The Tibetan assimilation of Buddhism : conversion, contestation, and memory / Matthew T. Kapstein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kapstein, Matthew.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Buddhism--China--Tibet Autonomous Region--History.

Buddhism.

Buddhist fundamentalism--China--Tibet Autonomous Region--History.

Buddhist fundamentalism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (336 pages)

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2000.

Summary:

Thanks to the international celebrity of the present Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism is attracting more attention than at any time in its history. This book conveys to non-specialist readers the broad domain of Tibetan religious and philosophical thought.

Thanks to the international celebrity of the present Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism is attracting more attention than at any time in its history. Although there have been numerous specialist studies of individual Tibetan texts, however, no scholarly work has as yet done justice to the rich variety of types of Tibetan discourse. This book fills this lacuna, bringing to bear the best methodological insights of the contemporary human sciences, and at the same time conveying to non-specialist readers an impression of the broad domain of Tibetan religious and philosophical thought. For over a millenium a Tibetan Buddhist intelligentsia produced a vast literature in which they explored the legacy of Indian (and to a lesser extent Chinese) Buddhism, often with exceptional rigor and creativity. At the same time, they also articulated perspectives and raised questions that reflected a distinctly Tibetan heritage, above and beyond the impetus derived from foreign sources. The views they generated, Kapstein shows, were often strikingly original. Despite the traditional insistence on the preeminence of the Indian tradition, therefore, the Tibetan transformation of Buddhist discourse is worthy of study in its own right. Ranging widely over the immense corpus of Tibetan literature, Kapstein brilliantly illuminates many of the distinctive Tibetan contributions and points out some of the significant sources of Tibetan Buddhism's historical dynamism.

Contents:

Cover

Title page

Copyright

Dedication

Preface

Contents

A Note on Pronunciation

A Brief Chronology of Tibetan Buddhism

1 INTRODUCTION: DEATH, LITERACY, AND TIBET'S BUDDHIST ELITE

The Uncertain Fate of the Dead

Literacy and Learning in a Dark Age

Elite Buddhism and the Expression of Authority

PART I: CONVERSION AND NARRATIVE

2 THE CHINESE MOTHER OF TIBET'S DHARMA-KING: THE TESTAMENT OF BA AND THE BEGINNINGS OF TIBETAN BUDDHIST HISTORIOGRAPHY

History's Mirrorwork

China's Nephew

Tibet's Son

Solomon on the Silk Road

The Religious Transformation of History

History and Identity

3 THE MARK OF VERMILION: REBIRTH AND RESURRECTION IN AN EARLY MEDIEVAL TALE

The Mark of Vermilion

Cosmology, Karma, and Conversion

From Rebirth to Resurrection

4 PLAGUE, POWER, AND REASON: THE ROYAL CONVERSION TO BUDDHISM RECONSIDERED

The Puzzle of the Tibetan Conversion

The Power of Plague

The Charisma of Reason

Buddhism and Legislation

Imperial Cosmopolitanism

Converting the Conversion

PART II: SOURCES OF CONTESTATION

5 FROM KOREA TO TIBET: ACTION AT A DISTANCE IN THE EARLY MEDIEVAL WORLD SYSTEM

An Island in the Eastern Sea

The Tamer of Tigers

Chan Traces in Later Traditions

The Vicissitudes of the Great Chinese Commentary

Korea, Tibet, and the Early Medieval World System

6 WHAT IS "TIBETAN SCHOLASTICISM"? THREE WAYS OF THOUGHT

Sakya Pandita's Reasons

Karma Pakshi's Doubts

Dölpopa on the Age of Perfection

Contestation and Self-representation

7 THE PURIFICATORY GEM AND ITS CLEANSING: A LATE POLEMICAL DISCUSSION OF APOCRYPHAL TEXTS

Our Notions of Buddhist Canon and Apocrypha

Realism, Idealism, and Scriptural Authenticity

The Purificatory Gem and Its Cleansing: Historical Background

The Texts and Why They Were Written.

The Question of Spiritual Treasures

PART III: MYTH, MEMORY, REVELATION

8 THE IMAGINAL PERSISTENCE OF THE EMPIRE

The Truth of Myth

The Most Compassionate King

The Advent of the Lotus Guru

Hierarchy and Universality

9 SAMANTABHADRA AND RUDRA: MYTHS OF INNATE ENLIGHTENMENT AND RADICAL EVIL

Fragments from a Myth of Tibet

The Myth of Samantabhadra

The Matricide Rudra

Must the Message Be Mythic?

10 THE AMNESIC MONARCH AND THE FIVE MNEMIC MEN: "MEMORY" IN THE GREAT PERFECTION TRADITION

Preliminary Orientations

Mnemic Engagement in the Wide-Open Tantra of Universal Liberation

An Allegorical Re-presentation

Mnemic Engagement in the Practice of Prayer

By Way of Conclusion

APPENDIX: THE PRAYER OF GREAT POWER

Notes

Chinese Glossary

Bibliography

Tibetan References

Sanskrit References

Chinese References

Western Language References

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

Z.

Notes:

Originally published: 2000.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [275]-303) and index.

Description based on metadata supplied by the publisher and other sources.

ISBN:

0-19-028820-5

1-282-36707-2

9786612367076

0-19-534850-8

1-4237-6298-3

OCLC:

41645948