Death and Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism: In-Between Bodies

ISBN-13: 9781138575585 / Angielski / Miękka / 2017 / 148 str.

Tanya Zivkovic

Opis

Contextualising the seemingly esoteric and exotic aspects of Tibetan Buddhist culture within the everyday, embodied and sensual sphere of religious praxis, this book centres on the social and religious lives of deceased Tibetan Buddhist lamas. It explores how posterior forms – corpses, relics, reincarnations and hagiographical representations – extend a lama’s trajectory of lives and manipulate biological imperatives of birth and death.

Recenzje

"This is an important and fundamentally original work, theoretically sophisticated and multilayered in its approach. Perspectives offered by texts and individual practitioners are well chosen and balanced. While implicitly and explicitly acknowledging "the variation of knowledge systems in Tibetanized societies" (76), the author is able to present a set of findings with implications beyond the immediate issue. For this reader it was of particular interest in regard to the study of rNam-thar, a field in which a number of significant studies have recently emerged. It demonstrates the linking of biographies and realities that allows different lineages to present different interpretations of various biographical events and processes serving different purposes. No one interested in Tibetan concepts of death, whether from a ritual, textual, or philosophical perspective, can fail to gain fresh insights from this stimulating study. Partly due to a writing style that entirely eliminates excess, this is a short work, just 130 pages of text, but it has the great merit of leaving the reader wanting more." A. C. McKay International Institute for Asian Studies, Leiden

Spis treści

1. Introduction 2. Relics and Reincarnation of Khenchen Sangay Tenzin 3. The Spiritual Mastery or (Spirit Possession) of Gupha Rinpoche 4. Embodying the Past in the Present: Gelongma Palmo 5. Buddhism Across Cultures: Bokar Rinpoche 6. Conclusion

O autorze

Tanya Zivkovic is a Research Fellow in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Adelaide, Australia. Her research explores the body and cultural trajectories of the lifecourse.