Digital Commons Network^™

Tolkien's Oriental Sources? Renunciation Of Immortality And Fairy Nature, Giovanni Carmine Costabile

Journal of Tolkien Research

Thompson motif F302.6.2.2. Fairy gives up her fairy nature and becomes mortal to be able to return to her mortal husband and its combination with H310. Suitor tests and H1010. Impossible tasks are Oriental motifs, to be found only in the Tibetan tale of The Boy with the Deformed Head in O'Connor's 1907 collection and in the 9th century CE Japanese Taketori Monogatari. In this light, it appears necessary, assuming that Tolkien had a source for his idea of Lúthien sacrificing her Elven immortality and Elven fate, that his source must be found in the aforesaid narratives, both available …

An Imperial Pivot: How The Qing Court Shaped The Kapāla And Its Global Value, Haiyi Wang

MA in Art Business Dissertations

This thesis examines the journey of the kapāla, a Tibetan Buddhist ritual skull cup, from a sacred implement to a global commodity. It argues that the modern identity, display, and commercial value of the kapāla in the Western world are not a natural extension of its original religious meaning but are fundamentally a product of its aesthetic and political re-creation by the Qing imperial court. This study posits the Qing court's intervention as the "decisive pivot" that systematically replaced the object's native "religious value system," based on ritual efficacy, with a new "imperial value system" rooted in craftsmanship, precious materials, …

Cultural Erasure And Non-Violent Resistance In Tibet, Nikolina K. Klinkenberg

ENGS 15.11: Design and Education

This lesson uses lectures, discussions, and hands-on activities to encourage students to empathize with the Tibetan people and to think critically about responses to the Chinese Communist Party’s oppressive policies. The lesson begins with an overview of Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan history since the Chinese invasion, and religious policy in China. Next, students actively interpret instances of self-immolation and analyze non-violent strategies for resolving conflict, connecting these subjects to their learning about Tibetan Buddhism and their prior knowledge of non-violent resistance. The lesson concludes with a reflection in which students connect the lesson’s topics to circumstances in their own lives.

Two Dimensions Of A Bodhisattva, Douglas Duckworth

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

This paper presents two dimensions of a bodhisattva, the ideal of Maha- ya- na Buddhism. One dimension involves contemplative practices that disclose a pure nature that is always already present; this reality is unveiled after the obscurations that cloud it are removed. I refer to this as a “top-down” approach because it is based on qualities of awakening that are already there, yet lie beyond an ordinary being’s comprehension. The second dimension, which I refer to as a “bottom-up” approach, involves directed training and discipline. Unlike the top-down approach, this is not about “going with the flow” or simply letting …

"Trading Western Suits For Monastic Robes" : Remaking Tibetan Buddhism In The Chinese Religious Revival, Jue Liang

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Chang (Beer): A Social Marker, Ritual Tool, And Multivalent Symbol In Tibetan Buddhism, Kayla J. Jenkins

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

In this thesis, I analyze the use of beer (Tib. chang) in Tibetan tantric Buddhism and emphasize its importance for studying themes of purity and pollution, meaning, and power in this context. In doing so, I argue that beer functions as a social marker and influences gender dynamics in Tibet. Beer also functions as a religious ritual tool for transactions of power. Lastly, beer is present as a multivalent symbol in Tibetan tantric songs and stories, useful as both a negative and positive metaphor for qualities or states of mind. As something that informs social, religious, and literary worlds within …

Amdo Politics And Religion—Tuken Losang Choki Nyima (Thu’U Bkwan Blo Bzang Chos Kyi Nyi Ma, 1737-1802)1, Paul K. Nietupski

2019 Faculty Bibliography

No abstract provided.

Himalayan Studies Conference V, The Tibet Himalaya Initiative, University Of Colorado, Boulder

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

The Tibet Himalaya Initiative at CU Boulder had the honor of hosting the 5th Himalayan Studies Conference of the Association of Nepal and Himalayan Studies (ANHS) over Labor Day weekend, 1-4 September 2018.

The Singer Of Tibet: Shabkar (1781-1851), The “Inescapable Nation,” And Buddhist Universalism, Rachel H. Pang

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

This paper examines the concept of ‘Tibet (Tib. bod)’ in the spiritual autobiography of the celebrated Tibetan Buddhist author, Shabkar Tsokdruk Rangdröl (1781–1851). I use both literal and literary modes of analysis in conjunction with Steven Grosby’s and Lama Jabb’s definitions of ‘nation’ to demonstrate how Shabkar initially builds a vivid persona— the ‘Singer of Tibet’—that is rooted in the Tibetan landscape, but then shifts to a different persona— ‘Shabkar’—that transcends Tibet altogether and embraces a sense of Buddhist universalism. Throughout the process, Shabkar evokes deities and historical figures that are fundamental to Tibetan historical, cultural, and religious memory and …

Getting Sick Where Karma Is Gravity: Disease In The Tibetan Perspective, Moreau Hadley

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Karma is the Buddhist idea that our actions from current and previous lives affect our fortune in this life. In particular, if we suffer in the current life, it is due to negative action in the past. Likewise, if we prosper, it is due to past positive acts, such as compassion. The idea of karma extends to illness; in simplification, sickness is attributed to negative past action.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the belief of karmic disease in the Tibetan Buddhist community of Shangri-La. Although disease is often used as an example of karmic suffering, and there …

Review Of John Whalen-Bridge, Tibet On Fire: Buddhism, Protest, And The Rhetoric Of Self-Immolation, Daniel S. Capper

Faculty Publications

Review of John Whalen-Bridge, Tibet on Fire: Buddhism, Protest, and the Rhetoric of Self-Immolation, in Journal of Contemporary Religion

Visions Of Tibet, Paul K. Nietupski

2018 Faculty Bibliography

No abstract provided.

Pathways: A Concept, Field Site And Methodological Approach To Study Remoteness And Connectivity, Martin Saxer

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

Martin Saxer was a Clarendon scholar at Oxford and received his doctorate in 2010. He conducted extensive fieldwork in Siberia, Tibet and Nepal. He currently leads a 5-year research project under the title ‘Remoteness & Connectivity: Highland Asia in the World’, funded by the European Research Council. Martin also directed two feature length documentary films and runs the visual ethnography blog theotherimage.com.

Knowing King Gésar Between Buddhist Monastery And Socialist Academy, Or The Practices Of Secularism In Inner Asia, Matthew W. King

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

This argues that selective memories of imperial-era Buddhist knowledge practices helped Soviet-era scholars localize secularist ideology, knowledge practices, and historical models in post-imperial Mongolia. At the root of one such memory was the eighteenth century eastern Tibetan Buddhist polymath Sumpa Khenpo, who differentiated between historical, legendary and enlightened King Gésars in a letter correspondence with the Sixth Panchen Lama, Palden Yéshé (1738-1780). To the delight of his later Soviet and socialist Mongolian readers, Sumpa Khenpo drew his conclusions about the historical Gésar based on observable evidence instead of scriptural authority. On the basis of a close examination of the contents …

Introduction | Theorizing The Secular In Tibetan Cultural Worlds, Holly Gayley, Nicole Willock

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

This special issue on ‘The Secular in Tibetan Cultural Worlds’ originated in a panel on The Secular in Tibet and Mongolia at the Thirteenth Seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in 2013. To contextualize the contributions to this issue, spanning diverse temporal and geographic contexts, this Introduction raises theoretical concerns and discusses contested terminology regarding ‘religion’ and the ‘secular’ in Tibetan discourse. The authors situate local articulations of the secular within broader academic discussions of the varieties of Asian secularisms and offer a key intervention to complicate the secularization thesis and prevailing views of …

Introduction: Theorizing The Secular In Tibetan Cultural Worlds, Holly Gayley, Nicole Willock

Philosophy Faculty Publications

This special issue on ‘The Secular in Tibetan Cultural Worlds’ originated in a panel on The Secular in Tibet and Mongolia at the Thirteenth Seminar of the International Association of Tibetan Studies held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in 2013. To contextualize the contributions to this issue, spanning diverse temporal and geographic contexts, this Introduction raises theoretical concerns and discusses contested terminology regarding ‘religion’ and the ‘secular’ in Tibetan discourse. The authors situate local articulations of the secular within broader academic discussions of the varieties of Asian secularisms and offer a key intervention to complicate the secularization thesis and prevailing views of …

Locating The Copper-Colored Mountain: Buddhist Cosmology, Himalayan Geography, And Maps Of Imagined Worlds, Benjamin Bogin

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

This article explores various ways in which Tibetan authors have attempted to locate the Glorious Copper-Colored Mountain (Tib. zangs mdog dpal ri), considered to be the present abode of Padmasambhava, the tantric guru famous for establishing Buddhism in Tibet in the eighth century. Literary sources ranging from the twelfth through the nineteenth century are considered as examples of the cultural work of place-making. Their authors are shown to draw upon multiple frameworks to map the Copper-Colored Mountain as a sacred site. Using a list of place-names associated with the mountain that are found in the closing chapters of Nyangrel Nyima …

Readings On Islam In Ladakh: Local, Regional, And International Perspectives, John Bray

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

The influences of two major religions – Buddhism and Islam - are interwoven in Ladakhi history and contemporary society. However, by comparison with Buddhism, the study of Islam has often been neglected. This essay offers a reading guide as a basis for further study. It draws on a range of sources in Asian and European languages, including texts published locally in Ladakh, as well as academic monographs and articles in specialist international journals. The essay begins with a discussion of the key historical texts before looking more closely at Ladakh’s links with Central Asia, and the political and cultural impact …

Bhutan, Megan Adamson Sijapati

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Bhutan (formally the Kingdom of Bhutan) is a small, landlocked Buddhist constitutional monarchy in the eastern Himalayas, located between China's Tibetan autonomous region and India. Its terrain is largely mountainous, and its economy is based on agriculture and forestry. Bhutan's official national language is Dzongkha, and its multiethnic population, reported in the 2005 govrnment census to be approximately 681,000, is 75% Buddhist and 25% Hindu.

Nepal, Megan Adamson Sijapati

Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Nepal is a democratic republic located along the southern region of the Himalayan range, bordering India to the south, west, and east and the Tibetan autonomous region of China to the north. Though a small country in geographic terms (approximately 54,362 square miles [1 mile = 1.6093 kilometers]), its population of approximately 29.5 million people is a complex and heterogeneous mix of both Indo-European and Tibeto-Burman ethnic groups and castes, each with distinct languages and religious and cultural traditions. [excerpt]

Book Review Of 'The Ornament Of The Middle Way: A Tudy Of The Madhyamaka Thought Of Santaraksita' By James Blumenthal, James B. Apple

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

No abstract provided.

Recent French Research On The Himalayas

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

No abstract provided.

Dissertation Abstracts

HIMALAYA, the Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies

No abstract provided.