Tibetan and Himalayan Library - THL

Description:

In the past century, the Western view of Tibet has evolved from an exotic Shangri-la filled with golden idols and the promise of immortality, to a peaceful land with an enlightened society now ravaged by outside aggression. How and why did our perception change? How accurate are our modern conceptions of Tibet?

Imagining Tibet is a collection of essays that reveal these Western conceptions. Providing an historical background to the West's ever-changing relationship with Tibet, Donald Lopez, Jeffrey Hopkins, Jamyang Norbu, and other noted scholars explore a variety of topics—from Western perceptions of Tibetan approaches to violence, monastic life, and life as a nation in exile, to representations of Tibet in Western literature, art, environmentalism, and the New Age movement. (from the publisher)

The essays in this volume were originally presented as papers at the international symposium "Mythos Tibet" held in Bonn, Germany, in 1996.

Table of Contents: I. Missionaries and Scholars -- The Image of Tibet in the West before the Nineteenth Century / Rudolf Kaschewsky 3 -- Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Missionary Images of Tibet / John Bray 21 -- Tibet Images among Researchers on Tibet / Per Kvaerne 47 -- II. The Sight of the "Other" -- "Truth," Perception, and Politics: The British Construction of an Image of Tibet / Alex C. McKay 67 -- Tibetan Horizon: Tibet and the Cinema in the Early Twentieth Century / Peter H. Hansen 91 -- Old Tibet a Hell on Earth? The Myth of Tibet and Tibetans in Chinese Art and Propaganda / Thomas Heberer 111 -- Tibet, Theosophy, and the Psychologization of Buddhism / Poul Pedersen 151 -- The Role of Tibet in the New Age Movement / Frank J. Korom 167 -- The Image of Tibet of the Great Mystifiers / Donald S. Lopez, Jr. 183 -- Not Only a Shangri-la: Images of Tibet in Western Literature / Peter Bishop 201 -- The Development in Perceptions of Tibetan Art: From Golden Idols to Ultimate Reality / Heather Stoddard 223 -- III. Standpoints -- Tibetan Monastic Colleges: Rationality versus the Demands of Allegiance / P. Jeffrey Hopkins 257 -- "Violated Specialness": Western Political Representations of Tibet / Robert Barnett 269 -- "Orientalism" and Aspects of Violence in the Tibetan Tradition / Elliot Sperling 317 -- Tibetan Culture As a Model of Ecological Sustainability / Helena Norberg-Hodge 331 -- Tradition, Modernity, and Environmental Change in Tibet / Graham E. Clarke 339 -- Shangri-la in Exile: Representations of Tibetan Identity and Transnational Culture / Toni Huber 357 -- Behind the Lost Horizon: Demystifying Tibet / Jamyang Norbu 373 -- Buddhism in the West and the Image of Tibet / Dagyab Kyabgon Rinpoche 379 -- IV. Final Considerations -- Imagining Tibet: Between Shangri-la and Feudal Oppression: Attempting a Synthesis / Thierry Dodin, Heinz Räther 391.