few written sources of Muli history, a monastic history called the Muli Chöchung, also clearly supported the identification of Muli’s inhabitants as Tibetans. Nevertheless, recent anthropological study leaves no doubt that the majority of those people identified as Tibetans by both the old elites and the new PRC regime are belonging to the Premi people who up to this day are speaking a non-Bodic Tibeto-Burman language and practicing a clearly non-Buddhist religion. Even the clan of the Muli kings is of Premi origin. This paper argues that the elites vested their local authority through close association with Gelug monasticism and, by extension, Tibetan culture in general. The price of this association was that the kings had to accept some form of authority from the Dalai Lama regime in Lhasa. In order to be more independent from the Tibetans, the kings managed to be recognised by the Qing emperor as tusi or native military rulers. By continuously shifting alliances and helped by Muli’s isolated position surrounded by high mountains, deep gorges and fiercely independent Yi people the kings maintained a high level of autonomy throughout their 350 year reign. This balancing act continued during the period of the Republic and the paper will show how such a policy was on the one hand successful in that it provided Muli with a considerable degree of independence while it at the same time carried high risks of occasionally bringing disaster to both rulers and local villagers of Muli.

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Xiuyu Wang (Washington State University-Vancouver), Late Qing Legal and Governmental Reform Measures in Kham Imperial China's most strenuous effort to regulate its contact with Khampa Tibetans came in the late Qing reforms in Kham's administrative and legal structures. Before the state's military attack of Khampa monastic and chieftain authorities in the early twentieth century, relations between imperial bureaucracy and regional power was loosely regulated and narrowly conceived. But, with the state's growing commitment to a more secure Kham inner borderland came the creation of the Sichuan-Yunnan Borders Affairs Commission, and Qing officials sought to integrate Kham society under closer direct control. Local administration and law became most important and contested arenas in which state officials attempted to weaken local power and to shift the framework of contact to a more favorable basis. In administration, the state imposed reform called for direct replacement of hereditary chiefs with bureaucratic appointees whose office and person were dependent on the state. Both force and flexible adjustment had to be applied in order to create enough power balance in the new system between state interest and local power. This paper details the kinds of impositions and negotiations embedded in various administrative proposals that demonstrated this aspect of state-local contact. In the area of law, state imposition was even more softened by allowing more local control and by placing state action under narrower perimeters, especially in regards to familial litigation. As contact intensified, therefore, state force was inserted in more areas of local life on one hand, local power brokers also actively used local customs to shape state authority into additional sources of legitimacy for themselves on the other. Nima R. Dorjee (Independent Scholar), sMar khams bKa’rgyud in Dragyab Liu Yong/ Sinongpentso (Southwest Nationalities University), Introducing shardza ri-po-che and His Chinese Bon-po Concept From the mid-nineteenth to the early twentiethcentury was a special period in China and Tibetan regions, that is the historical background that Shar dza rin po che lived and wrote the Bon po history. Shar-dza rinpo che was born in 1859 in sha-rdza, a district in sde-dge in khams, and died in 1935 when he 76 years years-old. The era that he lived was a special period when Tibetan and Chinese society were undergoing the unprecedented reforms and changes. This paper includesfour parts: the first part will briefly introducethe author Shardza ri-po-che ,the second part outlines contents of the The precious treasury of good saying, pleasant rain for the wise, inthe third part I will display the important quotations about the Bon and ancient China. In the final part, I will talk about some pointsof the genre, concept, method, etc. involved. Lara Maconi (INALCO),Quid of the Ancient Buddhist Kingdom of Muli? Preliminary Notes on a Study in Muli Tradition(s) and Mondernitie(s) The ancient Buddhist kingdom of Muli is a frontier region strongly linked to the zone of Tibetan culture, located in present day Sichuan province, on the border with Yunnan province. In pre-Maoist times, it was quite independent from both Lhasa and Beijing. Since the 1930s, the Muli region has hardly received any attention from international researchers in both tibetology and sinology. We know very little about Muli traditional political, social and territorial organisation, the evolution of its cultural traditions, and we know practically nothing about its modern history, culture and literature. The very toponym of the region is still

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highly debated: is it Muli or Mili? Peter Kessler’s monography (The Historical Kingdom of Mili, 1986, English edition) offers previously unknown information about the history of Muli, but the information provided certainly needs to be further investigated, developed, and questioned. The accounts written by Western travellers between the end of the 19th c. and the beginning of the 20th c. describe Muli as a secluded region, infested by brigands, and inhabited by a peaceful population who adopted the dge lugsschool of Tibetan Buddhism as their religion. It was ruled by a lama-king surrounded by a court of ministers who were recognized by the Dalai-Lama. There was an independent army and an independent legislation at Muli in pre-Maoist times. To go to Muli in 1898, Edward Amundsen had to apply for two passports, one in Tibetan and one in Chinese, this showing the specific in-between political and cultural status of Muli at that time. Today, administratively, Muli is a Tibetan autonomous county surrounded by several Yicounties in the Liangshan Yiprefecture. In practice, this means that the cultural and literary policy, and economy of the prefecture are focused on the preservation and development of Yi culture, literature and language, and that the issue of Tibetan culture, its preservation and development, is a very much secondary question in Liangshan, and indeed the Tibetan face of Muli benefits from very little official consideration on a prefectural level. The basic question here is: does the administrative definition of Muli as a “Tibetan” county de facto correspond to cultural, literary, linguistic and political realities? My project on Muli raises a variety of questions which range from history to politics, culture and literature, focusing on notions of agency, representation and memory. In particular, it questions the specificities of Muli modern society and culture together with its transethnic, transcultural, and translingual dynamics in order to assess the complex and crossborder nature of its cultural production in the contexts of both the Tibetan regions of China and the larger PRC today. In this paper, I present some preliminary results of my research on Muli tradition(s) and modernitie(s). They are mainly based on relevant primary sources in Tibetan and Chinese and on several interviews with local political-cum-cultural actors collected during two fieldwork missions in the Muli region in 2008 and 2009. Yuan Xiaowen (Sichuan Nationalities Research Institute), An Inquiry into the Tibetan Identity of the Duoxu People: Tibetan Writing, Language and Religion at the Core

The Duoxu people is a subgroup of Tibetans, usually referred to as Duoxu Tibetans (often transliterated in Mandarin as Duoxu多须, Luxu鲁须, Duoxu多虚, or Lusu鲁苏, while also referred to as the Jisu 吉苏 by other Tibetan subgroups). There are some scholars who consider the Duoxu as a one of the three subgroups part of the Ersu 尔苏 Tibetans. Currently the Duoxu are not numerous, with only about 2,000 individuals, and by-and-large inhabit the source and upstream of the Anning安宁 River in Sichuan, an area , in the historical Zang-Yi 藏彝 corridor where there is a lot of intercultural contact between the three major ethnicities of Han 汉, Zang 藏, and Yi 彝. Administratively this region belongs to Mianning 冕宁 County in the northern part of the Liangshan Yizu 凉山彝族 Autonomous Prefecture.

Through the Duoxu peoples’ historical memories of Tibetan-language epigraphies, the influence and importance of Tibetan scriptures in their daily lives, the historical transformations of Bön Religion, Tibetan Buddhism, other religious beliefs, as well as contemporary religious rituals and practices, this paper has extrapolated several conclusions. First of all, as an ethnic minority living along the peripheries of the Zang-Yi corridor under the backdrop of increasing globalization, whose traditional culture is gradually being eroded until it is completely lost, there is an important and practical purpose for preserving and sustaining the culture of the Dorxu people, through conducting further research into their identities as a marginalized group.

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Furthermore, the Dorxu people’s characteristics and intercourse with other ethnic groups contributes to the understanding of the interaction and relationships between the various groups living along the Zang-Yi corridor. Finally, by looking at an area not only where demographic changes and the relocation of various ethnic groups occur constantly, but also where ethnic identification is rather complex and the boundaries of ethnicities are largely ambiguous, this paper gives an overall description of the salient features with regard to ethnic identities in the core region of the Zang-Yi Corridor. Wang Tingyu (National Tsing Hua University), The Modernity of rGyalrong Tibetan in Zhuokeji

Modernity is global yet plural, and as much a phenomenon of the countryside and indigenous peoples as it is of the city and its residents. For example, in Africa, South Asia and South America, religion is an important conduit through which indigenous people adopt modernity (Comaroff and Comaroff 1993; Kapferer 2002; Taussig 1980). However, for other indigenous people, secular everyday life experiences provide such a conduit. This article explores the meaning of modernity for indigenous Tibetans in a rural community in Sichuan Province, People’s Republic of China, where secular experience rather than religion is the means through which modernity is realized, but also where the state plays a major role in organizing those experiences.

My discussion of Tibetan modernity in Sichuan Province focuses especially on the house, since it is a

basic unit in both domestic and community life and has historically played a central role in both domestic and community social reproduction. The house as social unit has long been a subject of anthropological interest (see Lévi-Strauss 1969 [1949], 1987, 1994 [1983], and, for recent discussions, Carsten and Hugh-Jones 1995; Keane 1995). Like that literature, this article not only focuses on the material aspects of houses, but also on their specific arrangements and symbolic meanings. Unlike that literature, however, I give greater weight to certain historical features of the Tibetan house in Sichuan, as well as to its fate under the influence of social changes introduced over the past generation following the economic liberalization of China’s formerly socialist command economy.

The article is divided into four sections. The first section offers a straightforward description of Zokji Bu, a Sichuan Tibetan-speaking community. Secondly, I review the relationship of house names to the social history of the village and region, in so doing give special emphasis to the relevance for the system of the house names associated with the bureaucratic and sub-bureaucratic organization of the local chiefs and local chiefdoms (both called tusi) in this part of Sichuan Province, dating from the Ming and Qing dynasties, and ending only in the 1950s. Thirdly, I describe the typical Sichuan Tibetan house, including the continuities and transformations in its material and symbolic circumstances from the time of local chiefly rule through the various major periods of rule by the Chinese Communist Party. Finally, social changes in the house are related to the consequences of state-induced changes in the local agricultural-based economy and dependence upon the wider market economy for everyday life. Zhou Hua (China Tibetology Research Centre, CTRC)

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29. Literature and Social Media Shelly Bhoil (JNU, Delhi), Approaching Tibetan Literature The very fact that Tibet is a “living colony” in the post colonial world calls attention to the yet to be finished project of decolonization. It also immediately suggests both the utility of and departure from the concepts of post-colonialism in Tibetan studies. One can conceptualize to an extent the Chinese colonial discourse in Tibet with the tools facilitated by the post colonial theories. The exile Tsering Shakya has already called attention to the colonial atmosphere of the writings in Tibet in his papers “Language, Literature and Representation in Tibet”, and “The Waterfall and Fragrant Flowers”. To highlight a few parallels between the former British colonization of the world and Chinese colonization, both the colonizers began with the hegemonic policies of controlthrough the introduction of the colonial language (English/Chinese) and the colonial religion (Christianity/Mao’s communism). Much like Kipling’s ‘White man’s burden’ of civilizing mission, the Chinese rhetoric has been wrapped in their ‘Peaceful Liberation of Tibet’ from its alleged serfdom. Subsequently like the former Eurocentrism of the large world, the Tibetan world within Tibet has become quite Hancentric where everything is valued against the norms set by the centre. But there is much more to Tibet’s colonization than were in the case of the European colonies. This land began to be colonized in the mid 1950’s at the time when most of the former colonies in the world were regaining independence, and this land lost its claims to nationality ironically when the world began to be crafted into nation states by the UN. And despite there is a formulation of a parallel Tibetan nation in India with its exile government and administration. Also, Tibet’s colonizers are not a distinct race from a far off land like were the former colonizers of the world but instead share a certain geographical, religious, linguistic, and historic (the Mongol rule) proximity with the colonized subject. The same unlike in the context of the British in the past is grabbed advantageously by the CCP for claiming its rights over Tibet. These unique and complex issues of Tibet post 1959 have diversified its former identity, culture and hence literary practices to new forms, genres, and themes both within Tibet and in Exile. And there surfaces a kind of a wilderness in light of the present anomaly in the meaning of the very word Tibet- a lost nation, a colony, a minority race, an exile nation, a Buddhist culture! While the traditional literary heritage of Tibet that has had its symbolic kora in its advent back to India(from where it was once inspired) is received in the west with much value but largely in an over essentialising spiritual capacity, and the new literary writings in Tibetan exile in its infancy seem confused with the elsewhere standards it must compete with in order to have a standing. This paper suggests that the approach to study Tibetan narratives across time from Old Traditional Tibet to the Chinese Modern Tibet, and across space from the Tibetan land to its scattered diaspora around the world would be to move in the ethics of reading beyond the limits of Tibet’s comparability with other literatures to its own local context of traditional and emerging social literary practices. Nai-Hua Chen (Peking University),"遊學" and "遊藝": The Artists as Intellectuals: Gonkar Gyatso and The Tibet Sweet Tea House Gallery in 1980s This paper uses the Tibetan diasporic web portal phayul.com to analyze the ways in which the Tibetans construct the discourse of nation. The critical discourse analysis and study of the content of the website allows the researcher to map the ways in which the news referring to the ideas of nation are published on the website. The four categories of nation – common past, collective political struggle, common future and shared physical space of the nation -- are all prevalent on the website. Theories of nationalism are based on

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Benedict Andersen, Partha Chatterjee, Stuart Hall while the categories of nationhood are particularly culled from polish philosopher Leslek Kolakowski’s typography as presented and formulated by Austrian discourse analyst Ruth Wodak in her work on discursive construction of national representations. Julie Fletcher (University of Ballarat, Australia),Witnessing Tibet: Testimony as Political Action in the Tibetan Diaspora Since the beginning of the Tibetan diaspora, English-language testimonial practices, ranging from performed oral accounts to full-length autobiographical texts, have emerged as key forms of cultural production within refugee communities. Frequently circulated as part of the political and rights-based activities of the Tibetan independence movement, these life narrative practices can be seen as increasingly important forms of non-violent transnational political action in the diaspora. The post-World War Two period has been characterised not only as the “age of testimony” but also as the “third age” of human rights, with institutional frameworks emerging for the hearing of the rights claims of individuals and peoples against state actors. At the same time, scholars have begun to examine the “conjunctions” between the telling of life stories, and global human rights movements and claims. In the Tibetan context, the human rights paradigm has increasingly offered possibilities for narration as well as an interpretive framework within which narratives of Tibetan political experience can be understood. The Tibetan experience of diaspora, occurring during this Post-War period, has given rise to the emergence, development and institutionalisation of modern Tibetan testimonial practices. In and through diaspora, Tibetan refugees have been exposed to modern rights-based political concepts and practices. The liminal spaces of exile have produced contact zones for the formation of important relationships of collaboration between Tibetans and non-Tibetans, and given rise to key acts of border-crossing witnessing and testimony central to the emergence of this form of non-violent political action within Tibetan refugee communities. Testimony is frequently linked with the political purposes of “raising awareness” and “giving voice”. Testimony has the capacity to breach taboos and silences, to speak the unspeakable, and to draw attention to the unseen, unheard, excluded or unrecognized. Testimonial forms allow for the experience(s) of individuals to enter into the public realm, to become part of public political discourse, and be considered in the terms of normative political and ethical conceptions of right, or good, or justice. Testimonies can be seen to “work” politically both affectively and normatively. The affective work of testimony generates an emotional response in the viewer, reader or audience through the presentation of images of pain, suffering, and distress. But the political effects of presentations of pain and suffering can be short-lived, problematically consumerist, and linked to the construction of victim identities. By contrast, the normative work of testimony draws upon established idea(l)s of human rights and other political norms, to draw attention to the “gap” or disjunction between these rights and norms, and the lived experience of an individual or collectivity. In viewing Tibetan testimonial practice as political action, the giving of testimony can be seen as a clear extension, in the diaspora, of resistance and protest action within Tibet. In this, the giver of testimony can be seen, not primarily as a victim of torture or atrocity, but asan active resister and transnational political actor. Name In Tibetan (Tibetan Times News Agency) Dorje Wangchuk (Norbulingka Institute, India)

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30. Buddhist Texts and Philosophy Seiji Kumagai (Kyoto University), Development of the Syllogism of the “Absence of Self-nature” from Indian Buddhism to Tibetan Buddhism and the Bon Religion: “Four Great Reasons” or “Five Great Reasons”? Andrew McGarrity (University of Sydney),Indian and Tibetan Thinkers on the Mādhyamika Understanding of Dependent Arising (pratītyasamutpāda, rten bar ‘brel bar ‘gyur ba) and the ‘Dependent Designation’ (upādāya prajñapti, brten nas btags pa) Tibetan doxographers such as ’Jams Byangs Shes pa and lCang skya mostly follow the Indian Mādhyamika, Candrakīrti, in explaining the etymology of the term pratītyasamutpāda, rten bar ’brel bar ’gyur ba (‘dependent arising’). Like him, they understand the prefix ‘prati-’, when combined with the verbal root ‘√i’ as ‘pratī’, as denoting a relation of ‘dependence’; this ‘pratī’ is, in turn, explained in terms of a relation between phenomena as both (i) ‘meeting’ (prāpti) and (ii) being ‘related/ relative’ (apekṣatva), most notably, being related to causes and conditions (hetupratyayāpekṣa). However, unlike Candrakīrti, they add a further subdivision to this second sense of dependence as being related (apekṣatva): for ’Jams Byangs Shes pa and lCang skya, not only does apekṣa denote metaphysical or ontological dependence upon causes and conditions, as Candrakīrti explains in his etymology, but it also refers in a conceptual or epistemological sense to the ‘dependent designation’ (brten nas btags pa, upādāya prajñapti) - a notion they would seem to draw from, most notably, Mūlamadhyamakakārikā (MMK) 24.18 and Candrakīrti’s Prasannapadā commentary on MMK 24.18. What’s more, these Tibetan doxographers insist that this understanding of dependent arising in terms of the dependent designation is unique to ‘Prāsaṅgika Mādhyamika’. Now, inserting the added distinction of the upādāya prajñapti into the etymological explanation of pratītyasamutpāda would seem to be foreign to Indian materials and is a uniquely Tibetan development, as is also of course seeing the upādāya prajñapti as illustrative of a distinctly ‘Prāsaṅgika Mādhyamika’ understanding of dependent arising. So, in this paper, through an analysis of Tibetan thinkers such as Red mDa ba, Tsong kha pa and rGyal tshab, as well as the aforementioned doxographers, ’Jams Byangs Shes pa and lCang skya, I will explore how and why this development may have occurred in Tibet; most especially, why it might have been that Tibetan exegetes, unlike their Indian forebears, felt it necessary to so pointedly highlight the notion of the upādāya prajñapti in direct etymological explanations of dependent arising in a Mādhyamika context, as well as why doxographers saw this notion as so important in accounting for what came to be seen as the uniqueness and superiority of the ‘Prāsaṅgika Mādhyamika’ understanding of dependent arising. Akira Saito (University of Tokyo),Bhavya’s Critique of the Sā_khya Theory of pratibimba (gzugs brnyan)

The theory of pratibimba (gzugs brnyan) or “reflection” is well-known as having been introduced by the early Sāṃkhya when they explained how puruṣa (skyes bu) or “pure consciousness” is able to experience the objects of intellect (buddhi, blo). The explanation was required since they traditionally assert that those objects perceived by sense-organs are finally discerned by the intellect and, at the same time, puruṣa is regarded by the Sāṃkhya as one who sees (draṣṭṛ, SK.19) and is conscious [of something] (jña, SK.2).

Although not a few studies have so far been conducted on this particular issue of the Sāṃkhya theory of

pratibimba, we are still far from obtaining a satisfactory understanding of what it really means. In this regard, Bhavya’s critical discussion of this topic in his Tarkajvālā(TJ), chapter 6 entitled “Sāṃkhyatattvāvatāra”, is no doubt an important material for clarifying the meaning of this theory as advocated by the early Sāṃkhya.

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TJ is available only in Tibetan, while the mūla text, Madhyamaka- hṛdayakārikā on which TJ comments, is presently accessible to us in both Sanskrit and Tibetan. Despite a few difficulties related to the Tibetan translation of TJ, the present paper deals with the following three points: First, what type of the theory of pratibimba was introduced by Bhavya as pūrva-pakṣa or the “opponent’s proposition”? Secondly, what is the reason for Bhavya’s critique of this theory? Thirdly, what is the problem of the Tibetan translation of TJ made by Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna and Tshul khrims rgyal ba? Tsultrim Kelsang Khangkar (Otani University) 31.The Tibetan Clans Per K. Sörensen (University of Leipzig), The Clans of Yar-lung: ThegNyos Clan of Central Tibet One of the most enduring and influential clans in Central and Southern Tibet throughout the medieval epoch was the gNyos clan. Its long and complex history is commonly known from a number of stray sources. Fortunately, its successful polylinear ramifications can be documented from the 11thcentury. The spelling in the various sources vacillates – even within one text – between the homophoneous gNyos / sNyos / mNyos / sMyos.The genealogy or the lineage of the gNyos has been transmitted in a number of sources of which some are no more extant. The gNyos clan was an offspring of the rMu clan. The present conspectus thus only reflects a selective, extant segment ofthese genealogies found embedded in the above sources. The following listing is moreover restrictedto the genealogy of the initial generations of the gNyos that were active in Central or Western Tibet(i.e. mainly those settling in sKyid-smad and Kha-rag of sNa-dkar-rtse along the border to gTsang). Another spread of the clan is well-documented too, namely the succeeding agnatic sub-lines of gNyos/sMyos in lHo Mon or Bhutan wherefrom e.g. Padma gling-pa and the 6th Dalai Lama should originate (see Aris 1979a; 1988; and especially sMyos rabs, passim). Cf. also App. I and App. II, Chap. 1 above for a detailed discussion of the most illustrious members of the sKyid-shod gNyos clan and their role in the lHa-sa (known as the lHa-pa) area in the 12thcentury. Guntram Hazod (Austrian Academy of Sciences), The Clans of Yar-lung: A Note on the Trans-Regional Nature of Tibetan clan History

The area of Yar-lung plus ’Phyong-po was not only the home territory of the spu rgyal dynasty, but appears in the sources also as the home of a number of clans (or it is mentioned as the birth-place of certain members of clans), which are largely also known from other regional contexts of the early and medieval history of the Highlands. There were descendants of the Gnyags, Khu, Tshes-pong, Mchims, Lce, ’Gos, Mgar, Sba, Rag-shi, Se, Sgre, Myang, Dgyer, Gnyos, Rlangs, Snubs, and still more. Several of these names are registered as rje and blon lines of the pre-imperial principalities, and in many cases we can assume that the “Yar-lung clans” historically represent branch settlements of lineages that had their actual home territory elsewhere in the central Tibetan region. (“Home territory” is a somewhat vague term with regard to the Tibetan clan history, but in the context of the rgyal phran and the imperial period in principle it can be defined as the area where the lineages had their respective grave fields).

The situation in Yar-lung is typical of the trans-regional nature of the Tibetan clans, and while we will refer to the main stations of the Yar-lung clan’s branch histories, it is here in particular a question of when the

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lineages first emerged in this area and of the specific context that led to the establishment of a (branch-) settlement. This includes inter alia a discussion of the well-known group of the (king’s) “six clans of paternal subjects” (yab ’bangs rus drug), who apparently represent the first (trans-regional) clans of the Yar-lung area. 32. ‘Holy Madmen’: Contrasting Perspectives Stefan Larsson (University of California, Berkeley), The Songs of Gstang smyon Heruka (1452-1507)

The mad yogin Gtsang smyon Heruka (1452-1507) is mostfamous for having compiled and printed the biography and song collection of the Bka’ brgyud master Milarepa (1052–1135). Among his other important deeds the renovation of the Svayambhu Stupa in Nepal and the compilation of an extensive collection of the aural transmissions (snyan brgyud) of the Bka’ brgyud tradition are worth mentioning. Moreover he initiated a tradition of printing that was to continue for almost a century after his death. Given his importance and influence it is surprising how relatively little attention Gtsang smyon has received. Examining a rare collection of songs attributed to Gtsang smyon, this paper will shed some light on this fascinating figure.

Gtsang smyon’s songs were issued as a collection (mgur ’bum) after he passed away and were later

incorporated in two of the three extant biographies that his disciples wrote about him. These songs provide us with an insight into the form of Buddhism that Gtsang smyon and his disciples advocated and practiced. By looking at the narrative contexts of the songs it is sometimes possible to discern why, when,where, and to whoma particular song were sung. Combining a study of Gtsang smyon’s songs with a study of other texts written by Gtsang smyon and his disciples (i.e. the “School of Gtsang smyon”), it is possible to obtain a picture of this “alternative” form of Tibetan Buddhism. A study of this unique body of material also provides us with insight into a little known historical period, a social milieu, and into the network of disciples and patrons around Gtsang smyon. Thus we may gain specific information about this mad yogin andof the important and influential movement he created.

Information of Gtsang smyon and his “school” is nowadays mainly accessible to us indirectly by means

of the many hagiographies and song collections about early Bka’ brgyud masters such as Milarepa and Marpa that Gtsang smyon and his disciples compiled and printed. The creators of these texts (i.e. Gtsang smyon and his disciples) have so far remained obscure and unknown.

This paper is a preliminary step of a postdoctoral project aiming at analyzing Gtsang smyon’s songs and

the latter part of his life.

David DiValerio (University of Virginia), The Madman of U (1458-1532) and the Madman of Tsang (1452-1507): Rebels with a Cause Drukpa Kunley. To date many scholars have speculated about the nature of the madness exemplified by the famous Tibetan “holy madmen” (grub thob smyon pa) of the 15th century--namely the Madman of Tsang (1452-1507), the Madman of Ü (1458-1532), and Drukpa Kunlé, the Madman of the Drukpa (1455-1529)--but there has been little attempt to understand their “madness” in the context of their lives or the historical realities of the time in which they lived. This paper will begin the work of redressing this lacuna by looking closely at the lives of the Madman of Ü (dbus smyon kun dga’ smyon pa) and the Madman of Tsang (gtsang smyon he ru ka), focusing on the way in which their “madness” was performed and the practical effects it had on shaping the

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trajectory of their lives. In short, their “madness” was a part of their push towards what I call “tantric fundamentalism.” Special attention will be paid to how their “madness” positioned them in the wider religious marketplace, and their relationships with politically-involved patrons like the Rinpungpa family. This research is based on readings of the hagiographies (rnam thar) of these “mad saints” and other historical sources. Michela Clemente (IsIAO Rome), The Editorial Activity of IHa btsun Rin chen rnam rgyal at the Sacred Place of Brag dkar rta so Although many scholars have heard of lHa btsun Rin chen rnam rgyal (1473-1557) because of his relationship with gTsang smyon Heruka (1452-1507), his main master, and due to his connection with the “cultural project” of the great siddha, he is still a little-known figure. Up to now the most substantial information related to his life are restricted to Gene Smith’s preface to “The Life of the Saint of gTsang” by rGod tshang ras pa, that dates back to 1969, and something more is known about his editorial activity thanks to the recent research reguarding the so called “gTsang smyon Heruka’s school”. This is the reason why my PhD dissertation was devoted to lHa btsun. The research was based on the study of two untranslated Tibetan works – the rnam mgur and the rnam thar of Rin chen rnam rgyal – whose original 16th century xylographs of Brag dkar rta so are kept in the Tucci Tibetan Fund at IsIAO Library in Rome. The first one bears the title “The Self-manifestation of the Inconceivable Dharmakaya: The Biography and Songs of the Holy Glorious Accomplished Master lHa btsun, the king of Dharma” (dPal ldan bla ma dam pa mkhas grub lha btsun chos kyi rgyal po’i rnam mgur blo ‘das chos sku’i rang gdangs). The second one is entitled “Second Part of the Biography of the Lord of Yogins lHa btsun, the king of Dharma” (rNal ‘byor dbang phyug lha btsun chos kyi rgyal po’i rnam thar gyi smad cha bzhugs s.ho). It has been presented there an introduction to this figure, providing information on different subjects in order to show the relevance of the two original sources. Both texts are indeed rich in historical, literary, artistic, and religious information. The interest around lHa btsun has grown stronger over the last years. Many scholars are working in researches correlated with him, particularly with his editorial activity. We are aware of the importance of his activity at the sacred place of Brag dkar rta so, the renowned monastery founded by him, so my contribution will consist in a presentation of lHa btsun’s work there. This subject has been simply touched in my PhD dissertation, so it is my will to devote myself to it now. The reaserch will be mainly based on the two Tibetan texts which I studied and translated for the first time, but other Brag dkar rta so’s texts will be examined, too. I will particularly focus on works inspired by visions to lHa btsun. According to him, indeed, the spark that got gTsang smyon’s project underway came from a vision of Naropa, who appeared to gTsang smyon telling him to compose the biography of Mi la ras pa and to edit the collection of his spiritual songs. In the same way, the editorial activity of lHa btsun at Brag dkar rta so began with a vision of his master gTsang smyon in the form of Saraha. After having experienced each vision, lHa btsun composed some works. He also used to paint his visions on Brag dkar rta so’s walls – but unfortunately it seems they got lost due to the reconstruction of most of the building - or on thang kas, donated to his many patrons. Patrick Sutherland (University of Arts, London), Disciples of a Crazy Saint: Photographing the Buchen of Spiti The Buchen of Spiti in North India are travelling actors, storytellers and disciples of the Tibetan “Crazy Saint” Thang Thong Gyalpo. They are widely known for performing an elaborate exorcism ritual the “Ceremony of the Breaking of the Stone”, but the winter performances of their peripheral and distinctive form of Ache

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Lhamo are under-researched. This living theatre communicates directly to local village audiences and is qualitatively different from the polished performances in Lhasa and Dharamsala. Buchen deliver Buddhist morality plays for spiritual edification. Harrowing biographies of Tibetan saints illustrate karmic principles. The “stage”, often an animal pen, also offers a transgressive space for uninhibited speech and “entertainment”, spiced with earthy humour. Figures of authority are lampooned. Players joke about the impinging world of mobile phones, tourists and satellite television. As a documentary photographer, my reportage images aim to reveal the rich flavour of their events, including the raw humour and interaction with local audiences. But the Buchen find these unposed images deeply problematic. Can photography record the profane humour of Buchen theatre without demeaning the sacred nature and spiritual message of the plays? The social status of Buchen seems ambivalent. Locally revered and treated as honoured guests and religious specialists in their own communities, these entertainers are more widely looked down upon and sometimes complain that they are regarded as beggars. Perhaps my photography concretises this ambivalence. Disciples of a Crazy Saint is an experimental practice-led photographic research project (to be undertaken May 2010) documenting the Buchen repertoire, roles, costumes and characters as well as their social role and status. By returning my own archive of work (as well as historical images by Coldstream, de Roerich, Kahlen and others) as objects for discussion I will initiate a collaborative methodology that involves the Buchen themselves in the process of documenting their theatrical culture in ways which are both revealing as documentations and appropriate to their own sense of their role and status. 33.Healthcare Wu Bangfu (Kham Aid Foundation),Midwife Training in Tibetan Sichuan: Lessons Learned From a Successful Program An eight-week training program taught basic midwife and health care skills to 79 women in eight counties of Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan. Later, after the women had been posted in rural Tibetan communities for 4-8 years, follow-up surveys were administered to gauge program impact and find out why some of the trained midwives were more successful than others. The training program is described in detail, including organization and leadership, the student selection process, and the curriculum. Based on the surveys, estimates are made of infant and maternal lives saved by the program. Success factors are described and analyzed in an effort to provide useful guidance to others who may wish to offer similar training in the future. Ciren Zhuoga (Tsering Dolkar) (University of Calgary), A Critical Analysis of Health Program Design, Implementation and Changes in Nagchu and Dranang Countries of the Tibet Autonomous Region: Findings from an Embedded Case Study Research While critics and advocates of development aid in Tibet have debated about the role and socio- political implications of international organizations’ involvement in the region, there is however a lack of field research and detailed analysis of such projects. Most of these projects provide primary health care

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intervention services in the rural areas dealing with basic Hygiene & Sanitation, Maternal Child Health education promotion. This paper discusses the findings of an embedded case study research of the community health promotion program design, implementation and changes in Dranang and Nagchu counties of the Tibet Autonomous Region. It is set within the larger framework of an integrated poverty alleviation project, known as the Basic Human Needs Project (BHNP). The BHNP was the first ever Canada-China bilateral project in the TAR and was implemented from 2001 to 2007. The project was funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation. Using an embedded case study research strategy the objective of the study was to understand: (a) health program design and implementation for two diverse rural communities in the TAR; (b) the scope and effectiveness of such interventions as indicated by changes seen in Health and Hygiene & Maternal Child Health (MCH) practices prior and post to project intervention. Both qualitative and quantitative data were used that included a critical review and analysis of relevant project documents, key informant interview and a secondary data analysis. The secondary data analysis was conducted using the project’s original health survey database, which consisted information on households’ hygiene and MCH practices. The original database in Excel was reviewed and transferred to Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive and inferential statistics (t tests, McNemar tests) were produced for pre and post project intervention data. Findings from the data sources mentioned above were integrated with the researcher’s own recollection and reflection of the time. The presentation hopes to contribute towards a greater understanding of health program design, implementation, needs and issues for the rural Tibetan population in the TAR. Wenjuan Huang (China Tibetology Research Center),The Function of Religion in Disease Control and Prevention in Tibet Globalization and modernizationis shortening the distance between people around the world. The growth of industries, such as commerce and tourism, and the constant improvement of transportation and infrastructure in Tibet improve the access of Tibetans to other parts of the world. On one hand, two-way travel (outsiders’ coming in and Tibetans’leaving Tibet) bringsto locals the fresh air of information, high technology,advancement of the economy andimprovement in living standards.On the other hand, such phenomenacan also bring dangers including communicable diseases such asTuberculosis and HIV aids. Tibetans therefore have to deal with new challenges in diseasecontrol and prevention while striving to solve their basic health problems. In particular, low levels of public awarenessregarding health problems in rural areasof Tibet may lead to a higher incidence of communicable diseases – partly attributable to globalization and modernization. Though the government and health sectors are endeavoring to improve the situation and have achieved adegree of success, the shortage of health resources has ledthe authorities to mobilize the whole of society to participate in disease control and prevention. However, questions arise regardingthemost effective and efficient strategies that could be applied - especially in such a deeply religious society. By taking strategic advantage of religion’s social function to conduct an extensive health education campaign on disease control willimprove the health situation of Tibetans. Inthe paperthe author will discuss her case studies regarding how religious persons can playa significant and irreplaceable role,as well as what effects they have exerted

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on disease control and prevention in Tibet. From theaspect of the effectiveness and efficiency of religiousleaders on disease control, together with an analysis, the author will conclude that recruitingthe function of religion is one of the best strategies for disease control and prevention in Tibetan rural areas.The author will also recommendthe appropriate strategies needed to involvereligious persons in disease control and prevention. Yang Zong (Oslo University), A Comparison of Lung Function in Children Living at Different High Altitudes in Tibet More than 140 million people worldwide live higher than 2,500 meters above sea level. In Tibet, most of the population lives at altitudes higher than 3,500 meters above sea level. There were more than 179,000 Chinese living permanently in Tibet in 2005andthe immigration has increased considerably after the opening of the railway in 2006. The effect of high altitude hypoxia on human growth and development has been studied in resident population of high altitude by many authors. For example, a study of 315 people showed that the Sherpas have significantly larger spirometric values than Caucasians (Adrian P Havryk et al, 2002). Another study by Tashi Droma and her colleagues reportedthat among adults in Lhasa in 1991 Tibetanshad larger lung volumes compared to Han Chinese. Much less is known about native Tibetan children living at different altitudes in Tibet. In thispaper I will present findings from the first study to display lung function values including FEV1(forced expiratory volume in 1 second), FVC (forced vital capacity)and FEF50 (forced expiratory flow 50%) among 9-10 year old native Tibetan and Han Chinese children living at different high altitudes in Tibet. These findings might prove to be very important and useful background information for public health planning in the future. The study is based on two investigations among 9-10 year old Tibetan (n=406) and Han Chinese (n=406) children living at 3,700 meters in Lhasa in 2005, and among Tibetan children of the same age (n=430) living at 4,300 meters in Tingri in 2007. After adjusting lung function values for sex, age, weight, height and duration of living in Tibet, it became clear that Tingri Tibetan children had statistically significant higher FEV1and FVC values than Lhasa Tibetan children. Moreover, Tibetan children had significantly higher values than Chinese children in Lhasa. Both native Tingri Tibetan and Lhasa Tibetan children had significantly higher FEF50 than Han Chinese, although the FEF50 difference between Tingri and Lhasa Tibetan children cannot be defined as statistically significant. All anthropometrical measurements (height, weight, sitting height, body mass index and chest circumference) were statistical significantly higher in Lhasa Tibetan Children than Lhasa Han Chinese children who had a higher anthropometrical measurement than Tingri Tibetan children. There were no gender differences within the ethnic groups within the same altitude. After presenting these findings, the paper will discuss these in relation to parental smoking, environmental smoke exposure, childhood asthma symptoms (both written and video questionnaires based on the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC)) as well as socioeconomics factors among three groups. 34. Political Economy and the Production of Space Emily T. Yeh (University of Colorado – Boulder), Vegetable Farming, Space-Making, and Social-Spatial Relationships in Lhasa Many Han migrants affectionately nickname Lhasa “little Sichuan.” This appellation results from both everyday embodied practices and political economic forces that together produce space. Based primarily on

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45 interviews conducted with migrants in Shuangliu and Mianyang, Sichuan, who had returned home after vegetable cultivation in Lhasa, this paper examines the development of the vegetable farming industry in Lhasa with a focus on place-making practices and the mutual constitution of the social and the spatial. It analyzes migrants’ narratives about their imaginations and experiences with Tibet and Tibetans through discourses of development and quality (suzhi), and how social-spatial practices preclude the technology transfer and development that the state has argued migrants bring. Kabir Heimsath (Oxford University), Living the New Tibet: an Ethnography of Dwelling in Contemporary Lhasa A number of critical issues concentrate in and are amplified by the urban space of Lhasa. Cultural identity and the continuity of Tibetan heritage interface with homogenizing forces of accelerated modernity; ethnic tensions are exacerbated by rapid socio-economic change; political sensitivity contributes to blatant manifestations of State control. These matters receive considerable attention from the international community but there is little understanding of how locals perceive or deal with the contemporary situation in Tibet. How do Tibetan residents of Lhasa cope with the rapidly changing urban environment? How are Tibetans resisting, complicit with, or contributing to supposed State paradigms of development? How do residents of Lhasa interact with and produce the urban space of the new city? This paper addresses these questions through an ethnographic investigation of Tibetan homes in Lhasa. The private space of Tibetans in a contemporary urban environment has received no attention from scholars yet provides intimate clues to the ways in which Tibetans structure their lives in the contemporary political economy and understand themselves in a time of contested priorities. The paper utilizes a theoretical approach to urban space borrowed from Henri Lefebvre. In this framework ‘space’ is produced not simply (a) through the power structures that build the city, but also through (b) the everyday practices of its residents and (c) the processes of representation integral to the personal and social significance of the city. My analysis of Tibetan homes thus begins with an introduction to the political economy involved with the large-scale reconstruction of the city and its residential zones in the last fifteen years especially. This introduction intends to give an overview of the development priorities and socio-economic makeup of different residential areas of the city. The bulk of the paper is concerned with varying forms of everyday life that takes place in the homes of Tibetans living in the city. The physical structure of various homes affords different types of lifestyles. I offer a glimpse of home life around the Barkhor area of central Lhasa and in work-unit apartments while focusing primarily on the lifestyles in private housing developments that have recently become the preferred home for retirees and middle-class professionals in Lhasa. The paper discusses different lifestyles afforded by varying home spaces and includes consideration of design, furniture and interior decoration in relation to household habits. Interpretations of the cultural, political, and personal significance of home-furnishing decisions are discussed by way of conclusion to the paper. Whereas ‘space’ is often viewed as a an abstract and predetermined given, my exploration suggests that Tibetans in Lhasa make self-aware and strategic choices to create home spaces that indicate particular socio-cultural values as well as personal attitudes towards their ethnicity, religion, and the State. I argue that while the creation of space occurs contingent to powerful political and socio-economic pressures it also demonstrates local agency and the personal priorities of Tibetans in Lhasa. Tracy Zhang(Simon Fraser University),From Peasant Daughters to Factory “Nuns”: Carpet Weavers’ Subject Formations in Modern Lhasa

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This presentation discusses how some ordinary Tibetan women could change their subject positions and socio-economic status in the midst of economic reforms in Tibet. The analysis is based on surveys and in- depth interviews conducted in the fall and winter of 2006. My research participants grew up in the rural area and migrated to Lhasa in the 1980s and the 1990s. In Lhasa, they were recruited by a carpet factory to weave carpets for more than a decade. As this state-owned factory was transformed by pro-market policies and eventually was privatized in 2005, I describe how these women experienced and responded to changes in meanings of carpet-weaving, working conditions, and labor relations. Christina Harris (Texas Tech University), Cartographic Anxiety: The Lhasa-Kalimpong Trade Route and the Production of Space Contemporary changes in the political economy of the TAR and other Tibetan-speaking areas. Taking a theoretical approach that challenges conventional geographical boundaries as fixed containers, and in which space and place are understood as relational and socially produced, panel presenters will examine socio-spatial and socio-natural changes taking place in Tibetan areas. Suggested topics include, but are not limited to: urbanization, migration, sedentarization in pastoral areas, “sacred space” and development, modernity, commercialization and finance, trade and border-crossing practices, and environmental movements. 35.Tibetan Buddhism in China Li Cai (Southwest University for Naitonalities) Cai Bei (Minzu/Nationalities University of China, Beijing), Names of A-myes-rMa-chen and its Identity A-myes-rMa-chen is a very common name for rMa-chen mountain in mGo-log Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture ,Qinghai province ,P.R.China.This mountain is worshipped as the chief of all the territorial deities (yul-lha gzhi-bdag) by the inhabitants in A mdo Tibet. The names of A-myes-rMa-chen shows some complex and rich characteristic in the Tibetan literal resource and folk memory, when we study the change for its names ,we can understand the evolution that A-myes-rMa-chen undergone from the territorial deity to the super- territorial deity , and we can explain the gnas-ri (holy or sacred mountain )rMa- chen -gangs-ri and its pilgrimage better. The paper is composed of three parts as following: ⅠⅠⅠⅠ.The different names and its meanings.

The ancient names and common name. 1．rMa-chen-bom-ra 2．rMa-chen-sbom-ra 3．rMa-gnyan- sbom-ra

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4. A-myes-rMa-chen

The detailed names and its origin. 1 Yul-lha gzhi-bdag 2．Gyang- lha 3．Dgar-lha ①rdu-rje-dpav-rtsa ②dmag-dpon-jao-bo-rgyal-mtshan ③gzhi-bdag-rdo-rje-dpav-ldan ④rMa- gyang- rdo-rje-barg ⑤wer-ma 4.gter-srung. 5.bkav- srung 6. Dsten-bsrung ①Kun-bzang-gshen- lha ②Dgav-ldan-vbrog-r’i-dge-bsnyen ③Jao-bo-zhaw-dkar-ba 7.Sa-bcu’i-dbang-phyug-rMa-rgyal-sbom-ra 8. rMa- rgyal-gangs-ri Ⅱ.Names and identity A-myes-rMa-chen has a very complex name system .So it has divers identities and functions accordingly. It may be seen its identity has been experienced some changes from the secular god to the super-secular god ,this process not only relates to the Tibetan religion and history ,but also shows the strong basic of the belief for“yul-lha gzhi-bdag” in traditional Tibetan society. Ⅲ.Conclusion: Name represents culture . At present ,the name A-myes-rMa-chen has taken place of other ancient names, it is very urgent to protect and save these divers names , as you know , once the name is disappear, the cultural meaning which depends on it will disappear too. FaxiangSu (Minzu/Nationalities University of China, Beijing), Quantitative Analysis of Belief Situation in Two Villages Around Lhasa City Many changes have taken place in Tibet since the middle of last century, so did believing situation

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among Tibetans. But those changes about religious aren’t as clear as others in Tibet, for example transportation, population, even landscape. The paper which is composed of four parts tries to describe belief situations among Tibetan people in two villages around Lhasa city by quantitative analysis method. I.Description Investigation Spots. II.Methodology and Questionnaires III. Quantitative Analysis IV. Conclusion Kalsang Gyaltsen (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), Tibetan Buddhist scriptures translated into Manchu in the Qing Dynasty Yoko Ikejiri (Toyo Bunko),The Foundation of the Yong-he-gong Monastery (dga’ ldan byin chags gling) and Qing’s Policy on Tibetan Buddhism

This presentation will analyze the significance of the foundation of the Yong-he-gong

monastery (dGa’ ldan byin chags gling) as a Qing’s policy on Tibetan Buddhism.

The Yong-he-gong monastery is the largest existing Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Beijing. In 1744, the Emperor Qianlong announced that his father Yongzheng’s palace Yong-he-gong, where he grew up, would be transformed into Tibetan Buddhist monastery. Thus, the palace was reborn as a Tibetan monastery called Yong-he-gong monasteryor dGa’ ldan byin chags gling.

On this occasion, the Emperor Qianlong depended on lCang skya Rol pa’i rdo rje (1717-1786)as a religious adviser. Since the previous incarnation of lCang skya (NGag dbang blo bzang chos ldan, 1642-1714) had visited Beijing in 1693, the lCang skya incarnation was positioned as an important religious figure at Qing’s Court; the Court appointed NGag dbang blo bzang chos ldan the most highest administrative lama of Beijing and bestowed on him the title of Great National Preceptor (Da-Guoshi).

The foundation of the Yong-he-gong monastery is one of the large-scale enterprisesthe Emperor

Qianlong carried in his earlier reign for the sake of the promotion of Tibetan Buddhism. Preceding studies on the Yong-he-gong monastery have mainly discussed its symbolic religious significance (e.g., F. D. Lessing, Yong-ho-kung: An inconography of the lamaist Cathedral in Peking with Notes on Lamaist Mythology and Cult, 18, vol.1, Sino-Swedish Expedition Publications, Stockholm, 1942; Qin Yongzhang, Guoshi Zhangjia yu Huandi Qianlong, Qinghai Renmin Chubanshe, 2008). However,itssignificance as an effective policy for the Qing's rule of Tibet and Mongolia still remains unclarified. As for lCang skya Rol pa’i rdo rje, who actively participated in the foundation of the Yong-he-gong monastery, the importance of his presence and achievements in Qing’s Court as well as his close relationship with the Emperor Qianlong have been emphasized, but only by evaluating lCang skya’s personal merits, one cannot fully explain the Qing’s policy on Tibetan Buddhism.

Considering these problems, this paper aims at clarifyingthe historical significance of the

foundation of the Yong-he-gong monastery in the Qianlong Era by reexamining the process through which the monastery was planed and actually established. This event was promoted along with the Qing’s administrative policy which was enforced by means of the Jasag i Lama system.

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The Jasag i Lama system was a system the Qing dynasty built in orderto administer Tibetan Buddhists and monasteries in Beijing and its surrounding area.It was the lCang skya incarnation the Qing’s Court positioned on the top of this system. I have studied so far how this system wasintroduced and actually operated in the early Qing period. In my previous studies, I have revealed that the system was effectively worked as a means of executing Qing’s policies on Tibetan Buddhism. In order to gain a correct picture of the Qing-Tibet relationship, therefore, it is indispensable to examine the effects of the Jasag i Lama system. Because the Yong-he-gong monasterywas built in Beijing,it was under the control of the Jasag i Lama system.The Qing’s Court symbolically used the monastery in such political scenesby the end of the Qianlong era as the placement of the stone inscription of Lama Shuo and the Gold Vase for the selection of reincarnation. In other words, the Yong-he-gong monastery continued to play an important role under the Jasag i Lama system.

This paper will specificallyexamine the followingfour points: [1] When and how the Emperor

Qianlong made a proposal to transformthe Yong-he-gong palace into aTibetan Buddhist monastery, and who took the initiative to carry out this work; [2]what talent was required for establishing the Yong-he-gong monastery; [3] how the Yong-he-gong was subsumed underthe Jasag i Lama system after its foundation as a monastery; and [4] what political impact the foundation of the Yong-he-gong monastery made on the later Qing-Tibet relationship.I will use the following sources: [1] biographies ofsuch Tibetan Buddhist Lamas as lCang skya fromthe eighteenth century, and [2] contemporaneous Manchu official documents written by Manchu officers who carried out the work. Baima Wangjie (Washington, D.C.), The Cause and Historical Process of the Spreading of Tibetan Buddhism Among the Common Chinese people 36. Tibetan Information Technology Tashi Tsering (China Tibetology Research Center),Introducing Qomolangma Tibetan Unicode Fonts and Qomolangma Wylie Input Method for Windows Vista and Windows 7 In the past two years, Tibetan computer experts from CTRC and Tibetan University had designed and created 10 new Unicode Tibetan fonts, which cover all types of Tibetan traditional fonts, including Drutsa and Chuyig. We named the ten fonts as following names, from which we can see the type of the fonts. They are: Qomolangma-Uchen Sarchen, Qomolangma-Uchen Sarchung, Qomolangma-Uchen Sutung, Qomolangma-Uchen Suring, Qomolangma-Drutsa, Qomolangma-Betsu, Qomolangma-Tsuring, Qomolangma-Tsutong, Qomolangma-Tsumachu and Qomolangma-Chuyig. A simple sample page of these fonts is attached on this registration form. In addition to the font development, the same team also developed a Tibetan input method for Windows Vista and Windows 7 based on Wylie transliteration. This keyboard could be another opption for user to type Tibetan in Windows system, beside Microsoft Tibetan keyboard. A presentation of about the fonts and the keyboard will be presented on the seminar, and CD of these font files and the keyboard will be handed out on the seminar for free to use. Paul G. Hackett (Columbia),The Use of Yig-cha and Chos-kyi-rnam-grangs in Computing LexicalCohesion for Tibetan

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To properly implement a simple Tibetan Information Retrieval (IR) system segmentation of one form or another (n-gram, POS-tagging, dictionary substring matching, etc.) must be performed. To take Tibetan indexing to a more sophisticated level however, some form of topic detection must be employed. This paper reports the results of the application to Tibetan of one technique for topic boundary detection: Lexical Cohesion. A discussion of the resources developed and deployed, the theoretical model used, and its potential applications are discussed. William Magee(Dharma Drum Buddhist College),Tibetan in the Virtual Classroom. Displaying Complex Scripts in Sceond Life and Open Sim.

An important part of the "Hopkins Tibetan Treasures Research Archive" (http://haa.ddbc.edu.tw) is thedevelopment of Tibetan language-learning systems for use in the virtual environments of Second Lifeand OpenSim. This paper describes the methodological difficulties encountered and the solutionsdetermined upon in order to bring to completion this innovative aspect of the Hopkins Archive project. Without going into programming details or pedagogical theory, the main technical problem to overcome was the display of complex scripts in the virtual classroom. For purposes of solution grouping,the project pursued two technical paradigms: Fixed-content Language Display and Real-timeInput Language Display. This paper describes seven specific tools developed to teach the Tibetanlanguage inside Second Life and OpenSim using Fixed-content Language Display and Real-time InputLanguage Display solutions. The project also adopted generic designs for writing and displayinglanguages with complex and unique scripts (such as most Buddhist research languages: Sanskrit,Chinese, Japanese, etc.). Working from the templates created for the virtual Tibetan classroom,scholars of Sanskrit, Chinese, and so forth can readily design their own language locales. The paperconcludes with a discussion of virtual classroom desiderata and a call for a consortium of universitiesto create and host a virtual environment for the teaching of the Buddhist studies research languages inSecond Life and OpenSim. Robert Chilton(Asian Classics Input Project),Sorting Unicode Tibetan Data: From Collation Algorithm to Implementation Support for collating unicode Tibetan in culturally expected order appeared in Mimer SQL in 2004 and in Microsoft Vista in 2006. Both Mimer and Microsoft implement a "standard" collation algorithm for Tibetan-script data; however, because of technical differences in the manner of implementation, there are some differences in the sort order produced by these two systems. These two implementations are described and compared. The Common Locale Data Repository (CLDR) information for "standard" Tibetan collation (which serves for both Tibetan and Dzongkha) is presented and explained. A standalone Windows applet which implements the Mimer/CLDR collation will be distributed. Tsering Gya(Qinghai Normal University), Research on the Standard of POS Tag of Contemporary Tibetan for TIP Provincial Key Laboratory of Tibetan Information Processing and Machine Translation, Qinghai Normal University raise a Part of Speech (POS) Tagging Norms for Tibetan Information Processing (TIP) based on the automatic segmentation and manual analysis to large-scale Tibetan corpus. According to the actual needs of the Tibetan corpus, and computer automatic segmentation and tagging to develop the construction of Part of Speech Tagging Norms, using the first classify empty words and contents words, and then determine the largest category. According the major categories separated its sub-categories, and then the separated different

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depths subclass. In the Tibetan corpus processing experiment proved that it was a more reasonable and practical approach. 37. Textual and Discursive Art Dorji Wangchuk (University of Hamburg), Legendary and Historical Accounts of Manuscripts Written with Precious Materials This paper seeks to discuss some of the legendary and historical accounts found in various Tibetan textual sources of insignia, letters, documents, and above all, manuscripts written with precious materials, such as gold, lapis lazuli, and silver. First, I shall present some legendary accounts of texts written with precious materials connected with stories of the origination and transmission of certain scriptures in India and Tibet. Second, I shall briefly look into the terms and significance of the various kinds of insignia (e.g. gser yig) believed to be bestowed to high ranking government officials during the reign of King Srong-btsan-sgam-po, and also examine the terms and concepts of what is known as the “five [corpuses of] texts [written] in precious materials” (rin po che’i yi ge lnga) found in the Bi-ma-snying-thig cycle of the sNying-thig strand of the rDzogs- chen system. Third and most importantly, an attempt will be made to report on some of the deluxe manuscript editions of certain collections (be they large or small) and of individual scriptures and works. The main aim of the present paper is to highlight some aspects of Tibet’s manuscriptural and textual culture. Marta Sernesi(Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München),The Writings and Printing Projects of rGod tshang ras pa sNa tshogs rang grol (1482-159): New Sources for the Study of the so-called School of gTsang smyon Heruka This contribution will present the preliminary results of the project titled: Re-enacting the Past: The Heritage of the Early bKa' brgyud inthe Life and Works of gTsang smyon Heruka (1452-1507) and his disciplerGod tshang ras pa sNa tshogs rang grol (1482-1559)", which I am currentlycarrying out at the University of M unchen together with Prof. Franz-KarlEhrhard, and with the support of the Gerda Henkel Stiftung.The project is aimed at the study of the lives, writings, and blockprintingactivities of the two Tibetan masters, who belonged to a non-institutionalbKa' brgyud lineage practicing the bDe mchog snyan brgyud (Aural Transmissionof Sam. vara), also known as Ras chung snyan brgyud (Aural Transmissionof Ras chung pa). The religious lives of gTsang smyon and his disciples were modelled by this heritage, and they were the most inuentialagents of the transmission, codi_cation, and systematization of theirtradition's literature, as well as of the re-writing of the life-stories of theirforefathers. If their major hagiographical production is widely renown, rGodtshang ras chen's life, writings and printing projects, and gTsang smyon'sdoctrinal treatises, still need investigation. The project is aimed at _llingthis gap, and focuses on less-studied or newly available textual sources,which will also allow a more accurate historical contextualization of theschool's widely known oeuvres, illuminating their sources, references, audienceand motivations. The sources are mainly preserved within the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project (NGMPP) Collection of TibetanTexts, and to a lesser extent in the Tucci Tibetan Collection at the IstitutoItaliano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (IsIAO) in Rome, and at other Europeanlibraries.

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In particular, the paper will focus on doctrinal writings devoted to theAural Transmission tradition (Bde mchog snyan brgyud), such as instruc-tional and ritual texts, commentaries, and treatises dealing with the scripturesand teachings of the tantric cycle of Samvara. These sources shedlight on the school's religious background, ideology and legacy, its exegeticalstrategies and self-representation.Moreover, the school's works were produced for the most part as xylographicprints, thus contributing to the diffusion of this technology inCentral Tibet. In particular, it has been possible to identify di_erent sets of prints fostered at the beginning of the 16th century by rGod tshang raschen, and to describe their characteristics, such as title-page, layout, illuminationsand so on. Therefore, I will present examples of these prints, anddiscuss their features, dates, and context of production, with a focus on theprinting workshop of Ras chung phug, the hermitage in Yar lung were gTsangsmyon Heruka passed away. The printing colophons of the texts offervaluable insight not only into the material aspects of bookproduction, butalso into the network of patrons and supporters of the school. Elvira Eevr Djaltchinova-Malets (The State Ethnographic Museum, Poland),rSang ba ye shes da ki ma, A Preliminary Research. The topic of the paper is a preliminary research of thangka with image of gSang ba ye shes da ki ma from the Himalayan Collection of the Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw, Poland and the origin of the deity. The thangka, the museum’s nr. MAiP 5771 has been dated on the XVIIth centure, provenance -Tibet. The size with embroidery is 100cm X 49,5cm. There are inscriptions at the back of the thangka and three hand printed stamps The Dakini of Secret Knowledge belongs to a group of ten goddesses, generally named as The Goddesses Who Command Subjugation. She is red and has four hands. The two hands positioned at the breast hold a skull-cup and a chopper. In her second right hand she holds the sword, in her second left hand she holds the tantric staff. She stands on her left leg slightly bent, and she raises her right leg in a dancing manner. On her head she wears a diadem of five skulls, and her body is adorned with a lattice and an apron made of human bones. She also wears a long necklace made of fifty-one human heads. She stands within an aureole made of flames. The image above her represents a form of Vajradhara in tantric embrace with his consort. Karl Debreczeny(Rubin Museum of Art),Ferreting out the Hand of the Master: Paintings Attributed by Inscription to Si tu Pan chen The brilliant scholar and artist Si tu Pan chen Chos kyi ’byung gnas (1700-1774) was a deft and charismatic leader of the Karma bKa’ brgyud order, and influential in multiple domains of cultural and institutional life in 18th-century Tibet, making major contributions to the fields of painting, literature, and medicine.As Situ Panchen’s artistic career is well documented, we have rich insight into an artist and patron’s intentions, through his own words, as well as those of his contemporaries. There is a great deal of information in particular in these textual sources about the famous sets designed and commissioned by Si tu.But what of paintings that do not fall into these categories, compositions that cannot be tracked in Situ’s writings or the histories of his monastery? A group of paintings bearing inscriptions attributing them to the hand of Chos kyi snang ba, Si tu Pan chen's personal name, were brought together for the first time in theexhibition Patron & Painter: Situ Panchen andthe Revival of theEncampment Style last year (2009) at the Rubin Museum of Art. The gathering of five

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inscribed paintings provided us with a unique opportunity to consider for the first time the issue of paintings by Situ’s own hand. While works “by the hand of the master” are the essential work of many art historians, the field of Tibetan art history is only beginning to be able to approach these basic issues. These issues are not without their challenges; for instance, more than one person in this tradition has the name Chos kyi snang ba, inscriptions themselves can be added later, paintings can be reattributed, and so on. This paper will involve a close analysis of the paintings themselves, as well as the content and the calligraphy of their inscriptions, making comparisons among them and to outside textual sources. 38.From Sowa Rigpa to “Tibetan Medicine”? Transmissions & Transformations Theresia Hofer (Welcome Trust Centre, UCL), Medicine and Revolution: Then Un-making and Re-making of Sowa Rigpa in Central Tibet Understanding the nature of medical knowledge transmission is crucial when addressing the question of how Tibetan medical knowledge and practice survived the ravages of the communist ‘Cultural Revolution’, that began in 1966. In other areas of communist China aspects of traditional medical knowledge were on a large scale incorporated into communist health care campaigns and promoted at the highest levels of the Party. In contrast this period saw the Sowa Rigpa practiced in Central Tibet pushed to the limits of its resources and institutional existence; into the realms of silent knowing and largely secret practice and preservation of Sowa Rigpa. Passed on in medical lineages largely outside of the institutions of Tibetan medicine and Buddhism, practitioners once again gained crucial importance in the recovery of knowledge and the revitalisation of traditional medical practices within the region. This situation was possible, from 1972 onwards, as the heat of the destructions of the Four Olds cooled and aspects of Sowa Rigpa were incorporated into the extending health care system. I present findings on the experience and work of Tibetan medical practitioners during the Cultural Revolution in rural Tsang, at once contributing to our still limited scholarly understanding and documentation of this period of modern Tibetan history as well as the nature of the traditions of Sowa Rigpa in times of great social and cultural upheaval. Mingji Cuomu (Humboldt University zu Berlin; Tibetan Medical College),Qualitative Exploration of the Process of Harvesting Medicinal Plants in Tibet In the last ten years, there has been a dramatic reduction in medicinal plants in Tibet. This situation has attracted the attention of many researchers from different professional backgrounds, yet very few documents have been published on the general theoretical context and the actual process of herb collection as this occurs at different levels in clinics in Tibet. This research starts with a systematic review of the general principle of medicinal plant collection methods as set out in the ancient traditional medical system. Because the demand for plants is generated by the need to make Tibetan medicines, it is necessary to consider the original context of Tibetan medicine to understand pharmacological needs and the principles behind collecting medicinal plants to develop a strategy that might guarantee sustainable development of the plant supply. In addition, I have used my long involvement in the Tibetan medical field as a doctor, researcher and lecturer, to investigate the Tibetan public health system in the past and how this related to the overall process of herb collection in terms of involving stakeholders and providing information on the collection method. I have

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compared the historical picture with the modern public health administration and practice of herb collection to see the advantages and disadvantages that have arisen from the transformation of Tibetan society. After considering the wider context of this study, the actual research is mainly based on case studies with the intention of understanding actors’ experiences and social relationships in the contemporary herb collection process in order to discover behavioural pattern within the dynamic social roles involved in this process as these inform policy-formation and to seek to promote appropriate methods in the future. This dissertation concludes by making recommendations for future development and suggests further possible research. Susan Heydon(University of Otago),Changing Patterns in Medicines usedAmong the Sherpas of the Mt Everest Region of Nepal Medicines have been neglected in historical studies about the introduction and spread of ‘modern; medicine, yet medicines play an important part in people’s experiences of sickness and in their use and non-use of health services. Although medicines have become a rich topic of study for anthropologists in many parts of the world, little information about medicines use among the Sherpas is to be found in the many ethnographic studies that have been undertaken since the opening up of the region to Western visitors in the 1950s. This paper builds on my doctoral historical case study about the introduction and spread of modern medicine in the Mt Everest region of Nepal to explore changing patterns in medicines use among the Sherpas, who are the main inhabitants of this area which is now one of Nepal’s major tourist destinations. It examines Sherpas and medicines prior to the arrival of modern medical services; access, availability and use of medicines through the building and development of Khunde Hospital, an international non-government aid project, which became the main provider of health services after 1966; the changing but continuing plural medical environment; and the ongoing influence of mountaineering expeditions and tourists on the supply, use and type of medicines available in the community. It concludes by discussing recent changes and current issues. Natalia Bolsokhoeva (Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies),Ludan Shagdarov (1869-1931)- Emchi, Pharmacologist and Pharmacist from Atshagat Manba Datshang Ludan Shagdarov was born in an ordinary Buryat family in the village Shara-Uhan, located in the Zayigrayev region of ethnic Buryatia in 1869. He was descended from the Guchit by birth and was middle son of Arsalan Shagdarov. Aged seven to accordance with parent’s desire Ludan entered the Kurbin College, after its graduation he had intention to join the Chita Gymnasium in order to continue his lay education. The fate of boy is turned out in another way; at that time Ch.-D.Iroltuev (1843-1918, from 1896 until 1911 XI Khambo Lama of the Buddhists of Eastern Siberia), an abbot and skilled emchi of the widely known Atshagat datshang Galdandorjeling (Dga’ ldan rdo rje ling) staying with the Ludan’s parents,took him to his disciple. Ch.- D.Iroltuev was the most important teacher on Buddhist philosophy and knowledgeable scholar in the field of Tibetan medical culture, under his guidance a large number of the intelligent novices were educated. Ludan (Tib. Loden-blo ldan) had been the most brilliant pupil among of them. He joined both philosophical and medical facultiesof the Atshagat Buddhist monastery, completing his education, obtained two degrees: kabzhi and doramba. During his studying at the Atshagat manba datshang Ludan had a keen interest in the pharmacy of Tibetan medicine and later he was recognized the most prominent expert in this area. He was honoured a high position to be the chief pharmacist of Khambo Lama Ch.-D.Iroltuev.L. Shagdarov remained at this high positionuntil 1917. He combined his active medical practice with work of a pharmacologist and pharmacist. As very influential pharmacologist and pharmacist L. Shagdarov could therefore build close

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relationship with the most eminent traditional Tibetan doctor P.A. Badmayev (1849-1920) from St.-Petersburg at that time a private physician of the Russian Emperor and his family. At his request L.Shagdarov prepared a number of multi-component Tibetan medicines, based on formulas of the prescription books (sman sbyor) written by the Buryat highly-educated emchi both in Tibetan and old Mongolian languages and sent them to St.-Petersburg. He had great linguistic abilities and was well-known for his perfect knowledge of many languages: Buryat, Mongolian (including classical Mongolian), Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, Russian, German and even Jewish. Emchi L.Shagdarov accompanied the Khambo Lama Ch.-D.Iroltuev to St.-Petersburg, where they healed by methods and remedies of Tibetan medicine the Empress Maria Fedorovna. Methods of treatment were very helpful and the Buryat emchi were awarded by rewards. Ch.-D.Iroltuev was decorated with two orders; L.Shagdarov was rewarded with two medals: ‘For the diligence’ and ‘In memory about Alexander the Third’ and special deed: ‘Ludan Shagdarov is a doctor of Tibetan medicine’. As we know emchi L.Shagdarov did not write his own works on Tibetan medicine, as he devoted himself to train the local physicians and cure the patients from different parts of Transbaikalia. Most of what we know about this intellectual personality borrows from the history of the Atshagat datshang, written in old Mongolian vertical script or originates from oral sources. Jennifer Chertow(Northwestern University),Disciplinarity in ‘Culturally Sensitive’ International Health Projects Incorporating Indigenous Medical Science in Reproductive Health in Tibet This paper addresses disciplinarity in "culturally sensitive" international health projects incorporating indigenous medical science in reproductive health in Tibet. The militarization of non-governmental interventions for maternal and child health has a direct impact on the ability of recipients of health care to navigate and negotiate their way through the medical system. In several instances, local responses to integrative methods surprisingly favored strictly biomedical projects over complementary medical approaches, where doctors and health care workers responded to health needs at the village level. Based on these encounters, an evaluation of health care providers' strategies for improving obstetric, prenatal and antenatal care during curriculum development meetings revealed techniques of self embedded in biomedical over Tibetan medical epistemologies: blood pressure cups, fetal heart monitors and ultrasound dominated discussions. The context of hyperrational governance and militarization creates a culture of fear where there is no choice but to follow 2000 WHO millenium goals for the improvement of maternal and child health. Were doctors offering anecdotes to support these objectives out of fear that any other approach would bring about punitive responses from the government? If so, why? Context becomes ever important in enacting interventions by international organizations promoting "cultural sensitivity," namely a National Institutes of Health (NIH/NICHD Global Network for Women's and Children's Health, US) midwifery intervention in rural areas surrounding Lhasa. Yangbum Gyal(University of Wisconsin), Tibetan Medicine and its Practice in Buryatia and Russia Along with Buddhism, Tibetan medicine spread to Buryatia and Russia via Mongolia. First, Tibetan medicine was introduced to the Mongols in the 13th century during the Yuan Dynasty. Tibetan medicine became the backbone of the health care system in the Mongol areas, forming the unique characteristics of its healing system in the Mongol speaking lands. However, in Russia, Tibetan medicine was little known until the middle of the 19th century. Then within a short period of time, Tibetan medicine practitioners from Buryatia became well known in the Russian Royal court and had great political influence on the Russian Royal government’s position regarding Tibet.

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Among many Buryatian practitioners of Tibetan medicine, the Badmaev lineage of physicians not only called their practice as pure "Tibetan Medicine," but also they treated ordinary Russian people in addition to the Russian Royal family members and communist leaders. It is safe to say, the Badmaev physicians are the ones who brought Tibetan medicine practice into the west and made a great contribution to the welfare of Russian society. Katherina Sabernig(Medical University of Vienna),Tibetan Medical Paintings Illustrating the bshad rgyud Tibetan medical paintings depicting the contents of the bshad rgyud are mainly known through the illustrations in the famous commentary on the Rgyud bzhi, “Vaidurya sngon po” („Blue Beryl“) writtenby SANGYE GYAMTSO (Sde srid Sangs rgyas Rgya mtsho). Quite a few articles on the origin of and differences between these well-known sets exist. Many of the recent publications on Tibetan medicine, which make use of these illustrations, rely on these thangkas. They are often either written in a popularised way or show redundancies. Surprisingly no publication exists which gives detailed analysis on the textual connection between the thangkas and the Rgyud bzhi. A cursory examination, which I have undertaken shows that only about a third of the contents of the bshad rgyud are illustrated by the thangkas and that four chapters depict very different topics. With the exception of the paintings on anatomy all thangkas depicting the bshad rgyud show a linear sequence of medical topics with elaborated naturalistic details. In contrast to this the murals in the medical faculty in Labrang Monastery show the contents of the rtsa rgyud and the bshad rgyud by making use of an arboral metaphor consisting of roots (rtsa ba), trunks (stong po), branches (yal ga) , leaves (lo 'dab), blossoms (me tog) and fruits ('bras bu). The metaphorical structures are inscribed from the roots up to the branches. The leaves symbolise the amount of medical items. They do not show any naturalistic token and differ in colour or shape only if it is intended to indicate the amount of items included within certain groups presented in the murals. All together the murals consist of about 2000 leaves counting for 1 item, 118 leaves counting for 10 items and 75 leaves counting for 100 items. A “reader” of a tree needs to be informed about its contents by a teacher or a classical text. The paintings are designed to help a reader remember information. Some of these unfolded trees (sdong 'grems) have more than fourty branches and several hundred leaves to illustrate a single chapter. In 2004 the murals were photo-documented and their inscriptions transliterated. They were rechecked during another research trip in 2005. After an examination of the documented material and the branches' inscriptions it was revealed that some of the contents of the Rgyud bzhi had been depicted in an exact and detailed way and that other passages were depicted in a cursory way. At least two thirds of the bshad rgyud are described within an arboral metapher. In some cases the paintings even show divergence from the bshad rgyud. Quite a few murals show corrections of the inscriptions or the amount of leaves. These corrections are found especially in parts, which differ from the bshad rgyud. However, a picture with a brief introduction into the history of Labrang Monastery, which appeared in 2007 in a small tourist-booklet shows that in the meantime the murals must have been repainted similarly but not identically, in another sequence and with less elaborated ornaments. A preliminary analysis of both didactical materials, the thangkas and murals, shows some interesting results not only in terms of contents and style of painting, but also in relation to the two medico-cultural contexts. The thangkas were painted by order of SANGYE GYAMTSO, the famous regent and politician, who had aimed to show recent medical discoveries to the public through the images. The murals in the medical college of Labrang Monastery were designed by a professional physician as a mnemotechnical tool for medical students.

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In many cases missing content in the murals is covered by the thangkas and vice versa. There is a systematic and complementary connection between the content of these two didactical medias. Looking at the thangkas and the murals together, the contents of the bshad rgyud is nearly completely covered. This leads to the question of whether the divergence of these paintings from the rgyud bzhi and the illustrations of the Vaidurya sngon po is in some way a remarkable regional feature of the medical college in Labrang Monastery or whether the murals apply to yet another textual-tradition? To find an answer to this question this paper will analyse the medico-historical links between the time of the Fifth Dalai Lama and his Regent SANGYE GYAMTSO, whoestablished the medical college on the lcag po ri at the end of the 17th century and founded the medical faculty in Labrang monastery in 1784 at the time of the second 'JAM DBYANGS BZHAD PA. For this purpose the physician GTSAN SMAN YE SHES BZANG PO,who is known for his teachings on arboral metaphors of the rtsa rgyud and the bshad rgyud, was sent to Labrang. Did GTSAN SMAN YE SHES BZANG PO create the murals as complimentary didactical media to accompany the famous thangkas or did he follow another medical doctrine? Amchi Choelothar ( men-Tsee-khang), The Origination of Tibetan Medicine and Similarities and Dissimilarities between Tibetan Medicine, Ayurveda and Chinese Medicine 39. Tibetan – Muslim Relations in Amdo, Past and Present Max Oidtmann (Harvard), Qing Post-Pacification Reconstruction: Community Relations in the Sino-Tibetan-Muslim Borderlands, 1820-1880

This paper will investigate two periods of post-rebellion reconstruction in Amdo in order to understand 1) how Qing frontier officials administered the region, and 2) how local communities in this multicultural borderland, particularly Muslims and Tibetans, envisioned the Qing and their own position within that polity. The two periods in question are the years following the Manchu governor-general of Shaanxi and Gansu Nayanceng’s (1764-1833) suppression of a war between Mongols and Tibetans in Qinghai in 1822 and the reconstruction efforts undertaken in the Xunhua subprefecture in the 1870s following a decade of Muslim rebellions.

I argue that Qing policies during the “post-pacification” (shanhou) periods were as important in

shaping Amdo society as the violence that proceeded them. The late Qing political order reaffirmed local understandings of community and the authority of local leaders. These late Qing arrangements were not necessarily traditional: the communities formed behind the emergent Muslim warlords of the region were new, as was the growing influence of regional Geluk prelates and their ecclesiastical bureaucracies tied to Lhasa. Memories of the violence and the geography of destruction directly shaped the way officials and commoners went about rebuilding. Yet the complex matrix of overlapping jurisdictions and communities that emerged during reconstruction allowed multiple worldviews to exist simultaneously. Moreover, the process of reconstruction often opened up opportunities for indigenous elites, both Tibetan and Muslim, to insert themselves into the lower rungs of the civil and military administration of the region. This created a situation of mutual interdependence between the Qing and indigenous elites.

This paper is based on research using a variety of Chinese and Manchu-language materials from the

Qing dynasty. The Manchu governor-general Nayanceng’s memorials from his service in Qinghai were

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collected in the late 1820s and circulated in a collection titled Pingfan zoushu. A reading of this text has been supplemented with archival research in the First Historical Archives (Beijing) and Palace Museum archives (Taipei). Research on the 1870s “post-pacification” period is based on historical documents from the offices of the Xunhua subprefect (Xunhua ting tongzhi) and the Xunhua Commissioner in Charge of Pacifying Fan (Xunhua Fufanfu zhang) currently held by the Qinghai Provincial Archives, Xining. This archive contains a rich tranche of documents from the 1870s, many of which were generated by local “Post Pacification Bureaus” that were scattered across Gansu. This archive also contains numerous official letters that passed between Xunhua officials, local Muslim headmen, and leading incarnate lamas of neighboring monasteries.

In addition to shedding light on Qing reconstruction efforts in the 19th century, investigation of these

documents allows insight into the intricacies and practices of civil administration in Amdo. Some of the issues addressed include: how land and property were redistributed; the role of ethnic categories or religious affiliations in the assessment of blame in judicial cases; the methods used for reformulating local government; and the distribution of power between different levels of the Chinese administration and between local mosques, monasteries, and indigenous headmen (the “native chiefs” ortusi). Benno Ryan Weiner (Columbia University), Communal Memory and State Integration—The Case of Xunhua County’s Salar and Tibetan Communities

The region administered today as the Xunhua Salar Autonomous County, located in Haidong Prefecture of northeastern Qinghai Province, is home to roughly two-thirds of the people identified as belonging to the Salar ethnic group. Having been forced from their ancestral homes in the Central Asian region of Samarkand some seven centuries ago, so the story goes, the ancestors of the Salar people migrated eastward. After much wandering divine intervention led this small group of kinsmen to the red banks of the Yellow River where they settled and multiplied. However, the region has also been home to large numbers of Amdo Tibetans, who continue to make up roughly one quarter of the county’s population. The two groups have maintained ambivalent relations over the years, with long-term cultural and commercial interchange being punctured by periods of competition and conflict. In 1954 the Chinese state reconfigured Xunhua as a Salar autonomous county, thereby establishing an official Salar homeland on the northeastern edge of what Tibetans traditionally refer to as Amdo.

The Salar people of today are often acutely cognizant of their foundational story as well as their

religious and linguistic heritage, the cultural markers that define Salar cohesion and exceptionalism. Their relatively small numbers, particularly in contrast to their Amdo Tibetan, Hui Muslim and Han Chinese neighbors, have further strengthened community solidarity. Additionally, despite inhabiting the region for centuries, the Salar are keenly cognizant of living in an adopted home, which puts them in particularly stark contrast to the Tibetans that populate the surrounding highlands. This paper, based on oral histories conducted among Xunhua’s Salar and Tibetan communities and supplemented by written sources, examines how communal memories, particularly foundational myths, affect not only inter-communal relations but also the way in which the two communities interact discursively with the Chinese state. I suggest that although remaining a fairly insular and isolated community, the Salar have engaged integration into the modern state in a fundamentally different manner than has the adjoining Tibetan population. This in turn has wide-ranging implications for our understanding of the efficacy of the state’s policy of regional ethnic autonomy and the limits of national integration.

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Bianca Horlemann (Humboldt University), The Goloks and the Muslim Ma Warlords in Qinghai, 1908-1949 When mentioning the former Muslim Ma Warlords (dmags shed can Ma’ rgyud) of Qinghai to Tibetans in Amdo today, they all know of stories of violence, persecution and economic extortion suffered by Tibetans under the Ma Bufang马步芳 (Ma’ Pu’u Hphang) regime. However, it seems that many of the events which occurred in the first half of the 20th century have been mingled together in the collective memory of the Amdo Tibetans and are blamed on Ma Bufang irrespective of the real authorship of actions taken by either Ma Qi 马麒 (Ma’ Chi, reg. ca. 1912-1931), his brother Ma Lin 马麟 (Ma’ Len, reg. 1931-1936) or by Ma Qi’s son Ma Bufang (reg. 1936-1949). The researcher who tries to untangle the multi-facetted but little studied history of Tibetan-Muslim relations in Amdo, is therefore not only faced with the frequently occurring problem of the lack of written Tibetan sources which could supply the Amdo Tibetan view of events in order to supplement and maybe rectify the more plentiful Chinese sources but also with a contemporary Tibetan oral tradition that sometimes contradicts the written sources by contracting different events into one. My paper will exemplify these problems by presenting various sources on the history of the rather disastrous relations between the Tibetan nomadic Golok (Mgo log) tribes and the different Ma Warlords ranging from seven major warlike encounters to an alleged marriage between the “Golok Queen” Lurdi (Klu sdes) and the later Warlord Ma Lin. Marie-Paule Hille (EHESS, Paris), Hui-Tibetans Trade Relations, Past and Present. The Case Study of Xidaotang 西道堂Merchants in Amdo: dngul rwa (Oula 欧拉) and rma chu rdzong (Maqu xian 玛曲县) Based on eleven months of multi-sited anthropological fieldwork conducted in the North-West of China (Gansu Province) and in Hangzhou (Zhejiang province) from 2005 to 2009, this paper examines the local factors which encouraged the implantation of Xidaotang traders in the Tibetan regions (Amdo and Khams�) before 1958. It also questions the possible impact of these friendship links between the Tibetan population and the Xidaotang merchants on the return of Muslim merchants in the same region after the economic reforms in 1980. Historical and anthropological data reveal that the structured organisation of Xidaotang, the power of its trade caravans and the braveness and reputation of its merchants are evident factors for its penetration of the Tibetan grasslands. Before collectivisation, the Xidaotang had extended its economic activities to the whole of Gansu province and in all the main cities of the country, involving many different sectors (trade, agriculture, handicratfs, forestry plantation and subsidiary activities). In the 1980s, many Xidaotang members came back to these regions to revitalize these trade activities. How was this return to the Tibetan regions possible and how has the situation evolved these last twenty years? Before the interruption of long distance trade(1957), the Tibetan used to call Xidaotang merchants “Qiusuoma” (chos so ma) which means “new religion” in Tibetan. In 1990, when the Xidaotang merchants began trading again in the Tibetan regions, the Tibetan population continued to use this term to designate Xidaotang merchants. But since the beginning of the year 2000, the situation had changed and the presence of Xidaotang traders in the area is sometimes no more perceived as legitimate. The fieldwork results provide somekeys to understand the social reality nowadays in this area. Instead of thinking in terms of racism between the Tibetan and Muslim populations, it seems more pertinent to try to understand why the social

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reality had changed. Why the fact of remembering a common past is nowadays not enough to maintain good relationshipsbetween these different populations and how this lack of familiarity, this strangeness had been installed progressively. Haiyun Ma(University of North Carolina at Charlotte),Ethnic Identification and State Administration of Tibetan Muslims in Gansu-Qinghai Region This presentation provides a history of states’ identification and administration of Tibetan Muslim groups in today’s Gansu-Qinghai region from the Ming dynasty to contemporary period. By focusing on China’s territorial and administrative dynamics in this cross-cultural borderland composed of Han, Tibetans, and Muslims, this presentation argues that the nature of identification of Tibetan Muslims groups by various regimes in modern Chinese history is more territorial, political, and administrative than it is cultural and ethnic. This illuminates Chinese states’ way of understanding “Tibetans” and “Muslims” and helps understand problems in states’ cultural conceptualization and representation of this particular group in modern Chinese history. Chang Chung-Fu (National Chengchi University), Syncretism or Non-Syncretism? Identity or Identification? -- The Ethnographic Analysis of ‘Tibetan-speaking Muslims’ in Kaligang, Qinghai Although there have been “Tibetan-speaking Muslims” in the Kaligang (Hualong County) area of eastern Qinghai for at least two centuries, in the past several decades there have been a number of new developments. Regardless of the historical evidence and contemporary ethnographic studies, the actual ethnic origins or the ethnogenesis of these so-called “Tibetan-speaking Muslims” remains controversial. The historical evidence records that in the middle of 18th century the Huasi menhuan—a branch of the Khufiyya Sufi suborder in the Kaligang area—was one of the key influences that made many indigenous Tibetans to convert to Islam. The historical background and social-cultural forces that caused the Tibetan conversions is a relevant part of this discussion. However, the historical origins and description of these “Tibetan-speaking Muslims” that were built on local religious syncretism, and the resulting issues of ethnic identity and social adaptation were in the mid-twentieth century forced to face a new dilemma, the complex influences of contemporary PRC ethnic policy. Under the circumstances of the new PRC policy Tibetans and Hui-Muslims belong to two different categories of ethnic minorities (minzu), and their ethnic boundaries are shaped strongly by systems of nation-state never seen before in the region. The result is that in local communities the Kaligang “Tibetan speaking Muslims” try to maintain their ambiguous but substantial identity, and at the same time comply with the official identification and policies promoted by the government. This paper is an ethnographic analysis of these plural forces based on observations taken from the author’s field Paul K. Nietupski (John Carroll University), Buddhists and Muslims at Labrang: Conflict and Compromise The pre-1958 Labrang Monastery community is known for its distinctive Tibetan heritage. This is attested by the voluminous Tibetan literary sources that describe the economic, religious, and political relationships between the surrounding communities and the monastery. Tibetan and Chinese sources also show that the Labrang estates in the immediate vicinity of the monastery were populated by Tibetans and Mongols, and

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assert that there were no significant permanent Muslim communities until the 1930s. However, since the late nineteenth century there was a strong Muslim presence in the Kagya Tsodrug region from Rebgong to Hezuo (Tsö), notably in Xunhua, that extended into and was tolerated in the Labrang estate. This paper will identify the Labrang Muslim community with a focus on its religious roots, its community activities, and its interactions with the Labrang Tibetan Buddhist authorities. The sources for this paper include on-site interviews in the Labrang community and literary sources, sources in Tibetan and Chinese, and secondary studies in Chinese. 40. Classical Literature Dan Martin (Independent Scholar),Literary Tributes and Meaningful Attributions: A New History for the Ding-ri-ba Verses of Pha Dam-pa Sanfs-rgyas We will compare available examples of the literary form we most firmly associate with Pha Dam-pa, in the form of couplets each ending with the three syllables Ding-ri-ba. By looking into the dates of works that quote from it, we may be permitted to propose a date for the emergence of the Ding-ri Brgya-rtsa so well known today. At the same time, we will question its origin (even without offering any clear solution to the problem of authorship), looking into its background. While it appears quite likely that the Ding-ri Brgya-rtsa was not composed by Pha Dam-pa, very likely dating several centuries after his death, it seems equally clear that his own Ding-ri-ba couplets, and those of his disciple Kun-dga', served as its literary inspirations. Did Pha Dam-pa in a real sense 'originate' these couplets or did he receive the first inspiration for them in a vision? This may give us pause to wonder yet again about authors, authorial voices, literary tributes and the meaningfulness of attributions. (preliminary abstract only) Hiroshi Nemoto (Tsukuba University), The Role of an Opponent in Buddhist Dialectrics: the dGe lugs pa School’s Concept of phyi rgol yang dag

The aim of this paper is to consider the role of an opponent in Buddhist dialectics by examining the dGe lugs pa concept of phyi rgol yang dag.

The method of debate and the roles of a proponent and an opponent are widely discussed in Tibetan

scholasticism. For Phya pa chos kyi seng ge (1109-69), debate is the process of reasoning to gain an inferential knowledge (rjes dpag) on the basis of an argument, so that debate requires two participants: a proponent who undertakes to present an argument to teach truth and an opponent who seeks to generate an inference to obtain the truth. Sa skya paṇḍita (1182-1251) is of a different view: for him, debate is a formal confrontation between two scholars who maintain different philosophical tenets (grub mtha'), so that debate requires three participants: a proponent who undertakes to assert his own tenets, an opponent who undertakes to refute him, and a witness whose duty is to judge the debate impartially.

We also find these two views of debate in early dGe lugs pa's logico-epistemological works. While

mKhas grub rje (1385-1438) develops Phya pa's idea of debate in his sDe bdun rgyan, his young contemporary dGe 'dun grub (1391-1474) adopts Sa skya paṇḍita's in his Rigs rgyan. It is interesting to note that later dGe lugs pa scholars introduce a new term phyi rgol yang dag, which I translate by `a correct opponent', to elaborate Phya pa's idea more fully. This term occurs in the Rwa stod bsdus grwa written by Phyogs lha 'od zer (1429-1500); since then the term has been widely used by the dGe lugs pa scholars.

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A `correct' opponent is not the opponent who wins a debate by refuting a proponent, but the one who is able to generate an inference to obtain knowledge about the topic on the basis of the argument presented by the proponent. The dGe lugs pa scholars define the term `correct opponent' as the opponent who has ascertained through a valid cognition the three characteristics of a logical reason (tshul gsum tshad mas nges pa) and who wishes to know what is to be proved (bsgrub bya la shes 'dod zhugs pa) by the proponent. This definition naturally precludes two types of “quasi-opponent” (phyi rgol ltar snang): the opponent who has not yet ascertained the three characteristics of the reason, and the one who, after having acknowledged the validity of the argument presented, no longer launches an inquiry into what is being proved. Any argument presented in the absence of a correct opponent is useless and hence invalid for “an inference for others” (gzhan don rjes dpag). In order for the argument to be valid, there must be a correct opponent who can gain an inferential knowledge on the basis of the argument presented by the proponent.

This paper will focus on the later dGe lugs pa’s theory of debate and its relationship with the one

Phya pa elaborates in his Tshad ma yid kyi mun sel. Thereby, I would like to obtain a clearer idea of the historical development of the concept of “correct opponent”. Eran Laish (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem),Necessity and Creativity – Longchenpa and Spinoza on the Arising of the World

Is the world a necessary determination of primordial Being or is it a contingent product, or even an accidental outcome, of such a Being? Furthermore, what are the relations between Being and the worldly things? Are things predetermined by Being, or is there an intrinsic element of creativity within their mode of being? The questions just presented have a prominent role in the ontological discourse of western philosophy, as well as in eastern theories concerning the existential ground of the world. The proposed lecture will introduce a comparative analysis between two of those views: The view of the non-dual tradition of "The Great Perfection" (rDzogs chen), as elaborated in the writings of Longchen Rabjam at general, and in its "Seven Treasures" in particular, and the view of Baruch Spinoza, introduced in his magnum opus "Ethics". Through the comparative analysis I will try to point the unique contributions of the non-dual view to the question of existential grounding and to concepts of "Necessity" and "Freedom".

The non-dual view of the Dzogchen tradition approaches the abovementioned questions by referring to the

primordial characteristics of natural awareness (sems nyid). As it describes original awareness through the principles of openness-emptiness (stong pa) and spontaneous arising-appearing (lhun grub), it gives us indications to its position concerning both the necessity and creativity of the world. The key for necessity lies in the integral affinity between indeterminate openness and phenomenal arising, while the pointing toward creativity is found in the spontaneous nature of the arising as multiple phenomena. Thus, according to the view of "The Great Perfection" the world-as-such is a necessary manifestation of primordial awareness, due to the inextricable connection of emptiness and presence, but side by side its becoming is a creative process, which is derived from the spontaneous nature of awareness-as-such.

The integrative multiplicity of the worldview of Spinoza, who equals God and Nature, as well as the

psychic dimension and the physical dimension, presents an original description of the relations between Primordial Being and manifested beings. The identity of God and Nature points to the necessity of the natural world as an inevitable manifestation of Being, while the absolute pre-determinateness of beings rules out the creative aspect of the arising of the world. However, analysis of the ideas concerning the self generation

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(causa sui) of Being itself and the characteristics of Substance (substantia) hints at the possibility of primordial indeterminate spontaneity within God-Nature itself. To conclude, by comparing the fundamental views of Lonchenpa and Spinoza I would like to suggest the possibility of perceiving "necessity" and "freedom" as integrated modes of being, since the notions of self generative arising and unconditioned spontaneity are predominant in both. Kenneth Liberman (University of Oregon), Choreography in Tibetan Debating

Reasoning in any culture is a collaboration of thinking parties, and this collaboration takes place regarding the ideas and the structure of logic in which the philosophical insights are laid out. In Gelugpa philosophical debates, the parties also collaborate in choreographing the rhythmic properties of their debating. Their objective is not only to sharpen their understanding of a philosophical problem; they are also concerned to coordinate their turns of speaking so that the pacing of their utterances is regularized and a smoothly oiled dialectical mechanism is constructed. When accomplished well, the debate gains rhetorical force and the logic seems to unfold by itself apart from the individual contributions of the participants. Once constructed, the dialectical “flow” and the rhythmic alliances it has fostered (even as the parties sharply contest each other’s ideas) produce what is a celebration of reason itself. A satisfying debate occurs when ideas are seriously explored and when an invigorating, synchronized rhythm of debating accompanies that exploration.

The rhythm of debate is set into motion by the clarifier of the reasoning (rtags gsel gtang khan), who sets up an argument using the clapping of his two palms like a metronome to mark each formal proposition, pausing for the responder (rigs len pa) to insert his reply. Ideally, the replies are direct, limited to the wording provided by the conventions of formal debating, and utilize the resources of the topic. The clarifier or challenger must respond to the content of the reasoning implied in the responder’s reply without damaging the rhythm of the debating that is developing. Similarly, the responder or defendant should offer his responses while conforming to the rhythmic pacing of the debate. The scandal of a defendant who stalls is not only that he does not know how to reply but that he has disrupted the ongoing synchronization of the utterances. Many debates commence with simple or obvious matters in order to easily set the rhythmic pacing into motion. Debaters may review definitions in a sort of responsive liturgy, or they may sing a pertinent citation as a sort of duet. Once the flow begins, the debaters work collaboratively to maintain it. Debaters who are able to handle sudden contradiction or unexpected irony without letting the rhythm stumble demonstrate expertise. As a debate heats up, a dancing challenger will use his hands to orchestrate his argumentation, and his claps and back-handed Ts’a will provide percussive sounds that mark off the components of the argument. While an effective use of the Ts’a can contribute to the developing rhythm, an excessive use of Ts’a can damage the synchronicity of the pacing. On such occasions, the defendant may reveal annoyance not only with the logical properties of the argumentation but also with the breakdown of the clean-paced flow of the dialectics. The dialectics here is embodied as well as logical. When the choreography is performed well, the debate seems to be an autochthonous force and the reasoning seems to transcend the contingencies of its local production.

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Sudan Shakya (Tohoku University),The Interpretation of Twelve Syllables of the Namasamgiti The Nāmasaṃgīti (ca.700; tib. mThan yang dag par brjod pa; D. No. 360, P. No. 2) is one of the Buddhist Tantra which has 167 verses along with a prose section, describing the characteristics of Mañjuśrī‘names’ as well as the benefits of reciting them. This Tantra, especially the verses section, is one of the most chanted Buddhist Tantras in the Tibetan and Nepalese Buddhism. The Tibetan Tripiṭaka contains numerous Nāmasaṃgīti related works. Bu ston, the celebrated Tibetan scholar of 14C, classified them into three categories: (a) the Yogatantra standpoints, (b) the Yogottaratantra standpoints, (c) the Kālacakratantra standpoints.Though the Tantra itself is a short text, there are more than twenty commentaries, interpreted from these standpoints.There is no doubt to say that for a single Tantra like the Nāmasaṃgīti, the existence of such various commentaries written from the above-mentioned standpoints is very rare, and it shows its importance in the Buddhism. In this paper, I will discuss about the twelve syllables (a, ā, i, ī, u, ū. e, ai, o, au, aṃ, aḥ) which comes in the 26th verse of the Nāmasaṃgīti. There is an interesting episode about the twelve syllables preserved in the Svayambhupurāna (SP). It is a Sanskrit Text thatspeaks the genesis of the Svayambhū-stūpa, a historical pilgrimage spot at Kathmandu, andthere also exists a Tibetan Translation of Si-tu Rin-po-che Chos-kyi ’Byung gnas (CE 1699-1774). The story of the episode goes as follows:

An Indian Buddhist scholar-monk Dharmaśrīmitra preaches the Nāmasaṃgīti everyday at Vikramaśīla to his follower.One daywhen his follower asked him to explain the secret meaning of the twelve syllables, he remained unanswered as he himself was also unfamiliar about it.Therefore he decided to visit Mañjuśrī-bodhisattvaat the Mt. Pañcaśikhara so that he can learn from him directly.Mañjuśrī perceived the will of Dharmaśrīmitra. So the Dharmadhātuvāgīśvaramaṇḍala was erected and taught him the secret meaning of syllables.

It is believed that this very site, where the maṇḍala was erected is the present Svayambhū-stūpa in Kathmandu. In fact, the SP doesn’t contain about the meaning of the syllables, but it is said that the 12 rings of the Svayambhu-stūpa represent 12 bhūmis and 12 pāramitās. This paper will focus on the following commentaries because they describe the twelve syllables in detail: Vil āsavajra (tib. sGeg pa'i rdo rje; D. No.2533, P. No. 3356), Mañjuśrīkīrti (tib. ’Jam dpal-grags-pa, D. No. 2534, P. No. 3357), Advayavajra (tib.gNyis su med pa'i rdo rje, D. No. 2945, P. No. 1383), Raviśrījñāna (tib. Nyi ma'i dpal ye shes; D. No. 1395, P. No. 2111) and Puṇḍarīka (tib. rGyal po padma dkar po; D. No. 1398, P. No. 2114). Among themVilāsavajra, Mañjuśrīkīrti and Raviśrījñāna allot the syllables to 12 bhūmis, however the contents is different. This paper will examine the essence as well as the change of the interpretation of the twelve letters, and also discuss about the interrelation of the Dharmadhātuvāgīśvaramaṇḍala, the SP and the Nāmasaṃgīti. Sangyeob Cha (Geumgang University),The Role and Significance of Zhi gnas dpe ris Most meditative systems of Buddhism are represented as 'calm abiding' (zhi gnas,śamatha, zhǐ 止) and 'insight' (lhag mthong, vipaśyanā, guān 觀). In Tibetan Buddhism, śamatha meditation practices are, in particular, illustrated by a painting known as Zhi gnas dpe ris, which introduces meditators to the theory and practice of meditation. Zhi gnas dpe ris symbolizes the progression of śamatha meditation stages, and does

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so in a series of pictures showing a monk taming an elephant and a monkey. The Tibetan Zhi gnas dpe ris is somewhat similar to the well-known ten Ox-Herding Pictures (Shíniú tú 十牛圖) of East Asian Buddhism. The ten Ox-Herding Pictures that originated from China may have been an influence for the Tibetan Zhi gnas dpe ris. However, the Zhi gnas dpe ris differs from the ten Ox-Herding pictures, because the latter illustrate not the stages of śamatha meditation practice but rather the stages of enlightenment in Zen Buddhism, including both concentration (ting nge 'dzin, samādhi, dìng定) and wisdom (śes rab, prajñā, huì慧). Concerning the doctrinal background of Zhi gnas dpe ris, the motif is connected with 'the nine stages of mental abiding' (sems gnas dgu, navākārā cittasthiti, jiǔzhǒng xīnzhù 九種心住), i.e., consecutive methods for settling the mind in meditation.In Indian Buddhist literature, the earliest textual source for the explanation on the nine stages of mental abiding is the Śrāvakabhūmi(Nyan thos kyi sa, Shēngwén dì聲聞地)from within theYogācārabhūmi(Rnal 'byor spyod pa'i sa, Yúqié shī dì lùn瑜伽師地論). The Śrāvakabhūmi was instrumental for the implementation of the Indian meditative tradition, and became very influential for the Yogācāra literature, such as the explanations on śamatha found in the Madhyāntavibhāgabhāsya (Dbus dang mtha' rnam par 'byed pa'i 'grel pa, Zhōngbiān fēnbié lùn中邊分別論)by Vasubandhu and Kamalaśīla's Bhāvanākrama (Sgom pa'i rim pa, Xiūxí cìdì 修習次第). In Tibetan literature, these Indian sources and their doctrines were adopted in many indigenous works on meditation, such as Tsong kha pa's Lam rim chen mo. In spite of the fact that the meditation explanations on the nine stages of mental abiding that lie behind the Zhi gnas dpe ris painting as well as the fact that the Zhi gnas dpe ris is a quite well-known motif, the current situation is that extremely little is known about the history of this painting. Modern Japanese scholars have written some articles about the motif, all written in Japanese. In 1958, Yuichi KAJIYAMA (梶山雄一) wrote a brief article about a Tibetan version of the Zhi gnas dpe ris. Other Japanese publications on this topic include short articles by Tsultrim KELSANG (1991), Katsumi MIMAKI (御牧克己)(1996), and Masaaki NONIN

(能仁正顯)(2005). Using a comparative approach, the French scholar Catherine Despeux has published a monograph (1981) on the ten Ox-Herding Pictures of Zen Buddhism, the Horse-Taming Pictures (Mùmǎtú 牧馬圖) of Chinese Daoism, and the elephant-taming Zhi gnas dpe ris of Tibetan Buddhism. However, a full assessment of the significance of the Zhi gnas dpe ris for Tibetan Buddhism has hitherto not been attempted. I shall in this paper present some examples of Zhi gnas dpe rispaintings, contextualize them, present their connection with the teachings on the nine stages of mental abiding, and discuss the significance of the symbolism of the elephant, the monkey, and the rabbit, and show how these animals are related to the history and meaning of the paintings. Tomoko Makidono (University of Hamburg), Ka thong Dge rtse Mahapa__ita’s presentation of the Turning of the Wheel of the Teachings of the Resultant System of Secret Mantra (‘bras bug sang sngags kyi chos ‘khor bskor) in the Rnying ma rgyud ‘bum dkar chag Dge rtse Mahāpaṇḍita ’Gyur med tshe dbang mchog grub (1761-1829) is a Rnying ma scholar of Tibetan Buddhism, who served as an abbot of the Kaḥthog monastery in Khams, Eastern Tibet. Apart from Dge rtse Mahāpaṇḍita’s being the producer of the xylograph of the Rnying ma rgyud ‘bum, his works are largely unexplored. Doctrinally speaking, his unique place in and contribution to Tibetan Buddhism is his being

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a gzhan stong dbu ma pa in Mantrayāna. His presentation of the great Madhyamaka of the definitive meaning (nges don dbu ma chen po) of the Last Turning of the Wheel of the Teachings which is gzhan stong Prāsāṇgika-Madhyamaka in Mantrayāna brings together all Tibetan Buddhist schools, Jo nang pa, Bka’ brgyud pa, Sa skya pa, the early Dge lugs pa, and Rnying ma pa in one single intention of the Buddha’s teachings. As such, his ecumenical view should be closely associated with, and indeed very much anticipating the Ris med movement in Khams in the nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. This paper examines his presentation of the Turning of the Wheel of the Teachings of the Resultant System of Secret Mantra (‘bras bu gsang sngags kyi chos ‘khor bskor) that is extensively taught in the first section of his bde bar gshegs pa'i bstan pa thams cad kyi snying po rig pa 'dzin pa'i sde snod rdo rje theg pa snga 'gyur rgyud 'bum rin po che'i rtogs pa brjod pa lha'i rnga bo che lta bu'i gtam (A Discourse To Be As the Great Drum of the Gods, the Narratives of the Precious Hundred Thousand Tantras of the Early Translation of Vajrayāna, the Vidyādhara-piṭaka, the Essence of All the Doctrines of the One Gone to Bliss), also known as the Rnying ma rgyud ‘bum dkar chag. The genre of the literature of the Rnying ma rgyud ‘bum dkar chag is chos ‘byung, which accounts the transmission of the Rnying ma rgyud ‘bum. It is divided into five sections: 1) sku gsum gyi ston pa dang de’i bstan pa ji ltar byung ba’i tshul rnam gzhag rags pa tsam zhig brjod pa’i skabs dang po; 2) bstan pa de nyid ‘jig rten du ji ltar bskyangs pa’i tshul rags tsam bshad pa’i skabs gnyis pa; 3) deng sang gangs ri’i ljongs ‘dir ji tsam snyed pa glegs bam zad mi shes pa’i phyi mor bsgrubs pa’i tshul legs par bshad pa’i skabs gsum pa; 4) rgyud kyi bzhugs byang dkar chag dngos legs par bshad pa’i skabs bzhi pa; 5) legs byas rgya chen po skrun pa’i phan yon bsngo smon dang bcas legs par bshad pa’i skabs lnga pa. Of these five sections, the second and third is pointed out by Matthew Kapstein to have been used by Dudjom Rinpoche’s Rnying ma school of Tibetan Buddhism (Dudjom Rinpoche, Gyurme Dorje & Kapstein 1991/2002). This paper is concerned with the first section of the Rnying ma rgyud ‘bumdkar chag presented in the doxographical style, which is yet to be explored. Victoria Sujata (Harvard University),Gsung mgur of pha bong kha pa bde chen snying po (1874-1941): An Analysis of his Poetic Techniques

I seek to expand our understanding of the genre of mgur by further investigating how it can be used skillfully as a means of informal expression. I will analyze a selection of songs from the Gsung mgur bslab bya’i rim pa rnams phyogs bsgrigs of Pha bong kha pa, a Se ra rje-trained scholar, well-traveled teacher, profound writer, and hermit.

His mgur, a fountain of creativity, have highly expressive qualities. For example, they are written in a surprising number of meters. I will present my translations of four of his autobiographical songs. Continuing to develop the methodology I set forth in Tibetan Songs of Realization (Brill, 2005), I will illustrate Pha bong kha pa’s use of prosody, stanza patterns, and poetic figures.

We will see how he uses the genre of mgur to express joys and anguish about life and death, the

dangers of unfortunate rebirths and joy at a fortunate one, bitter sarcasm about what he considers his spiritual defects, the desire for blessings, and the delights of being in his lama’s hermitage—a thatched hut that is “like the palace of a deity.”

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Thupten Kunga Chashab (University of Warsaw, Poland), Old Tibetan Text Called “An Essence of Doctrines in General, Bstan pa spi’I snying po bsdus pa,” Collected by Egan Pader Dpal ldan legs pa don grub (1479-1555) had made a valuable contribution to Tibetan Buddhist literature. One of his work is called, “An Essence of Doctrines in General”, and is found among the Tibetan collections of Eugan Pander kept at Jagielonian University in Cracow, Poland. These materials were collected by Pander at the end of 19th century in Beijing, China. Collections are well preserved in the library of mentioned University. This commentary seems not easily available and it is old manuscript containing only six folios. The text deals with Buddhist and non-Buddhist philosophical schools and meanly deals with Buddhist tenets. At the end of text it also explains briefly about Tantric stages and ideas. According to my observation in this commentary, here and there, we can find different explanation of some Buddhist ideas than what we can find in Grub mtha’ rin chen phreng ba by Dkon mchog ’jigs med dbang po. 41. Bon Communities, Institutions and Lineages Samten Karmay (CNRS, Paris), Bon Institutions Referred to in the Newly Discovered Decrees of lHa Bla Ye shes ‘od At the Seminar of IATS in Oxford held in 1978 I presented a paper on an official decree of the king Lha Bla ma Ye shes ‘od (c. late 10th and early 11th century) which was subsequently published and commented on in a number of published works. The Tibetan word used for this document was bka’ shog which I translated by Ordinance and which describes Buddhist practices that the king did not approve. More recently at least 7 fragments of decrees containing similar materials to the Ordinance were discovered among the manuscripts held in one of the libraries in Drepung Monastery. In a marked contrast two of these decrees amoungst other issues refer to Bon religious institutions in his time. I have no doubt that these documents contain genuine official decrees of the king. I intend to present an overview of these new findings and in particular to discuss the religious conflicts that existed and are referred to in them. Tsering Thar/CaiRang Tai (College for Tibetan Studies, Minzu University of Beijing), The Three Saints in the History of Bon Religion in Amdo The three saints (‘phags pa rnam gsum), Do ‘phags Yon tan rgyal mtshan, sKyang ‘phags Nyi ma ‘od zer, gTso ‘phags Zla ba rgyal mtshan, were the three most important masters in history of Bon religion in Amdo at the beginning of the redevelopment of Bon religion. Do ‘phags Yon tan rgyal mtshan received teachings from a Bon master from La stod called Zhu sgom ‘phrul zhig who came to A myes sma chen area to spread Bon religion in the eleventh century, Do ‘phags and his descendents built several monasteries in rNga ba area, sNang zhig monastery, the largest Bon monastery in Tibet nowadays, is one of them. sKyang ‘phags Nyi ma ‘od zer was very active in mDzod dge area in almost the same period, there are still seven monasteries in mDzod dge area can be traced back to sKyang ‘phags today. gTso ‘phags Zla ba rgyal mtshan travelled many places like The bo, Shark hog and Khod po areas in Amdo and there are still several monasteries as built by his disciples today. Activities of those three masters have influenced and still influencing very strongly Bonpo community in Amdo in many aspects.

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Kengo Konishi (Kyoto University), Socio-Economic Background of the Continuance of a Bon Monastery: A Case Study of Amdo Shar-khog The purpose of this paper is to examine the socio-economic background of the continuance of a Bon monastery in contemporary circumstances. In particular, based on an anthropological field research in Amdo Shar-khog from 2006, this paper focuses on the cooperation between monks and lay people to promote religious activities. It illustrates the aspect of a Bon monastery that it still fulfills various needs from local lay people under rapid economic growth which enabled them to offer massive financial support for religious practices.

Bon monasteries in Shar-khog region have been rebuilt since the mid 1980s after its destruction during the time of Cultural Revolution. Along with the reconstruction of buildings, religious activities such as monastic education and festivals had been revived through the 1990s. Then, "the Great Western Development Strategy (xibu daikaifa)" has been promoted since 2001 and extensive development, such as tourism, improved the people’s level of living by creating new job opportunities. Backed by these political and social changes, at the beginning, the monasteries opened their door to tourists who brought large cash income which stabilized the management of the monastic community. However, in the late-2000s, they have limited the number of tourists in order to keep quiet surroundings for monks, and have developed facilities for religious practices by cooperating with lay people. This paper is to analyze how such cooperation has been organized, focusing the process of building a huge chorten at the village in 2009. Though an idea of constructing a chorten is proposed by a lama of the monastery, the actual process of construction is managed by lay people as a village-wide project. Following points are revealed. First, by examining what were offered to be sealed inside the chorten, it is revealed that each household spends quite a lot of money and effort to prepare offerings such as bum ster (offering pot with luxuries inside it), huge amounts of grain, clay statues of deities, set of sutras, and so on. While these offerings considerably vary depending on each household, monks pay attention to bury them in traditional way as written in certain canons. Second, based on interviews with both monks and lay people, social meaning of the construction of the chorten is examined. On one hand, lama and monks consider chorten as a symbol of the development of religion and the protection of all people around the village. On the other hand, lay people often mention their personal wishes and strong devotion to the lama during the construction. In this way, chorten functions not only as a symbol of the revival of the tradition, but a space where various ideas about religion are expressed. Thus, this study shows how the monastery continues and develops religious activities in contemporary circumstances. While firm economic background enabled large religious activities, monks intend to vitalize religious practice and fulfill various needs for religion from lay people. Through these interactions, stable relationship between them has been developed, and it sustains the monastery both socially and economically.

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Cathy Cantwell with Robert Mayer (University of Oxford),The Ka ba nag po man ngag rtsa ba’I rgyud: an Early Bon Phur pa tantra

The Bon bKa' text, the Ka ba nag po man ngag rtsa ba'i rgyud, is said to have been revealed by the 11th century Khu tsha zla 'od, or even by the earlier Saston 'bruglha. Of a series of Bon tantras dedicated to the Phur pa deity, this is considered the Root Tantra. Here we make observations about the nature of the text as preserved in the current version deriving from the dBal khyung manuscript edition (supplemented by readings from the bKa' rtenversion), along with reflections on similarities and differences with early rNying ma Phur pa tantras. These comparisons encompass iconography, ritual and mythological content, doctrines and literary conventions. J.F.Marcdes Jardins (Concordia University), The “Re-opening” of the White Cliffs Mountains of Nyag-rong (Eastern Tibet) or New Bön Reinventing Tradition.” The Case of gSang sngags gling pa The Tibetan tradition of New Bön is a recent development (18th c.) which traces its roots to earlier Bonpo traditions. In doing so, it seeks to establish itself as a legitimate part of Old Bön (bon rnying) which up to that point had been reorganizing and restating what of ancient state religion prior to the establishment of Buddhism in the 8th c. had been perceived to remained. Among its chief characteristics are its use of Buddhist concepts, religious vocabularies and rituals. It has also adopted Padmasambhava as part of its core pantheon of religious figure. These “reinventions” of religious beliefs have not gone through without opposition from the Buddhists as well as from other Bonpo religious institutions and figureheads. Despite these, its adherents have continued to spread and establish new cult centres throughout the Tibetan populated regions which in turn have become centres of learning and pilgrimage. The White Cliffs (Brag dkar ri) Mountain in the Tibetan Prefecture of Nyag-rong (Chinese: Xinlong xian) became such site of pilgrimage and religious education. It was instituted by gSang sngags gling pa (b. 1864) a Bonpo Treasure-text discoverer (gter ston) who spread and developed his tradition through travelling and teaching. By doing so, he not only established a network of support from the most important bonpo masters of Kham but made his previously unknown institution a nationwide religious centre and site of pilgrimage. This paper examines the life of gSang sngags gling pa and his efforts and the strategies he used to develop it. It also addresses specific issues relating to religious politics, social functions and the internal polemics of Bonpo groups and religious authority. Sharwa Tong Mei (Southwest University for Nationalities) Danzhen Pengcuo (Abbot of Lang Yi (sNang zhig Monastery)), The Origin of Bonpo Communities in rNga ba and its Linkages with Zhang zhung The introduction of Buddhism into Tibet in the seventh century caused a conflict between Bon and Buddhism. The king Khri srong lde btsan persecuted Bonpo and spread Buddhism. This is why he has been considered to be a glorious Buddhist king (chos rgyal) in Buddhist history and an oppressor of Bon religion in Bonpo history. With this persecution, the Bonpos came under pressure and were forced to convert to Buddhism. Otherwise, they were forced to escape and seek refuge in remote places such as Amdo.

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An oral tradition in rNga khog says that the term “rNga ba” derives from the term “mNga’ ba”, for the people of mNga (ris). The reason of this lies in that the ancestors of rNga khog escaped from Zhang zhung (mNga’ ris) during the conflicts in the eight century between Tibet and Zhang zhung. Through the analysis of several aspects, such as cultural, religious and historical linkages, this paper aims to provide a detailed explanation of the relationship between the current bonpo habitants of rNga ba and their Zhang zhung ancestors. Dondrup Lhagyal(The Tibetan Academy of Social Sciences), The Autobiography of Nyima Tenzin. AFamous Bonpo Scholar in Early Eighteenth Century

Nyima Tenzin was born in Lhathok of Derge in eastern Tibet in 1813. His father named Yongdrung Tashi and monther named Ragsa Soga. His family lineage belongs to sKam clan, which is a one of several very old clans in Tibet, this clan also shared by Tibetan Buddhist School of Karma sKamtsang. There is a incomplete autobiography of Nyima Tenzin. In general, biographies are usauly giving account of one Lama’s life story namely religious activity, there is not much about social life of the hero or heroine, especially about ecnomic activity. In Nyima Tenzin’s autobiography, however, there is a very detailed account of his social life activity. From hisautobiography, we can learn many interesting information, Unfortunatly, this biograpgy is incomplete. He wrote his biograpgy as his daily journal until he was 45 years old which is the six years before he passed away. This autobiography consists of fourteen chapers with 404 folios. It can be summarized in to three main categories according to its content. The first is a brief history of Bon religion, the second is his religious activiy, and the third one is an account of his social activity. When he was ten years old, he started his long journey to Utsang together with Kundu Sonam Lodru. Nyima Tenzin attended Menri Monastery as a monk. He was a very intelligent young boy, in Menrihe had learnt all Bonpo doctrine, on his age of 23, he was selected as the 23rdAbbot of Menri Monastery. This is the youngest Abbot of the monastery in its history. He was the most influential Bonpo scholar in early 19th century in Tibet, in terms of composing commenteries on huge unic Bonpo rituals, and since then all Bonpo communities has been following those ritual texts composed by Nyima Tenzin when they practice rituals. He also composed the Bonpo Canon catalogue and a Chronological Table of the Bonpo. These are very useful references for the Bonpo Study and Tibetan culture in general as well. About his social activity, in this autobiography, he recorded all his social activity in detail, such as after he received the title of Abbot in Menri Monastery, he made three long journey to the eastren Tibet, and he built several new temples and stupas in his monastery.In short, there is a good reason to study this special autobiography. Rong Guanren (Independent Scholar), Exploring the Prototype of King Kongtse Trulgye and Karnag Trasal Temple in Chinese Historical Texts According to Bonpo literature, Kongtse Trulgye was a very significant figure, a Chinese King, who built Karnag Trasal Temple”in a middle of a lake, located west of Olmo Lungring. The story and the description of this figure and how he built the temple has a stark resemblance with the history behind the remains of Bingling Temple and its surrounding grottos, including a large Maitreya Buddha, which are carved into the cliff along the Yellow River found in today’s Yongjing county in Gansu province. Tibetans have traditionally called this area Ka-chu. It has been mentioned at least twice in the book “Amdo Political and Religious History” that prior to the present day statue of Maitreya Buddha, the original statue was that of Tonpa Shenrab, the founder of Bon religion. Later with the introduction of Buddhism, the statue was converted to Maitreya Buddha which stands there as of today. In the Tibetan texts from the times of Ming dynasty that can

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be found within the Bingling temple, it states that “this statue is built by a man named Kong-ga”. In ancient China, the names of sculptures or artists were never use to be recorded but here it was somehow preserved. The statue initially had a roof and an outer wall, which was destroyed during the end of Qing dynasty. Todays’s Bingling temple takes its name from Tibetan Jampa Bumling, meaning “Ten thousand monasteries of Maitreya Buddha”. In historical texts, it is mentioned that there are many sacred scriptures hidden within the caves. In the ancient Chinese classical text Shan Hai Jing, (Collection of the Mountains and Seas), there is an account of how a man called Yu, (Yu the Great) subdued the constant flood and famine brought about by the raging mighty Yellow River. It is said that he was so devoted to this cause that he passed his front-yard three times but did not go into his house to see his wife in the span of thirteen years. In the process, he built a temple at the same location where Bingling temple lies today, by the shores of Yellow River in Gansu province. However, legend has it that during the construction, a fierce nine-headed dragon constantly disrupts and tries to bring destruction. With his long years of dedication and perseverance, finally heavenly God was moved and had to come for help complete the construction. He later on went onto become the first king of China, establishing the Xia Dynasty, which is the first dynasty described in Chinese history. Gongqiu Zeren (Horwa Konchok Tsering) (Minzu University of China), Observation and Analysis of Life and Work of Nuns in Bonpo and Buddhist Nunneries

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IV. Thursday, August 19th, 2010 Plenary Session Carole McGranahahn (University of Colorado),The Tibetan Art of War: A Pleasure Garden and Other Illustrated Histories of Modern Tibet In 1956 in eastern Tibet, Tibetan-Chinese relations turned from cautious cooperation to armed conflict. Individual village uprisings soon became regionally coordinated actions, and eventually led to the formation of a Tibetan resistance army which fought against the Chinese through 1974. Funded in part by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), hundreds of resistance soldiers were trained in a top-secret facility in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Of the many activities the soldiers undertook—weapons and communications training, for example—one stands out as especially noteworthy in relation to considerations of the modern in 20th century Tibet: a series of illustrated histories the Chu bzhi gangs drug soldiers made. Each history is illustrated with accompanying hand-written text; all are written in a very colloquial language; some are singly-authored, others have multiple authors. Designed to explain the conflict with China to other Tibetans, the pamphlets were reproduced and either hand carried or dropped via plane into villages in Tibet. Drawing on a rare collection of political pamphlets created by soldiers in the early 1960s, I argue that these pamphlets unexpectedly draw on multiple and global explanatory strategies—appealing to Tibetan cultural logic and Buddhist principles, using anti-communist rhetoric, and educating modernist sensibilities on subjects such as human rights, self-determination, and participation in the international community. Given that Tibetans trained by the CIA produced these pamphlets, they provide unparalleled insight into Tibetan interpretations of then global discourses of the Cold War. Generated primarily for semi-literate or illiterate villagers, these pamphlets also provide an important counterpoint to histories of this period told by or about the state, be it the People’s Republic of China or the Tibetan Government reconstituted in India as the Tibetan Government in Exile. As an illustrated, modern history for the people, these examples of soldiers’ art and narrative raise important questions for us about global subalternity, representations of war, and Tibetan understandings of what it might mean to be “modern.” Lungtaen Gyatso (Royal University of Bhutan), Educating for Gross National Happiness: Correlation with Buddhist philosophy This paper will discuss mainly how the Royal Government of Bhutan and the Ministry of Education intends and prepares to take the meaning and understanding of Gross National Happiness (GNH) into the classroom so that the younger generation is aware of the powerful materialist ethos which inflicts the attitudes and values in an ever narrower and self-centred ambition, concern with only financial success, and lack of respect both for nature and for others. We will argue that the GNH concept has its roots in a specific historical and religious tradition by focusing on the following topics. GNH is largely inspired by Buddhist principles. Bhutan has adopted it as its guiding principle. It is a philosophy of development with values introduced by the fourth king Jigme Singye Wangchuck in the early 1970s both as a measure of growth and as a screening mechanism to ensure healthy process and balanced growth. He stated that “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross Domestic Product (GDP)”, challenging the conventional belief that GDP alone is a measure of societal progress because the GDP led growth usually comes at the cost of spiritual and mental impoverishment. GNH is Bhutan’s guide to the

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future, which underpins the entire development strategy. We are now facing physical forces like climate change and global warming. But Equally, if not more, the mental and psychological challenges which underlie and drive the physical changes are ever more threatening. It is the seemingly relentless materialist and consumerist greed and desire that is destroying the traditional community lives, Indigenous peoples and local wisdom, and the planet’s most precious natural resources worldwide. These recent forces are rapidly taking over the minds and lives of our own people and it has already consumed the lives of many young and old globally. Hence the decision at the government level, especially in education, to step back to look for where we have gone wrong. It is only through a genuine and far-reaching change of consciousness and attitude that we can face the challenges of the 21st century, and Education is the key and likely the only means through which that essential change of consciousness and the right paradigm can be cultivated. This can be done by turning back to our past and looking into the Buddhist values as well as the universal values in a meaningful way so that they can be infused into the Education system. It is a challenge which involves a critical view of policies as well as a change in the way moral and religious values are implemented in the Education. Charles Ramble (University of Oxford, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris), Recent Textual Discoveries in the Caves of Mustang, Nepal In 2008 an international team of climbers and assorted scientists made a number of discoveries in the cave complexes of Nepal’s Mustang District. Among these was a large cache of textual material comprising around 35 works, some relatively complete and others only fragmentary. About half the works were Bonpo and the other half Buddhist. Some of the items – include a mi chos-style work of wise sayings and a manual of legal mediation - are apparently unique, while the colophons of better-known works (such as the Bonpo Khams chen) provide precious information about religious patronage and the status of Bon in the first few decades following the foundation of the kingdom of Glo bo. 42. The History of the Rang-stong/Gzhan-stong: Distinction from its Beginning through the Ris-med Movement Klaus-Dieter Mathes (University of Vienna), Mkhan chen Gang shar dbang po´s (b. 1925) Gzhan stong Contribution to the Ris med Movement Among Western scholars it became a generally accepted opinion that the ris med movement of Eastern Tibet mainly was a politically motivated opppsition to the Dga´ ldan pho brang Government. In joining their forces with the Jo nang pas, famous Bka brgyud and Rnyingma masters eventually became ready to uphold the gzhan stong of the Jo nang tradition, or at least a variety of it. Based on the recently discovered collected works of a famous member of this movement, the great Zhe chen master Mkhan chen Gang shar dbang po, it is now possible to gain a number of valuable insights into how gzhan stong was incorporated and brought in line with other schools of Tibetan Buddhism, when it was becoming clear in the 1950s that this tradition was on the brink of extinction. Of particular interest is Mkhan po Gang shar´s “Miraculous Key that Opens the Door to the Tenets which Mainly Teach the Great Madhyamaka of Definitive Meaning.”

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It will be shown how Mkhan po Gang shar describes in this text the Yogācāra doctrine of three natures, which is an important starting point for earlier gzhan stong proponents, and brings it in line with Tsong kha pa (1357-1419) by distinguishing a relative and ultimate existence of the dependent nature. Moreover, when analyzing for the ultimate, Gang shar maintains the usual rang stong emptiness and presents the two truths as appearance and emptiness. Gzhan stong is based here on a particular presentation of the two truths in terms of the way things appear and the way they truly are (snang tshul/gnas tshul), a distinction which for Mkhan po Gang shar is based on an analysis of the relative truth. Karl Brunnhölzl (Tsadra Foundation), The Eighth Karmapa’s gzhan stong What is referred to as the gzhan stong tradition is far from being a uniform system. One of the most unique presentations of gzhan stong is found in Mi bskyod rdo rje’s (1507–1554) commentary on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra (JNS). Compared to other explanations on gzhan stong, one could call it “gzhan stong lite,” since it greatly relies on classical Madhyamaka. JNS’s understanding of gzhan stong is sketched here based on (1) the meaning of gzhan stong, (2) the three svabhāvas, and (3) emptiness and tathāgatagarbha being a permanent entity (dngos po).

As a rather typical gzhan stong position, JNS states that the dharmadhātu empty of all adventitious

phenomena represents “personally experienced wisdom” (so so rang rig pa’i ye shes), because it is also aware of itself. The adventitious dualistic mind is self-empty and thus nonexistent, but mind’s natural luminosity is other-empty and thus is taught as “luminosity” and not empty of its own nature.What is other than this luminosity and can be separated from it—sentient beings or stains—is adventitious, because it is not an established basis (gzhi grub) in the first place.

However, in actual fact and from the perspective of direct realization in meditation free from reference

points, the nature of phenomena is neither self-empty nor other-empty, let alone bearing any intrinsic nature, because it is not even a sheer emptiness that is not specified as being or not being empty of itself or anything other. The name “other-empty” is only applied to the compound meaning of the nature of phenomena being empty of the adventitious bearers of this nature (in other words, paratantra being just the collection of both parikalpita and pariniṣpanna, just as space with clouds).

The correct presentation of the gzhan stong system is only in terms of the imputed other-empty as a

conceptual object of ordinary beings, which is self-empty. The other-empty that actually fulfills this function only manifests for the nonconceptual wisdom of noble ones. Even in the gzhan stong system, ultimate reality is not a nonimplicative negation (ma yin dgag). Though it has a nature of its own that truly fulfills the function of being unchanging and ultimately real, it is neither nonempty nor is it the domain of reference points and characteristics. This ultimate reality is not taught explicitly in the middle dharmacakra, because one would not be able to relinquish the clinging to it as being something real. In the final dharmacakra, it is fine to be taught as the ultimate permanent entity beyond dependent origination, because all reference points have already been eradicated.

According to JNS, the mahāyāna abhidharma prescribes that an emptiness that fulfills the function of true

emptiness—mind’s ultimate reality—must be presentated in terms of a basis of emptiness, something that it is empty of, and what is empty of what. In this vein, the pariniṣpanna is empty of both paratantra and parikalpita. The latter two make up saṃvṛtisatya (the sphere of ordinary beings), with the former being conventionally real and the latter not being real even conventionally. Pariniṣpanna represents ultimate

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reality, which is not empty of its own nature and appears only in the minds of the noble ones in meditation who see “the supreme other-empty.” The paratantra is not really established, but the nature of the paratantra (the seeds within the ālaya)—the pariniṣpanna (nondual wisdom)—can be said to be really established. Though this is a typical gzhan stong position, it differs from other such explanations in that JNS consistently describes pariniṣpanna and its equivalents in a nonreifying manner and not as some absolutely or substantially existing remainder after the elimination of the other two svabhāvas. Thus, since the unchanging pariniṣpanna is by definition free from all reference points (including any about, or intrinsic to, this pariniṣpanna or the nondual wisdom that realizes it), it is not the sphere of dualistic mind and untouchable by analysis and reasoning.

One of JNS’s most unique positions is to portray ultimate reality—the emptiness that is equivalent to

tathāgatagarbha—as an unconditioned permanent entity that nevertheless performs soteriological functions. This is said to be clearly evident in all the sūtras and tantras of definitive meaning, because they explain that this kind of emptiness—the buddhagarbha—performs the functions that are represented by the distinctive qualities of this very garbha. If this garbha were just the utter nonexistence of any entity, it would not be suitable as being pure, permanent, and blissful. Moreover, what are usually considered as entities that perform functions are not ultimately able to do so, while the only true entity that actually performs functions is the permanent nature of phenomena or buddhahood. This entity is permanent, because it is impossible for the state of a tathāgata to be interrupted, reversed, or change into anything else. Also Dignāga and Dharmakīrti describe this state, which permanently performs the functions of protecting and teaching others, as an entity.

Another unique position of JNS is its detailed refutation of the view that tathāgatagarbha exists in

sentient beings at all, or even with its full qualities. By contrast, this view is often regarded as one of the epitomes of gzhan stong and is maintained by the majority of the Kagyü, Nyingma, and Jonang schools. Since JNS equates sentient beings and adventitious stains, it is not that sentient beings have, but are, these adventitious stains. Consequently, it is impossible for them to actually possess buddha nature or to become buddhas. Rather, upon a given sentient being’s buddha nature finally manifesting as buddhahood, this sentient being (the bodhisattva on the path) has disappeared.

In sum, the Eighth Karmapa’s presentation of gzhan stong in JNS clearly exhibits two very distinct levels

of discourse, treating the same topic from two radically different perspectives between which there is no overlap, with their frames of mind and modes of perception being mutually exclusive. A classical via negativa Madhyamaka stance on ultimate reality, when discussing gzhan stong on the level of conventional philosophical analysis, contrasts with a strongly affirmative terminology, when speaking about the level of nonconceptual meditative experience and realization. Through understanding this two-leveled approach and the shifts from one level to the other, seeming contradictions in the Karmapa’s presentation can be resolved easily. The critics of his gzhan stong view usually failed to acknowledge said approach, solely addressing it within the narrow boundaries of dialectical discourse through formulaic reasonings. Anne Burchardi (The University of Copenhagen and The Royal Library of Denmark), How Can a Momentary and Conditioned Mind be Integral to gzhan stong? Within the spectrum of gzhan stong presentations, Dol po pa (1292-1361) no doubt formulates its most radical expression. Śākya mchog ldan (1428-1507) on the other hand, convey a less provocative, more moderate type of gzhan stong, making his one of the best argued versions of the system. At the request of the

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younger master the 7th Karmapa (1454-1506), Śākya mchog ldan composed gzhan stong discussions that were situated on a firm epistemological basis. These in turn influenced the later gzhan stong interpretations of the ri med movement. In his comparative study of Dol po pa and Śākya mchog ldan, the Zab don nyer cig pa, Tāranātha (1575-1634), identifies non-dual primordial mind as the fundamental point on which Dol po pa and Śākya mchog ldan diverge. Tāranātha portrays Śākya mchog ldan as asserting a momentary and conditioned entity that does not withstand analysis as non-dual primordial mind (gnyis med ye shes), while Dol po pa is cited as describing non-dual primordial mind as a permanent and unconditioned non-entity that withstands analysis. Can such contradictory statements both be accommodated under the label of gzhan stong? If so, what are their contexts? Did Tāranātha deliberately create a polemical tension with his comparison in order to illustrate the wide range of the system? Inspired by points brought out by Yaroslav Komarovski’s remarkable study of Śākya mchog ldan, and the insights of Lopon Norbu Gyaltsen, the principal of Simthoka Shedra in Bhutan, I would like to discuss how a cautious approach towards Śākya mchog ldan’s statements is essential in coming to appreciate his multifaceted perspectives. In particular, what can we learn from his emphasis on the role of the subject in determining its object, whether it is through reasoning or through meditational experience? What are the phenomenological parallels to the interrelationship between observer and observer? And finally, is it possible that his dynamic and flexible dialectical methods somehow exemplify the very point of gzhan stong, that he wishes to convey? Douglas Duckworth (East Tennessee State University), Reflections on the Ground of Other-Emptiness

Making sense of the debates between “self-emptiness” (rang stong) “other-emptiness” (gzhan stong) calls for attention to the importance of perspectives, or contexts, with regard to discourse relating to ultimate truth and the experience of it. In the context of meditative equipoise directly experiencing the ultimate, the fact that there are no concepts is not debated by Tibetan Buddhists. Nevertheless, when this experience is theorized in postmeditation, we come across different accounts of this experience, and disagreements as to how it should be best represented or evoked. In the contexts of theorizing this experience, we are confronted with the problem of how to best conceptualize the nonconceptual and express the inexpressible. This issue is at the heart of the “self-emptiness” versus “other-emptiness” debate.

This paper probes the discourses of other-emptiness in the Jonang (jo nang) and Nyingma (rnying ma)

traditions. For our purposes here, by “other-emptiness” I mean (1) a position professing a dualistic account of reality in a dichotomy of two truths and (2) a preference for indicating ultimate truth with an implicative negation (ma yin dgag) rather than a non-implicative negation (med dgag). After briefly introducing other-emptiness in the Jonang tradition, the locus classicus for other-emptiness in Tibet, I will examine the way Mipam (’ju mi pham rgya mtsho, 1846-1912) positions the discourse of other-emptiness. I will then show how Mipam’s portrayal of other-emptiness highlights the way that language is immanently contextual.

Dölpopa (dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan, 1292-1361) is famous for the articulating the Jonang view

of other-emptiness that portrays the ultimate ground of reality as not empty of itself. In Dölpopa’s characterization of the two truths, what is ultimate is necessarily not what is relative and vice versa. Dölpopa emphasizes a radical separation between two distinct realities—the relative and the ultimate. Reflecting the separation between the relative and ultimate, he makes a distinction between the universal ground

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consciousness (kun gzhi’i rnam shes) and the universal ground wisdom (kun gzhi’i ye shes). This terminology reflects how he preserves a form of dualism in his explanations—a radical dichotomy of (1) the non-existent relative and (2) the existent ultimate. Such a dichotomy is unlike the strong monism we often find in Mipam’s portrayals of the Nyingma view, where the ultimate and relative are non-distinct.

Mipam’s emphasis on the unity of the two truths distinguishes his works from Dölpopa’s

representation of ultimate truth. Unlike Dölpopa, he does not assign the ultimate truth a privileged status as non-empty. Rather than a dichotomous relationship between a separate ground of the ultimate and relative, as is the emphasis of Dölpopa’s other-emptiness, Mipam tends to emphasize a dialectical relationship between the two truths, a dialectical unity. As such, the ultimate and the relative have a common ground; they are only virtually distinct, but not actually so.

The difference between Mipam and Dölpopa, however, should not be overemphasized. There is a context where Mipam distinguishes mind (sems)and awareness (rig pa) similar to the distinction between consciousness (rnam shes) and wisdom (ye shes) in Dölpopa’s Jonang tradition. In light of the way Mipam positions the discourse of other-emptiness, distinctive accounts of truth can be reconciled by an appeal to different contexts (e.g., meditative equipoise and post-meditation), in which the distinction between the relative and ultimate is collapsed in order to evoke the ultimate that is phenomenologically known in meditative practice, and a sharp line between the relative and ultimate is drawn in order to delineate the ultimate (or authentic experience) that is theorized in post-meditation. Since language is always contingent upon the particular context at hand, contradicting ways of expressing the ultimate need not always compete, and furthermore, are even necessary when they serve distinct communicative functions (to represent or evoke) the ultimate. David Higgins, (University of Lausanne), A Thematic Overview of Klong chen pa’s “Reply to Questions Concerning Mind and Gnosis” (Sems dang ye shes kyi dris lan): A Classical Rnying ma Treatise on Mind, Buddha Nature and Meditation

Despite the growing interest in the Rnying ma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, there has so far been little systematic appraisal of its views on the nature of mind that traces their evolution and complex relationships with other Buddhist doctrines and schools of thought. The overall image of the mind that emerges from the burgeoning popular literature on this tradition is often simplistic and caricatural, drawing as it does on a stock of well-used terms that tend to gloss over important connotations and distinctions, a case in point being the ubiquitous “wisdom” that is used to translate the entirely different concepts of prajñā : shes rab and jñāna : ye shes. The picture that emerges from Rnying ma primary sources, by contrast, is an ongoing attempt to describe and explain, with unprecedented phenomenological rigour and perspecuity, the nature and structure of human consciousness within a normative soteriological framework. Critical engagement with the tradition’s views of mind is therefore of obvious interest and is certain to provide important phenomenological insights concerning the nature of mind and meditation and their soteriological implications.

As a tentative step toward at least defining the parameters of this crucial but neglected field of inquiry, I offer a thematic overview of a short treatise by Klong chen rab ‘byams pa (1308-1363) on the important Rnying ma distinction between dualistic mind (sems) and primordial gnosis (ye shes). Redactions of this work, the Sems dang ye shes kyi dri lan (hereafter SY) or “Reply to Questions Concerning Mind and Gnosis”, are found in the extant editions of Klong chen pa’s Miscellaneous Writings (Gsung thor bu) as well

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as in the Rnying ma Bka’ ma collections. Composed at the behest of his foremost student and biographer Chos grags bzang po (14th c.), the treatise offers a concise but very lucid response to the latter’s questions concerning the mind/gnosis distinction, specifying the reasons for the distinction and its implications for Buddhist view (lta ba), meditation (sgom pa) and goal-realization (‘bras bu). According to Klong chen pa, primordial gnosis (ye shes) is nothing other than the as yet undifferentiated taking place of presencing itself while dualistic mind (sems) consists in a complex variety of transitive (object-oriented) and reflexive (subject-oriented) differentiations within the stream of experience that thematize it in terms of self and other, ‘I’ and ‘mine’. Such a distinction, the author argues here and in greater detail in his later writings, is indispensible for making sense of Buddhist soteriology both in theory and practice. The point of the distinction, simply stated, is to facilitate the progressive disclosure of primordial gnosis (ye shes) which occurs to the extent that the habitual self-identifications with the particular configurations of dualistic mind (sems) subside. On this account, the ultimate aim of Buddhist practice is precisely the de-identification with the reifying activities of mind that both distort and conceal primordial modes of being and awareness (expressed as the inseparability ofsku or dbyings and ye shes) that constitute our fundamental nature. Building on his detailed exegesis of the mind/gnosis distinction in his Shing rta chen po, a lengthy auto-commentary on the Sems nyid ngal gso (Relaxing in Mind as such), the first root text in the author’s Trilogy on Relaxation (Ngal gso skor gsum), the SY summarizes the precise nature of the distinction and its relevance for understanding Rnying ma view (lta ba) and meditation (sgom pa).

A survey of Klong chen pa’s extant writings confirms that the accounts of the mind/gnosis difference found in the SY and Shing rta chen po predate Klong chen pa’s reception of the Rdzogs chen Heart Essence (snying thig) teachings and therefore constitute preliminary and exoteric treatments of a topic that would preoccupy the author throughout his lifetime. It is a distinction that he repeatedly characterized as “extremely important” (shin tu gal po che) but also as “very difficult to understand” (rab tu rtogs dka’). What interests us in these early works is his systematic reading and recasting of traditional Mahāyāna doctrine in light of a sharply drawn distinction between unconditioned and conditioned modes of consciousness. In so doing, he not only illuminates a distinction which he considered implicit, though often to the point of ambiguity, within the broad range of Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna sources he draws upon. He also adumbrates a series of related arguments for the indispensability of the mind/gnosis distinction for the proper understanding and application of Buddhist doctrine. Viewed in relation to Klong chen pa’s more detailed esoteric treatments of the mind/gnosis distinction, SY should thus be regarded as a relatively early contribution to a complex subject that he would return to again and again in his writings. By situating the distinction within the broader framework of Buddhist doctrine and praxis, Klong chen pa is able to employ it as a kind of hermeneutical key for understanding the nature and import of the Buddhist path in its entirety, a path consisting in the progressive disclosure of gnosis. Thus the chief importance of the SY lies in its concise and systematic overview of the formative elements of classical Rnying ma doctrine from a scholar-practitioner who did more than anyone to define its character and determine its direction. This paper focuses on the three interlocking themes of the SY: (1) the nature of mind and primordial gnosis, (2) buddha nature and hermeneutics of the three turnings (dharmacakra), and (3) meditation and the Buddhist path. While each of these topics merits detailed investigation, my modest aim here is to shed some light on the historical-doctrinal background against which these points are formulated in the SY. The purpose of this overview is to elucidate Klong chen pa’s influential understanding of the mind/gnosis distinction, to summarize his principal argument in support of the distinction, and to show how it shaped the distinctive Rnying ma approaches to meditation and soteriology.

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Tsering Wangchuk (Warren Wilson College), In Search of the Direct Lineage of Other-Emptiness Teachings: Rinchen Yeshe’s Explication of Buddha Nature Discourses in 13th and 14th Century Tibet Throughout Tibetan intellectual history it has been a controversial issue whether the teachings of a luminous mind or Buddha-nature require a distinction of two modes of emptiness: being “empty of an own-being” (rang-stong), and “empty of other” (gzhan-stong). Such a distinction can be identified in an old bKa-gdams-pa manuscript called “Instruction on the Mahāyāna Uttaratantra,” which the eighth abbot of Narthang Skyo-ston Smon-lam tshul-khrims (1219-1299) passed on to the last lama in the transmission, Ze´u Chos-kyi rgyal-mtshan. At the other end of our time frame, new insights into the development of gzhan stong at the very end of the ris-med movement can be gained from the collected works of Zhe-chen Mkhan-chen Gang-shar dbang-po (b. 1925) whose texts were recently made available by Tsadra Foundation. This is only to name two of the recent discoveries in the challenging field of gzhan-stong studies. The panel is intended to offer a platform for further studies in the history and philosophy of gzhan-stong. Contributions that deal with any individual model of gzhan-stong are as welcome as investigations of its historical developments and disputes over competing interpretations of emptiness. Alexander Yiannopoulos (Kathmandu University),The Authority and Authenticity of Other-Emptiness: Indian Sources for Dolpopa’s gzhan stong Teachings in his Commentary to the Abhisamaya-Alamkara

The question of the relationship between (so-called) 'worldly' and 'spiritual' concerns in the polemics of religious discourse is notoriously thorny, and one that may be fundamentally irresolvable. As Ruegg (1995) notes, it will be a “tricky task indeed” to “pinpoint” the forces of politics from within the Buddhist sutra and śastra sources as they are currently extant.1 At the very least, such a task would necessitate isolating the tangled questions of authorship and authority from the specifics of the doctrinal points under dispute. That is to say, scriptural citations should play a critical role in the identification of the place of a particular text within the larger religio-political power structures of Tibet, since the texts an author chooses to cite as “definitive” (nges don) rather than “provisional” (drang don) or flat-out wrong indicate the 'genetic' line from which the authority of that text is being asserted to descend or derive.

For example, in his commentary to the abhisamaya-alaṃkara (mngon rtogs rgyan), one of the five treatises of Maitreya according to the Tibetan canon, Dolpopa makes frequent reference to a text identified as the gnod 'joms or “Vanquishing Harm,”2 a commentary on the 100,000-, 25,000-, and 18,000-verse Perfection of Wisdom sutras. This text is always unambiguously attributed by him to the “Great Madhyamaka master” Vasubandhu (dbu ma pa chen po slob dpon dbyig gnyen). Now, leaving aside for a moment the issue of what rhetorical 'force' such an epithet may possess, the attribution of the text to Vasubandhu is not universally agreed-upon, even within the tradition. Some, such as Dolpopa, do attribute the text to Vasubandhu, but others—most notably (in this context) Tsongkhapa— attribute it to a certain Damṣṭasena (c. 700 CE?). In this matter, at least, modern scholarship has tended to agree with Tsongkhapa: Hopkins (2002)3 cites Damṣṭasena as the author of the gnod 'joms, and Williams (2005)4 notes that Bu ston attributes it to Damṣṭasena, although he also notes that Bu ston elsewhere considers it to be a Paddhati by Vasubandhu.

At stake in the determination of the text's authorship is its authority. While Dolpopa may

casually reiterate that Vasubandhu was a “Great Master of Madhyamaka”—and there shall more to say

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on this below—Asaṇga and his half-brother Vasubandhu remain most closely associated by tradition, as well as by Western-trained scholars, with the Yogācāra system of praxis they are credited with having founded. Now the question of the extent to which the Madhyamaka/Yogācāra polemics of Indian Buddhism have influenced or shaped the historically-, geopolitically-, and (ostensibly) doctrinallydistant rang stong/gzhan stong controversy is a fascinating one, but unfortunately completely outside the scope of this abstract. Suffice it to say that, in Tibetan commentarial traditions other than that of Śāntarakṣita's Svantantrika-Madhyamaka-Yogācāra synthesis, the Madhyamaka “school” is generally held as philosophically superior to Yogācāra. At the very least, it may be comfortably asserted that Dolpopa's epithet for Vasubandhu was a rhetorical tool which established the latter as a trustworthy or authoritative source; calling him a “Great Yogācāra Master” (or “Great Vaibhāṣika Master,” which may have been more historically accurate)5 would not carry quite the same weight for his readers.

Thus, by including Vasubandhu as a Madhyamakavādin, Dolpopa circumvents the polemics of

the Madhyamaka/Yogācāra debate while at the very same time granting one of the founders of the latter an authoritative status. It must be noted here that in addition to attributing the gnod 'joms to Damṣṭasena in his own (exhaustive) commentary to the abhisamaya-alaṃkara, Tsongkhapa also states that, as far as commentarial traditions on the mngon rtogs rgyan are concerned, there are three: the tradition of the gnod 'joms, the tradition of Dignāga, and everything else6. By attributing the gnod 'joms to Damṣṭasena, then, Tsongkhapa implicitly relegates whatever Vasubandhu may be held to have said to the “everything else” pile. In other words, Tsongkhapa's attribution of authorship denies Vasubandhu authority. In this manner, Tsongkhapa, while holding the exact same text as Dolpopa to be authoritative, nonetheless manages to undermine (if only rhetorically) the authority of Dolpopa's point of view, at least insofar as Dolpopa regards Vasubandhu to have doctrinal or spiritual authority.

This is, of course, only one small example. It is, however, illustrative of the type of tangled

knots one must untie if one wishes to elucidate the precise manner in which questions of doctrinal authority (not to mention authorship) intersect those of political concern. Haribhadra, the extremely influential 8th-century commentator, was lavishly supported by the king of his local region (King Dharmapāla), and the impact of his commentary on the mngon rtogs rgyan in Tibet is difficult to underestimate. At the same time, this commentary was shown by Makransky (1997) to have diverged considerably from established Indian tradition, especially that of Ārya Vimuktisena7, as well as to have been received by his Indian peers and subsequent commentators with outright hostility. Nonetheless, as was noted above, through rhetorical and commentarial processes which are perhaps not yet fully understood or explained, Haribhadra's became arguably the best-known Indian commentary on the mngon rtogs rgyan in Tibet, and was regarded as authoritative by the Gelukpas. Dolpopa, for his part, acknowledges the authority of Haribhadra over Ārya Vimuktisena in his general survey of commentarial literature on the mngon rtogs rgyan, but refutes the former's position in his discussion of the divisions of emptiness. The order of the Fifth (“Great”) Dalai Lama to ban the Jo nang sect and its gzhan stong teachings, perhaps the best-known instance of Tibetan doctrinal polemics being intimately intertwined with power politics, must therefore be understood in the context of conflicting accounts of authorship and authority—a conflict which persists to this day, and which may perhaps only be resolved (or at least clearly defined) by exacting analysis of the content and context of the citations that the proponents of gzhan stong and rang stong make in their commentaries.

It is therefore my proposal to identify as many citations as I can from the corpus of Dolpopa's

and Tsongkhapa's commentaries on the mngon rtogs rgyan, especially those which relate to the topic of

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the divisions of emptiness. In particular, Dolpopa's commentary on verse I.44, which describes the accumulation of wisdom (explained in terms of the divisions of emptiness) as itself being otheremptiness (gzhan stong), provide one of the clearest explanations of what precisely he means by “other-emptiness”—as well as precisely which Indian sources he rests his arguments upon. Needless to say, the gnod 'joms (attributed by him to Vasubandhu) plays a major part. So too does the Laṃkāvatāra sutra, as well as quotations attributed with as yet unknown accuracy to Nāgārjuna. In investigating and establishing how and what Dolpopa and Tsongkhapa cite within their commentaries on the mngon rtogs rgyan, it is my aim to untangle at least a few of the knots obscuring our understanding of the rang stong/gzhan stong controversy. This will involve locating the particular selections cited by both authors from the gnod 'joms in order to determine their context, as well as identifying whatever other quotations (perhaps most importantly those attributed to Nāgārjuna) are used by Dolpopa and, time permitting, by Tsongkhapa as well.

In the background of this investigation, of course, are the larger issues introduced above, such

as the relation of authorship to authority and that of abstruse doctrinal exegesis to bread-and-butter concerns of power and the ownership of property. While these subjects are too broad to be addressed in detail by a short paper, or perhaps even by any one single volume, it may nonetheless be possible to draw some tentative conclusions (or hypotheses) on the basis of a careful, 'close' reading of these giants of Tibetan literature. It is also my personal hope that a better understanding of the processes by which 'spiritual' and 'material' concerns interact in the doctrinal polemics of Tibet may lead us to a more fruitful genre of comparative-religious literature, since as Ruegg (1995) notes, “Although no doubt of use as intellectual exercises in a particular—and more or less limited—context, comparisons of the type 'Buddhism and X' or 'Nāgārjuna and Y' can only take us just so far. More often than not, it has proved to be...more problematic and constraining than illuminating.”8 While this is no doubt true, comparative examination of different philosophico-religious traditions (e.g. Buddhism and Christianity) on the basis of how internal disputes and polemical exchanges manifest and are resolved (or not) has yet to be performed, and doing so may well lead to better understanding those traditions generally. Whether it will or not, however, is at present anyone's guess. Yaroslav Komarovski (University of Nebraska-Lincoln), Is It Gzhan-stong or the Good Old Yogācāra? On the “Fluid” Version of Other-Emptiness from Fifteenth Century Tibet

The problem Shakya Chokden addresses here is not that the thoroughly established nature cannot be seen as empty of the other two natures, but that it should not be taken as the basis of emptiness in the context of addressing the three natures. Outside this context, Shakya Chokden himself argues that Alīkākāravāda asserts all conventional phenomena as self-empty. In the Seventeen Wondrous Answers, for example, he describes the Alīkākāravāda identification of emptiness as follows: “having determined all relative truths as self-empty, one posits as remaining only the ultimate primordial mind (don dam pa’i ye shes).” According to him, this approach stems from the explicit teachings (dngos bstan) of the third dharmacakra and the Dharmas of Maitreya interpreted by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu.

In this context, it is important to notice the special status of the dependent nature. Shakya Chokden

himself does not allow the dependent nature an existence separate from the other two natures, and uses it as a temporary basis for determining emptiness. He argues that when Yogācāra thinkers describe the final ultimate reality experienced in meditative equipoise (i.e., the final Alīkākāravāda view), they describe it as the non-dual primordial mind (which is the thoroughly established nature). It is empty of all other phenomena

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because no other phenomena exist. In other words, while taking dependent natures as the bases of emptiness is the starting point of determining emptiness by reasoning in terms of other-emptiness, what one arrives at as a result of that process and what one incorporates into meditative experience is none other than the thoroughly established nature, the non-dual primordial mind. 43.Sikkim and Bhutan: Past and Present Françoise Pommaret (Director of Research, CNRS), Alliances and economy in a chos rje family of Central Bhutan. The case of O rgyan chos gling The estate of O rgyan chos gling in the Stang valley of Bumthang in Central Bhutan might be the only exemple of survival in the whole of the Himalayas and beyond. However the historical threads are often mangled and it woud be challenging to give now a full account of the history of the place. This is due mainly to two factors: there are so far hardly any sources for the period between the early 16th and the early 19th centuries, and as the custom in many lineages history, spouses are most of the time omitted which create a truncated image of the history of a family. In this article I would like to take the case study of O rgyan chos gling and discuss the alliances patterns as well as the religious lineages. This will give us an overview of the economic pattern of such an estate from the early 19th in Central Bhutan. This research is based on historical sources as well as oral information collected over the years. Saul Mullard (Namgyal Institute of Tibetology), The Phag ri Crisis: The impact of the British on the Traditional Relations between Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan The Phag ri crisis involved the violent attack on the 7th Sikkimese Chos rgyal, gTsug phud rnam rgyal, by the Had and sPa gro dpon slob[s] of Bhutan in the spring on 1847 and 1848. Whilst at first appearance it seems this attack was motivated by the failure of the Sikkimese to return runaway mi ser to Bhutan, in direct violation of standing extradition treaties, the wider context implies a more complex series of events resulting from the British acquisition of Darjeeling. This paper examines those events and proposes a re-evaluation of the roles of Sikkim and Bhutan in the development of Anglo-Tibetan relations. Jennifer Bentley (University of Zürich; Namgyal Institute of Tibetology, Gangtod, Sikkim, India), Narrations of Contest: Competition Among Representatives of Local Lepcha Belief and Guru Rinpoche in Sikkim This presentation is concerned with the Lepcha in Sikkim and their narrations of contests and competitions amongst protagonists of Lepcha religious tradition and Buddhist protagonists. The material is based on fieldwork conducted in Sikkim over the past year in the course of which I collected oral narrations and fairly recent written sources in Lepcha and Tibetan. The Lepcha are a Sino-Tibetan ethnic group living in the southern Himalayas in Nepal, India, and Bhutan. They are considered the first inhabitants of Sikkim. Historically, the Lepcha are hunters and gatherers living off the forests. They lived in scattered villages, each probably ruled by a chieftain until the integration into the Sikkimese kingdom. Patrilineal clans organised inheritance and were a source of social and ritual membership. In their traditional belief the landscape around them is inhabited with supernatural beings and spirits. Any disturbance of the supernatural causes disease, natural disaster or social conflicts and disputes.

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Two different kinds of ritual specialists or shamanic practitioners intermediate between spirits and humans. The Lepcha bongthing controls evil spirits solely through ritual performance without trance, and additionally has knowledge of medical plants. The Lepcha mun can be male or female, their soul can travel; they work as spirit mediums as well as also control and appease evil spirits. In this presentation I will primarily discuss the mythological competition between a protagonist of Lepcha religious tradition and Guru Rinpoche as it is narrated in Sikkim. It took place in Chungtang in the northern district of Sikkim where imprints can still be traced in the present landscape. There, a Lepcha ritual practitioner (sometimes given the name Tekung Adek) meets Guru Rinpoche and they test each other’s magical powers in various ways. In most versions collected in Dzongu and from other Lepcha informants, the Lepcha protagonist is an equal adversary to Guru Rinpoche, and wins at least certain disciplines in the magical fight. During the contest, the Lepcha people recognise the Tibetan Buddhist saint as a person with strong religious and magical powers. As an outcome of the competition numerous prophecies are given. Depending on the narrator they concern either the religious or political future of the Lepcha people. As will be discussed, the mythological narration shows that the spread of Buddhism in Sikkim provided a new religious context for the Lepcha but also went hand in hand with the establishment of an entirely new setup. Guru Rinpoche is portrayed as the conqueror of the demons in territory and the propagator of Buddhism. At the same time he shows to the abilities of the protagonist of local religious tradition. Buddhism isaccepted as a superior and powerful religion, but former Lepcha religious beliefs are not degraded. A story of religious conversion is described that reflects the tolerating, but very fragile relationship between the two belief systems as found in Lepcha villages in present-day Sikkim. In narrations focusing on political consequences Guru Rinpoche gains in even more importance as a protecting figure for the Lepcha people. The saint predicts a foreign Tibetan reign in Lepcha land. The people then seek his help to protect them, their freedom and culture. Questions of religious and political domination and positioning are intertwined in the narrations collected and the oral traditions mirror dynamics of the current religious and political situation. Recent changes in Sikkimese Buddhism as well as political developments have impacted and in certain ways revived local Lepcha cultural awareness and strengthened certain aspects of local Lepcha belief, while at the same time they have also weakened Lepcha religious tradition. In the paper, the different oral and written versions of the narration will be analysed regarding these dynamics among the Lepcha community in present-day Sikkim. Excurse: Comparative Ethnography The mythological narrative of a competition between representatives of local belief and Tibetan Buddhists is widely spread in the Himalayas where conversion to Buddhism occurred. The most famous account of the mythological competition is between the Bonpo ritual practitioner Narubon (or Naro Bonchung) and Milarepa at Mount Kailash. These narrations describe the fragile nature of the relationship between local religious traditions and Buddhism. They often result in delineating fields of religious competency and ritual activities, explain characteristics of the respective shamanic and Buddhist drum, or describe the loss of script in tribal community. The narrative collected in Sikkim will be discussed in consideration of the already compiled narratives from other regional areas.

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Alex McKay (Namgyal Institute of Tibetology: Sikkim IIAS, Leiden), ‘A Difficult Country, a Hostile Chief, and a Still More Hostile Minister’: the Anglo-Sikkim War of 1861. The British-Indian take-over of Sikkim, which culminated in the war of 1888-89, was a process that occupied more than 70 years. After the Anglo-Nepalese war of 1814-16, in return for the promise of Sikkimese assistance in communicating with the Tibetans, the British restored to Sikkim most of the territory which it had lost to the Gurkha invasions in the late 18th century. In return, under the 1817 Treaty of Titalia, Sikkim accepted British influence over its foreign relations and agreed to develop trade with Bengal. Relations between the two powers deteriorated after British India annexed Darjeeling in 1835 and in 1849 the Superintendent of Darjeeling Dr Archibald Campbell and the botanist Joseph Hooker were famously confined by order of the then most powerful figure in Sikkim; the Dewan, or Chief Minister, Tokhang Donyer Namgyal. Continuing hostility between Campbell and the Dewan culminated in Campbell leading a small force of “native infantry” into Sikkim in March 1860. They was swiftly repulsed by the Sikkimese, but Campbell’s initiative forced the colonial government to intervene to protect British prestige and interests on the frontier.

The political agent Ashley Eden was thus sent with a force of 1,800 men under Lt-Colonel Gawler,

who defeated the Sikkimese forces and in March 1861 the Treaty of Tumlong ended hostilities. Most unusually for an international agreement, the treaty specifically decreed that the Dewan Namgyal was to be exiled, and he returned to his native Tibet. Relations between the two states then improved, before again declining in the 1880s as the British increasingly sought to use Sikkim as a “stepping stone” to Tibet.

The events of 1860-62 have not previously been subject to proper analysis, and this paper will locate

them in their historical context, noting the effects of the campaign on the Sikkimese royal family and ruling classes and their relations with Tibet and British India. It draws primarily on the records of the campaign submitted to the British House of Commons in 1862 comprising despatches from the expedition. John A. Ardussi (University of Virginia), Lepcha Communities of Chumbi Valley and E. Sikkim in the Political Affairs of 17th-18thCentury: Sikkim, Bhutan, and Tibet. The emergence and expansion of new centralized governments in Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal, and Tibet in the first half of the 17th century provoked a number of subaltern communities living along their mutual borders. The Chumbi valley was a particular focus of ongoing territorial struggle between the larger powers. The documentation on these events is found in a number of contemporary Tibetan and Bhutanese written sources that have so far not been fully examined. In this paper, I will review these accounts focusing particularly on the role of several Lepcha leaders, including Mon-pa A-mchog, whose legendary deeds have elevated him to the status of cultural hero and political symbol among the Lepcha community of modern Sikkim. Hissey Wongchuck Bhutia (Santiniketan University and Namgyal Institute of Tibetology), Tax Collection and Expenditure in Ri nag rdzong, Sikkim: 1875-1909 Ri nag rdzong was created following the end of the Sino-Nepalese war in 1791 and the administration of which was given to Yug phyog thub, the Lepcha leader of the Sikkimese army during the war. It was granted to him on account of his military service, from lands belonging to Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim. Ri nag rdzong is today located in the East District of Sikkim north of the State border between West Bengal and Sikkim and

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west of the boundary between Sikkim and Bhutan. Historically this region has been a cross-road between the three countries of Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet. This paper addresses an interesting period of Sikkimese history, during which time the British extended their control over Sikkim, as part of the strategy of opening trade and diplomatic relations with Tibet. It was also during this period that Rig ‘dzin Kun bzang rNam rgyal (1855-1909), a descendent of Yug phyog thub, was the Ri nag Blon po and he left behind over 30 hand written manuscripts detailing the accounts and tax obligations of the rdzong. It is these documents that form the primary source material for this paper on tax collection and expenditure in Ri nag, and it is hoped that this example may shed light on the political and administrative organisation of Sikkim during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Through the analysis of this material, the presenter will document the changing nature of tax collection and record keeping from the time when Sikkim was an independent kingdom to the period when the British established their control of Sikkim. This was a turbulent time for Sikkim as the British introduced a new system of political organisation under the control of J.C. White, the Political Officer of Sikkim. These documents chart the growing power of the British in the minutiae of Sikkimese political administration and are a useful case-study of British policy and administration in Sikkim. These documents also provide the reader with an insight into the importance of Ri nag as a region on the Sikkimese, Bhutanese, and Tibetan frontier for the British. As these documents provide accounts of visiting British officials and the role of Ri nag blon po in assuring that the financial needs of the British were being met. He was also responsible for ensuring the safe transport of British officials through his estate. In addition to this wider context, these documents also provide a unique example of the personal tastes of Rig ‘dzin Kun bzang rNam rgyal, with detailed information on his personal expenses and his love for military equipment (especially swords). Akido Ueda (Osaka University), Chilli Trading Practices in Bhutan: Past and Present Chillies are an indispensable part of the Bhutanese diet. The Bhutanese people eat chillies in every meal and almost all Bhutanese dishes contain chillies. Many Bhutanese people confess that they “do not know how to cook without chillies”, and moreover, that their appetite decreases dramatically when a meal does not have enough spicy kick of chillies. Therefore,for the Bhutanese people, the securing of enough chillies is a matter of food security.

While the consumption of chillies in Bhutan is very high, the means by which the people obtain chillies

vary and are complex. The proposed paper will reveal in part how the people in Bhutan get chillies by examining trading practices of chillies based upon fieldwork conducted in Bhutan from 2001 to 2009. The main part of the data is from interviews with farmers, and also includes data obtained from the relevant government agencies and international organisations.

“Trading” in this paper encompasses not only cash purchases in market places, but also exchange with

different commodities (barter). The focus of the paper is two-fold. Firstly, it analyses the changes in trading patterns of chillies in relation to socio-economic changes. One of the main driving forces of the changes is expanding transportation facilities. This paper will explore how the socio-economic changes have historically impacted trading routes, trading partners and trading practices of chillies. A common perception among the Bhutanese, as is reported in Bhutanese media, is that “as development progresses, old practices such as barter are diminishing.” This paper, however, reveals that while this holds true in some parts of the country, there

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are communities in which barter practices have recently started. This paper will examine the reasons people started to engage in barter, and analyse what different practices of trading (barter and selling/buying with cash) mean to people. It will argue that farmers, as conscious agents, try to secure the necessary amount and kinds of chillies by utilising the various options available to them.

Secondly, the paper will investigate the various types of partnerships of communities/people in exchange

practices involving chillies. Barter typically happens among people who know each other. The paper argues that barter is perceived by farmers as being more reliable than market transactions, and human contact is one of the important features that sustains this perception. In other words, the reliability people feel about barter is the reliability people feel toward their barter partners.

In the recent socio-economic changes in Bhutan, a better transportation system has made access to

market easier and cash is becoming increasingly useful. From this trend, it would seem that more chillies are traded in market places for cash. This proposed paper argues, however, that a close look at people’s practices reveals that people in Bhutan, especially in rural areas, carefully choose the means to obtain chillies which is most suitable to their needs and circumstances. By examining people’s perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of different modes of trading, this paper explores the economic as well as social and cultural dimensions of chilli trading in Bhutan. Mélanie Vandenhelsken (University Lille 1), Ethnic Categories in Sikkim, or the ‘Tribilisation’ at Work Sikkim counts numerous ethnic groups and ethnicity–understood as the way social actors think social divisions and inequalities in terms of ethnic belongingness and differentiation (Poutignat and Streiff-Fenart 1995)–is a central element of the representations of otherness and of collective identities in the State. As part of questions regarding the shaping of ethnicity and interethnic relations in Sikkim, I propose to present a history and a reflection on the ethnic categories used in Sikkim (“Bhotia”, “Nepalese”, “tribal”, etc.). This choice of ethnic categories as object of study inscribes itself within an approach of ethnicity and of interethnic relations as being changing and constructed by and through history and politics, and not shaped by “primordial” features that would beintrinsic to particular ethnic groups; the essentialist paradigm – which considers that cultural particularity determines ethnic conscience and postulates the natural incompatibility of different cultures (Richmond 1987) – being thus ruled out. The action of individuals and their way of thought also have to be taken into account, but the feeling of belongingness is also considered here as changing. A study of ethnic categories can thus lead to understanding the logic at work in the construction of ethnicity and of collective identities, especially ethnic, in the frame of a constructivist and structuralist approach. I here propose to present ethnic categories framed by the royal, colonial and post-1975 governments of Sikkim. The effects in the State of the application of the recommendations of the Mandal commission in the 80s, the categories at work in the State Socio Economic census of 2006 and the “process of tribalisation” as presented in the report of the Commission for Review of Environmental and Social Policies (CRESP, also known as “Burman Report”), ordered by the Sikkim government and released this year (2009), will then be discussed. We shall see how ethnic categories are transformed into political ones, maintaining or transforming ancient lines of tension between ethnic groups, in the frame of politics using interethnic relations in Sikkim as well as the features of the Indian system of reservation to alter Sikkim’s position at the margin of the Indian Union.

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Hakan Sandgren (University of Queensland), A Future Role for atsaras? Using Festival Jesters as a Vehicle for Information in Bhutan During field research in Bhutan last year, I was able to interview people from all walks of life as to their views on the importance of the atsaras, the festival jesters. Among many findings was the connection that well educated people had made between the jesters and the spread of information. For the last few years, theatsaras have informed those attending the festivals about the danger and spread of HIV/Aids and it was evident throughout my research that people considered the atsaras successful in this respect. As the government of Bhutan is now wholeheartedly promoting the concept of GNH (Gross National Happiness) as a base for education and the society as a whole, the atsaras could find themselves as vehicles for government information to reach the common Bhutanese people. This paper will discuss views encountered during my research, how the idea of atsaras as vehicles for information could develop into a useful tool for the Bhutanese government, which disadvantages may be connected with such an approach and discuss implications for the religious festivals in which the atsarasoperate due to this added responsibility. Lopen Tshering Dhendup (ILCS Bhutan), Human Rights as Seen in a Buddhist Context Buddhist values and principles have guided the attitudes and way of life of many inhabitants of the Himalayan world including Bhutan. Buddhism is believed to have been first introduced in Bhutan in the 8th century by Guru Rinpoche. Since then until today, Buddhism has played a pivotal role in shaping Bhutanese thought and culture. Inspired by Buddhist values and principles, almost all the policy and legal infrastructures in Bhutan, including the Constitution enacted in 2008 are based on Buddhist principles as well as Human Rights thus placing the Human Rights principles in an interesting framework. In this paper, I would like to study the Human Rights Declaration document solely from a Buddhist point of view and offer a Buddhist interpretation of the rights. Thus this paper would attempt to highlight the common characteristics of Human Rights and Buddhist principles 44. Festschrift Panel in Recognition of Hubert Decleer Andrew Quintman (Yale University),Redacting Mi la ras pa’s Place(s) in Nepal Mi la ras pa’s activities in Nepal form some of the best-known episodes of his collected songs(mgur ’bum). The song cycle popularly known as “The Hunter and the Deer” for example, recording the conversion of Khyi ra Mgon po rdo rje high in the Nepalese borderlands, has become an iconic representation for the yogin’s life story as a whole in both the plastic and the dramatic arts. Mi la ras pa’s early biographical writings, however, mention his visits to Nepal only in passing. Rather, like so much of the biographical tradition, it is only in the late fifteenth century with the standard version of the life story by Gtsang smyon Heruka (1452-1507) that major episodes from the yogin’s life become truly fixed in the Nepalese landscape. This paper will examine part of the literary processes through which the Madman from Gtsang established the yogin’s firm footing in Nepal. In particular, I wish to discuss Mi la ras pa’s acclaimed retreat in the middle hills region of Yol mo as an example of what might be called the redaction of sacred place, literally

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“the bringing together in writing” of disparate sites to form a new locale introduced for the first time into the biographical canon. Indeed, Gtsang smyon Heruka’s chapter on the Cycle on Yol mo gangs ra (Yol mo gangs ra’i skor) identifies the location by that name for the first time. This song cycle revolves around a single meditation site called Tiger Cave Lion Fortress (stag phug seng ge rdzong) and the “great song of the snow ranges,” both of which would become focal points of Mi la ras pa’s biographical tradition. Yet, in this chapter, Gtsang smyon Heruka carefully stitches together two song cycles from early biographical works that refer to two discrete locations. These two episodes, “The Cycle on the Sing ga la Forest” (Sing ga la’i nag gseb skor) and “The Cycle on Dpal gro stag tshang” (Dpal sgro stag tshang gi skor), I will suggest, may refer to earlier sites in the region, but Gtsang smyon Heruka effectively fuses them into the new site identified in Yol mo. This paper will explore the logic behind this kind of literary and spatial redaction, as well as the effects of Gtsang smyon’s claiming (or reclaiming) new sites of Bka’ brgyud activity within the broader context of Nepal’s sacred geography. I will suggest such activity forms part of a pattern in which sacred places are brought into a broad, transregional relationship, a network-like structure Franz-Karl Ehrhard has recently referred to as “spatial effectiveness.” (Ehrhard 2001, 114). With Gtsang smyon Heruka’s Yol mo cycle, the region long considered sacred was further absorbed into the Bka’ brguyd fold as a location prophesied and then reclaimed by its early founding figures. Jacob P. Dalton (UC Berkeley),Preliminary Remarks on a New Biography of Gnubs chen sangs rgyas ye shes Hubert Decleer has devoted much of his research to the biographies of Tibetans who travelled and worked in Nepal. To honor Hubert’s remarkable work and his own role in the biographies of so many U.S. scholars who have travelled and worked in Nepal, I offer these remarks on a biography of one of the very earliest Tibetans to come to the Kathmandu Valley. In 1999, Mkhan po Mun sel and Mkhan po ‘Jam dbyangs, both of Kaḥ thog monastery, oversaw the compilation of a newly expanded set of the Rnying ma school’s “Spoken Teachings” (bka’ ma). Now commonly referred to as the Bka’ ma shin tu rgyas pa, this remarkable 120-volume collection brought to light numerous important works previously thought lost. Among these is a biography of the late 9th/early 10th-century Tibetan tāntrika, Gnubs chen sangs rgyas ye shes. Until now, scholars interested in Gnubs chen have had to rely on the biographical sketch contained in Rdor brag rig ‘dzin Padma ‘phrin las’ much later 17th-century Mdo dbang gi bla ma brgyud pa’i rnam thar. Now, however, we may have a much earlier source in the Gnubs kyi bka’ shog chen mo. In this paper I will make some preliminary observations on this new source. In particular, I will consider the nature of its relationship to the texts cited by Padma ‘phrin las, some of which are at least purported to be by Gnubs chen himself. Might we see in our new Bka’ shog chen mo, one of Padma ‘phrin las’ own sources? And might it really preserve the actual sayings of Gnubs chen, the ancient master of Tibet’s dark age? These are two of the questions I hope to address. Eric D. Mortensen (Guilford College), The Baishuitai Raven Speech Manuscript in Light of a Comparative Analysis of Tibetan and Naxi Augury Practices. The stand-alone augury manuscript, provisionally titled “The Baishuitai Raven Speech Manuscript,” is the longest raven augury text composed in Naxi Pictographs. The manuscript, filmed by the author in 2001, has

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become an important addition to the comparative study of Himalayan augury, in that it demonstrates stronger similarities to Tibetan and Yi (Nosuo) augury manuscripts than do other more fragmentary Naxi works on the divinatory language of ravens (Corvus corax). The manuscript is a copy by He Zhiben of a version of the text penned by his teacher Xi Ahniu, who passed away in 2009. This paper analyzes the Baishuitai Raven Speech Manuscript in two specific ways. First, the manuscript is contextualized through comparison to the extant corpus of augury texts in Tibetan, Naxi, and Yi languages. Second, as the Naxi pictographic script is a non-codified mnemonic device for the recitation of various oral (re-)performative rituals by Naxi dto-mba (ritual experts), variant performances of the manuscript in different contexts by different dto-mba are compared. These variant performances of the manuscript were filmed in 2007 and 2009 in Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces, P.R.C. This critical edition of oral performances of the manuscript in question, it is argued, provides a more accurate matrix of the content of the augury practice than would a literalistic (and thus, by definition, problematic) literal translation of the pictographs. Explicit in this project is a critique of the normative practice of literal translations of Naxi pictographic texts and a critique of the scholarly prioritization of the textual aspects of Naxi religion at the expense of attention to the oral folkloric traditions of story and ritual cycles. In addition, in this study, attention is paid to a comparison of variant regional performances of religious augury rituals, noting that the tradition has nearly vanished in the eastern Himalayas. This comparative study of augury via the methodology of comparative oral folklore is itself a celebration of the rigorous curiosity of Hubert Decleer, whose broad and multifaceted approach to philological and religious topics and whose mentoring of students’ own investigative projects have inspired a generation of Tibetologists. Benjamin Bogin (Georgtown University), The Eight Names of the Guru

One of the most prominent subjects in Rnying ma iconography is the set of eight figures collectively known as the Guru mtshan brgyad: Mtsho skyes rdo rje, Śākya seng ge, Nyi ma ‘od zer, Padma ‘byung gnas, Blo ldan mchog sred, Padma rgyal po, Seng ge sgra sgrogs, and Rdo rje gro lod. These “Eight Names” of Padmasambhava are each connected with certain episodes in his life story. In this paper, these names will be traced from their earliest appearance in Nyang ral Nyi ma ‘od zer’s (1136–1204) Copper Isle Version (zangs gling ma) of Padmsambhava’s life through the developments of the later hagiographic tradition into the standard set of eight encountered in Ryning ma shrines and prayers today. This literary history will attempt to reveal the structural relationships between a dozen different versions of Padmasambhava’s life revealed or written between the twelfth and twentieth centuries. A more precise understanding of the literary evolution of the bka’ thang genre will provide an opportunity for reflecting upon the development of the figure of Padmasambhava throughout Tibetan history.

Although the literary versions of the Guru’s life will be the focus of the paper, the “Eight Names”

must also be considered in the realms of painting, sculpture, and ritual liturgy (including monastic dance). In this respect, the revelations of Guru Chos kyi dbang phyug (1212–1270) are of particular interest and importance. One further area of significance to be considered are the associations between specific Himalayan sites and specific forms of Padmasambhava from the set of eight. By mapping the history of the “Eight Names of the Guru” in the bka’ thang literature with references to parallel developments in art, ritual, and sacred geography, this paper will seek to advance our knowledge of the processes by which a foreign siddha active during Tibet’s imperial period became an eternally present nirmāṇakāya with eight recognizable manifestations.

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Dominique Townsend (Columbia University), Rich Epistles: A Preliminary Study of the Letters of Terdag Lingpa and the Fifth Dalai Lama

As part of the Festschrift for Hubert Decleer, this paper concerns a selection of letters exchanged between the Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (ngag dbang blo bzang mthso) (1617-1682) and the great visionary Terdag Lingpa (gter bdag gling pa) (1646-1714), founder of Mindroling (smin grol gling). The paper reflects on the particular content and style of their letters and the genre of letter writing more generally. As a collection, the letters reveal details of their careers, personal interests and concerns, literary ideals, and the religious, social and political topics of their day. The letters also offer insight into members of the Geluk establishment’s interest in Nyingma teachings and ritual, the history of Mindroling, the influence of Sanskrit literature on Tibetan literature, and the concerns of late 17th Century Tibetan high society.

To provide some context, the paper includes a brief sketch of Mindroling. The monastery was

founded around 1670 by Terdag Lingpa with the help of his younger brother, the great scholar and artist Lochen Dharmashri (lo chen dharma shri) (1654-1717). As a close associate of these members of the aristocratic Nyo (smyos) clan, the Fifth Dalai Lama sponsored Mindroling’s founding and supported Mindroling’s development as a center of ritual, the “arts”, and aristocratic education. As such, Mindroling played a key role in The Fifth Dalai Lama's state-building project.

Terdag Lingpa and the Fifth Dalai Lama had a complex and longstanding relationship that started when Terdag Lingpa was a boy. Over the course of Terdag Lingpa’s life, he was the Dalai Lama’s disciple, teacher, confidant, and beneficiary. As a preliminary study of their letters this paper maps out the various topics they discussed, including: the politics of emanations; identification with historical and legendary figures; Terdag Lingpa’s enthronement at Mindroling and his taking of a consort; and dealing with death. In particular, the paper is focused on letters exchanged around the time when Terdag Lingpa’s consort came to Mindroling from her family home in Yamdrok (yar ‘brog), paying close attention to the shift in roles and tone that takes place depending on the content of the given letter. The paper also asks questions such as who the intended audience was and how the formal style relates to the content of the letters. 45. Medical Texts Yang Ga (Tibetan Medical College, Lhasa),Sources for the Writing of the Rgyud bzhi

The Rgyud bzhi is the classical Tibetan medical text and teaching manual for Tibetan medicine. Most modern Tibetological scholars believe this work was compiled by G.yu thog Yon tan mgon po, a Tibetan scholar and physician, in the 13th century. Since the composition of the Rgyud bzhi, numerous commentaries on the text and literature about the text have been produced in Tibetan.

Since Alexander Cosma De Koros’s early study of the Rgyud bzhi in 1835, many Western scholars

have paid a lot of attention to this work. The origin of the Rgyud bzhi was also studied and debated by historical Tibetan scholars, starting in the 13th century C.E. It is interesting to discover that in several contemporary Tibetan medical schools, the origin of the Rgyud bzhi remains a heatedly debated topic, but now on somewhat different grounds than was seen in the past.

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In exploring what the real sources of the Rgyud bzhi were, this paper will move beyond the positions of modern non-Tibetan scholars, historical Tibetan scholars, and modern Tibetan scholars alike. It will show that the Rgyud bzhi had many sources and demonstrate in detail how diverse early sources contributed to the creation of the Rgyud bzhi, sources that no scholar to date has identified with precision. In addition, this paper will question the more basic assumption that the Rgyud bzhi has always been the “root” and only main text of Tibetan medicine. It will show that there were several important works in the early period of the development of Tibetan medicine, and it will also identify earlier shorter essays that functioned as draft versions of the Rgyud bzhi.

The principal research for the paper will involve a close reading of the abdomen wound section from

the Byang khog dmar byang gsal ba’i sgron me, theBi ji’i po ti kha ser, and several other important but rarely-studied sources. It will present a comparison of all of those with the parallel sections of the Rgyud bzhi. In this comparative reading I will demonstrate how the materials from the earlier works were incorporated into the abdomen wound section of the Rgyud bzhi.

Secondly, I will examine the available historical evidence for the many medical traditions that G.yu

thog Yon tan mgon po and his disciples drew together in their composition and propagation of the Rgyud bzhi.

Finally, a third aim of the paper will be to provide a thorough analysis of the influence of Ayurvedic medicine on the Rgyud bzhi.

In sum, the paper will contribute to a more accurate understanding than modern scholarship has

heretofore presented of the origins and development of Tibetan medicine as it came to be practiced in the principal academic centres of Tibetan medicine from the 12th through the 21st centuries. It will dislodge the over-emphasis on Ayurveda for the origins of Tibetan medicine and will demonstrate the significant input in particular from Western Asia. Finally the paper will contribute to larger discussions of Tibetan civilization regarding Tibetan identity and Tibetan conceptions of the origins of their culture. Filip Majkowski (University of Warsaw), Methods of Naming Medicinal Substances in Tibetan Language The paper presents a short analysis of methods of giving names to Tibetan medicinal substances, basing on the examples found in Tibetan medical texts and dictionaries. There are many different criteria of naming medicinal plants and other healing substances in Tibetan language. Many of them have names which do not seem to carry any meaning at all. Or at least it is not possible, on the basis of available sources, to determine any reason whatsoever that might have stood behind giving the name. Names can be meaningless (usually in the case of one-syllable words) or their meanings can have no correspondence to any of the known characteristics of a given substance. Those, however, whose names do carry a meaning, can be subject to semantic analysis. Such names can be interpreted (not always unambiguously) as they describe physical features, such as shape and colour, of a plant (plants constitute the biggest source of healing substances) or their healing powers. These, however, are not the only criteria for giving names. Names are also derived from mythology, Buddhism, its cosmology or legends. In several instances we can encounter plants and substances named in accordance with their original habitat, showing that a given medicine originated in a foreign place, not in Tibet. It also happens that a medicine is named simply by stating what it actually is. In such cases names do not refer to features, such as colours, nor to any other visible or experienced (for example, by tasting) characteristics. A separate category is constituted by

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foreign names. In Tibetan language these usually have their source in Sanskrit and Chinese. It is often (or almost always) the case that a medicinal substance has in Tibetan its main name, but can also be found under different other names. By analyzing different names of a single substance we can find that they fall under all or most of the above mentioned categories. Finally, names of healing substances can be metaphorical and poetic or laudatory, in order to stress their powers and efficiency in curing diseases. In these cases effectiveness of these substances is usually exaggerated. Dawa (men-Tsee-khang) 46. Monastic History Maho Iuchi (Kobe City University for Foreign Studies),Changes in Early bKa’ gdams pa Monasteries with Shifts in the Structure of the Buddhist Community in Tibet

bKa' gdams pa was founded by 'Brom ston pargyal ba'i 'byung gnas (1004 / 1005-1064) on the basis of the doctrine of Atiśa (Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna, 982-1054) in the eleventh century. Disciples of 'Brom ston pa built a number of monasteries around Lhasa, especially in the 'Phan yul area, and its doctrine gradually spread over a wide range. Among them, Po to pa (1031-1105), Phu chung pa (1031-1103) and sPyan snga pa (1038-1103),who were the three prime disciples of 'Brom ston pa and referred to as sKu mched gsum (three brothers), each built a monastery in the 'Phan yul area. Po to pa founded the Po to dgon pa, Phu chung pa founded the Phu chungand sPyan snga pa founded the Lo dgon pa. Po to dgon pa is currently a nunnery and Phu chung is not extant. However, Lo dgon pa remains as one of the few relatively large-scale monasteries among the extant bKa' gdams pa monasteries.

Lo dgon pa, located in present-day Tagtse Dzong, LhasaPrefecture PRC, was founded by sPyan snga patshul khrim 'barin 1095. Currently, about fifty monks reside there. Like all other bKa' gdams pa monasteries, extraneous pressures have forced a series of constant changes upon this monastery. It was caught up in a power struggle among sects in the thirteenth century. It changed sectarian affiliation (from bKa' gdams pa to dGe lugs pa) between the sixteenth and seventeenth century. Also, it faced near complete destruction during the Cultural Revolution in the twentieth century. Although most of bKa' gdams pa monasteries declined, Lo dgon pa maintained its stability based on two factors, that is the Tulk and its branch temples.

Regarding the first factor, Lo sems dpa' sprul sku,a Tulk, has been associated with Lo dgon pa since its change to the dGe lugs pa. This Tulk is said to be one of the sPrul sku rnams gsum (great three Tulk). It is rare for a Tulk to be present in a bKa' gdams pa monastery. Since the end of the sixteenth century, Tulk has dominated Tibetan society not only in religion but also in politics. Through the presence of its Tulk, Lo dgon pa was able to follow the course of history. Regarding the second factor, they have a branch temple, called Byams khang, inBar skor, the central area of Lhasa. This branch was founded by the first Lo sems dpa' sprul sku (15c) in about 1430. Many believers visit this temple since it is centrally located even today. The offerings from Byams khang serve as the main source of income for Lo dgon pa, allowing it to maintain economic stability.

The circumstances of Lo dgon paduring its bKa' gdams pa period, however, were quite different. The

primary branch temple of Lo dgon pa was Bya yul dgon pa, which was built by Bya yul pa gzhon nu 'od

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(1075-1138), a direct disciple of sPyan snga pa. Bya yul dgon pa was not just a branch of Lo dgon pa, but the successive abbots of Lo dgon pa concurrently assumed the position of abbot at Bya yul dgon pa. During its bKa' gdams pa period, Lo dgon pa developed an extensive network of branch templesthrough lineage connections like the one with Bya yul dgon pa. However, these relationships had gradually disappeared, and Lo sems dpa' sprul sku replaced this network of the bKa' gdams pa lineage with a single branch temple.

The aim of this study is to elucidate the details of the way in which early bKa' gdams pa monasteries

changed in response to shifts in the structure of Tibetan society. Marc-Henri Deroche (École Pratique des Huates Études; Kyoto University),The Tradition of ‘Phyong rgyas Dpal ri Monastery founded by ‘Phreng po gter ston Shes rab ‘od zer (1518- 1584) In this paper, we intend to shed light on the history of Dpal ri monastery, a fundamental seat for the Rnying ma pa tradition. In spite of its importance, this influential and historical place has been almost forgotten like its founder ’Phreng po gter ston Shes rab ’od zer whose life, works and heritage are the subject of our Ph.D. research. Founded at the end of the critical and still few known sixteenth century, Dpal ri monastery had close relations with the family of the Fifth Dalai Lama, it played a major role in the renaissances of the Rnying ma pa tradition and conveyed a central inspiration for the XIXth century so-called ris med movement. The monastery of Dpal ri theg chen gling located in ’Phyong rgyas, near the sacred tombs of the ancient Tibetan emperors, was one of the three main Rnying ma pa monasteries of central Tibet with Thub stan Rdo rje brag and Smin grol gling. There were known together as “Rdor Smin Dpal gsum”. Dpal ri was also considered as one of the six mother Rnying ma pa monasteries with the Rdo rje brag, Smin grol gling, Ka: thog, Dpal yul, Rdzogs chen, before that Zhe chen replaced its name in the list. Due to the persecutions of the Dzungars and then eclipsed by Smin grol gling, its importance declined progressively. But at the origin Bsam yas monastery itself was under its authority. After the destructions of the twentieth century, it has now been reconstructed again. Dpal ri was founded by ’Phreng po gter ston Shes rab ’od zer (1518-1584) during the end of his life, at the request and under the patronage of the ruler of ’Phyong rgyas, Hor Bsod nams stobs rgyal. According to the different hagiographies, ’Phreng po gter ston Shes rab ’od zer was trained in the Sa skya pa, Dge lugs pa, Bka’ brgyud pa and Rnying ma pa traditions. His root teacher was ’Bri gung Rin chen phun tshogs (1509-1557). Shes rab ’od zer spent almost a decade in solitary retreat practicing the Rdzogs chen snying thig lineages that he received from his master. He become himself a greatgter ston, his main gter ma being the Point of Liberation, Liberation of Intention (Grol tig dgong pa rang grol) included in the Rin chen gter mdzod. Shes rab ’od zer offered a significant contribution by the revision and edition of O rgyan gling pa’s famous Pad ma thang yig again under the patronage of the ’Phyong rgyas ruler, as observed by Tucci (1949) and Toussaint in his French translation (1933). Trained in the four main Tibetan religious orders while he was living at one of the most sectarian period of Tibet, he is also remembered to have probably been the first to promulgate the eclectic classification of the Ten Pillars of Exegesis and more specifically the Eight Lineages of Attainment with a text later quoted and made famous by Kong sprul as the paradigm of his Gdams ngag mdzod (Kapstein 1996, 2008, Deroche 2009). The tradition of Shes rab ’od zer was transmitted through the Dpal ri monastery. Since its patronage was of the ruling family of ’Phyong rgyas, in which the Fifth Dalai Lama was to be born, the latter maintained

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special relations with it. Together with the great synthesis of Rje Tsong kha pa of the Gsar ma pa traditions, the Great Fifth was, as it is widely known, very devoted to the Rnying ma pa tradition and its mythical relation to the imperial period and the great adept Padmasambhava. The Great Fifth was thus positing himself as the supreme authority of all Tibetan Buddhism reviving the unity of the ancient Tibetan empire. In his rituals he also used gter ma objects discovered by Shes rab ’od zer (Karmay, 1988). Dpal ri had very strong relations with Rdo rje brag where Shes rab ’od zer had been practicing. After the passing of Shes rab ’od zer, the succession of the monastery belonged to his son Karma bkun bzang. Then appeared an abbatial succession through the sprul sku of Ye shes mtsho rgyal, the first in the person of Rig ’dzin ’phrin las rnam rgyal, young brother of Rig ’dzin ngag gi dbang po (1580-1639) who fully established Rdo rje brag monastery. Dpal ri in close association with Rdo rje brag, were fundamental centres to the Rnying ma pa tradition in central Tibet, and gave the basis and precedents for Gter bdag gling pa’s foundation of Smin grol gling. The next century the great ’Jigs med gling pa was trained in Dpal ri. He dedicated one of his work about the monastery, the Dpal ri theg pa chen po’i gling gi gtam rdo rje sgra ma’i rgyud mngas. When the renown adept obtained the vision of Klong chen pa, at the source of the revelation of the Klong chen snying thig, he was practicing the very Rdzog chengter ma of Shes rab ’od zer, the Grol thig. The contemporary Rnying ma pa scholar Nyi lcang Rin po che thus argues for the importance of Dpal ri, as a link between Klong chen pa and ’Jigs med gling pa, allowing the full revelation received by ’Jigs med gling pa, source of one of the most influential revival of the Rdzogs chen tradition. In the continuity of ’Jigs med gling pa and the following Rnying ma pa renaissance, ’Jam dbyangs Mkhyen brtse’i dbang po, considered as one of ’Jigs med gling pa’s emanations, and ’Jam mgon Kong sprul blo gros mtha’ yas, propounding their ris med or non-sectarian approach, have been to some extant the heirs of Shes rab ’od zer’s vision on the Eight Lineages of Attainment and made it widely known. Jorg Heimbel (University of Hamburg),The History of the Four Lama Palaces of Ngor (ngor gyi blab rang khag bzhi) My presentation will discuss the history of the four main lama palaces of Ngor monastery. It is related to my PhD research that focuses on the foundation and historical development of the Ngor monastery and the dynamic Tibetan Buddhist tradition that originated from there, the Ngor school. The Ngor school is an important subdivision in the Sakya tradition and is considered as one of their three main sub-schools, along with the Sakya tradition proper and the Tshar pa (sa ngor tshar gsum). The founder of the Ngor school and its head monastery was Ngor chen Kun dga' bzang po (1382-1456) – a great tantric master who was also known to be a strict monk upholding the vinaya rules. To revitalize Sakya monasticism and religious practice, Ngor chen founded the monastery of E wa chos ldan in 1429 in a remote valley located around 20 kilometres southwest of gZhis ka rtse. Under Ngor chen and his successors on the throne of Ngor, the monastery developed quickly to an important center for tantric studies in the Sakya tradition attracting students from all regions of Tibet. It became the main institution for the transmission of the Path with Its Fruit (lam 'bras) teachings – the main tantric cycle of the Sakya tradition – according to its exoteric transmission in larger assemblies known as the "explication for the assembly" (tshogs bshad). With the steady influx of students, Ngor developed quickly to a substantial monastic complex. Between the 16th and 18th century, the four main lama palaces of Ngor were founded: (1.) Thar rtse, (2.) Klu sdings /

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lding, (3.) Khang gsar / Khang (g)sar phun tshogs gling or Phun tshogs khang (g)sar and (4.) Phan bde or Phan khang. These palaces were headed by monks who originated mainly from aristocratic families of gTsang. Only the Klu sdings bla brang succeeded in maintaining this unbroken link with the Shar pa family down to the present day. Initially, the abbots of Ngor were chosen mainly for their spiritual achievements, leaving aside their family or financial background. With the foundation of the lama palaces, the situation changed in so far, that the abbots were now selected to a large part from monks of those families the palaces were linked with. These monks were chosen in young age as "candidate to the abbacy" (zhabs drung) and had to pass through a special curriculum. Around the turn of the 18th/19th century, a new system for abbatial appointments was established whereby the abbacy rotated through the four lama palaces in three year turns, at least in theory. Apart from the Klu sdings bla brang, the other lama palaces introduced in the 19th century a reincarnation system through which important candidates for the abbacy were identified as rebirths of previous masters or abbots. Due to the lack of Tibetan genealogical sources, we need to contact other material to unravel the history of the lama palaces. The main source we have at hand is the "Abbatial History of Ngor [Monastery]" (Ngor gdan rabs) with its three supplements. These, however, do not include much specific information on the lama palaces' history far from mentioning their founders' names. Therefore we have to reconstruct their history from the scattered information included in them. The passages that mention the actual names of the palaces for the first time give them only in passing: "This lord [dKon mchog 'phel] stayed in retreat in Thar rtse" or "Living in Khang gsar phun tshogs gling, this lord [Byams pa bSod nams bzang po] spent his time alternately [engaged in] teaching and practice." Citing these statements, the abbot of Ngor monastery in Tibet, mKhan Thub bstan snyning po, jumps in his modern history of Ngor to the conclusion that the masters mentioned in those contexts were the actual founders of the lama palaces. However, from analyzing the sources and through discussions with H.E. Klu sdings mKhan chen Rin po che (b. 1931), a more likely scenario emerges to me: it seems that in the beginning some prominent former abbots took residence in previously existing monastic buildings or in living quarters they had themselves build. These structures were named as Thar rtse, Khang gsar and so on. Over the course of time, these residences were enlarged and eventually became monastic institutions in their own right, commonly known as the "Four Lama Palaces of Ngor" (ngor gi bla brang khag bzhi). I like to differentiate herebetween a lama's residence and the institutionalized lama's palace, both in Tibetan termed as bla brang. As an example, I like to sketch here briefly the development of the Thar rtse lama palace until its institutionalization based on the information found in the Ngor gdan rabs. There we are told that dKon mchog 'phel (1445B1514, 7th abbot) resigned in 1513 from the throne of Ngor and stayed afterwards in retreat in Thar rtse where he passed away in 1514. After him two further abbots, lHa mchog seng ge (1468B1535, 9th abbot) and Sangs rgyas seng ge (1504B1569, 11th abbot), stayed also during the latter part of their lives in retreat in Thar rtse, and Sangs rgyas seng ge passed away there too. The institutionalization of the Thar rtse lama palace probably began with Brang ti paE chen Nam mkha' dpal bzang (1532-1602, 13th abbot). He was the first Ngor abbot from the famous Brang ti family whose members headed the Thar rtse bla brang until the 19th century. Before his first abbatial tenure from 1579B1583, he already acted as head of the Thar rtse bla brang (thar rtse pa gnang). The Ngor gdan rabs mentions him as the "Great scholar of the Brang ti [family] from Thar rtse" (Thar rtse nas Brang ti paE chen Nam mkha' dpal bzang). This passage mentions for the first time the palace's name as part of the title of an abbot's name. We also find this in the "records of teachings received" (thob yig) for the rGyud sde kun btus where his title and name are mentioned as Thar rtse Nam mkha' dpal bzang, Thar paE Nam mkha' dpal bzang

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or Thar rtse paE chen Nam mkha' dpal bzang. From young age on, his nephew, Brang ti mkhan chen Nam mkha' sangs rgyas (17th abbot), settled down in the Thar rtse bla brang and became its head after his uncle had passed away in 1602. Brang ti mkhan chen Nam mkha' rin chen (1624?B 1669?, 19th abbot), the nephew of Nam mkha' sangs rgyas, likewise moved in the Thar rtse bla brang in young age to begin his monastic studies with his uncle. Probably a little earlier, Hor ston paE chen Nam mkha' dpal bzang (1611-1672, 23rd abbot) was taken to the Thar rtse bla brang where he received the monastic ordinations from his paternal uncle Nam mkha' sangs rgyas. After he had finished his monastic studies, he travelled in the direction of Chu 'bum in Khams to collect offerings and gifts to be used as funds for the expenditures of the Thar rtse lama palace. After his return, Nam mkha' rin chen was installed as abbot and Nam mkha' dpal bzang took over as head of the Thar rtse lama palace. This rough sketch suggests that Thar rtse functioned in the beginning as residence and place of retreat for former abbots. With the takeover of the palace by the Brang ti family, its institutionalization began, developing, together with the foundation of the other lama palaces, to the above mentioned abbatial appointment system. As roughly outlined for the Thar rtse lama palace, I like to present in my talk the main events in the formation of NgorBs four main lama palaces. Furthermore, I will make some remarks on the fifth lama palace, the Khang ser bla brang, which is not counted among NgorBs main lama palaces. As time permits, it would be worth to discuss the different usages of the term bla brang in general. In this context it is interesting to note, that in Ngor the central administration of the abbacy as well as its residence was called bla brang or in its full form bla brang gzhung. Puchang Tsering (University of Oslo),The Life Story of Rin chen rNam rgyal of Zhwa lu Monastery This paper will investigate the life story of Rinchen Namgyal (Rin chen rNam rgyal, 1318-1388), an eminent translator, reincarnated lama, bhikṣu, and monastic scholar of Shalu (Zhwa lu), one of the earliest monasteries during the second diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet. Rinchen Namgyal was born in Geding (dGe sdings) in Tsang and became a novice monk at Shalu monastery at the age of ten. He was one of the principal disciples of Buton Rinchendrub (Bu ston rin chen grub), the renowned fourteenth-century historian of Shalu monastery. After Buton's retirement from the abbatial seat, Rinchen Namgyal was appointed as the successor of the throne of Shalu. Throughout his life, he was devoted to teachings on a number of religious topics, enlarging the monastic compound, and helping to further improve the catalogue of the Tibetan Kangyur which was formerly compiled by Buton Rinchendrub. At the end of his life, he spent most of his time meditating at Riphug (Ri phug), a renowned hermitage site of the Shalu school.

The investigation will mainly be based on Rinchen Namgyal’s biography, which forms a part of the

mKhan brgyud rnam thar (The Biography of the Successive Abbots [of Shalu]) composed in the beginning of the nineteenth century. The study will also be further informed by some other relevant Tibetan sources, including Taranatha's Myang chos 'byung (The Religious History of the Myang [River Valley]), D.S. Ruegg's The Life of Bu ston rin po che with the Tibetan Text of the Bu ston rNam thar, and Pieter C. Verhagen's (2001) A History of Sanskrit Grammatical Literature in Tibet.

The paper will consist of three parts. I will start with a presentation of the historical period when

Rinchen Namgyal lived which followed by the actual life story of Rinchen Namgyal as it is described in the

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mKhan brgyud rnam thar focusing on various aspects of his life including his unusual birth, his becoming monk, his reception of monastic vows as Sramana and Bhiksu, his study under Buton, and his teaching. Then, I will describe some of his most important religious activities, including presiding over annual religious festivals, his initiation of the anniversary of Buton's death, translation of a number of Buddhist texts, as well as establishment of monastic monuments such as stupas. The final part of the paper will discuss Rinchen Namgyal’s contributions to the propagation of the Shalu school of Buddhism, including his contribution towards the translation of Buddhist texts and the formation of the Shalu Kangyur which was primarily compiled by Buton.

The life of Rinchen Namgyal remains an important part of the biography of the Shalu scholars. Not

only because his important contribution to the propagation of the doctrine of Shalu school during the fourteenth century, but also his surpassing spiritual influence on later followers. Moreover, he was one of the greatest translators of Sanskrit texts into Tibetan language of his time. Rinchen Namgyal is still worshipped and honored by the followers of the Shalu tradition and the monks at the monastery today. His image in the form of murals, paintings, and statues can be seen in the Shalu monastery, at the Riphug hermitage as well as in other monasteries where the Shalu doctrine has been flourished.

However, virtually no research has yet been conducted on his life story in the academic circle. This

investigation of Rinchen Namgyal's life hopes to throw some light on the career of Rinchen Namgyal as a prominent scholar and an important propagator of Shalu doctrine and thus contribute to our knowledge about the history of the Buddhism in Tibet during the fourteenth century. 47. Tibetans in the World Marietta Kind Furger (Universität Bern),Am I Buddhist? The Second Generation of Tibetans in Switzerland and their Notions of Buddhism The study is based on a Swiss national research project about the second generation of Tibetan migrants in Switzerland and their notions of identity and religion.2Since 1960 Switzerland allowed several contingents of refugees into the country. The first refugee children were placed in the Pestalozzi Children’s village andin foster families while the biggest group consisting of whole familieswas placed in Tibetan settlements in a number of Swiss villages. Further individuals and groups followed in the course of the successive decades. Several studies and reports have been published in regard to this first generation of refugees in Switzerland, their three different socialisation milieus, their efforts to assimilate and at the same time keep their culture alive. The research is conducted by my colleague Tina Lauer and me. With regard to its preliminary results Tina Lauer will elaborate on the notion of identity and ‘Tibetanness’ while I will investigate the second generation’s relation to Buddhism. The field was explored by employing the methodology of narrative-biographic interviews with Tibetans of the second generation, as well as expert interviews with actors central to the Tibetan community and participant observation at major events concerning the Tibetans in Switzerland. The analysis of the interviews and research data (e.g. by the qualitative data analysis tool Atlas-ti) allows for an elaboration of individual concepts of Buddhism, everyday Buddhist values and norms, changing contexts of religious

2 The project is headed by Prof. Jens Schlieter and is part of a Swiss National Research Program (NRP 58) on Religions, the State and Society.

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practice and criteria for Buddhist belonging. Furthermore the role of Buddhism and the Dalai Lama for the integration to the Swiss community and for the negotiation and construction of Tibetan identities can be analysed. The paper aims to present some preliminary results of the study. In the course of the survey it became evident that a variety of notions on ‘who is a Buddhist’ exist. Nevertheless, the majority of the interviewed Tibetans, though using different descriptors, consider themselves to be Buddhist. The idea of what that includes reaches from traditional to modern, ethnic and philosophic affiliations, from taking refuge to the three jewels buddha, dharma and sangha and believing in karma and rebirth to ideas that one is born a Buddhist or, on the other side, the one who feels like a Buddhist. To the majority the sense of religious belonging is related to values and norms, most prominently the concept of nying-je, compassion, that pervades everyday life attitudes and conduct. In that sense Buddhism can also be seen as an important factor for ‘Tibetanness’ and for the good integration of Tibetans in Switzerland. While the regional origin in Tibet and the affiliation to Buddhist Schools is fading in the second generation, a borderline is still drawn by the majority of the Swiss Tibetan community to the followers of Dhogyal (Shugden), a fact that cuts the strong sense of community apart. Tina Lauer (Institute for Religious Studies, Bern), ‘I am a Swiss-Tibetan’ The Second Generation of Tibetans in Switzerland and their Notions of ‘Tibetanness’ This paper deals with the question of how Tibetans who were born and raised in Switzerland construct, express and interpret their identity. It refers to the following research questions: To what extents do second generation Tibetan migrants in Switzerland experience living in two different cultures and how do they deal with it? How do they describe themselves, how do they want to see themselves and how do they express and construct their identity within the two different cultures? Based on a fieldwork study which is part of a Swiss national research project about the second generation of Tibetan migrants in Switzerland and their notions of identity and religion3 , the paper presents an ethnographic study on the specific situation, identity and self identification processes of Tibetans born and raised in Switzerland and therefore on second generation Tibetans who have been raised in three different social settings, facing at least two different cultures. When Switzerland allowed the first Tibetan refugees to enter the country in the early 1960s, they were settled in foster families, in the Pestalozzi children’s village or, as entire families, in asylum camps. Today there are around 4000 Tibetans living in Switzerland. Whereas the stories of the Tibetans who escaped into exile and their struggle as being a refugee have received numerous attentions, the particularities of the second generation have not yet been analyzed in detail. With reference to current cultural and social theories on identity and based on the assumption that identity is never stable nor static but constantly changing, the results of the study show that the identity of the second generation Tibetans in Switzerland is not only influenced by the Swiss environment, e.g. socialization in Swiss schools, but also by a variety of Tibetan cultural aspects, which accompany them throughout their whole lives, as for example the cultural influence of their families and the so-called ‘Tibetanness’. The results show that it is often also a personal objective for the second generation Tibetans in Switzerland to seek for their roots, a notion that sometimes leads them to visit Tibet or India to get in touch with their origin

3 The project is headed by Prof. Jens Schlieter and is part of a National Research Program (NFP 58) on Religions, State and Society.

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or their relatives there. The great popularity of Tibetan Buddhism in Switzerland as well as the corresponding high reputation of Tibetans also had an impact on the notion of second generation Tibetans’ identity, as well as the struggle for political independence of Tibet which is of major importance to most of the second generation Tibetans in Switzerland. Especially the uprising in Tibet in 2008 had an enormous influence on the second generation Tibetans and often became the marker for a change in their perception of Tibet and Tibetan culture. The paper aims to give an insight on children of Tibetan migrants, who own Swiss passports, speak Swiss-German, act and dress like the modern, young Swiss’ but will always be confronted with visible markers of not being of Swiss origin. Relevant information was collected through expert interviews (15), biographic-narrative interviews Kunchok Tsundue (Ruhr University), Demographic Transition of Tibetan Population in Exile: Comparative Analysis of Decadal Vital Statistics of TDA 1998 & 2009 A sizable number of Tibetans have been living in South East Asia ever since 1959 as refugees. In 1961, when first resettlement programme began, the total number of Tibetans came across to the Nepalese and Bhutanese borders were estimated around 80,000. Depending upon the number of national and regional situations, they were resettled in numerous groups widely scattered within various geographical regions of three different host countries -India, Nepal and Bhutan. Despite well functioning organizational capacities, the Tibetan population has experienced an unprecedented internal mobility mainly to secure better socio-economic opportunities that had a far reaching demographic implications. Today after fifty years, unlike any other comparable groups, Tibetan population is in well advanced into a major demographic transition where drastic changes could be noticed in all parameters that include fertility, mortality, migration and growths as per the comparative analysis of figures of first Tibetan demographic survey conducted in 1998 and in 2009 respectively. Demographic Transition (DT) refers to the process of change in fertility and mortality levels from a stage when both are high but almost equal to a stage when both are low and almost equal at both these stages the rate of population growth is low or almost stationary. The DT theory is better understood if considered in both its “classical” form – the experience of Western countries and “modified” form – the experience of developing countries like India & Nepal. The difference between birth and death rates (i.e. natural growth rate) is a major factor in the growth of Tibetan population though steady migration of Tibetan within and from Tibet plays a significant role in population expansion in exile. The General Demographic Survey conducted in 1998 recorded the Tibetan population in exile at about 122,078 as against initial estimate of 80,000. And 132,608 persons in 2009. Thus the average population growth rate of Tibetans has been 1.42% percent during 1961‐1998 to 0.86% during 1998 -2009. It decreased to 0.86% during 1998‐2009 due to rapidly declining fertility. In terms of fertility, the year 1987 may be called the year of the Great Divide for Tibetan population in exile demographically, as it differentiates the period before 1987 of declining birth rate and rapidly declining death rate. The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has declined from more than 6 children per woman in the early 1980s to 4.0 children in 1990, 1.7 children in 2000 and around 1.18 in 2009. Based on these facts, the study would like to dwell further on the causes of this below replacement situation and the nature of DT stages Tibetan population in Tibet proper and encourage further discussion on role and responses the government policies in general and public reproductive health services in particular.

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Maud Morin (Université Laval),Diaspora and Family Life of Parkdale Tibetans (Toronto, Canada) This paper will discuss the day-to-day living and challenges of exile families in a Tibetan diasporic community in North America. It is based on doctoral research spanning 19 months among the Tibetans of Parkdale, Toronto, the largest urban cluster of Tibetans in Canada. So far, not only is the research on Tibetans living in Canada scarce and extensive ethnography of contemporary family life in exile virtually absent, but the question of cultural preservation within the family itself has never been studied. Most of the Parkdale Tibetan population is composed of Tibetans who are part of the second wave of Tibetan immigration to Canada, who arrived after the 1990s, mostly from the United States, forming a group of approximately 4000 to 5000 Tibetans according to various sources. The Tibetan community is the largest ethnic group in Parkdale and has the highest concentration of Tibetans in an urban neighbourhood in Canada. Tibetans work in various services such as banks, coffee shops, grocery stores, at schools as settlement workers, in various immigration related services, and more recently in hospitals and clinics as nurses. For the Tibetans in Parkdale, living in a diaspora is linked to keeping alive a collective memory of Tibet, of the various Tibetan settlements in India and Nepal and of the different Tibetan regions;and also to keeping it alive in the more intimate sphere of family relationships. Family plays an important, yet overlooked, structuring role in the cultural transmission of diasporic communities. I aim to look at these processes with the following questions in mind: What are the tropes of the intertwining of family memories and history? How do they recall their migration routes? What ideas and news about Tibet circulate among them? What Buddhist values do they share? What are their Tibetan ways of parenting? What can be said about the transmission of aesthetics and popular culture from Tibet and South Asia within the family? One of the centers for preserving Tibetan culture and keeping the community spirit alive is found in community activities, where they are either participants or audience members. This paper also aims at describing new cultural practices, such as celebrating birthdays and new ways of naming children. In addition it seeks to examine the extent to which transnationality is being inscribed into the culture of nearly all exile families of Parkdale, families that extend to the United States, Europe and South Asia. J. Georgia Kashnig (University of Bern), Adaptive Strategies in the Tibetan Diaspora 48. Education Lilian Iselin (University of Bern), Smart Nomads? Modern Education and the Construction of Drokwa Identity in Southern Amdo Tibetan nomads – the drokwa – living on the grasslands and steppes of the Tibetan plateau have sought out an ecological niche to which they have adapted through nomadic pastoralism. To be a drokwa is associated with this unique way of life with its related cultural knowledge. From a distance it seems that their life is going on unaltered - or restored to what it used to be before the commune system, which transformed all Tibetan societies in unprecedented ways –was introduced through the socialist state of the Peoples Republic

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of China. A closer look reveals complexities and disjunctures arising from notions of ‘modernity’ being propounded by state and development policies, but taken up and reformulated by local agents. One such arena on which this can be examined is ‘modern education’. While education is expected to bring development, progress and modernity to the nomads, it effectively takes young drokwa out of the nomadic pastoralist society, preparing them for occupations unrelated to pastoralism. In the late 1990s and early 2000 an increasing number of young adults have gone to school and have finished secondary and post-secondary education. As they returned to their homes they were oftentimes caught in a net of different expectations and discourses. Not fitting traditional descriptions of drokwa-ness related to pastoral production, there was a need to renegotiate and redefine what it meant for them to be drokwa. Since those “early days” of school graduates nine year school education has become compulsory. While at the beginning of the decade high school- and university graduates were a minority, their numbers are rising and different conceptualization with regards to education and its relevance for a nomadic society are being coined. This paper is taking as its basis a study regarding identity constructions of young educated people from a nomadic locality in Southern Amdo (Sichuan) at the beginning of this decade. It then examines how education policies and practices have changed since then and what kind of shifts and changes have occurred in the social fabric due to such developments. Liu Hongji (China Tibetology Resaerch Center),Developing Vocational Education is the Effective Way to Expand of Employment in Tibetan Area—Abstract of the Survey on Vocational Education Situation in Tibetan Area in Gansu Province Expanding employment is one of the effective ways to develop economy and raiseherdsmen’s income in Tibetan area. In modern society, specific skills are required by various professions. To obtain certain skills and techniques is an issue of vocational education. In the first half year of 2009, a one-month survey on vocational education in Tibetan area in Gansu province was conducted. The researchers visited the departments in charge of education at county, prefecture and province levels respectively, interviewed teachers, students and parents, and collected questionnaires which were designed for students in order to know their real opinions. When came back to Beijing, the researchers visited the Ministry of Education and got to know more about the policy and relevant plans on developing vocational education. 1. The Scenario of Vocational Education in Gansu Tibetan Area 1.1 The Scenario of Vocational Education in Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County Tianzhu county has 11,212 enrolled junior high school students in 2009. In 2008, 62% graduates of junior high school entered senior high school, 27% entered vocational schools (25% entered vocational education centre, 2% entered technical secondary school). The other 11% did not enter senior high school or vocational school; most of them were back to their hometown and engaged in farming or breeding industry or went out to work. According the local government’s plan, from 2009, the enrolment of vocational education school will gradually increases by an annual rate of 5%. Therefore, 33% junior high school graduates were estimated to be recruited in vocational schools in academic year of 2009. Jointed with the eastern coastal regions, vocational schools prepare the students to meet the needs of those enterprises’. Because the graduates are more job-oriented, their job prospects are quite good. From 2005 to 2008, the total amount of graduates is 579, out of which 97% find jobs by the expanded employment

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channels (graduates are sent to work in Tianjin, Beijing, Qingdao, Ningbo, Shenzhen and other eastern regions), and their average monthly salary is 1200-1500 yuan. 1.2 The Scenario of Vocational Education in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture has 7 counties and 1 city, all together 35 junior high schools. There were 28,908 enrolled students in 2008. The enrolment rate is 78.7%. 95.4% of the enrolled students can finish the 3-year course, and the graduation rate reaches 99.75%, while the promotion rate is only 40.7%. Every year, more than 8000 graduates are not able to study further in senior high school or vocational school. If the annual number of students that drop out from primary school is taken into account, then about 13,000 young people of the high school age can not study in senior high school or have vocational education. At present, there are 13 vocational schools, from which 4 are technical secondary schools, 5 are vocational high schools, and the other 4 are vocational education centres. 5,358 students are in the secondary vocational schools, the proportion of vocational high school students to senior high school students is 3.4:6.6. For every academic year, the tuition of vocational school in Gannan is 2800yuan, lodging is 500 yuan; board is at one’s own charge. From 2006, every student can get 1500 yuan a year as allowance from national and local financial allotment. In a sum, a student has to spend about 3000-4000 yuan a year. That sounds reasonable and acceptable, but to a place where the annual per capita income is only 2049 yuan, the cost is a big deal. 1.3 Government’s Principles and Policies on Developing Vocational Education Ministry of Education carries out atuition-free policy for the vocational school student from 2009 in a national wide. During the period of the 11th Five-Year Plan, central government will allocate 10 billion yuan to establish 2000 vocational schools, provide training program to the teachers, and recruit 15000 students to study in hinterland provinces’ schools with grants. The vocational schools’ recruitment scale will increase by 5% yearly. 2. Problems Existing And Analysis On Vocational Education In Gansu Tibetan Area 2.1 Economy of Tibetan area is less developed. Fund shortage is still a roadblock of vocational education. 2.2 Vocational schools are of small scales and weak infrastructural facilities. 2.3 Bilingual (Tibetan and Chinese) teachers and teachers who are good at both theory and practice are

insufficient. 2.4 People lack recognition and confidence about vocational education. Going out to work after junior high

school is preferred. 2.5 Low-income farmers and herdsmen are not able to afford the tuition fee. 2.6 In many places, graduates from local vocational school are not competitive in the labour market, and feel

difficult to find a job. Those schools can not absorb enough students, and the courses setting are not appealing.

3. Suggestion On Vocational Education Development In Tibetan Area 3.1 Strengthen the management of vocational education, complete the policy. 3.2 Conduct propaganda and deepen understanding about vocational education. 3.3 Make overall arrangement, set up vocational schools according to the needs and population. 3.4 Add more financial support to vocational education. 3.5 Try various models of school running; widen channelsfor increasing employment.

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3.6 Improve teaching quality, strengthen schools’ self-management. Take the advantage of the favourable policy, force the development of vocational education in Tibetan area. Caixiangduojie/ Tshe dbang rdo rje (Qinghai Normal University), Thirty Years of Educational Reforms in Tibetan Areas of Western China Education is an important long-term strategy for catalyzing economic and social development in under-developed minority communities in China and also plays a key role in ensuring social stability. This study examines the educational reforms and issues in Tibetan areas of Western China from the 1980s to 2009. It first details relevant educational policy reforms and then illustrates the correlation between such reforms and recent trends and incidents in Tibetan communities. Finally, this study provides recommendations for educators and government leaders to improve the quality of minority education in Tibetan areas of China. Mati Bernabei (Simon Fraser University),Embracing Change, Negotiating Boundaries: Intergenerational Transmission of Identity and Struggle Amongst Tibetan Educators in India and Nepal This paper explores tensions and struggles in the intergenerational transmission of cultural identity: How do four generations of educators working withinTibetan schools in India and Nepal connect with the Tibetan struggle for physical, cultural and political survival? Since 1960, schools administered by the Tibetan Government-in-Exile have been centrally implicated in the Tibetan diaspora’s efforts to support the physical and cultural survival of individuals, and of the community as a whole. Schools attempt to provide modern education within Tibetan cultural contexts, in essence hoping to create youth who simultaneously identify as global citizens, and as Tibetan nationals who uphold traditional values and ideals. Over the decades in diaspora, material, social, and political changes globally, and within Tibetan community bases in India and Nepal, have altered the daily lives of Tibetans and generated shifts in the potential futures they deem imaginable. These changes are reflected in a more global outlook amongst Tibetan teachers and students, and tension in the struggle to define and maintain a Tibetan national identity in diaspora. Efforts of educators to support and maintain cultural continuity and community affiliation within new generations of youth are fraught with challenges, necessitating creativity and innovation in vision and in practice. Interviews with 30 Tibetan educators based in India and Nepal reveal differing perspectives of four generations of Tibetan teachers. The generations are distinguished by their personal lived contexts in the early years of their lives (children born before or during their family’s 1959 exodus from Tibet, children born in refugee or road labour camps in the 1960s, children born in the early years of Tibetan Refugee Settlements in the 1970s, and New Arrivals who escaped from Tibet in the 1980s). Gerard Postiglione (The University of Hong Kong), Education in the Tibetan Autonomous Region: Policies and Practices in Rural and Nomadic Communities How does one of the world’s most recognized centers of cultural heritage adapt and capitalize upon schools for the economic and social development of its rural and nomadic communities? Contemporary Tibet’s main educational policies are set by the Beijing Central Government within the context of a socialist state adapting to market economics, while legislating a special status for education in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR). This paper provides a description and analysis of selected aspects of educational development in the

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TAR. It identifies the major successes and ongoing challenges. It begins with an outline of the context within which the education system is situated, followed by a general account of educational progress and problems, and a review of related measures to improve access to education for students from rural and nomadic communities. Sonam Joldan (Rinchen Shah Center for West Himalayan Cultures), Monastic Education of Ladakhi Monks in Buddhist Tibet

Ladakhi monks who were fortunate enough to study in Tibet remember those times with nostalgia. Yeshey Jamyang from Norla-Leh, who studied in Bri-gung monastery in Tibet, said: “I love the monastery where we studied in Tibet and never thought of coming back.” Like him there are still more than one hundreds monks in most of the monasteries in Ladakh who had studied in various monasteries in Tibet. After coming back from Tibet, those monks played an important role in spreading the Mahayana Buddhism in Ladakh.

Tibetan Buddhist monasteries were the cornerstones of Tibetan religion, culture, education and

knowledge. For centuries, great monasteries with their renowned universities become famous across Tibet and in neighboring countries where Tibetan Buddhism took deep roots. Many Lamas from different countries used to go to Tibet for higher studies. Many monks from Ladakh also went to different monasteries in Tibet. There were no records how many Lamas from Ladakh went to Tibet for education except those sent by the royal house, who were mentioned and recorded. As with Tibet, when Tibetans went to study in India, there were no records except the sixteen Tibetans who were sent to India with Thonmi Sambhota by the royal court.

It is difficult to say exactly when the Ladakhi lamas first started to go to Tibet for their monastic

education. According to the Chronicles of Ladakh the tradition of sending monks to the dBus and gTsan region of Tibet has began during the reign of King dnos-grub-mgon (1300-1325). Later, they started to go to various monasteries in other areas of Tibet. There are two important reasons why the cis-Himalayan people looked upon Tibet as the centre of Mahayana Buddhism. Firstly Mahayana Buddhism came directly from Tibet to the Himalayan areas and secondly, Tibet in due course of time became a centre of Mahayana Buddhism and the residence of leading Lamas who taught Mahayana Buddhism.

The tradition of the Ladakhi monks to go for higher studies in various monastic institutions in Tibet has continued for hundreds of years and resulted in the development of many monasteries in Ladakh. The monastic organizations and monastic education played an important role in the development of a close cultural relationship between Ladakh and Buddhist Tibet.

This paper is mainly based on interview of the Ladakhi monks who have been to Buddhist Tibet for

monastic education. The aim of this paper is to study the role played by the monks in spreading of Mahayana Buddhism in Ladakh and their contributions in the development of close relationships between Ladakh and Buddhist Tibet. Seonaigh MacPherson (British Columbia Institute of Technology), Tibetan Education and Sustainability: The Basic Tibetan Education Policy and the “Model School” Education is a key institution affecting the cultural, linguistic and environmental sustainability of the Tibetans, both in Indigenous (Tibet) and Diaspora (India, Nepal, Canada, USA, Europe, etc.). This paper

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derives from a comparative India-Canada-US study of the Tibetan diaspora, which found both formal and non-formal education to be key to the sustainability of Tibetan communities. One challenge appeared to be the development of effective multilingual, intercultural curricula and educational models capable of being adapted across the various Indigenous and diaspora contexts. Just such a curricular policy and accompanying program were generated by the Education Department of the Central Tibetan Administration with the Tibetan Basic Education policy (2005) and the Model School designed to embody its principles and policies. In this paper, I present an overview of the sustainability challenges posed by education for Tibetans, both Indigenously and in diaspora, and the grounds for the need for effective multilingual, intercultural education. Then, I will present the Basic Education Policy and a slide show and presentation of the new Model School instituted to implement that policy to consider how a specific Tibetan model of multilingual and intercultural education might serve the diverse needs of Tibetans in Tibet and across the very different contexts they find themselves in exile. Finally, I will consider the challenges, obstacles, and potential solutions to the implementation of this policy and program across some of these diverse contexts. 49. Kangyur Studies Agnieszka Helman-Wazny(Cornell University),Archeaological Study of Successive Tibetan Kanjur Editions Recently the Eugen Pander collection, which includes, among others, the Wanli Kanjur volumes, came to light after having been deemed lost during World War II. This discovery created new possibilities for reviewing the history of the early stages of Tibetan canonical printing. After preliminary research on the authentication of the Wanli Kanjur in Cracow, and study of the history of the Pander collection, I expanded research towards the examination of all of the available editions of the Tibetan Kanjur produced in China (in the Nanjing-Beijing area). These are comprised ofone folio of the Yongle Kanjur preserved in the Michigan University Library, fragments of the Wanli Kanjur edition and its supplement, a volume from one of the later editions of the Kangxi Kanjur preserved in the Jagiellonian University Library in Cracow, Poland, two volumes of the supplement to the Wanli Kanjur located at the Harvard Yenching Library, and the Berlin Kanjur (manuscript Beck), which was copied from the Wanli Kanjur and preserved in the Berlin State Library. Next, I conducted a supplemental study of Kanjur sets produced in Tibet. These included the London Kanjur (sel dkar) manuscript preserved in the British Library, plusthe Narthang and Lhasa Kanjurs preserved in the Berlin State Library. The examined collections were of different sizes, ranging from small fragments to complete multi-volume sets. However, among others they provided a good representation of consecutive editions of Tibetan Kanjur from thetsal pa lineage, includingthe Yongle edition and its reprints and re-editions. Tibetan Kanjur editions are not only vehicles for conveying Buddhist teachings, but also important sources of information about the technology, materials, and artistic techniques involved in book production.The term “archaeology of the book” is used here in the context of studying the physical makeup and modes of production of a given volume. The variations exhibited in the different versions of the collection, with regard to style, arrangement, formats, materials, and techniques used in their creation, were the main focus of my study. Analyses of paper in particular volume sets were emphasized. Variations in the material aspects of volumesets were also connected to a wide-ranging geographical area in which, among Asian Buddhists, Tibetan dominated as a

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language of learning and medium of communication. Communities using the Tibetan language did not adapt uniform methods of book production and did not use the same materials. Therefore, all material features of booksare potentially meaningful and traceable, and are indicative of the chronological as well as regional origin of these editions. Additionally, the comparative examination of different Kanjur sets discloses the technical similaritiesbetween editions within the same set, despite differences occurring between particular volumes within the same edition.The relation between a master copy and the subsequent edition of the Kanjur(which was modeled on this master copy) was described. In cases when production of printed editions alternated with manuscript editions, the inheritance of particular features was studied. The links made between individual volumes and the classification of all volumes in sets in the Pander collection opened wider discussion on the economic and cultural aspects of the production of the various versions/collections, and the circumstances in which each of these collections was produced. Shunzo Onoda(Bukkyo University, Kyoto),On the Smaller sukhavatibyuha Sutra of Ulan Bator Manuscript Kangyur The research works by Helmut Eimer, Paul Harrison and Peter Skilling have contributed enormously to the development of our understanding of the relations between the different versions of the Kangyur. The common recognition made by their joint research is that those different versions of each Kangyur text appear in one of two groups or recensions. Those are the Tshal pa Kangyur and the Them spangs ma Kangyur. About the relationship of those two Kangyurs, Tibetan tradition and the current scholarly knowledge both see as their common source, the so-called the old sNar thang Kangyur of the early 14th century. So, the old sNar thang Kangyur is regarded as the grandmother or archetype of the two great recensions. The old sNar thang Kangyur probably was a raw collection still containing many duplicates and further work would have been required. The above two recensions are thought to be the witnesses of that work. The first branch, Tshal pa Kangyur side, contains the xylograph Kangyurs of Peking, Li thang or 'Jang Sa tham, and Co ne. The second branch, Them spangs ma Kangyur side, contains the London MS (L), Stog Palace MS (S) and Kawaguchi or Tokyo MS (T) Kangyur, and the Ulan Bator MS (U) which I will deal with in this paper. It is considered that all three accessible editions on this side (London MS, Stog Palace MS and Tokyo Kawaguchi MS) are indeed descendants of the same MS. These are all descended from the Them spangs ma Kangyur. The fourth one, Ulan Bator MS Kangyur, is also said to be a copy of the Them spangs ma Kangyur. This MS Kangyur was presented in 1671 to the first Rje btsun dam pa Khutuktu Blo bzang Bstan pa'i rgyal mtshan (1635-1723) by the Fifth Dalai Lama (1617-1682) and now kept in the State Library in Ulan Bator. In this paper, I will compare and consider on those MS Kangyur editions of the Smaller Sukhavativyuhasutra with those of other editons of Tibetan Kangyurs. James B. Apple(University of Calgary), The Transmission of Early Tibetan Prajñāpāramitā Commentaries Based on Newly Uncovered bKa' gdams pa Works This paper examines the historical development of 11th-13th century Tibetan Prajñāpāramitā Commentaries related to the Abhisamayālaṃkāra (mngon par rtogs pa’i rgyan)in the light of new evidence from recently

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published pre-15th century bKa' gdams pa works. Beginning in 2003 under the impetus and direction of Thubtan Nyima a number of lost Tibetan manuscripts have been recovered within Tibet. These findings culminated in the recent publication of two 30-volume collections of pre-15th century bKa' gdams pa works by the dPal-brtsegs Research Centre for Old Tibetan Manuscripts (dPal brtsegs bod yig dpe rnying zhib 'jug khang) based in Lhasa. The volumes provide direct textual evidence of the beginnings of scholasticism in Tibet and offer an early perspective on the formative developments of Tibetan intellectual history. Within these two 30-volume collections are twenty-three previously unexamined Abhisamayālaṃkāra commentaries. A survey of the colophons and lineage lists found among these twenty-three commentaries indicates that the transmission of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra during the 11th-13th century was in its formative phases. In regards to lineage transmission the authors of these texts reflect a certain amount of heterogeneity with some authors praising Indian progenitors like Maitreya and Haribhadra and others explicitly mentioning that they have composed the text alone with no lineage influence at all. However, the majority of commentaries appear to be centered around two competing textual communities—a lineage derived from the tenth century Bengali master Atiśa Dipaṃkāraśrījñāna (982-1054 c.e.) and a previously unknown ‘seng ’bum’ lineage that eventually develops into the authoritative textual system of rNgog lo tsā ba blo ldan shes rab (1059-1109 c.e.). The Tibetan Abhisamayālaṃkāra lineages listed in the colophons among these commentaries reflect a tension between the fragmentary past of the imperial period and the renaissance of the new translation period. Implicitly behind the statements we find in the colophons are the claims of Tibetan historians, scattered about within such texts as the Blue Book or Blue Annals (Deb gter sngon po), the Chos byung mkhas pa’i dga’ ston, the work of Mang thos klu sgrub rgya mtsho, and Gsang phu’i gdan rabs (of Ngag dbang gzhon nu, b. 17th century) that early lineages of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra were preserved from the Imperial period in the eastern province of Kham and brought to central Tibet by ’Bre shes rab ’bar, ’Brom ston rgyal ba’i ’byung gnas (1004-1064), and Khu ston brtson ’grus gyung drung among others. This paper examines the statements of traditional Tibetan historians in relation to the textual evidence found in the facsimiles of the bKa’ gdams gsung ’bum manuscripts for alternative lineages that either did not survive history or were assimilated into later lineage accounts. In sum, the results of our brief analysis indicate that the transmission of the Abhisamayālaṃkāra during the 11th-13th century centered around two competing textual communities—a previously unknown ‘seng ’bum’ lineage that eventually develops into the authoritative textual system of rNgog lo tsā ba blo ldan shes rab (1059-1109 c.e.) and a lineage derived from the tenth century Bengali master Atiśa Dipaṃkāraśrījñāna (982-1054 c.e.) that eventually dissipates. Malavika Bandyopadhyaya(Visva-Bharati University),Phags pa ting nge ‘dzin gyi rgyal po: A Critical Focus

A Sanskrit manuscript of forty chapters had been found out in Gilgit and those folios were edited by Nalinaksha Dutta (Srinagar. 1941, 1953, 1954). No adiquate research on the Tibetan version of the text had yet been done. The Kashmirial manuscript of the text might have entered Tibet by the 8th century or so as Shilendra Bodhi and Dharmata Shila translated the text under the caption ‘phags –pa chos thams-cad-kyi ranbshin rnam-pa nyd rnam-par spros-pa ting nge dsin -gyi rgyal-po shes-bya-ba theg-pa chenpohi mdo ING (Toh-127 IbI-170b7). The text had been translated in chinese for three times-

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T. 639: Yue deng san mei jing T.640 : see T.639 T. 641: see T.639 The Chinese renderings read the title on line of the content dealing with the legends of Candradipa Samadhi Sutra corresponds to yue deng sanmijing which was translated twice in 450 and 550 A.D. Csoma De Coros in Annales du Musee Guiment pointed out the variations of the name. But that leaves a room to speculate that Shiksha Samuccaya ascribed to Shantideva (critically studied C Bendel and Rousel to confir Samadhiraj and Surangama Samadhi. Nangio No. -191. 557 A.D.) Prior to the finds by N.Dutta three chapters of the volumnious text 8,19 and 22 had been published by constantin Regamey. Three chapters from the Samadhirajasutra, Wars Zawa, 1938, (The Warsaw Society of Sciences and letters. Publications of the Oriental Commission. 1.) The impact of Samadhi in the Buddhist thought has never been disowned despite of numerous divisions among Buddhists in home land and abroad. In determining the origin of Mahayana in Kashmir particularly this text played an extensive role to engage the Buddhists of diverse calibre. Besides the Vinaic division among the Buddhists for multiple rules in observance of various modes of discipline the meditational experiences played prominent role after the demise of the Buddha. No adequate study of Indian Buddhist meditational practices and their relevance among the various sects have not yet been ensured. In the case of birfircation of Hinayana and Mahayana scholars have been mostly occupied to follow the Dipavansa and Mahavansa from the Pali resources. The concept of ting nge ‘dzin (Samadhi) among the Buddhists got a new dimension after the composition of numerous texts on Samadhi, concentration in the deep mind that of latent mind and the concentration mind require a critical focus to look forward what the Majjhimanikaya in Pali in relation to Madhyamagama in Chinese Jung gia o lo nan bao jing in Sanskrit Lankavatarasutra. The pondering of the Samdhi is are four kinds in the Arthaviniscayasutra 1) to get rid of allurement 2) to avail the happiness of the phenomenal steps 3) to avail the knowledge and lastly 4) to attain the wisdom. The Samadhirajasutra also includes four kinds of Samadhi in the line of Sravakabhumi. All these vidisions leave a room to suggest that the text was compiled in the period of transition from Hinayana to Mahayana. Lewis Doney(SOAS, University of London), The Original bKa’ thang Zangs gling ma of mNga’ bdang Nyang ral Nyi ma ‘od zer (1121-1196)? Nyang ral’s bKa’ thang Zangs gling ma (ZL) is our earliest extant rnam thar (biography) of Padmasambhava, and was hugely influential on both the cult of that Indian masterand the explosion of hagiographical literature on his life. It is therefore vital that we clarify what Nyang ral did and didn’t write in the ZL, in order to track its influence on the later tradition. I wish to outline the results of my analysis of ten ZL versions in this presentation. I have discovered that, in fact, the ZL narrative has undergone a tradition of textual recension similar to that of the dBa’/sBa bzhed (see Wangdu and Diemberger 2000). The authoritative version in the Rin chen gter mdzod appears to contain interpolations into the original ZL, as does the version that Blondeau studied in the late 1970’s. Both versions seem to have been edited and augmented at some time after Nyang ral first wrote

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or dictated ZL. However, several other versions of ZL that I have collected do not show signs of major addition or omission. Furthermore, their content best fits what we know of the original ZL from other sources—most notably Nyang ral’s own magnum opus history, the Chos ’byung Me tog snying po sbrang rtsi’i bcud (MTNY). I have categorised the ten different versions of ZL currently available to scholars into three distinct recensions: ZL1 (versions a–d), ZL2 (e–f) and ZL3 (g–j). The ZL1 recension, to which the Rin chen gter mdzod version belongs, actually only occupies a small place in the ZL tradition. It did not influence Nyang ral's own MTNY, or O rgyan gling pa's Padma bka' thang (1352). It may have influenced Sangs rgyas gling pa's later gSer phreng, but even that is not beyond doubt. ZL2, one version of which Blondeau investigated, seems to have had no influence on later authors, and apparently only exerted influence in Nepal. ZL3, by contrast, best retains the overall, unadorned narrative that Nyang ral wrote in the 12th century. It is not just the least accreted version, but instead appears not to have been augmented at all. Comparing its structure with the corresponding part of MTNY suggests that Nyang ral wrote ZL3 first, then included its Tibetan portion in his MTNY. Simultaneously, he added extra episodes to MTNY from the sBa bzhed tradition, other sources or his own visions. The relation between ZL3 and the augmented ZL1 is easier to disentangle even than that between the dBa’ bzhed and enlarged sBa bzhed, since ZL3 does not contain any episode missing in ZL1. In this talk I shall outline ZL’s process of accretion; and describe the unadorned narrative of ZL3. Anyone who wishes to quote from the ZL—as an example of a representation of a 12th-century belief about this siddha, Khri Srong lde btsan or any other eighth-century figures—can no longer trust the Rin chen gter mdzodZL’s witness to that century’s stage of hagiographical literature. This discovery is therefore very important for the study of Tibetan historiography. Robert Kritzer (Kyoto Notre Dame University),The Tibetan Translations of the Garbhavakrantisutra

The Garbhāvakrāntisūtra is a fascinating sūtra that describes the process of conception, gestation, and birth. It is an important source for expositions of rebirth in abhidharma texts and the Yogācārabhūmi, and it is one of the two main sources for embryological information in Tibetan medical traditions. No Sanskrit text is extant, but there are three Chinese as well as three Tibetan translations.

One of the Tibetan translations, a critical edition and translation of which I am preparing, is evidently

an independent translation from the Sanskrit. It bears the title Mngal du ’jug pa zhes bya ba’i chos kyi rnam grangs and is found within the Tibetan translation of the (Mūlasarvāstivāda) Vinaya Kṣudrakavastu (’Dul ba phran tshegs kyi gzhi, Tohoku 6).

The other two translations are both said to be translations from the Chinese translations. According to

the colophons of the Narthang blockprint and the Stog Palace manuscript, Tshe dang ldan pa dga’ bo la mngal du ’jug pa bstan pa (Tohoku 58) was translated by Chos grub, and it seems as though it is based on Bodhiruci’s Fo wei Anan shuo chutai hui (Taishō 310 no. 13). No translator is indicated for Dga’ bo la mngal na gnas pa bstan pa (Tohoku 57), which appears to be a translation of Yijing’s translation, found in the Mūlasarvāstivādavinaya Kṣudrakavastu (Genben shuo yiqieyoubu pinaiye zashi根本説一切有部毘奈耶

雜事, T. 1451) and as Foshuo ru taizang hui (佛説入胎藏會, T. 310 no. 14) of the Ratnakūṭa. Like Tohoku

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58, Tohoku 57 is found in the Tibetan Ratnakūṭa, and it has been suggested that it, too, was translated by Chos grub.

My comparison of Tohoku 6 with Yijing’s translation confirms de Jong’s suggestion that Tohoku 6

was based on a different text. Furthermore, although Tohoku 57 and Tohoku 58 are generally based on Yijing and Bodhiruci, respectively, we can find places in which it seems as though Tohoku 58 relies on Tohoku 57, Yijing, or the Sanskrit text on which Yijing is based. On other occasions, Tohoku 58 appears to follow Tohoku 6. Similarly, Tohoku 57 sometimes follows Tohoku 6, or the Sanskrit on which it is based, rather than Yijing.

In my paper, I plan to explore this situation in the hope of sorting out the rather complicated history

of the text, possibly confirming that Chos grub translated both Tohoku 57 and Tohoku 58, and shedding some light on the practices of some 9th-century Tibetan translators. Orna Almogi (University of Hamburg), The Circulation of Manuscript and Xylograph Editions of the Tibetan Canon: A Preliminary Survey We are all aware of the fact that the Tibetan canonical editions at our disposal nowadays—including the bKa’ ’gyur and bsTan ’gyur, but also para-canonical collections such as the rNying ma rgyud ’bum—present only a small portion fraction of the canonical sets produced in the Tibetan cultural sphere. But how many such sets had ever been produced and how many of them had existed is rather unknown. This paper attempts to answer these questions, at least partially, by resorting to various historical sources, particularly such recording the existence of canonical sets in libraries of monasteries, temples, and palaces during the period of the 18th to early 20th century. Thereby, special attention will be paid to travelogues of the literary genre ‘guides to the holy places’ (gnas yig)—particularly the guide to the holy places of Central Tibet and that of East Tibet and other regions further to the East by the Third Kaḥ thog si tu Chos kyi rgya mtsho (1880–1923/1925)—which are abundant in relevant information and thus prove to be tremendously useful. Paldor (Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center) 50. Twentieth-Century History and International Relations Geoffrey Barstow (University of Virginia),Balancing Personal and Cultural Survival During the Cultural Revolution: The Life of Thangla Tsewang

In many histories of modern Tibetan religion, the period beginning with the Democratic Reforms movement and continuing through the Cultural Revolution is seen as a time without religion. Buddhism existed before this period, and it was re-established after it, but that time period is often presented as a void, when most teachers were imprisoned and any attempt to either practice or teach Buddhism was strictly banned. Not all teachers, however, were imprisoned, and those that remained free had to balance their need for personal survival against their desire for religious survival. In this essay, I will use the Biography of Thangla Tsewang, a prominent teacher and painter from Palpung Monastery in eastern Tibet, to demonstrate some of the strategies available to such teachers, shedding some light on the religious activities undertaken during this tumultuous period.

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While Thangla Tsewang was a knowledgeable scholar of Buddhist philosophy, he was primarily known as a thangka painter, and it was this skill that allowed him to avoid prison. After Palpung was closed, he was sent to a labor camp, where he was put to work painting pictures of other inmates, to be used by camp commanders for praising and criticizing their largely illiterate workers. Later, he was put to work writing Mao quotes on the walls of buildings, and even painted furniture for the decoration of the private residences of Chinese and Tibetan cadres. Through these activities and connections, he was able to avoid the worst punishment, despite his status as a leader of the old society.

At the same time as he was using his artistic skills to avoid beatings and prison, he never abandoned his concern over the fate of Buddhism in Tibet. At the time, no one could have foreseen that the Cultural Revolution would end, and Thangla Tsewang, like many other Tibetans, did what he could to prevent the complete loss of Tibetan religious culture. Among other activities, he began teachings the Bodhicaryavatāra to Thupten Phuntsok (the author of his biography and now a prominent scholar at Minzu University in Beijing) in 1971, five years before the end of the Cultural Revolution. These teachings were necessarily secret, taking place at night with the shades drawn. Nevertheless, the fact that he was willing to teach at all demonstrates the considerable importance he placed on preserving Buddhist thought. Thangla Tsewang’s biography, therefore, shows some of the ways in which he was able to both survive personally and also to preserve something of Tibet’s Buddhist past. By doing so, the text also demonstrates that the period of the Democratic Reforms and Cultural Revolution were not a complete hiatus in Tibetan religious activity. Xiao Bin Wang (China Tibetology Research Center),Relationship between the 14th Dalai Lama and the Central Government of China before 1959 There is considerable confusion about the original relationship between the 14th Dalai Lama and The Central Government of China. My presentation will be in three parts. I’ll start by describing the searching process of 13th Dalai Lama -------the holy boy Lhamo Dongrub; then I’ll speak of the events surrounding his confirmation as the 14th Dalai Lama, and the power struggles that were happening in Tibet among the dignitaries; Finally, we consider the fact that cooperation between the 14th Dalai Lama and the Central Government of China was good, such cooperation was of win-win nature. And this Cooperation not only benefited the 14th Dalai Lama himself and his family and his group, but also the country and peoples of PRC. Isrun Engelhardt (University of Bonn),Tharchin’s “One Man War with Mao” Dorje Tharchin, the editor of the only long lasting Tibetan newspaper Yul phyogs so so'i gsar 'gyur me long, and later also known as The Tibet Mirror in Kalimpong, started already in the late 1940s to alert the Tibetans to the imminent danger of Chinese invasion of Tibet. To strengthen his early warnings he used the authority of the 13th Dalai Lama and reprinted his "Political Testament" several times. His widening reporting seems to have spread rather far that even an American newspaper reported about his efforts as "One Man's War with Mao". This paper will give an overview of Tharchin's intensified efforts to fight with his pen through out the 1950s and early 1960s. Increasingly he focused on the person of Mao using visual depiction like cartoons. However, despite its wide perception and recognition Tharchin had to struggle hard because of lacking financial funds and badly paying subscribers. Furthermore his reporting colluded with the Indian governments policy. Nonetheless he tried to continue his newspaper as the voice of Free Tibet until he had finally to give up the publishing of the Tibet Mirror in the end of 1963.

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Tsering Topgyal (London School of Economics and Political Science; University of Warwick), Breaking the Insecurity Dilemma: Insecurity, Autonomy and Sustainability Tsering Topgyal posits the Sino-Tibetan conflict as a dilemmatic and dynamic interplay of the insecurities of the Tibetan nation and the Chinese Party-State, resulting in what is called an insecurity dilemma. Critiquing the widespread tendency to view Tibetan aspirations and struggle through the lens of nationalism or ethno-nationalism at the same time as treating the Chinese policies and practices as security-driven, Tsering Topgyal develops a security rationale behind the Tibetan quest for autonomy. He uses the (in)security-driven framework to argue that for any hypothetical Sino-Tibetan agreement to be sustainable, it has to be binding on all Tibetans on the plateau. A. Tom Grunfeld (Empire State College; SUNY),An Adversarial Relationship. Tibet-China Relations Since 1950 For six decades Chinese government officials and scholars have debated the nature of the policies to be implemented for ethnic minorities in the People’s Republic of China. The numerous political campaigns, the vast diversity and the vastly different circumstances among the 55 official ethnic minorities have made the issue a highly contested one. In that regard no ethnic group has received more attention from Beijing than the Tibetans. Tibet’s status as a “state” has always been wrapped in ambiguity. In 1951, when Tibet was integrated into the newly established People’s Republic of China, Mao Zedong acknowledged Tibet’s uniqueness - and ambiguity - by insisted on a treaty of incorporation (the 17th Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet). Since then Chinese policies towards Tibet have fluctuated from the benign (the 1950s and 1980s) to the culturally genocidal (Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution) to endeavoring assimilation (from 1994 to the present). Two recent events have altered the landscape of Chinese -Tibetan relations: the extraordinary and unique mass demonstrations against Chinese government policies and ethnic violence against Han Chinese in the spring of 2008 followed in the fall by the breakdown of the lengthiest, and most promising round of negotiations between the Dalai Lama and Beijing to resolve the Tibet issue. This paper proposes to explore Beijing’s fluctuating policy changes as well as the three decade-long saga of the Sino-Tibetan talks. Despite having pumped billions of yuan into Tibet and, unarguably, making some Tibetans’ lives materially better, especially in cities where a nascent middle class (cadres, communist party members, merchants, etc.) has emerged, the situation in the Tibetan-inhabited areas of China remains perilous. The policies since 1994 are based on the premise that economic development will solve everything; give Tibetans enough material goods and they will become less interested in their culture and surely then ethnic nationalism will diminish. The events of 2008 have made clear that these policies have largely failed to decrease ethnic nationalism while also failing to get Tibetans to accept their status as citizens of, and stakeholders in, the People’s Republic of China.

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The collapse of the talks has also demonstrated that the policies of the Dharamsala administration and their supporters, foreign governments such as the United States and members of the various Tibet support groups, has also failed to bring about any meaningful change for the six million Tibetans inside China. For both sides the time has come to re-examine their policies and this paper will explore how they got here and some possible alternatives for the future. 51. Religious and Secular Performance Christian Jahoda(Austrian Academy of Sciences),Oral and Festival Traditions of Historical Western Tibet: the Case of the Sherken Festival in Pooh (sPu), Upper Kinnaur In the village communities of historical Western Tibet (mNga’ ris skor gsum), oral and festival traditions take place within the framework of societies characterised historically by strong religious traditions, mainly but not exclusively those of Tibetan Buddhism. The Sherken Festival in Pooh (sPu) in Upper Kinnaur which was mentioned by A.H. Francke (Antiquities of Indian Tibet, 1914) and later also discussed by G. Tucci (Tibetan Folk Songs, 1966) is a remarkable example in this respect. It is also of great historical interest as the cult of protective deities which is a key aspect of this festival appears be of great antiquity. In particular, one of these deities seems to have been related to the foundation of one of the earliest Buddhist temples in historical Western Tibet, the sPu mtha’ ’dul gtsug lag khang, and also occurs in lo chen Rin chen bzang po’s middle-length biography. Neither Francke nor Tucci were able to directly observe the festival which they referred to as Shar rgan or dGra lha festival. Francke’s short published report which was based on oral accounts and legends as well as on a limited photographic documentation stressed the pre-Buddhist and Bon traditions discernible in the song traditions of this festival. Tucci based his analysis of this festival almost exclusively on textual materials, that is a written version of certain songs performed at the occasion of this festival. According to his findings these songs contain various elements or superimposed layers of Buddhism (lha chos), Bon religion (bon chos) and folk religion (mi chos). This paper is based on recent field research and a comprehensive audio-visual documentation of the the whole week-long festival. It will present and examine the various rituals, songs and dances performed on this occasion, thereby also reconsider earlier views and shed new light on this festival. This also includes a preliminary discussion of its historically relevant aspects. For this purpose, the paper will also draw on relevant written sources found in situ and in archives. Prins Maria Clazina(University of Leiden), Traditional Categories in rGyalrong Song and Dance: A Preliminary Overview. The field of Tibetan studies has produced excellent work on religious dance and drama ('cham) and opera (lhamo). Much attention also has been paid to Gesar epic and recent studies describe developments in contemporary performance of dance and song. However, there are, to my knowledge, few studies about communal dances and songs performed by lay practitioners on the level of the village or below. The few works that do pay attention to performance at this intimate community level are either collections of folk songs grouped by region or style, or descriptions of a specific event such as a wedding, in the context of

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which a variety of performances take place. To date there is no description of the system of classification for communally performed songs and dances as established by the community itself. In this paper I give a preliminary overview of categories of dance and song as used by the people of Kyomkyo (Jiaomuzu) Township in rNgaba (Aba) Prefecture, at the very eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau. Jiaomuzu is inhabited by rGyalrong Tibetan people. The people of the various communities in the township dance and sing at a variety of occasions. They make use of traditional forms with antiphonal singing and circle dance as well as more contemporary styles of dancing to pre-recorded music. I limit this overview to the traditional classification of communal dance and song, providing examples for each category. A description of how village communities classify communal performances and of the ways the different categories link to events and feasts in the yearly cycle gives insight into local expressions of worldview through dance and song. It can also provide a framework for interpreting contemporary developments in performing arts. And finally such a description may serve as a reference for further research into the systems that shape performance of community dance and song in other parts of the Tibetan culture area. Christiane Papa-Kalantari(Institute for Social Anthropology, Austrian Academy of Sciences), Attired for the Blessing: Textiles and Costumes of Contemporary Buddhist Puchen Performances in Pin-Valley Buddhist tradition involves numerous popular religious practices, performances and folk traditions intended to communicate Buddhist ideas and also presenting human concerns, comic improvisation and satire. In particular the theatrical Puchen (bu chen/ bu sbyin) performances in the Western Himalaya reflect the rich tradition of a popular Buddhist culture, which developed within the matrix of a Tibetan religious world-view. Studies hitherto concentrate only on the texts and the content they communicate, which however also have a strong visual aspect: it involves an altar with appropriate offerings, cult images, thangkas, carpets, specific costumes and attributes, turning the performances to religious spheres of splendid aesthetic richness. The talk will focus on specific aspects of the visual and material culture of a performance documented in Pin-Valley in 2009, namely the textile backdrop /backcloth (pukpita or markanda gukhang /tenthouse of the dakini), the rug on which the troupe’s leader sits and his precious robes, partly referred to as the robe of Avalokiteshvara (spyan ras gzigs dbang phug). These features constitute central components of the setting of the Puchen performance and are integral parts of this religious practice intended to give blessing. Recently uncovered and documented songs (or rather recitations) and the respective texts - serving as play-scripts - complemented with interviews with the performers as well as the director of the troupe (mes mes bu chen / bu sbyin) will be presented to investigate the symbolism of this dimension of Tibetan visual and material culture and respective religious ideas. The author is art historian and principal investigator of the FWF research project P21806-G19 ‘Sociey, power and religion in pre-modern Western Tibet. Interaction, Conflict and Integration, at the Institute for Social Anthropology (ISA), ‘Centre for Studies in Asian Culture and Social Anthropology (CSACSA)’, Austrian Academy of Sciences. Fieldwork for this presentation was conducted in a multidisciplinary team of a linguist (Veronika Hein/Bern), anthropologist/tibetologist (Christian Jahoda/Vienna), documentary photographer (Patrick Sutherland/London) and local informants in summer 2009.

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Anne-Laure Cromphout (Université Libre de Bruxelles), Golok Traditional Music, Still Transmitted and Performed? This paper examines traditional music from the Golok area in Amdo through practices of transmission, performance, innovation and attempts at preservation and the representations of Tibetan culture and society therein. Golok (mgo log), situated to the South of the Amnye Machen mountain range, is one of the five Tibetan Autonomous Prefectures of Qinghai Province and comprises six counties. Although at the border between Tibet and China, its inhabitants have enjoyed relative freedom from the centralized regimes of both China and Tibet until the 1950's (Rock 1956 : 127). Their pride in their independance is well-known and their reputation for banditry has been reported by travellers since the eighteenth century. With the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chinese administration has brought about many changes in their livelihood. Most prominently in recent years, policies of sedentarisation have been implemented on parts of its population, moving them to settlements at the same time as withdrawing their main source of subsistence, herding. Based on a collection of more than 300 songs collected during 20 months of fieldwork, this study sheds light on the processes of transformation and persistence of Golok music. Feld highlights the dialectical tension that arises from music as a social object in need of being engaged with, “interpreted as meaningfully structured, produced, performed, and displayed by historically situated actors” (1994: 77). Manglu (dmangs glu), or traditional songs, are a common part of Golok soundscape, and are usually performed at celebrations such as weddings or losar but more generally anybody can burst into song whilst herding, walking, etc. These days, however, Golok elderly singers have complained that less and less people would sing. With modernisation, television, radio, tape and VCD players are becoming more widespread and replace the need to sing. Nonetheless Golok songs, strongly associated with nomadic livelihood and the grassland, remain a trope for nostalgia for most Tibetans. Indeed, the significance of music for this study lies in its most problematic characteristic, its impermanence. Although irreducible to words, the embodiment of musical experience transcends the individual and creates shared feelings of belonging and difference. Its evanescent nature gives music its power to evoke memories, inspire sentiments and present a sense of place, not only reflecting the society which created it, but also offering a framework in which society happens, is negotiated and transformed. The grassland and the nomadic way of life, considered by Tibetan intellectuals as the cradle of Tibetan civilisation, identifies Golok music as a trope of nostalgia for an idealised past (Upton 2002). Through the analysis of the lyrics, melodies and performance of a sample of Golok traditional songs, this paper examines a practice in dialogue with the society it emanates from and will attempt to answer questions such as : what impact has modernisation on such practice? Are projects of preservation able to sustain a practice or do they crystalise a repertoire otherwise in constant evolution? This work aims to illuminate the wider issue of Tibetan cultural transmission in the midst of Chinese modernisation.

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52. Gesar and Folk Traditions Drukmo Khar ( Minzu University of China), The Study on the Costume in The Biography of King Gesar Lama Jabb (University of Oxford), Gesar Epic, Romantic Ballads and Tibet’s Critical Tradition Chopa Dondrup(Qinghai Gesar Research Center) Ka Moa Ji (Southwest University for Nationalities) Lengzhi Duojie (Qinghai Normal University) Chokey Dolma (Domaling Nunnery Institute) Dan Zheng (Qinghai Normal University)

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V. Friday, August 20th, 2010 53.Tibetan Peripheries: Textual, Conceptual and Physical Ruth Gamble (Australian National University), Don’t think, ‘This is far enough’”: Re-Imaging the Mountains as Places of Peripheral Power in the 3rd Karmapa’s Songs of Experience

In his “Spoken Songs” [gSung mGur], the 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje’s [Rang byung rDo rje 1284-1339] exhorts himself and his students: “Don’t think “This is far enough.’ Wander the mountains without direction”. This call to the mountain periphery, is a recurring theme not only in Rangjung Dorje’s songs, but the “songs of experience” sung by many others of his lineage. In these songs, the mountains are re-presented as an ideal place for yoga and transformation. They are lauded as pure lands and ma alas, to be explored and “opened” for use. This paper will show how this literary genre re-imagined these environments - whose human inhabitants were once perceived to be distant from powerful centres - as places of a visionary and literary power. This paper will also show that in Rangjung Dorje’s case at least, this association with the mountains was not always dependent on habitation. Rangjung Dorje continued to compose songs about mountains as he traveled far from them to the capitals of the Mongal-Yuan Empire, and while the earlier songs relate to the immediate environment of the mountains, the later ones identify with them.

Until the emergence of this “songs of experience” genre, mountains in Tibetan literature were portrayed as dangerous, barren places only inhabitable by powerful gods and spirits who needed propitiation and subjugation. The practitioners of the “new tantras”, however, sough to emulate their Indian predecessors by living on the fringes of society. In India, this meant living in isolated areas or charnel grounds. In Tibet, by geographic necessity, this meant living in the mountains.

The primary example of this way of living, and the man that Rangjung Dorje tried to emulate, was Milarepa. Unlike his hero, however, Rangjung Dorje’s songs were not part of an oral lineage that developed over many centuries and did not reach their final form for centuries after his death. Rangjung Dorje’s songs were recorded, written down –as he notes – “with black ink on paper”. Following many of these songs, there are even colophons that record the place and time they were written.

In these fragmentary records of experience, the “songs of experience” genre is shown in transformation. In common with earlier composers of these songs, Rangjung Dorje records his self doubts, spiritual breakthroughs and minute observations. In these early songs, he describes his environment directly; he compares the mountains to the nature of his mind, the hardships of mountain life to the hardships of cyclic existence. As he begins to travel off the Tibetan plateau, however, and witnesses the intrigues and power of the Mongol Empires capitals - Xanadu and Beijing – his “songs of experience” reflect the political complexities of empire, which his predecessors in their snowy mountains and charnel grounds did not encounter. At this stage his use of mountainous imagery no longer describes an ideal environment, but remind him of his identity as a yogi, as a Tibetan as he gets ready to die in a place he describes as “fraught with moral and mortal danger.”

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Paul Brownell (Australian National University), Textual Peripheries: Moving from the Focus of Monastic Textbooks and Philosophical Tenets from Tibetan Commentaries to Indian Sources

This paper will examine the concept of textual peripheries, and will demonstrate how certain textual traditions came to prominence in both monastic curricula and Tibetan Buddhist doxography. If a “periphery” is the outer edge of an area or object, then textual peripheries refers to the edges, or frontiers, of a text. Textual peripheries become important in academic discourse when they come into contact with one another. Texts which have peripheries include monastic textbooks (Tib. yig cha), and philosophical tenets (Tib. grub mtha’). Using the works of Dreyfus, Gomez, Lopez, Tuck and other commentators on Buddhist hermeneutics, exegesis, and isogesis, this paper will examine the interactions of these two types of textual peripheries in detail. It will demonstrate that the intersection of textual peripheries is important because it reveals the dichotomies of authority and power, as well as the mainstream and the marginalised.

First, an examination of the four main Tibetan Buddhist monastic schools’ monastic curricula will illustrate how divergent they are . This section will be based on Dreyfus’s (2005) study, in which he compares the monastic curricula of the (Tib.) dge lugs and sa skya Schools with the rnying ma and bka’ brgyud. It will demonstrate that the former schools place more emphasis on the memorisation of a single root text and commentary or textbook, as opposed to the latter schools’ emphasis on studying multiple commentaries. By establishing the different textual peripheries and the issues that arise through their intersection, this section will provide the basis for the rest of this paper.

Secondly, this paper will discuss the monastic curriculum established by (Tib.) mKhan po gzhan

dga’ (1871-1927). mKhan po gzhan dga’ was an influential non-sectarian teacher, and as such his curriculum therefore demonstrates the concept of shifting peripheries-most notably the placing of key importance on the texts that came from India. mKhan po gzhan dga’ wrote abbreviated commentaries on each of the 13 classics of Indian Buddhism (Tib. gzhung chen bcu gsum gyi mchan ‘grel), many of which were, and are, used in the sa skya, rnying ma, and bka’ brgyud schools. This change in emphasis, from the Tibetan textual periphery to the Indian, is demonstrative of the fluidity that exists in created textual frontiers. This paper will then show how multiple textual peripheries became manifest through an investigation of some of the main texts used in each curriculum.

This investigation of curricula, and specifically the works of mKhan po gzhan dga’, will lead into

the third section of this paper. This will discuss how specific philosophical traditions arose, were systematised, and ranked hierarchically, creating a system that placed less importance upon the Yogcra School (Tib. rnal ‘byor spyod pa) than other Mahayana traditions. Then, through an analysis of mKhan po gzhan dga’s abbreviated commentary (Tib. mchan ‘grel) on Vasubandhu’s commentary of the Yogcra text ‘Differentiating the Middle from the Extremes’(Tib. dbus dang mtha’ rnam par ‘byed pa’i ‘grel pa), this paper will conclude by highlighting the movement of the textual centre from Tibetan texts that followed this doxographical hierarchy, back to the Indian root texts and commentaries of Indian Mahayana traditions.

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Yangmotso(Minzu University of China),Exploring Different Perspectives on nyakhri tsanpo and Bugyal: Some Methodological Concerns

Traditional Tibetan historical perspective often treats nyakhri tsanpo as the first king who not only

unified the rgyal phran throughout the Tibetan plateau but also as one with mythopoeic origin. Our understanding of this king is also intertwined with mythic deification and epic embellishment. Old sources including Dunhuang documents (The Royal Genealogy, The Old Tibetan Chronicle) and extant inscriptions tend to serve as the primary evidence providing clues into the history of pre-nyakhri tsanpo and the subsequent period of Bugyal. rgyal bod kyi chos ‘byung rkyas pa (13th century), chos ‘byungchen po btsan pa’i rgyal mtshan (13th century) and chos ‘byung mkhas pa’i dga ston (16th century) are earlier evidence of attempts made by Tibetan historiographers to critically explore such theme in post-dynastic historiography. There is also a new academic wave that rethinks and reevaluates this period. These new explorations including gyu yi phreng pa (1989) and pad ma ra ga’i lde mig (2006) represent a revival of such thinking within contemporary Tibetan scholarship. They offer a somewhat coherent analysis on pre-administration of nyakhri tsanpo as well as the socio-political situation of Bugyal. Though these thought-provoking discussions form a new discourse about the reign of nyakhri tsanpo and Bugyal’s influence on later period, there are also other competing viewpoints. There are substantially different interpretations about the historical role and its significance within this new wave of thinking. One example of such disagreement is the political characterization of decentralized rgyal phran and centralized Bugyal.While scholar interpret Bugyal as a “bod kyi rgyal khams chen po”, others render it as merely a “tribal alliance". My discussion begins by making an outline of the administration of nyakhri tsanpo and analyzes the sociopolitical situations of Bugyal through the use of various resources published in Tibetan, Chinese and English languages. I rely on old Tibetan sources related to these issues and present findings by contemporary Tibetan, Chinese and western historiographers. More importantly, my attention will be directed towards the issue of how notions of rgyal phran and Bugyal are interpreted within different groups of researchers. I illustrate that seeking differences in the interpretations of these terms among these diverse group of contemporary researchers will help us understand the historical significance of these administrations. I argue that these controversies regarding characterizations of rgyal phran and Bugyal have in part stemmed from their different materials and methodological approaches. Such discrepancies in our understandings of the reign of nyakhri tsanpo and the administration of Bugyal are also the results of different ways of interpreting these very terms. In sum, I suggest that there is a strong need for further engagements and dialogues between these different types of scholarships because such integrated approach is a must in order to gain a holistic understanding of the reign of nyakhri tsanpo and Bugyal. It is not only an effective way towards a historically accurate understanding of these issues but also an essential methodological approach for future studies. This type of collaboration can offer valuable insights and references for other historical issues such as the periodization of Tibetan history.

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54. Linguistics Irina Komarova (Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences),Typological Characteristics of the Tibetan Language

Evolutionary development of the grammatical system of the modern Lhasa dialect of the Tibetan language over a long period of time led to the rise of two various grammatical tendencies – agglutinative-analytical and inflectional-synthetical ones.

The grammatical categories of the Tibetan language are expressed both as analytical and synthetical means.

Constructions, representing analytical tendencies are wide-spread, create forms of indicative and imperative moods. As a matter of fact they are agglutinatives, but are closely interwoven with inflectional elements. It should be noted that the radical growth of the forms of new synthetism and infection took place, namely: inner inflection during the development of phonetic innovation presented some verbal grammemes – forms of indicative mood (present, past and future tenses) and imperative mood.

As a rule, analytical constructions consist of three components – lexical verb, particle and auxiliary verb.

The verbal paradigm includes one or more (up to four) verbal bases. They display the features of the synthetical type of verbal inflection resulting from the downfall of final consonants of syllables and the appearance of the tonal system which has a phonemic value.

Inner inflection goes through the entire temporal system of the Tibetan verb: there are vowel apophone –

ablaut and umlaut. The old forms of synthetism demonstrate ablaut – vowel alternation /a-o/. present tense future tense past tense imperative /a-o/ smra smra smras smros «to say» The new forms of synthetism present umlaut – vowel alternation /a-�-�/: /a-�-�/ ma1 ma1 m��4 m��4«to say» The paradigm of noun declension in the Tibetan language is characterized by intensive use of either

agglutinative or inflectional methods of case formation depending directly from consonantal or vowel ending of the base morpheme, correspondingly. For example, chom1«market» – chomla «in the market». Case affix la has clear connection with basis morpheme; ta1«horse», – ta:1 (tar) «on horse». Case affix r fusionally combines with the basic morpheme. But it did not disappear totally: basis morpheme ta1 has got the high level tone ta1: and the former short vowel /a/ has received its duration /a:/.

Thus, in the Tibetan language two grammatical tendencies – agglutinative-analytical and inflectional-

synthetical function simulteniously. Variations of their use depend on such factors as social relations (including the expression of politeness), the cultural-historical context and individual experience of native speakers of Tibetan.

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Hiroyuki Suzuki (National Museum of Ethnology, Japan), Typological Characteristics of the Rongbrag (Danba) Dialect of Khams Tibetan Rongbrag, or Danba County in Sichuan, China, is a central place of rGyalrong area. In Rongbrag, there are mainly five languages spoken by Tibetans: Khams Tibetan, Geshitsa, Situ-rGyalrong, Amdo Tibetan and local Chinese. This paper deals with the linguistic characteristics of the Rongbrag dialect of Khams Tibetan from the typological viewpoint of the Tibetan dialects. The Rongbrag dialect is lesser-known variety in many kinds of Khams Tibetan dialects, only few linguistic studies have been challenged to its description. It has many remarkable particularities on the aspect of the phonetic correspondence with Written Tibetan and the word form. Thus, the typological analysis with a dialectological perspective is required. In this paper, I use dialectal materials of many Tibetan dialects, especially on Khams, and try to analyse the characteristics of Rongbrag Tibetan to clarify its typological status among the Tibetan dialects. Jermay Jamsu(Georgetown University), The Status of Final Nasal Merger in Amdo Tibetan: Investigating Inter and Intra Speaker Variability

The merger of final coda nasals is often described as a characteristic of Tibetan dialects considered Rongke in Amdo (Janhunan & Norbu's, 2000; Yangmo, 2008). Descriptive work based on one informant from Amdo Xunhua shows that the final bilabial nasal (as in lam e.g. road) merges with the alveolar nasal variant (-n) by losing its bilabial feature (Janhunan & Norbu's, 2000). However, the authors also suggest that there is much variability among those who have acquired the regional norm but this issue is not explored further in their discussion. This paper employs a variationist approach to investigate both inter and intra speaker variability of this particular linguistic feature within speech of 4 family members from a nearby Rongba village. I use a variety of data types such as naturally occurring conversation, folktale narratives and oral autobiography to demonstrate its variability not only across different speakers but also within the same speaker across different speech situations.

Result shows that three different realizations of final (-m) are observed among these 4 speakers. In addition to the complete merger and retention of its bilabial feature, a complete loss of final nasality is also observed. Retention of its bilabial feature shows both inter and intra speaker variation. While two speakers who are both illiterate and unversed in traditional oral literature use the merged variant categorically, the two remaining speakers who are skilled in oral literature and literary Tibetan use the bilabial variant with relatively high frequencies (between 44% - 82%) across these speaking situations. These two speakers also exhibit great intra-speaker variability but there is also crucial difference between the two. One elderly lady of about 75 years of age for instance uses (-m) at comparable rates (an averaged 59%). However, the 57 year old literate male who is an educated religious figure uses this particular realization far more in the autobiographical narrative (82%) than in folktales (60%). I argue that this dramatic use of (-m) realization is a linguistic resource that the speaker relies on to present himself as a 'knowledgeable' and 'authoritative' figure and the retention of bilabial feature thus seems to carry such social meaning.

These preliminary results provide important findings about inter and intra speaker variability of this

feature that are worthy of further investigation. While other significant factors including both linguistic and social one may be at work, the sharp difference between the illiterate elderly speaker's tendency to retain the bilabial feature and the younger speakers' tendency to merge potentially suggests a change in at the community level, either in apparent or real time. This suggestive finding needs to be tested further within this

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particular speech community because it raises interesting questions about the merger of final codas as a feature of Rongke and its future fate. Additionally, the religious figure's increased use of the bilabial nasal in his serious narrative about his own life implicates that he is relying on the social meaning of this particular feature, as a regional norm, to achieve certain interactional goal. This paper is based on the preliminary findings from a comprehensive sociolinguistic study of a single speech community investigating language variation and change in Amdo Tibet. Eugenia Tikhonova(Moscow State Institute of International Relations MFA of Russia),Tibetan Language Studies in Russia (XVII-XX centuries)

In the beginning of the 21-st century, on the threshold of the new century’s culture, it is quite natural to observe the development of interest towards culture’s origins, to the period of the very beginning of interregional and interethnic contacts. The question of interaction between different cultures represents a part of a universal problem of relations between peoples having different views upon the universe, the mankind’s place and role, the ways of economic development and State organization. During the last centuries Russia and Tibet maintained close spiritual and cultural links. Since the 17-th century Buddhism has been professed by the peoples of Buryatia, Kalmykia and Tuva as well as of Chita and Irkutsk regions. Studies of Tibetan language began in Russia more than 200 years ago, although before the early 18-th century those researches were limited to personal curiosity. A more significant interest to Tibetan writing arose only in the third decade of 18-th century.

More or less notable interest towards Tibet and its language was manifested in Russia only in the 20-

ies of the 18 century and was associated with the discovery of Tibetan manuscripts in Ablain-Khit monastery on the Irtysh river. In 1722, Shumacher, the librarian of Peter the Great, who was sent abroad for a scientific and research trip, made in the Paris Academy a presentation of one of those sheets and requested to make its scientific translation. Shumacher’s attempts to obtain on Peter’s order a scientific analysis of the sheet led to a positive result which consisted in attention on the part of a large number of orientalists and provoked in Europe the interest to studies of Tibetan languages in general.

While evaluating works of Russian scientists in the sphere of Tibet culture in the 18-th century, one

should not forget that studies of Tibetan language in Europe only began at that time and knowledge of Tibet by European orientalists was extremely limited. Under such circumstances it is necessary to mention the merits of the Russian Academy of Sciences which maintained in European science interest to Tibetan language preparing the coming of the period of its intensive studies.

But the most serious studies in the field of Tibetan language in Russia of that period is connected with

the name of Isaac Jacob Shmidt. He was the author of the first “Tibetan language grammar and dictionary (on the principle of ming-gzhi)” which is still used for teaching of Tibetan language in the most of Russian universities.

Almost simultaneously with the beginning of works of J.Schmidt, one could observe certain interest

to Tibetan language studies in the Kazan University where since 1835 the newly created department of the Mongolian language had been headed by a well-known Russian specialist in Mongolian culture

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O.M.Kovalevsky. The greatest Russian researcher of Buddhism and Tibet, V.P.Vassiliev, was one of his followers.

He is the author of the “Buddhist terminological lexicon” (the dictionary of Tibetan terms). When

working over this book he primaly used the manuscript of “Mahav’jutpatti” dictionary which is a part of “Ganchzhur”. The principal of this manuscript was that besides original text in Sanskrit and Tibetan, it contained translations into Mongolian and Chinese. Besides the “Buddhist terminological lexicon” V.Vassiliev, when being in Beijing, wrote in rough a titled ”The Buddism. Its doctrines, history and literature”. This work was published in 1857 and almost at once translated into German, was generally recognized by his European colleagues as major scientific achievement in the sphere of Buddhism and Tibetan language studies in that period. Speaking of Tibetan language studies in XIX centuries one should not forget the names of Shifner and Oldenburgh, who made the great contribution in the studying of Tibetan language and whose names are not widely known. Speaking about the XX century, besides Yury Roerich, I'd like to mention the names of Y.Bogoslovsky, V.Dylykova, M.Parfionofich and I.Komarova, whose works made an outstanding contribution to the Tibetan language studies not only in Russia. Wanma Lengzhi (Qinghai Tibetan Research Institute) 55.Tantra and Tantric Practice Sonam Gyantsen(College for Higher Tibetan Studies), Analysis about Torma in the Religious Practices of Tibet

Torma is a widespread practice generally in Tantric Tradition, and particularly in Supreme Tantric Teachings. Each of the Tibetan Buddhist Traditions has their own way of making Torma with particular structures and ornaments. This difference is also reflected in the symbolism of each tradition's Torma practices. Therefore it is a valuable subject of research in which one can look at its symbolism, forms, and trace the reasons for the differences between traditions. In such research, one should also look at the establishment of Torma practices and related teachings from Indian source – there are many such scriptures or writings. For all of these reasons, Toma is an important part of religious practices and an excellent handcraft, and can be considered an art in its own right.

There are many different kinds of Torma, but broadly falling into three categories. First, Torma is

created to generate Deities in your visualizing meditation. In this case, once Torma is purified through ritual performance, it is considered to be equivalent to a real Mandela. This kind of practice is very common not only in the early Nyingma Tradition but also in the new Nyingma Tradition. Tentorm, which is a type of Tordul, belongs to this practice. There is so much secretiveness about this type of Torma practice that you cannot freely perform it based on any scriptural basis. The ornament of Torma and its structure are also very diverse.

Second, there is a type of Torma offered to deities in the substitute of food. There is this practice both

in Sutra and Tantric scriptural system. All branches of Tantric tradition perform this type of Torma with

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different ornaments, which are made out of butter and dyes. This Torma-offering is usually made in front of deities and other spiritual protectors.

Third, it is another practice to make wrathful-looking Torma in order to send those being harmful to

spirituality to their destructions. This practice exists in the tantric systems. The structure and the arrangement of Torma are different from other practices. In particular, ornaments for the larger Torma are much elaborated, and they have specific symbolisms. There are forty-one sources for this way of practice.

In each tradition there is a great deal of explanation and interpretation for all these Torma practices.

Cross-thread ritual, Naga, and Thuo are not included in the Torma practices that I am here referring to, as Tibetologists all over the world have written on this topics. Moreover in my view these do not belong to Torma practice. In general there is also two type of Torma: one is white and the other is red. Charles Manson(Oxford University), The Tantra Library of Karma Pakshi (1204/6-1283) The purpose of this paper is firstly to present the titles of the tantra texts that Karma Pakshi mentions throughout his gsung 'bum. His alleged rang rnam has over 40 titles of tantras mentioned, often in succinct shortened forms. In his rGya mtsho mtha' yas series the references are less frequent, except in the Phun sum tshogs pa rgya mtsho mtha' yas where the several lists of tantras create what could be considered an early bibliographic record of rNying ma tantras. Secondly, an attempt is made at identifying the tantra works, a process important for understanding the rNying ma tantra influences on Karma Pakshi, an iconic figure influential in the eventual establishment of the reincarnate ecclesiastic succession tradition that became widespread in Tibetan Buddhist culture. Cuilan Liu (Harvard University), Rdo rje’I lha mo bcu drug: Sixteen Tantric Offering Goddesses in Tibet, China and Japan This paper is a study of the dialogue between the verbal, the visual and the spatial within tantric tradition, and in particular, an examination of sixteen tantric offering goddesses in Tibet, China and Japan. In all the three regions, they share in equal importance two tantric texts, Mahāvairocanatantra and Vajraśekharatantra now mainly preserved in Tibetan and Chinese with enormous commentaries. From these two texts, two major tantric Maṇḍalas are pictorialized, the Garbhadhātu-maṇḍala and the Vajradhātu-maṇḍala. In Vajradhātu-maṇḍala, the Sino-Japanese tradition has “sixteen Boddhisattvas of the Meditation Gate” produced during reciprocal offerings made between Mahāvairocana and his four surrounding Buddhas. These sixteen are the four pāramitā Boddhisattvas, four inner offering oddhisattvas, four outer offering bodhisattvas and four Boddhisattvas of attraction. Similarly, the Tibetan tradition also has sixteen celestial goddesses, “rdo rje’i lha mo bcu drug”, categorized in a Tibetan text rdo rje’i lha mo bcu drug gi mchod phreng dri za’i rgyud mang. But four of them are unique in the Tibetan tradition, rdo rje gling bu ma, rdo rje pi wang ma, rdo rje mu kun ḍa ma, rdo rje rdza rnga ma, each holding a symbolic musical instrument in hand. The essential question is inspired by the contradiction between Tantric and Vinaya texts. In early Vinaya texts, Buddhist practitioners are prohibited from any form of musical activities, either as entertainment or as offering-making.

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However, tantric texts state that making musical offering will enhance one’ability to preach dharma by obtaining the sixty four characteristics of a Buddha’voice. They further arrange Vajragītā as one of the four inner offering goddessein their visual representations. Therefore, among the sixteen offering goddesses, this paper focuses on four unique Tibetan tantric musical goddesses and the Vajragītā, one of the four inner offering Boddhisattvas shared in both traditions. Special attention will be given toVajragītā’s visualization in various maṇḍalas, examined in conjunction with ahistorical study on her musical instrument, appearing as either a lyre-like Konghou, a Tang dynasty Pi wang, or a Tibetan Sgra snyan. This paper relies ontantric texts and various 7th -17th century Maṇḍala paintings in Tibet, China andJapan, as well as sculptures and Tang dynasty’s sacrificial Maṇḍala objectexcavated from Famen Monastery in 1987. Jeffrey Cupchik(York University), ’Ritual Mapping’: Analyzing the Layers of Symbolic Meaning in the Tantric Chod Ritual Meditation Practice

My presentation addresses the analytical potential of ‘ritual mapping’ to assist in the closer reading and interpretation of Tibetan Buddhist tantric ritual traditions. Specifically, I discuss this by focusing on the musical/meditation performance of the Tibetan Chöd ritual tradition.

I propose that an analytical approach which allows for the possibility of slowing down a given ritual – slow enough to “map” the simultaneously occurring events – could be a useful investigative device. By creating a “story board” of a number of snapshots of layers in succession (since interwoven layers of a single practice event are moving together through time), ritual analysts may be able to observe connections previously undisclosed, or at least, unobserved. These connections could be helpful in a number of ways. These story boards or “ritual maps,” as I call them, may be useful as both descriptive and prescriptive tools.

As a descriptive tool, setting into relief the various elements of a Vajrayana practice that occur during a ritual performance may assist in making transparent relationships previously unnoticed. To set elements into relief requires a notation that graphically represents simultaneously occurring social and musical events, such as: 1) imaginatively cognized visualizations, e.g., all beings gathering and guru-deities filling the sky; 2) orally delivered expressive utterances, such as the mantric syllable Phat; and, 3) sound elements, or textures of the combined drum (damaru), melody (rta), bell (dril bu) and thighbone trumpet (rkang gling).

My analytical interest in exploring the Chöd ritual through a graphic mapping method was animated

by my unexpected ‘discovery’ of noticing coordinated composition of text, melody and rhythm. This paper centres on an example that draws upon interlocking primary texts: (a) the sung melody, (b) the oral commentarial tradition, and (c) the sādhana’s poetry. This indicates the need for the analytical strategy of ‘ritual mapping,’ I argue, because the internal intertextuality of layers in the ritual sādhana performance can be revealed. This in turn helps analysts to understand the compositional work of the ineage masters of the Chöd tradition.

The Tibetan female ascetic Machig Labdron (1055-1153) developed the Chöd (Tib. gCod), or “cutting” tradition, a meditation method that utilizes the heightened emotions roused from the experience of fear to sever an instinctual attachment to the egoic “self.” Performed in frightening sites and situations, the practitioner enacts the ‘perfection of generosity’ by exercising the altruistic motivation of bodhicitta which provides an opportunity to investigate the contingencies of the “self.” This liturgically based ritual is

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characterized by several mgur style song-poem melodies, fashioned after the Indian doha, and performed over a constant underlying rhythmic theme. While recent scholarship on chöd has focused largely on historiography and hagiography, a gap persists with respect to research into the performance aspects of the ritual. Three related points will be discussed and performance examples given. How are musical performance and meditation practice combined during ritual performance occasions? How can ‘ritual mapping’ help to locate and analyze such synaesthetic moments? What are the functions of musical performance in chöd ritual meditation practice?