Contributions to the Cultural History of Early Tibet PDF Download

Author: Matthew Tom Kapstein
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004160647
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
Aufsatzsammlung.

Author: Stephan V. Beyer
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791496694
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 534

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Book Description
Among Asian languages, Tibetan is second only to Chinese in the depth of its historical record, with texts dating back as far as the eighth and ninth centuries, written in an alphabetic script that preserves the contemporaneous phonological features of the language. The Classical Tibetan Language is the first comprehensive description of the Tibetan language and is distinctive in that it treats the classical Tibetan language on its own terms rather than by means of descriptive categories appropriate to other languages, as has traditionally been the case. Beyer presents the language as a medium of literary expression with great range, power, subtlety, and humor, not as an abstract object. He also deals comprehensively with a wide variety of linguistic phenomena as they are actually encountered in the classical texts, with numerous examples of idioms, common locutions, translation devices, neologisms, and dialectal variations.

Author: Gray Tuttle
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231144695
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 750

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Book Description
Answering a critical need for an accurate, in-depth history of Tibet, this single-volume resource reproduces essential, hard-to-find essays from the past fifty years of Tibetan studies. Covering the social, cultural, and political development of Tibet from the seventh century to the modern period, the volume is organized chronologically and regionally to complement courses in Asian and religious studies and world civilizations. Beginning with Tibet's emergence as a regional power and concluding with its profound contemporary transformations, this anthology offers both a general and ..

Author: Janet Gyatso
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231538324
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 539

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Book Description
Critically exploring medical thought in a cultural milieu with no discernible influence from the European Enlightenment, Being Human in a Buddhist World reveals an otherwise unnoticed intersection of early modern sensibilities and religious values in traditional Tibetan medicine. It further studies the adaptation of Buddhist concepts and values to medical concerns and suggests important dimensions of Buddhism's role in the development of Asian and global civilization. Through its unique focus and sophisticated reading of source materials, Being Human adds a crucial chapter in the larger historiography of science and religion. The book opens with the bold achievements in Tibetan medical illustration, commentary, and institution building during the period of the Fifth Dalai Lama and his regent, Desi Sangye Gyatso, then looks back to the work of earlier thinkers, tracing a strategically astute dialectic between scriptural and empirical authority on questions of history and the nature of human anatomy. It follows key differences between medicine and Buddhism in attitudes toward gender and sex and the moral character of the physician, who had to serve both the patient's and the practitioner's well-being. Being Human in a Buddhist World ultimately finds that Tibetan medical scholars absorbed ethical and epistemological categories from Buddhism yet shied away from ideal systems and absolutes, instead embracing the imperfectability of the human condition.

Author: Kurtis R. Schaeffer
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231509782
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 853

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Book Description
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.

Author: John Powers
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 0810868059
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 833

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Book Description
Tibet is a land bounded by the world's highest mountains, and it is the repository of an ancient culture. For centuries it was viewed by Europeans as a remote, mystical place populated by Buddhist masters with supernatural powers and profound wisdom. In contrast to this image, it was once a warlike country whose expansionist rulers conquered a vast empire that incorporated much of central Asia and parts of China. Even now the Tibetan Plateau remains a scene of contestation, both ideologically and militarily. Major popular uprisings in 1959, 1988, and 2008 have drawn the attention of the world's media, and its religious teachers often attract large crowds when they travel overseas. The situation in the country remains highly volatile today, as the 2008 uprising--the largest and most widespread in the history of the region--attests. The Historical Dictionary of Tibet is the most comprehensive dictionary published to date on Tibetan history. It covers the history of Tibet from 27,000 BCE to the present through a chronology, an introductory essay, an extensive bibliography, and over 1,000 cross-referenced dictionary entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, culture, anthropology, and sociology. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Tibet.

Author: Kurtis R. Schaeffer
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231135998
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 854

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Book Description
The most comprehensive collection of classic Tibetan works in any Western language.

Author: John Powers
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1559392827
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 593

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Book Description
This is the most comprehensive and authoritative introduction to Tibetan Buddhism available to date, covering a wide range of topics, including history, doctrines, meditation, practices, schools, religious festivals, and major figures. The revised edition contains expanded discussions of recent Tibetan history and tantra and incorporates important new publications in the field. Beginning with a summary of the Indian origins of Tibetan Buddhism and how it eventually was brought to Tibet, it explores Tibetan Mahayana philosophy and tantric methods for personal transformation. The four main schools of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as Bön, are explored in depth from a nonsectarian point of view. This new and expanded edition is a systematic and wonderfully clear presentation of Tibetan Buddhist views and practices.

Author: Sam Van Schaik
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300172176
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 435

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Book Description
Presents a comprehensive history of the country, from its beginnings in the seventh century, to its rise as a Buddhist empire in medieval times, to its conquest by China in 1950, and subsequent rule by the Chinese.

Author: Pieter Cornelis Verhagen
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004492259
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 371

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Book Description
The first comprehensive survey of the important corpus of Indic literature on Sanskrit grammar, extant in Tibetan translation in the Buddhist canon. Core of the study is the description of the forty-seven Sanskrit grammatical treatises covering some two thousand folios in the canon. The contents of these texts and the historical information regarding their Tibetan translators are examined in detail. Further chapters are devoted to the grammatical analysis in an eighth-century Tibetan handbook for translators, and to data from Tibetan historiography. The book offers the first systematic study of the extent and the historical development of the Tibetan expertise in Sanskrit grammar, a central scholastic discipline in Buddhism. It opens up a section of Tibetan literature essential to the understanding of the Indo-Tibetan indigenous grammatical traditions.