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Bryan J. Cuevas

Florida State University, Religion, Faculty Member

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Principal research interests include Tibetan history and historiography, hagiography and biographical literature, Buddhist magic and sorcery, the literary history of death narratives and death-related practices, and the politics of ritual power in premodern Tibetan societies, from roughly the eleventh through the early nineteenth century.

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Books by Bryan J. Cuevas

The Rwa pod and Other ‘Lost’ Works of Rwa lo tsā ba’s Vajrabhairava Tradition: A Catalogue of Recently Acquired Tibetan Manuscripts from Mongolia and Khams and Their Significance

Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde 101. Arbeitkreis für tibetische und buddhistische Studien Universität Wien (Open Access), 2021

Open Access: https://wstb.univie.ac.at/wp-content/uploads/WSTB_101.pdf. This new publication in... more Open Access: https://wstb.univie.ac.at/wp-content/uploads/WSTB_101.pdf.
This new publication introduces a rare cache of over three hundred Tibetan-language manuscripts recently recovered from Mongolia (Ulaanbaatar) and Khams (Jyekundo, Yushu county) comprising essential works on Vajrabhairava and Yamāri/Yamāntaka by Rwa lo tsā ba Rdo rje grags (11th century) and numerous other authors and commentators affiliated with his tradition. The centerpiece of these manuscript collections is the once mysterious compendium of Rwa lo tsā ba’s personal writings known as the Rwa pod (“Rwa book”). The volume provides an itemized inventory of these manuscripts with brief descriptions and cross-references for each work. It also includes an extensive introductory study discussing the early history and transmission of the Vajrabhairava and Yamāri/Yamāntaka traditions in Tibet, with special focus on the legacy of Rwa lo tsā ba, particularly in the Sa skya lineages.

The All-Pervading Melodious Drumbeat - The Life of Ra Lotsawa (Penguin Classics)

Travels in the Netherworld: Buddhist Popular Narratives of Death and the Afterlife in Tibet

The Hidden History of the Tibetan Book of the Dead

The Buddhist Dead: Practices, Discourses, Representations

by Bryan J. Cuevas and Jacqueline Stone

Power, Politics, and the Reinvention of Tradition: Tibet in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Articles by Bryan J. Cuevas

Infectious Touch and the Buddha’s Seven Zombies Spell (Saptavetāḍaka-dhāraṇī)

In Robert DeCaroli and Donald S. Lopez (eds.), Buddhism and the Senses: A Guide to the Good and Bad (pp. 183-203). Boston: Wisdom Publications and the Smithsonian Institution., 2024

Four Syllables for Slaying and Repelling: A Tibetan Vajrabhairava Practice from Recently Recovered Manuscripts of the "Lost" Book of Rwa (Rwa pod)

In Peter C. Bisschop and Elizabeth A. Cecil (eds.), Primary Sources and Asian Pasts (pp. 278-307). Beyond Boundaries Series no. 8. Berlin: De Gruyter (Open Access), 2021

This is a provisional article that introduces a rare cache of Tibetan-language manuscripts recent... more This is a provisional article that introduces a rare cache of Tibetan-language manuscripts recently recovered from Mongolia (Ulaanbaatar) and Khams (Jyekundo), comprising works associated with the Vajrabhairava traditions of Rwa lo tsā ba Rdo rje grags. The article was originally written in the summer of 2019. At the time, I was unclear about the provenance of these collections and had not yet established the full details of their contents. Thus, a few of my comments in the present essay (mainly in the notes) require revision. These are now corrected in my catalogue and introduction to the manuscripts (WSTB 101, Vienna, 2021), which also includes an extensive overview of the history of the Vajrabhairava and Yamāri/Yamāntaka transmissions in Tibet.

The Politics of Magical Warfare

In Karl Debreczeny (ed.), Faith and Empire: Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism (pp. 171-189), New York: Rubin Museum of Art, 2019. Distributed by University of Washington Press: http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/search/books/DEBFAI.html, 2019

Introduction: The All-Pervading Melodious Drumbeat - The Life of Ra Lotsawa

Sorcerer of the Iron Castle: The Life of Blo bzang bstan pa rab rgyas, the First Brag dkar sngags rams pa of A mdo (c. 1647-1726)

Rva lo tsā ba and His Biographers

In Olaf Czaja and Guntram Hazod (eds.), The Illuminating Mirror: Tibetan Studies in Honour of Per K. Sørensen on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday (pp. 57-79), 2015

Illustrations of Human Effigies in Tibetan Ritual Texts: With Remarks on Specific Anatomical Figures and Their Possible Iconographic Source

The ‘Calf’s Nipple’ (Be’u bum) of Ju Mipam (’Ju Mi pham): A Handbook of Tibetan Ritual Magic

In José I. Cabezón (ed.), Tibetan Ritual (pp. 165-186), 2010

Some Reflections on the Periodization of Tibetan History

Revue d'Etudes Tibétaines 10: 44-55, 2006 (reprinted in The Tibetan History Reader. Edited by Gray Tuttle and Kurtis R. Schaeffer. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013, pp. 49-63), 2006

Preliminary Remarks on the History of Mindroling: The Founding and Organization of a Tibetan Monastery in the Seventeenth Century (2003)

This article was originally accepted for publication in the volume Places of Practice: Monasterie... more This article was originally accepted for publication in the volume Places of Practice: Monasteries and Monasticism in Asian Religions, University of Hawai’i Press, but was never published. It was first presented at the "Monasticism: Asian Perspectives" Conference, Vancouver, February 2003, and again later that year at the 10th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Oxford, September, 2003. I share it here fully aware of all its blemishes.

Book Reviews by Bryan J. Cuevas

Rituels bouddhiques de pouvoir et de violence: la figure du tantriste tibétain. By Nicolas Sihlé (Belgium: Brepols, 2013)

Rulers on the Celestial Plain: Ecclesiastic and Secular Hegemony in Medieval Tibet. A Study of Tshal Gung-thang. By Per K. Sørensen and Guntram Hazod, in collaboration with Tsering Gyelpo (Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2007)

Tibetan Renaissance: Tantric Buddhism in the Rebirth of Tibetan Culture. By Ronald M. Davidson (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005)

Thundering Falcon: An Inquiry into the History and Cult of Khra-'brug, Tibet's First Buddhist Temple. By Per K. Sørensen and Guntram Hazod, in collaboration with Tsering Gyelbo (Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2005)

The Rwa pod and Other ‘Lost’ Works of Rwa lo tsā ba’s Vajrabhairava Tradition: A Catalogue of Recently Acquired Tibetan Manuscripts from Mongolia and Khams and Their Significance

Wiener Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde 101. Arbeitkreis für tibetische und buddhistische Studien Universität Wien (Open Access), 2021

Open Access: https://wstb.univie.ac.at/wp-content/uploads/WSTB_101.pdf. This new publication in... more Open Access: https://wstb.univie.ac.at/wp-content/uploads/WSTB_101.pdf.
This new publication introduces a rare cache of over three hundred Tibetan-language manuscripts recently recovered from Mongolia (Ulaanbaatar) and Khams (Jyekundo, Yushu county) comprising essential works on Vajrabhairava and Yamāri/Yamāntaka by Rwa lo tsā ba Rdo rje grags (11th century) and numerous other authors and commentators affiliated with his tradition. The centerpiece of these manuscript collections is the once mysterious compendium of Rwa lo tsā ba’s personal writings known as the Rwa pod (“Rwa book”). The volume provides an itemized inventory of these manuscripts with brief descriptions and cross-references for each work. It also includes an extensive introductory study discussing the early history and transmission of the Vajrabhairava and Yamāri/Yamāntaka traditions in Tibet, with special focus on the legacy of Rwa lo tsā ba, particularly in the Sa skya lineages.

The All-Pervading Melodious Drumbeat - The Life of Ra Lotsawa (Penguin Classics)

Travels in the Netherworld: Buddhist Popular Narratives of Death and the Afterlife in Tibet

The Hidden History of the Tibetan Book of the Dead

The Buddhist Dead: Practices, Discourses, Representations

by Bryan J. Cuevas and Jacqueline Stone

Power, Politics, and the Reinvention of Tradition: Tibet in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Infectious Touch and the Buddha’s Seven Zombies Spell (Saptavetāḍaka-dhāraṇī)

In Robert DeCaroli and Donald S. Lopez (eds.), Buddhism and the Senses: A Guide to the Good and Bad (pp. 183-203). Boston: Wisdom Publications and the Smithsonian Institution., 2024

Four Syllables for Slaying and Repelling: A Tibetan Vajrabhairava Practice from Recently Recovered Manuscripts of the "Lost" Book of Rwa (Rwa pod)

In Peter C. Bisschop and Elizabeth A. Cecil (eds.), Primary Sources and Asian Pasts (pp. 278-307). Beyond Boundaries Series no. 8. Berlin: De Gruyter (Open Access), 2021

This is a provisional article that introduces a rare cache of Tibetan-language manuscripts recent... more This is a provisional article that introduces a rare cache of Tibetan-language manuscripts recently recovered from Mongolia (Ulaanbaatar) and Khams (Jyekundo), comprising works associated with the Vajrabhairava traditions of Rwa lo tsā ba Rdo rje grags. The article was originally written in the summer of 2019. At the time, I was unclear about the provenance of these collections and had not yet established the full details of their contents. Thus, a few of my comments in the present essay (mainly in the notes) require revision. These are now corrected in my catalogue and introduction to the manuscripts (WSTB 101, Vienna, 2021), which also includes an extensive overview of the history of the Vajrabhairava and Yamāri/Yamāntaka transmissions in Tibet.

The Politics of Magical Warfare

In Karl Debreczeny (ed.), Faith and Empire: Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism (pp. 171-189), New York: Rubin Museum of Art, 2019. Distributed by University of Washington Press: http://www.washington.edu/uwpress/search/books/DEBFAI.html, 2019

Introduction: The All-Pervading Melodious Drumbeat - The Life of Ra Lotsawa

Sorcerer of the Iron Castle: The Life of Blo bzang bstan pa rab rgyas, the First Brag dkar sngags rams pa of A mdo (c. 1647-1726)

Rva lo tsā ba and His Biographers

In Olaf Czaja and Guntram Hazod (eds.), The Illuminating Mirror: Tibetan Studies in Honour of Per K. Sørensen on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday (pp. 57-79), 2015

Illustrations of Human Effigies in Tibetan Ritual Texts: With Remarks on Specific Anatomical Figures and Their Possible Iconographic Source

The ‘Calf’s Nipple’ (Be’u bum) of Ju Mipam (’Ju Mi pham): A Handbook of Tibetan Ritual Magic

In José I. Cabezón (ed.), Tibetan Ritual (pp. 165-186), 2010

Some Reflections on the Periodization of Tibetan History

Revue d'Etudes Tibétaines 10: 44-55, 2006 (reprinted in The Tibetan History Reader. Edited by Gray Tuttle and Kurtis R. Schaeffer. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013, pp. 49-63), 2006

Preliminary Remarks on the History of Mindroling: The Founding and Organization of a Tibetan Monastery in the Seventeenth Century (2003)

This article was originally accepted for publication in the volume Places of Practice: Monasterie... more This article was originally accepted for publication in the volume Places of Practice: Monasteries and Monasticism in Asian Religions, University of Hawai’i Press, but was never published. It was first presented at the "Monasticism: Asian Perspectives" Conference, Vancouver, February 2003, and again later that year at the 10th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Oxford, September, 2003. I share it here fully aware of all its blemishes.

Rituels bouddhiques de pouvoir et de violence: la figure du tantriste tibétain. By Nicolas Sihlé (Belgium: Brepols, 2013)

Rulers on the Celestial Plain: Ecclesiastic and Secular Hegemony in Medieval Tibet. A Study of Tshal Gung-thang. By Per K. Sørensen and Guntram Hazod, in collaboration with Tsering Gyelpo (Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2007)

Tibetan Renaissance: Tantric Buddhism in the Rebirth of Tibetan Culture. By Ronald M. Davidson (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005)

Thundering Falcon: An Inquiry into the History and Cult of Khra-'brug, Tibet's First Buddhist Temple. By Per K. Sørensen and Guntram Hazod, in collaboration with Tsering Gyelbo (Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2005)

The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Translated by Gyurme Dorje; Edited by Graham Coleman and Thupten Jinpa (New York: Viking, 2005)

Spirit-mediums, Sacred Mountains and Related Bon Textual Traditions in Upper Tibet: Calling Down the Gods. By John Vincent Bellezza (Brill's Tibetan Studies Library vol. 8. Leiden: Brill, 2005)

Lhasa in the Seventeenth Century: The Capital of the Dalai Lamas. Edited by Françoise Pommaret; Translated by Howard Solverson (Brill's Tibetan Studies Library vol. 3. Leiden: Brill, 2003)

In the Service of His Country: The Biography of Dasang Damdul Tsarong. By Dundul Namgyal Tsarong (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 2000)

Sleeping, Dreaming, and Dying: An Exploration of Consciousness with the Dalai Lama. Edited by Francisco J. Varela (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1997)

Faith and Empire: Art and Politics in Tibetan Buddhism

by Karl Debreczeny, Brandon Dotson, Bryan J. Cuevas, Per K . Sörensen, and Ronald M Davidson

Faith and Empire explores the intersection of politics, religion, and art in Tibetan Buddhism. At... more Faith and Empire explores the intersection of politics, religion, and art in Tibetan Buddhism. At the heart of this dynamic is the force of religion to claim political power. Covering the Tibetan, Tangut Xixia, Mongolian, Chinese Ming, and Manchu Qing empires from the seventh to the early twentieth century, this volume illuminates how Tibetan Buddhism presented both a model of universal sacral kingship and a tantric ritual technology to physical power. Images were a primary means of political propagation, integral to magical tantric rites and embodiments of its power. Through the lens of Tibetan Buddhism’s potent political role in Asia, Faith and Empire seeks to place Himalayan art in a larger global context and shed light on an important but little-known aspect of power in the Tibetan tradition.

Now freely available digitally: https://issuu.com/rmanyc/docs/faith_and_empire