Tibetan and Himalayan Library - THL

Description: Publisher’s Description: Collectively, the papers of this volume reveal the cultural dynamism of Tibet in the period between 900 and 1400CE, when the fundamental contours of Tibetan Buddhism were still fluid and highly contested.
The papers address a spectrum of issues in Tibetan religion and literature, ranging in time and space from the far eastern oasis of Dunhuang in the tenth century through ‘high classical’ developments in Central Tibet in the early fifteenth century. It is divided into four parts, addressing respectively literary and religious issues in tenth-century Dunhuang, the textual history of the Old Tantric Canon (Rnying ma’i rgyud ’bum), the development of Tibetan religious literature in the new translation period, and the history and transmission of several influential systems of esoteric Buddhism.

Table of Contents: Introduction: Envisioning the Topography / Ronald M. Davidson and Christian K. Wedemeyer -- New Light on an Old Friend: PT 849 Reconsidered / Matthew T. Kapstein -- The Legend of Cig car ba Criticism in Tibet: a List of Six Cig car ba Titles in the Chos ’byung me tog snying po of Nyang Nyi ma ’od zer (12th century) / Carment Meinert -- The Tibetan Avalokiteśvara Cult in the Tenth Century: Evidence from the Dunhuang Manuscripts / Sam J. van Schaik -- The Case of the Shuffled Folios: First Steps in Critically Editing the Phur bu mya ngan las ’das pa’i rgyud chen po in the Rnying ma’i rgyud ’bum / Cathy Cantwell -- Textual Criticism of the Rnying ma’i rgyud ’bum Tradition / Robert Mayer -- Imperial Agency in the Gsar ma Treasure Texts during the Tibetan Renaissance: the Rgyal po bla gter and Related Literature / Ronald M. Davidson -- Tantalising Traces of the Labours of the Lotsāwas: Alternative Translations of Sanskrit Sources in the Writings of Rje Tsong kha pa / Christian K. Wedemeyer -- Identifying the Unnamed Opponents of Tsong kha pa and Mkhas grub rje Concerning the Transformation of Ordinary Birth, Death, and Intermediate State into the Three Bodies / Yael Bentor -- Blending the Sūtras with the Tantras: The Influence of Maitrīpa and His Circle on the Formation of Sūtra Mahāmudrā in the Kagyu Schools / Klaus-Dieter Mathes -- The Transmission of Bsnyung gnas in India, the Kathmandu Valley, and Tibet (10th-12th centuries) / Roberto Vitali -- Conclusion: Prominent Peaks, Obscure Valleys, and Mirages -- List of Contributors.