The subject for this study, the Tibetan "treasure revealer" Gshen-chen Klu-dga', is a crucial figure in the development of Bon as an organised religion after the eleventh century. Here for the first time he is situated in the context of what was happening in Buddhism at the time. By scrutinizing his life and gter-ma ("treasures"), that were to be of much controversy in later ages, Dan Martin sheds light on the mechanism of Tibetan polemical tradition and the ways in which sectarianism accords itself legitimacy by resurrecting ancient arguments in a subtly distorted manner. The...

This book on the pre-modern Tibeto-Burman languages represents a movement to establish a field of Tibeto-Burman comparative-historical linguistics according to the classical Indo-European model. The book contains papers by T. Takeuchi on Old Zhang-zhung, A. Zadoks on Old Tibetan, K. Tamot on Early Classical Newari; C. Beckwith on Pyu, R. Yanson on Old Burmese, S. Chelliah and S. Ray on Early Meithei, D. Bradley on Tibeto-Burman, and C. Beckwith on Sino-Tibetan. Glossaries of several early Tibeto-Burman languages are included. It provides information, not found in any other source, on early...

The proceedings of the seminars of the International Association for Tibetan Studies (IATS) have developed into the most representative world-wide cross-section of Tibetan Studies. They are an indispensable reference-work for anyone interested in Tibet and capture the cutting edge of Tibet-related research. This volume is the last of three volumes of general proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the IATS. It is a richly illustrated book, containing a careful selection of scholarly and academic articles that open surprising perspectives on Bhutan and discuss Tibetan artwork. The complete...

Which places does Tibet include? Are people Tibetan merely because of living in those places? Territory and Identity are notions that are widely present in academic and popular discourses on Tibet. In 1992 a group of French and Austrian researchers who had studied some of the mountain deities and sacred landscapes of Tibet began meeting to discuss the links between territory and identity in Tibetan culture. Eight years later an interdisciplinary group of scholars met in Leiden in Holland to consider these questions in more detail.
This book contains some of their findings, based on case...

Increasing accessibility of Tibet has provided important new insights on the history and context of Tibetan art. This book discusses the impact of Tibetan patronage on Buddhist artistic monuments from both the heartland of Tibet as well as its far (cultural) borders. A score of experts here explore the dialectic between local and "foreign" traditions. Thus the role of Indian artistic traditions, the merging with Chinese, Kidan and Turkic artistic features come to the fore, while at the same time Central Tibet gets ample attention. Recent field research and the study of previously neglected...

The proceedings of the seminars of the International Association for Tibetan Studies (IATS) have developed into the most representative world-wide cross-section of Tibetan Studies. They are an indispensable reference-work for anyone interested in Tibet and capture the cutting edge of Tibet-related research. This volume is the first of three volumes of general proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the IATS. It presents a careful selection of scholarly and academic articles on Tibetan history, which includes contemporary developments as well as a compact, but significant, linguistic...

The proceedings of the seminars of the International Association for Tibetan Studies (IATS) have developed into the most representative world-wide cross-section of Tibetan Studies. They are an indispensable reference-work for anyone interested in Tibet and capture the cutting edge of Tibet-related research. This volume is the second of three volumes of general proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the IATS. It presents a careful selection of scholarly and academic articles on Tibetan Buddhist and Bon religious culture, including a sizeable section of anthropological contributions. The...

This is the story of the rise of Lhasa, before 1642 a small town, renowned for its Jokhang temple and its three large 15th century Gelukpa monasteries. The political victory of the Gelukpa changed its destiny and it was the Fifth Dalai Lama who made Lhasa into the centre of the Tibetan world, with an influence reaching into Mongolia and Ladakh. It became a true capital, with prestigious monuments, and the Potala Palace as its focus and symbol. Based on Tibetan and Western sources, the book provides a fascinating study of the history of Lhasa against the background of the triangular relations...

Unique original material on the phenomenon of the spirit-mediums of Upper Tibet, the men and women who channel the gods. With extensive interviews with members of this living tradition.

This description of the phonology, morphology and syntax of the endangered (Tibeto-Burman) Jero language as spoken in eastern Nepal, appears in sequel to the author's 2004 Grammar of Wambule, the language most closely related to Jero. It pictures the complex-pronominalising language of the Jero Rai, one of the Kiranti tribes of eastern Nepal. With a historical comparative study of the Kiranti languages, the branch of the Tibeto-Burman language family to which both Jero and Wambule belong. An exhaustive and model reference work for Tibeto-Burman linguistics, language typology and...