Tibetan Buddhism: Norlin Library Print Resources

This volume provides a unique introduction to Buddhism by examining categories essential for a nuanced understanding of its traditions. Each of the fifteen essays here shows students how a fundamental term illuminates the practice of Buddhism, both in traditional Buddhist societies and in the realms of modernity. Apart from Buddha, the list of terms in this collection deliberately includes none that are intrinsic to the religion. Instead, the contributors explore terms that are important for many fields and that invite interdisciplinary reflection.

Covering the social, cultural, and political development of Tibet from the seventh century to the modern period, this resource reproduces essential, hard-to-find essays from the past fifty years of Tibetan studies, along with several new contributions. Beginning with Tibet's emergence as a regional power and concluding with its profound contemporary transformations, the collection is both a general and specific history, connecting the actions of individuals, communities, and institutions to broader historical trends shaping Asia and the world. With contributions from American, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, and Tibetan scholars, the anthology reflects the international character of Tibetan studies and its multiple, interdisciplinary perspectives. By far the most concise scholarly anthology on Tibetan civilization in any Western language, this reader draws a clear portrait of Tibet's history, its relation to its neighbors, and its role in world affairs.

From the teachings of the early masters to the growth of the tradition in the West, this authoritative new reference tool contains over 900 entries supplying information on all the key doctrines, practices, and figures central to Buddhism.

With this atlas, Karl E. Ryavec presents a comprehensive vision of the Tibetan region as it really is, a civilization in its own right. And the results are absolutely stunning. The product of twelve years of research and eight more of mapmaking, A Historical Atlas of Tibet documents cultural and religious sites across the Tibetan Plateau and its bordering regions from the Paleolithic and Neolithic times all the way up to today. It ranges through the five main periods in Tibetan history, offering introductory maps of each followed by details of western, central, and eastern regions. It beautifully visualizes the history of Tibetan Buddhism, tracing its spread throughout Asia, with thousands of temples mapped, both within Tibet and across North China and Mongolia, all the way to Beijing. There are maps of major polities and their territorial administrations, as well as of the kingdoms of Guge and Purang in western Tibet, and of Derge and Nangchen in Kham. There are town plans of Lhasa and maps that focus on history and language, on population, natural resources, and contemporary politics. Extraordinarily comprehensive and absolutely gorgeous, this overdue volume will be a cornerstone in cartography, Asian studies, Buddhist studies, and in the libraries or on the coffee tables of anyone who has ever felt the draw of the landscapes, people, and cultures of the highest place on Earth.

The most comprehensive collection of Tibetan works in a Western language, this volume illuminates the complex historical, intellectual, and social development of Tibetan civilization from its earliest beginnings to the modern period. Including more than 180 representative writings, Sources of Tibetan Tradition spans Tibet's vast geography and long history, presenting for the first time a diversity of works by religious and political leaders; scholastic philosophers and contemplative hermits; monks and nuns; poets and artists; and aristocrats and commoners. The selected readings reflect the profound role of Buddhist sources in shaping Tibetan culture while illustrating other major areas of knowledge. Thematically varied, they address history and historiography; political and social theory; law; medicine; divination; rhetoric; aesthetic theory; narrative; travel and geography; folksong; and philosophical and religious learning, all in relation to the unique trajectories of Tibetan civil and scholarly discourse. The editors begin each chapter with a survey of broader social and cultural contexts and introduce each translated text with a concise explanation. Concluding with writings that extend into the early twentieth century, this volume offers an expansive encounter with Tibet's exceptional intellectual heritage.

The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism offers a comprehensive collection of work by leading scholars in the field that tracks historical changes in Buddhist traditions up to the present day. The volume contains 41 essays, divided into two sections. The essays in the first section examine the historical development of Buddhist traditions throughout the world. These chapters cover the development of Buddhism in India, Japan, Tibet, Vietnam, Bhutan, and regions of Latin America, Africa, and Oceania. Focusing on changes within countries and transnationally, this section also contains chapters that focus explicitly on globalization, such as Buddhist international organizations and diasporic communities. The second section tracks the relationship between Buddhist traditions and particular themes. These chapters review Buddhist interactions with contemporary topics such as violence, ecology, as well as Buddhist influences in areas such as medicine and science.

With more than 5,000 entries totaling over a million words, this is the most comprehensive and authoritative dictionary of Buddhism ever produced in English. It is also the first to cover terms from all of the canonical Buddhist languages and traditions: Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Unlike reference works that focus on a single Buddhist language or school, The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism bridges the major Buddhist traditions to provide encyclopedic coverage of the most important terms, concepts, texts, authors, deities, schools, monasteries, and geographical sites from across the history of Buddhism.

This engaging introduction to Buddhism by leading Buddhist scholar Donald S. Lopez Jr. offers an expert but lucid account that demystifies Buddhism and explains many of its practices, teachings, and schools. The Story of Buddhism focuses on actual lived practice and shows why Buddhism has been so appealing and helpful through many centuries and many cultures, including our own. Complete with a glossary, detailed index, and comprehensive bibliography, The Story of Buddhism is a rich presentation of the Buddhist tradition.

Civilized Shamans examines the nature and evolution of religion in Tibetan societies from the ninth century up to the Chinese occupation in 1950. Employing anthropological research, historical inquiry, rich interview material, and a deep understanding of religious texts, the author explores the relationship between Tibet's social and political institutions and the emergence of new modes of consciousness that characterize Tibetan Buddhist spirituality.

The Buddhist World joins a series of books on the world's great religions and cultures, offering a lively and up-to-date survey of Buddhist studies for students and scholars alike. It explores regional varieties of Buddhism and core topics including buddha-nature, ritual, and pilgrimage. In addition to historical and geo-political views of Buddhism, the volume features thematic chapters on philosophical concepts such as ethics, as well as social constructs and categories such as community and family. The book also addresses lived Buddhism in its many forms, examining the ways in which modernity is reshaping traditional structures, ancient doctrines, and cosmological beliefs.

From his many births to his deathbed deeds, this authoritative biography unites the Buddha of history with the Buddha of legend in a bid to reveal the lasting spiritual relevance at the heart of the Buddhist tradition. Acclaimed scholar John Strong examines not only the historical texts, but also the supernatural accounts that surround this great religious figure, uncovering the roots of many Buddhist beliefs and practices.

This book provides a clear and comprehensive introduction to Tibet, its culture and history. A clear and comprehensive overview of Tibet, its culture and history. Responds to current interest in Tibet due to continuing publicity about Chinese rule and growing interest in Tibetan Buddhism. Explains recent events within the context of Tibetan history. Situates Tibet in relation to other Asian civilizations through the ages. Draws on the most recent scholarly and archaeological research. Introduces Tibetan culture particularly social institutions, religious and political traditions, the arts and medical lore.

Tibetan Buddhist traditions have known over thirteen centuries of continuous development, spreading among Tibetan, Mongol, Himalayan, and Siberian peoples, Manchus and Chinese. Its capacity for creative adaptation is demonstrated by its recent growth in Europe and America. At the same time, it is at the center of political contestation in ethnically Tibetan regions of China, while its best known exponent, the Dalai Lama, has become one of the most admired religious leaders in the world today. But what does this religion teach? Just what is the position of the Dalai Lama, and how will his succession be assured? Is it true that Tibetan Buddhism in entirely suppressed in China? Scholar Matthew Kapstein offers a brief account responding to these questions and more in this volume, in terms that are accessible to students, general readers, journalists, and others who are curious to learn the most essential features of Tibetan Buddhist history, teachings, and practice.

An introduction to Tibetan Buddhism explaining the core beliefs, traditions and movements of this popular Eastern religion. The book includes a glossary, explanatory notes, directories of monasteries, sacred sites and key teachers.

Buddhism is a vast and complex religious and philosophical tradition with a history that stretches over 2,500 years, and which is now followed by around 115 million people. In this introduction to the foundations of Buddhism, Rupert Gethin concentrates on the ideas and practices whichconstitute the common heritage of the different traditions of Buddhism (Thervada, Tibetan, and Eastern) which exist in the world today. From the narrative of the story of the Buddha, through discussions of aspects such as textual traditions, the framework of the Four Noble Truths, the interactionbetween the monastic and lay ways of life, the cosmology of karma and rebirth, and the path of the bodhisattva, this books provides a stimulating introduction to Buddhism as a religion and way of life, which will also be of interest to those who are more familiar with the subject.

A key text in the introduction of Tibetan Buddhism to North America, Cutting Through spiritual Materialism was written by contemporary Tibetan teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1940-1987). The book discusses the dangers of materialism and explains how to avoid materialism in order to develop spiritually through the teachings of Buddhism.

The autobiography of the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, who fled his homeland of Tibet in 1959 and has led the Tibetan people in-exile as a spiritual leader for more than half a century as he has grown into an international spiritual figure.

Written by a great Nyingma master of the 20th century, Dudjom Rinpoche's The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism covers in detail and depth the fundamental teachings and the history of Tibetan Buddhism's oldest school. The book includes chronologies and glossaries that elucidate Buddhist doctrine, and it provides fascinating insights into the Buddhist history of Tibet. Two treatises form the present volume, namely the Fundamentals of the Nyingma School and the History of the Nyingma School. This is the first time this text has been available in English. Beautifully presented, this single-volume edition represents a truly wonderful gift, and features illustrations in black and white and in color, plus maps, bibliographic information, and useful annotations.

The first Tibetan to attain complete enlightenment was in all probability the woman Yeshe Tsogyal, the closest disciple of Padmasambhava, the master who brought Buddhism to Tibet in the eighth century. This classical text is not only a biography but also an inspiring example of how the Buddha's teaching can be put into practice. "Lady of the Lotus-Born " interweaves profound Buddhist teachings with a colorful narrative that includes episodes of adventure, court intrigue, and personal searching.

This work is the classic commentary on the preliminary practices of the Longchen Nyingtig - one of the best-known cycles of teachings and a spiritual treasure of the Nyingmapa school - the oldest Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Thaye (1813-1899) was one of the most influential figures and prolific writers in the Tibetan Buddhist world. He was a founder and the single most important proponent of the nonsectarian movement that flourished in eastern Tibet and remains popular today. Two additional texts discuss his previous lives and recount Kongtrul's final days.

The classic biography of the eleventh-century yogin and poet-the most renowned saint in Tibetan Buddhist history The Life of Milarepais one of the most beloved stories of the Tibetan people and a great literary example of the contemplative life. This biography, a dramatic tale from a culture now in crisis, can be read on several levels. A personal and moving introduction to Tibetan Buddhism, it is also a detailed guide to the search for liberation. It presents a quest for purification and buddhahood in a single lifetime, tracing the path of a great sinner who became a great saint. It is also a powerfully evocative narrative, full of magic, miracles, suspense, and humor, while reflecting the religious and social life of medieval Tibet.

In all religions, sacred texts and objects have appeared miraculously. Among the most remarkable of these revelatory traditions is the terma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Termas herald a fresh opportunity for the renewal of spiritual practice. Here Tulku Thondup tells the story of the terma treasure tradition initiated by Padmasambhava, the ninth-century saint who established Buddhism in Tibet.

In English for the first time is the complete story of how Buddhism was planted in Tibet. "The Lotus-Born" is a translation of a biography that was concealed as terma treasure - as protection from the changes of time - and revealed centuries later ba a tertö n, a reincarnation of an accomplished student of Padmasambhava who had made the aspiration to benefit people in future generations. Also included are 'A Clarification of the Life of Padmasambhava, ' by Tsele Natsok Rangdrö l, an extensive glossary and index, and a bibliography of Tibetan and English sources.

Originally published in 1962, this text is an autobiography written soon after the Dalai Lama went into exile, with the intent of bringing the plight of exiled Tibetans to the attention of a larger world. It contains a firsthand account of his early life in Tibet and reactions to leaders in China and India. The second half is a complex explanation of Buddhist principles.

This extraordinary book clearly outlines and discusses the methods for transforming both body and mind through the highest forms of tantric practice. Highest Yoga Tantra is the pinnacle of tantric systems found in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Part One discusses the practices common to sutra and tantra. Part Two presents the generation stage of Highest Yoga Tantra. Part Three covers the entirety of the completion stage yogas (i.e., physical isolation, verbal isolation, mental isolation, illusory body, clear light, and union). Part Four compares the Kalachakra and Guhyasamaja stages of completion. Remarkable for its definitive clarity, this exposition of the stages of Highest Yoga Tantra is the first of its kind in the English language and a must for anyone interested in these highest tantras.

Prisoners of Shangri-La is a provocative analysis of the romance of Tibet, a romance that, even as it is invoked by Tibetan lamas living in exile, ultimately imprisons those who seek the goal of Tibetan independence from Chinese occupation.

Religions of Tibet in Practice is a landmark work, the first major anthology on the topic ever produced. It presents a stunning array of works (hagiographies, pilgrimage guides, prayers, accounts of visits to hell, epics, consecration manuals, sermons, and exorcism texts) that together offer an unparalleled view of the realities of those who have inhabited the Tibetan cultural domain over the centuries. The volume provides a wealth of voices that together lead to a new and more nuanced understanding of the religions of Tibet. The thirty-six chapters are testimony to the vast scope of religious practice in the Tibetan world, past and present, offering works heretofore unknown. Each chapter contains a translation and a substantial yet accessible introduction by a leading scholar of Tibetan religions. Religions of Tibet in Practice represents the largest sourcebook on Tibetan religions ever assembled, a work of great value to scholars, students, and general readers.

For three decades, E. Gene Smith ran the Library of Congress's Tibetan Text Publication Project of the United States Public Law 480 (PL480) - an effort to salvage and reprint the Tibetan literature that had been collected by the exile community or by members of the Bhotia communities of Sikkim, Bhutan, India, and Nepal. Smith wrote prefaces to these reprinted books to help clarify and contextualize the particular Tibetan texts: the prefaces served as rough orientations to a poorly understood body of foreign literature. Originally produced in print quantities of twenty, these prefaces quickly became legendary, and soon photocopied collections were handed from scholar to scholar, achieving an almost cult status. These essays are collected here for the first time. The impact of Smith's research on the academic study of Tibetan literature has been tremendous, both for his remarkable ability to synthesize diverse materials into coherent accounts of Tibetan literature, history, and religious thought, and for the exemplary critical scholarship he brought to this field.

A unique insider's account of day-to-day life inside a Tibetan monastery, The Sound of Two Hands Clapping reveals to Western audiences the fascinating details of monastic education. Georges B. J. Dreyfus, the first Westerner to complete the famous Ge-luk curriculum and achieve the distinguished title of geshe, weaves together eloquent and moving autobiographical reflections with a historical overview of Tibetan Buddhism and insights into its teachings.

Love Letters from Golok chronicles the courtship between two Buddhist tantric masters, Tare Lhamo (1938–2002) and Namtrul Rinpoche (1944–2011), and their passion for reinvigorating Buddhism in eastern Tibet during the post-Mao era. The correspondence between Tare Lhamo and Namtrul Rinpoche is the first collection of "love letters" to come to light in Tibetan literature. Gayley reads these letters against hagiographic writings about the couple, supplemented by field research, to illuminate representational strategies that serve to narrate cultural trauma in a redemptive key, quite unlike Chinese scar literature or the testimonials of exile Tibetans. With special attention to Tare Lhamo's role as a tantric heroine and her hagiographic fusion with Namtrul Rinpoche, Gayley vividly shows how Buddhist masters have adapted Tibetan literary genres to share private intimacies and address contemporary social concerns.

"The Taming of the Demons" examines mythic and ritual themes of violence, demon taming, and blood sacrifice in Tibetan Buddhism. Taking as its starting point Tibet's so-called age of fragmentation (842 to 986 C.E.), the book draws on previously unstudied manuscripts discovered in the "library cave" near Dunhuang, on the old Silk Road. These ancient documents, it argues, demonstrate how this purportedly inactive period in Tibetan history was in fact crucial to the Tibetan assimilation of Buddhism, and particularly to the spread of violent themes from tantric Buddhism into Tibet at the local and the popular levels. Having shed light on this "dark age" of Tibetan history, the second half of the book turns to how, from the late tenth century onward, the period came to play a vital symbolic role in Tibet, as a violent historical "other" against which the Tibetan Buddhist tradition defined itself.

Apparitions of the Self is a groundbreaking investigation into what is known in Tibet as "secret autobiography," an exceptional, rarely studied literary genre that presents a personal exploration of intimate religious experiences. In this volume, Janet Gyatso translates and studies the outstanding pair of secret autobiographies by the famed Tibetan Buddhist visionary, Jigme Lingpa (1730-1798), whose poetic and self-conscious writings are as much about the nature of his own identity, memory, and the undecidabilities of autobiographical truth as they are narrations of the actual content of his experiences. Their translation in this book marks the first time that works of this sort have been translated in a Western language.

Filling a gap in the literature, this volume explores the struggles and accomplishments of women from both past and present-day Tibet. Here are queens from the imperial period, yoginis and religious teachers of medieval times, Buddhist nuns, oracles, political workers, medical doctors, and performing artists. Most of the essays focus on the lives of individual women, whether from textual sources or from anthropological data, and show that Tibetan women have apparently enjoyed more freedom than women in many other Asian countries. The book is innovative in resisting both romanticization and hypercriticism of women's status in Tibetan society, attending rather to historical description, and to the question of what is distinctive about women's situations in Tibet, and what is common to both men and women in Tibetan society.

Ritual is one of the most pervasive religious phenomena in the Tibetan cultural world. Despite its ubiquity and importance to Tibetan cultural life, however, only in recent years has Tibetan ritual been given the attention it deserves. This is the first scholarly collection to focus on thisimportant subject. Unique in its historical, geographical and disciplinary breadth, this book brings together eleven essays by an international cast of scholars working on ritual texts, institutions and practices in the greater Tibetan cultural world - Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and Mongolia.

This book explores the Buddhist role in the formation of Tibetan religious thought and identity. In three major sections, the author examines Tibet's eighth-century conversion, sources of dispute within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and the continuing revelation of the teaching in bothdoctrine and myth.

Love and Liberation reads the autobiographical and biographical writings of one of the few Tibetan Buddhist women to record the story of her life. Sera Khandro Kunzang Dekyong Chonyi Wangmo (1892-1940) was extraordinary not only for achieving religious mastery as a Tibetan Buddhist visionary and guru to many lamas, monastics, and laity in the Golok region of eastern Tibet, but also for her candor. This book listens to Sera Khandro's conversations with land deities, dakinis, bodhisattvas, lamas, and fellow religious community members whose voices interweave with her own to narrate what is a story of both love between Sera Khandro and her guru, Drimey Ozer, and spiritual liberation. Sarah H. Jacoby's analysis focuses on the status of the female body, the virtue of celibacy versus the expediency of sexuality for religious purposes, and the difference between profane lust and sacred love between male and female tantric partners. Her findings add new dimensions to our understanding of Tibetan Buddhist consort practices, complicating standard scriptural presentations of male subject and female aide.

The Dalai Lama has said that Tibetans consider themselves the child of Indian civilization and that India is the holy land from whose sources the Tibetans have built their own civilization. What explains this powerful allegiance to India? In The Holy Land Reborn, Toni Huber investigates how Tibetans have maintained a ritual relationship to India, particularly by way of pilgrimage, and what it means for them to consider India as their holy land. Focusing on the Tibetan creation and recreation of India as a destination, a landscape, and a kind of other, in both real and idealized terms, Huber explores how Tibetans have used the idea of India as a religious territory and a sacred geography in the development of their own religion and society. The Holy Land Reborn describes changes in Tibetan constructs of India over the centuries, ultimately challenging largely static views of the sacred geography of Buddhism in India.

The present work is an investigation of the Indo-Tibetan ritual for consecrating images, stûpas, books and temples. It is based on a thorough examination of the relevant Tibetan textual material contained in Tantras, commentaries, ritual manuals and explanatory works on consecration. As rituals are meant to be performed, this textual study is combined with observations of performances and interviews with performers.The book opens with a general discussion of certain principles of tantric rituals and the foundations of Indo-Tibetan consecration. The main part focuses on a specific performance of the ritual in a Tibetan monastery located in the Kathmandu Valley.This volume contributes to the often neglected field of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist rituals. It is concerned with the sacred nature of objects for worship as well as with the main Buddhist tantric transformation into a chosen tantric Buddha.

In this volume, Amy Heller places Tibetan artwork within its historic, social and religious context, utilising in situ photographs from Tibet. She incorporates the latest research material and features works of international renown as well as those that have never been published. The author approaches Tibetan art through the religious anthropology of Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Art will provide accessible and valuable information for both the specialist and the interested novice. The photographic content of the book is superb - detailed colour photographs of mandalas, paintings, gold pieces, metalwork and the stunning Tibetan landscape and architecture reveal the splendours of this long hidden country.

This book focuses on the Ashmolean Museum's important collection of Buddhist metal sculptures and other works of religious art from the Himalayan regions of Tibet and Nepal.

Tibetan Thangka Painting is the only detailed description of the techniques and principles of the sacred art of Tibetan scroll painting. It is the distillation of research carried out over a period of ten years, collected during five journeys to Nepal and India, and compiled from some twenty traditional painters. This book presents, step-by-step, the techniques used to make a thangka from the preparation of the canvas to the final application of the sacred syllables behind each completed figure. Separate chapters introduce the reader to the basic principles of composition, color, and figure proportions. Included are descriptions of the pigments and how they are mixed and applied.

A massive, 15 volume undertaking. This is by far, the most definitive encyclopedia of art and iconography across the Buddhist world. There is an special wealth of Tibetan and Indian content.

Devoted to 200 Tibetan thangka paintings from the New York collection of Shelley and Donald Rubin, this book spans the whole range of Tibetan artistic schools over the past eight centuries. Each painting is analyzed in terms of iconography and religious meaning, style, regional lineage and sources.

An extraordinary encyclopedia of Buddhist icons. Illustrating the Rin 'byung brgya rtsa, the Nar thang brgya rtsa, and the Vajravali, the book is based on a collection of over five hundred images of Tibetan deities. The images, presented in the book at full scale, were originally created by a master artist in the early nineteenth century to serve as initiation cards (tsakli). The paintings are housed in the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich. The text's extensive supplementary materials include English translations of the basic invocation texts; the associated visualization with descriptions of the deities' postures, attributes, and colors; and the dharanis and mantras used in their invocation. The extensive pictorial index, featuring drawings and text by Robert Beer, explains the symbolic meaning behind the deities' implements and adornments. The cross-referenced indices for Tibetan, Sanskrit, Mongolian, and English names and terms provide quick access to vast amounts of information. .

After introducing the basic theory and practice of mandalas, Martin Brauen describes the main Tantric Buddhist worldview with the aid of computer-generated models. To provide a deeper understanding of the mandala's function, the rich and sacred symbolism of the famous Kalachakra mandala, in its various stages, is then explained in great detail. Western interest in the philosophic, religious, and psychological aspects of the mandala is discussed in the final chapter.

The Bon religion claims to be the original and authentic religion of the Tibetan people, firmly established in the Land of Snows long before Buddhism was introduced in the seventh century CE. Although its adherents were gradually reduced to a minority, Bon has nevertheless continued to flourish in many areas up to the present day in Tibet, especially in the eastern and northeastern regions, where a reconstruction renaissance is taking place, as well as within the Bon community in exile from Tibet. The iconography of the Bon religion is presented through a series of thangkas, miniatures, and bronzes from public and private collections in the West, as well as from communities within Tibet.

For artists, designers, and all with an interest in Buddhist and Tibetan art, this is the first exhaustive reference to the seemingly infinite variety of symbols found throughout Tibetan art in line drawings, paintings, and ritual objects. Hundreds of the author's line drawings depict all the major Tibetan symbols and motifs--landscapes, deities, animals, plants, gurus, mudras (ritual hand gestures), dragons, and other mythic creatures--ranging from complex mythological scenes to small, simple ornaments.

Buddhists believe that the wrathful spirits represent inherent qualities of our own, and that meditating on them can transmute the otherwise malevolent sides of our own natures into positive qualities and actions. The wrathful deities also provide precious clues as to the early development of esoteric Buddhism in India, about which few early texts survive. Through careful examination of a large body of images as well as Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Indic texts, this lavishly illustrated volume traces the evolution of the forms and the unfolding significance of the wrathful deity in esoteric Buddhist sculpture.