Divination in exile : interdisciplinary approaches to ritual prognostication in the Tibetan Bon tradition / by Alexander Kingsbury Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Alexander Kingsbury, author.

Series:

Brill's Tibetan studies library ; Volume 47.

Brill's Tibetan studies library ; Volume 47

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bon (Tibetan religion)--Rituals.

Bon (Tibetan religion).

Himachal Pradesh (India)--Religious life and customs.

Himachal Pradesh (India).

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Place of Publication:

Leiden ; Boston : BRILL, [2021]

Summary:

In Divination in Exile , Alexander K. Smith offers the first comprehensive scholarly introduction to the performance of divination in Tibetan speaking communities, both past and present. While Smith surveys a variety of ritual practices, the volume focuses on divination and its associated rites in the contemporary Tibetan Bon tradition. Drawing from multi-site ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Himachal Pradesh and the translation of previously unpublished Tibetan language materials, Divination in Exile offers a valuable, social scientific contribution to our understanding of the perception and usage of ritual manuscripts in contemporary Tibetan cultural milieus.

Contents:

Acknowledgements

List of Figures and Tables

Introduction: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

1 The Study of Tibetan Divination

1 Introduction

2 The Study of Tibetan Divination in the West

3 Divination in European and American Scholarship

4 Divination Eliminates Anxiety and Facilitates Decision Making

5 Divination, Dialogue, and Rationality

2 Tibetan Divination and the Bon Tradition

1 A Brief Introduction to Tibetan Divination

2 Remarks on Tibetan Buddhist Historiography and the Origins of Divination

3 General Remarks on the Bon Religion

4 Bonpos in the Contemporary Diaspora Community

5 Two Classifications of Bon Religious Teachings: the sGo bzhi mdzod lnga and Theg pa rim pa dgu

6 The Classification of Divination and Its Origins in the Bon Tradition: Excerpts from the gZi brjid

7 Divination Manuscripts in the Bon Canon

3 lDe'u 'phrul Divination

2 lDe'u 'phrul Divination

3 lDe'u 'phrul Origin Narratives

4 Location

5 Outline of the lde'u 'phrul Rite

6 lDe'u 'phrul Prognostics: Major and Minor Results

7 The Interpretation of Prognostics

4 The Divination of sMra ba'i seng ge

1 Introduction to the sMra seng rdel mo gsal ba'i me long

2 Transliteration Guidelines

3 Translation of MS

Conclusion: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Tibetan Divination?

Appendix 1: The Divination Gods: Excerpts from the MSAP

Appendix 2: Facsimiles of sMra sing rdel mo gsal ba'i me long bzhugs so

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

90-04-44078-X

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9789004440784 DOI