Videos by Daniel Wojahn
What were Tibetan ideas concerning the relationship between law and power?
In the search for ans... more What were Tibetan ideas concerning the relationship between law and power?
In the search for answers to whether “law” (khrims) existed in pre-modern Tibet, previous scholarship has uncovered new aspects of khrims’ semantic and functional spectrum, which ranges from administration to morality, ideology, legislation and law. I would argue this is because the term khrims has undergone conceptual change(s). The aim of my talk is twofold: In the first part of the presentation, I will sketch in broad strokes the development of khrims from the beginnings of the “Tibetan empire” to the mid-13th century. I will highlight the various connotations of the term and provide the necessary background for the period (mid-13th century–1354 CE) of my work-in-progress dissertation. In the second part, I will build on this analysis and present my perspective on the meaning of hor khrims.
The talk was part of the Oxford TGSS online series. https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/series/tibetan-graduate-studies-seminar 111 views
Papers by Daniel Wojahn
Journal of Tibetan Literature, 2024
This article focuses on the textual basis of Aché Lhamo, the Tibetan opera. A close reading of mu... more This article focuses on the textual basis of Aché Lhamo, the Tibetan opera. A close reading of multi-layered plays like the Aché Lhamo namthar reveals the elaborate processes employed by the mostly anonymous authors to embed specific Tibetan ideas into these texts. It highlights the importance of understanding the idiomatic language and the role of proverbs in Tibetan stories and narratives in order to fully grasp and appreciate the cultural knowledge they contain. The intertextual structures in the Aché Lhamo namthar show how the successful fusion of Indian and Tibetan culture was achieved by linking and anchoring Indian (Buddhist) tales within the specific Tibetan cultural and historical environment.
རྩོམ་ཡིག་འདིར་བོད་ཀྱི་རྣམ་ཐར་ཨ་ཅེ་ལྷ་མོའི་གཞུང་བརྗོད་སྙིང་དུ་བཟུང་ཡོད། ཨ་ཅེ་ལྷ་མོའི་རྣམ་ཐར་ལྟ་བུའི་རིམ་པ་མང་པོ་ཅན་གྱི་ཟློས་གར་དག་ཞིབ་ཏུ་ཀློག་དུས། ཕལ་མོ་ཆེར་མིང་མི་གསལ་བའི་རྩོམ་པ་པོ་དག་བོད་པའི་བསམ་བློ་ངེས་ཅན་ཞིག་གཞུང་གི་ནང་བསྲེས་པར་ཞུགས་པའི་ཞིབ་ཚགས་ཀྱི་བྱ་བའི་རྒྱུད་རིམ་མངོན་ལ། དེ་ཡིས་བོད་པའི་སྒྲུང་དང་གཏམ་རྒྱུད་ཁག་གི་དོན་ཡོངས་སུ་རྟོགས་པ་དང་རིག་གཞུང་གི་ནང་དོན་གང་ཡོད་ངོས་འཛིན་ཐུབ་པར། དེ་དག་ནང་གི་གཏམ་དཔེ་དང་དཔེ་འཇོག་གི་སྐད་ཆའི་རིགས་ཧ་གོ་དགོས་པའི་གལ་ཆེའི་རང་བཞིན་གསལ་སྟོན་བྱེད་ཅིང་། ཨ་ཅེ་ལྷ་མོའི་ནང་གི་གཞུང་བསྲེས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་པ་དག་གིས་རྒྱ་གར་གྱི་ནང་པའི་གཏམ་རྒྱུད་དག་བོད་པའི་རིག་གཞུང་དང་ལོ་རྒྱུས་ཀྱི་ཁོར་ཡུག་ངེས་ཅན་ཁྲོད་མཉམ་བསྲེས་དང་མཉམ་སྦྱར་བྱས་པ་བརྒྱུད་རྒྱ་གར་དང་བོད་ཀྱི་རིག་གཞུང་གི་དོན་ཕན་ལྡན་པའི་མཉམ་བསྲེས་དེ་ཇི་ལྟར་བྱུང་བ་བསྟན་ཡོད།།
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Yeshe Journal, Jul 28, 2023
The Tibetan-Mongolian interface that emerged in the 13th century led not only to the confluence o... more The Tibetan-Mongolian interface that emerged in the 13th century led not only to the confluence of these two cultures but also to the introduction of various Mongolian legal practices on the Tibetan plateau. A short document penned by the influential Sakya hierarch Lama Dampa Sönam Gyeltsen (1312-1375), translated and analyzed here, shows both how these practices affected policymaking in Tibetan monasteries and how Tibetans adopted the distinct Mongolian chancery style over time. At the same time, the text gives us an insight into the social history of central Tibet in the 14th century, especially the way in which dietary rules and the reconciliation of Buddhist ethics with local conventions were negotiated.
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Buddhist Studies Review, 2021
The Oral History of Tibetan Studies (OHTS) project collects memories of individuals who have cont... more The Oral History of Tibetan Studies (OHTS) project collects memories of individuals who have contributed to the formation of Tibetan Studies as an independent academic discipline in the second half of the twentieth century. Through interview recordings, it explores two aspects: the development of the discipline itself, and the distinctive life-stories of the individuals involved. The project includes scholars and academics, Tibetan teachers and traditional scholars, artists, photographers, book publishers, and sponsors. The oral testimonies also provide crucial information on related academic fields, such as Buddhist and Religious Studies, Anthropology, and Asian Studies more generally, and present a kaleidoscope of broader social, cultural, and educational developments. Of particular interest is the interconnection with Buddhist Studies, as exemplified in the UK and through links with the International Association of Buddhist Studies. This report aims to introduce the project, its open access online archive, and future plans. The Oral History of Tibetan Studies Project: Introduction Interviewer: What has your career in Indo-Tibetan Studies given to you? David Seyfort Ruegg: The answer is quite simple, my life. It's been a marvellous adventure; adventure in the best sense. The Oral History of Tibetan Studies (OHTS) archives the memories and lives of esteemed teachers and scholars who were inspired by their imagination, travels
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Buddhist Studies Review, 2021
The Oral History of Tibetan Studies (OHTS) project collects memories of individuals who have cont... more The Oral History of Tibetan Studies (OHTS) project collects memories of individuals who have contributed to the formation of Tibetan Studies as an independent academic discipline in the second half of the twentieth century. Through interview recordings, it explores two aspects: the development of the discipline itself, and the distinctive life-stories of the individuals involved. The project includes scholars and academics, Tibetan teachers and traditional scholars, artists, photographers, book publishers, and sponsors. The oral testimonies also provide crucial information on related academic fields, such as Buddhist and Religious Studies, Anthropology, and Asian Studies more generally, and present a kaleidoscope of broader social, cultural, and educational developments. Of particular interest is the interconnection with Buddhist Studies, as exemplified in the UK and through links with the International Association of Buddhist Studies. This report aims to introduce the project, its open access online archive, and future plans.
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Revue d'Etudes Tibétaines, 2020
This article discusses the following three motives, which were involved
in the translation of the... more This article discusses the following three motives, which were involved
in the translation of the Bar do thos grol chen mo into Mongolian. From a political view, texts (and rituals) can become symbols of power. Further, translations have devotional aspects, that is to say, they were done for the sake of merit production. Finally, a scholarly interest was taken in these texts, primarily due to the absence of a previous translation.
Moreover, I argue that a fourth reason, viz. didactic purposes, was a fundamental motivation as well.
Based on a textual analysis of the Mongolian BTG block print, the second part of this article aims to explore the translation techniques employed by the Mongolian translators for making this ritual text accessible to Mongolian readers, students and Buddhist adherents alike. Although previous scholarship has either stressed the political ramifications of Tibetan Buddhist patronage of the Mongolian groups or concluded that the Mongolian translations were not intended to be read, but rather served as vehicles of merit production and monuments of state power, the discussion below will highlight further levels of meaning involved in the production of this particular translation of the BTG.
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New Currents on the Neva River, Jul 6, 2020
Editorial to the proceedings of the 5th International Seminar of Young Tibetologists (ISYT) held ... more Editorial to the proceedings of the 5th International Seminar of Young Tibetologists (ISYT) held in St Petersburg, 2018
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The Tibetan performing art A lce lha mo (hereafter ache lhamo)—a form of opera accompanied by cym... more The Tibetan performing art A lce lha mo (hereafter ache lhamo)—a form of opera accompanied by cymbals and drums—has been subject to continuous contestation since its first development in the fourteenth century CE. The aim of this paper is to show that ache lhamo has become the centre of hegemonic interests and cultural policies—a contested site. By looking at the different methods of preservation it becomes evident that thereby new Tibetan identities are constructed. In order to generate authenticity claims of continuity within the ache lhamo traditions are (re-)developed and used as an economic tool in terms of tourism and a unifying one in the creation of identities.
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Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit dem Ritualtext „Die große Befreiung [durch] Hören im ... more Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit dem Ritualtext „Die große Befreiung [durch] Hören im Zwischenzustand (tib. bar do thos grol chen mo und wird im Folgenden mit BTG abgekürzt.)“. Dieser Text beschreibt die Begegnung mit dem Tod, die Vorbereitungen auf den Moment des Todes und die sich daran anschließenden Phasen bis zur erneuten Wieder-geburt. Ebenfalls werden im BTG grundlegende buddhistische Lehren von der Seelen-wanderung (tib. ’khor ba), den sogenannten sechs Schicksalen (tib. ’gro ba rigs drug) und der Existenz von Zwischenzuständen (tib. bar do) vermittelt.3
Anhand eines Blockdrucks des BTG in mongolischer Sprache aus dem frühen 18. Jahrhundert aus Peking sollen ökonomische, ontologische und historische Aspekte der Verbreitung des tibetischen Buddhismus unter den Mongolen zur Zeit der Qing-Dynastie untersucht werden...
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Die vorliegende Hausarbeit beschäftigt sich mit der tibetisch-buddhistischen Erwachungspra-xis na... more Die vorliegende Hausarbeit beschäftigt sich mit der tibetisch-buddhistischen Erwachungspra-xis namens Dzogchen (tib. rdzogs pa chen po), die die wesentliche Kernlehre des Buddhas repräsentiere. Die Etymologie des Begriffs beschreibt der Religionswissenschaftler John Myrdhin Reynolds wie folgt:
The Tibetan term Dzogchen (rdzogs-pa chen-po, Skt. mahasandhi) has usually been translated into English as the Great Perfection. This teaching is so called because it is complete and perfect (rdzogs-pa) in itself, with nothing lacking, and because there exists nothing higher or greater (chen-po) than it.
Nach einer allgemeinen Einführung in die philosophischen Grundlagen dieser Lehre im zwei-ten Kapitel, werden im anschließenden Hauptteil der Arbeit die verschiedenen (möglichen) Einflüsse auf die Dzogchen-Lehren beschrieben...
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The Tibetan form of theatre (or opera), known as Ache lhamo, has been continuously performed, pro... more The Tibetan form of theatre (or opera), known as Ache lhamo, has been continuously performed, probably since the yogin Thang-stong rgyal-po arguably developed this institution in the 15th century.
After the annexation of Tibet, the Chinese government, especially following the Cultural Revolution (1967-76), but also the Tibetan Government-in-Exile have attempted to promote and redefine some of the vibrant aspects of Tibetan culture, not least the Tibetan Ache lhamo Tradition. The Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) in Dharamsala was established to preserve this culture.
When in 2006 the PRC handed in a Nomination List to the Committee for intangible Cultural Heritage, Ache Lhamo (listed as Tibetan Opera) amongst other was included. As Robert Shepherd argues, the “UNESCO marks sites as worthy of protection because of their cultural and historical value, while Chinese authorities then transform these sites into elements in the state narrative of Chinese culture and civilization.” (Shepherd 2009:65) And furthermore points out that “[…] the preservation of cultural heritage paradoxically stimulates the (re)creation of this heritage.” (Shepherd 2009:71)
Based on data collected during field visits in India between 2011 and 2014, it is the intention of the present paper delivered at the ISYT 2015 Conference, to shed light on the two diverging interpretations and modes of preservation of Ache lhamo as represented by the institutions in TAR and in Dharamsala, highlighting the conceptual and theoretical differences in representing the Ache lhamo Drama format.
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Eine Untersuchung zu tibetischen NTE und mögliche Erklärungsansätze.
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Ache Lhamo. Wie wird die tibetische Oper als politisches Mittel benutzt und wie beeinflusst dies die sozio-kulturellen Bereiche tibetischer Gesellschaften?, Oct 8, 2013
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Edited Books by Daniel Wojahn
New Currents on the Neva River, Jul 6, 2020
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Books (edited) by Daniel Wojahn
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Book Reviews by Daniel Wojahn
Asian Ethnology 81 (1&2), 2022
Book review of Franz Xaver Erhard and Thomas Wild, Drumze: Metamorphosen des tibetischen Teppichs... more Book review of Franz Xaver Erhard and Thomas Wild, Drumze: Metamorphosen des tibetischen Teppichs Potsdam: Edition Tethys, 2021. 102 pp. 17 black and white illustrations, 54 color illustrations, 41 plates, 2 maps, bibliography. Hardcover, €42,00. ISBN: 9783942527132.
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Videos by Daniel Wojahn
In the search for answers to whether “law” (khrims) existed in pre-modern Tibet, previous scholarship has uncovered new aspects of khrims’ semantic and functional spectrum, which ranges from administration to morality, ideology, legislation and law. I would argue this is because the term khrims has undergone conceptual change(s). The aim of my talk is twofold: In the first part of the presentation, I will sketch in broad strokes the development of khrims from the beginnings of the “Tibetan empire” to the mid-13th century. I will highlight the various connotations of the term and provide the necessary background for the period (mid-13th century–1354 CE) of my work-in-progress dissertation. In the second part, I will build on this analysis and present my perspective on the meaning of hor khrims.
The talk was part of the Oxford TGSS online series. https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/series/tibetan-graduate-studies-seminar
Papers by Daniel Wojahn
རྩོམ་ཡིག་འདིར་བོད་ཀྱི་རྣམ་ཐར་ཨ་ཅེ་ལྷ་མོའི་གཞུང་བརྗོད་སྙིང་དུ་བཟུང་ཡོད། ཨ་ཅེ་ལྷ་མོའི་རྣམ་ཐར་ལྟ་བུའི་རིམ་པ་མང་པོ་ཅན་གྱི་ཟློས་གར་དག་ཞིབ་ཏུ་ཀློག་དུས། ཕལ་མོ་ཆེར་མིང་མི་གསལ་བའི་རྩོམ་པ་པོ་དག་བོད་པའི་བསམ་བློ་ངེས་ཅན་ཞིག་གཞུང་གི་ནང་བསྲེས་པར་ཞུགས་པའི་ཞིབ་ཚགས་ཀྱི་བྱ་བའི་རྒྱུད་རིམ་མངོན་ལ། དེ་ཡིས་བོད་པའི་སྒྲུང་དང་གཏམ་རྒྱུད་ཁག་གི་དོན་ཡོངས་སུ་རྟོགས་པ་དང་རིག་གཞུང་གི་ནང་དོན་གང་ཡོད་ངོས་འཛིན་ཐུབ་པར། དེ་དག་ནང་གི་གཏམ་དཔེ་དང་དཔེ་འཇོག་གི་སྐད་ཆའི་རིགས་ཧ་གོ་དགོས་པའི་གལ་ཆེའི་རང་བཞིན་གསལ་སྟོན་བྱེད་ཅིང་། ཨ་ཅེ་ལྷ་མོའི་ནང་གི་གཞུང་བསྲེས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་པ་དག་གིས་རྒྱ་གར་གྱི་ནང་པའི་གཏམ་རྒྱུད་དག་བོད་པའི་རིག་གཞུང་དང་ལོ་རྒྱུས་ཀྱི་ཁོར་ཡུག་ངེས་ཅན་ཁྲོད་མཉམ་བསྲེས་དང་མཉམ་སྦྱར་བྱས་པ་བརྒྱུད་རྒྱ་གར་དང་བོད་ཀྱི་རིག་གཞུང་གི་དོན་ཕན་ལྡན་པའི་མཉམ་བསྲེས་དེ་ཇི་ལྟར་བྱུང་བ་བསྟན་ཡོད།།
in the translation of the Bar do thos grol chen mo into Mongolian. From a political view, texts (and rituals) can become symbols of power. Further, translations have devotional aspects, that is to say, they were done for the sake of merit production. Finally, a scholarly interest was taken in these texts, primarily due to the absence of a previous translation.
Moreover, I argue that a fourth reason, viz. didactic purposes, was a fundamental motivation as well.
Based on a textual analysis of the Mongolian BTG block print, the second part of this article aims to explore the translation techniques employed by the Mongolian translators for making this ritual text accessible to Mongolian readers, students and Buddhist adherents alike. Although previous scholarship has either stressed the political ramifications of Tibetan Buddhist patronage of the Mongolian groups or concluded that the Mongolian translations were not intended to be read, but rather served as vehicles of merit production and monuments of state power, the discussion below will highlight further levels of meaning involved in the production of this particular translation of the BTG.
Anhand eines Blockdrucks des BTG in mongolischer Sprache aus dem frühen 18. Jahrhundert aus Peking sollen ökonomische, ontologische und historische Aspekte der Verbreitung des tibetischen Buddhismus unter den Mongolen zur Zeit der Qing-Dynastie untersucht werden...
The Tibetan term Dzogchen (rdzogs-pa chen-po, Skt. mahasandhi) has usually been translated into English as the Great Perfection. This teaching is so called because it is complete and perfect (rdzogs-pa) in itself, with nothing lacking, and because there exists nothing higher or greater (chen-po) than it.
Nach einer allgemeinen Einführung in die philosophischen Grundlagen dieser Lehre im zwei-ten Kapitel, werden im anschließenden Hauptteil der Arbeit die verschiedenen (möglichen) Einflüsse auf die Dzogchen-Lehren beschrieben...
After the annexation of Tibet, the Chinese government, especially following the Cultural Revolution (1967-76), but also the Tibetan Government-in-Exile have attempted to promote and redefine some of the vibrant aspects of Tibetan culture, not least the Tibetan Ache lhamo Tradition. The Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) in Dharamsala was established to preserve this culture.
When in 2006 the PRC handed in a Nomination List to the Committee for intangible Cultural Heritage, Ache Lhamo (listed as Tibetan Opera) amongst other was included. As Robert Shepherd argues, the “UNESCO marks sites as worthy of protection because of their cultural and historical value, while Chinese authorities then transform these sites into elements in the state narrative of Chinese culture and civilization.” (Shepherd 2009:65) And furthermore points out that “[…] the preservation of cultural heritage paradoxically stimulates the (re)creation of this heritage.” (Shepherd 2009:71)
Based on data collected during field visits in India between 2011 and 2014, it is the intention of the present paper delivered at the ISYT 2015 Conference, to shed light on the two diverging interpretations and modes of preservation of Ache lhamo as represented by the institutions in TAR and in Dharamsala, highlighting the conceptual and theoretical differences in representing the Ache lhamo Drama format.
Edited Books by Daniel Wojahn
Download full volume at http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/ret/pdf/ret_55.pdf
or see individual articles at http://www.digitalhimalaya.com/collections/journals/ret/index.php?selection=0
Books (edited) by Daniel Wojahn
Book Reviews by Daniel Wojahn
In the search for answers to whether “law” (khrims) existed in pre-modern Tibet, previous scholarship has uncovered new aspects of khrims’ semantic and functional spectrum, which ranges from administration to morality, ideology, legislation and law. I would argue this is because the term khrims has undergone conceptual change(s). The aim of my talk is twofold: In the first part of the presentation, I will sketch in broad strokes the development of khrims from the beginnings of the “Tibetan empire” to the mid-13th century. I will highlight the various connotations of the term and provide the necessary background for the period (mid-13th century–1354 CE) of my work-in-progress dissertation. In the second part, I will build on this analysis and present my perspective on the meaning of hor khrims.
The talk was part of the Oxford TGSS online series. https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/series/tibetan-graduate-studies-seminar
རྩོམ་ཡིག་འདིར་བོད་ཀྱི་རྣམ་ཐར་ཨ་ཅེ་ལྷ་མོའི་གཞུང་བརྗོད་སྙིང་དུ་བཟུང་ཡོད། ཨ་ཅེ་ལྷ་མོའི་རྣམ་ཐར་ལྟ་བུའི་རིམ་པ་མང་པོ་ཅན་གྱི་ཟློས་གར་དག་ཞིབ་ཏུ་ཀློག་དུས། ཕལ་མོ་ཆེར་མིང་མི་གསལ་བའི་རྩོམ་པ་པོ་དག་བོད་པའི་བསམ་བློ་ངེས་ཅན་ཞིག་གཞུང་གི་ནང་བསྲེས་པར་ཞུགས་པའི་ཞིབ་ཚགས་ཀྱི་བྱ་བའི་རྒྱུད་རིམ་མངོན་ལ། དེ་ཡིས་བོད་པའི་སྒྲུང་དང་གཏམ་རྒྱུད་ཁག་གི་དོན་ཡོངས་སུ་རྟོགས་པ་དང་རིག་གཞུང་གི་ནང་དོན་གང་ཡོད་ངོས་འཛིན་ཐུབ་པར། དེ་དག་ནང་གི་གཏམ་དཔེ་དང་དཔེ་འཇོག་གི་སྐད་ཆའི་རིགས་ཧ་གོ་དགོས་པའི་གལ་ཆེའི་རང་བཞིན་གསལ་སྟོན་བྱེད་ཅིང་། ཨ་ཅེ་ལྷ་མོའི་ནང་གི་གཞུང་བསྲེས་ཀྱི་རྣམ་པ་དག་གིས་རྒྱ་གར་གྱི་ནང་པའི་གཏམ་རྒྱུད་དག་བོད་པའི་རིག་གཞུང་དང་ལོ་རྒྱུས་ཀྱི་ཁོར་ཡུག་ངེས་ཅན་ཁྲོད་མཉམ་བསྲེས་དང་མཉམ་སྦྱར་བྱས་པ་བརྒྱུད་རྒྱ་གར་དང་བོད་ཀྱི་རིག་གཞུང་གི་དོན་ཕན་ལྡན་པའི་མཉམ་བསྲེས་དེ་ཇི་ལྟར་བྱུང་བ་བསྟན་ཡོད།།
in the translation of the Bar do thos grol chen mo into Mongolian. From a political view, texts (and rituals) can become symbols of power. Further, translations have devotional aspects, that is to say, they were done for the sake of merit production. Finally, a scholarly interest was taken in these texts, primarily due to the absence of a previous translation.
Moreover, I argue that a fourth reason, viz. didactic purposes, was a fundamental motivation as well.
Based on a textual analysis of the Mongolian BTG block print, the second part of this article aims to explore the translation techniques employed by the Mongolian translators for making this ritual text accessible to Mongolian readers, students and Buddhist adherents alike. Although previous scholarship has either stressed the political ramifications of Tibetan Buddhist patronage of the Mongolian groups or concluded that the Mongolian translations were not intended to be read, but rather served as vehicles of merit production and monuments of state power, the discussion below will highlight further levels of meaning involved in the production of this particular translation of the BTG.
Anhand eines Blockdrucks des BTG in mongolischer Sprache aus dem frühen 18. Jahrhundert aus Peking sollen ökonomische, ontologische und historische Aspekte der Verbreitung des tibetischen Buddhismus unter den Mongolen zur Zeit der Qing-Dynastie untersucht werden...
The Tibetan term Dzogchen (rdzogs-pa chen-po, Skt. mahasandhi) has usually been translated into English as the Great Perfection. This teaching is so called because it is complete and perfect (rdzogs-pa) in itself, with nothing lacking, and because there exists nothing higher or greater (chen-po) than it.
Nach einer allgemeinen Einführung in die philosophischen Grundlagen dieser Lehre im zwei-ten Kapitel, werden im anschließenden Hauptteil der Arbeit die verschiedenen (möglichen) Einflüsse auf die Dzogchen-Lehren beschrieben...
After the annexation of Tibet, the Chinese government, especially following the Cultural Revolution (1967-76), but also the Tibetan Government-in-Exile have attempted to promote and redefine some of the vibrant aspects of Tibetan culture, not least the Tibetan Ache lhamo Tradition. The Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) in Dharamsala was established to preserve this culture.
When in 2006 the PRC handed in a Nomination List to the Committee for intangible Cultural Heritage, Ache Lhamo (listed as Tibetan Opera) amongst other was included. As Robert Shepherd argues, the “UNESCO marks sites as worthy of protection because of their cultural and historical value, while Chinese authorities then transform these sites into elements in the state narrative of Chinese culture and civilization.” (Shepherd 2009:65) And furthermore points out that “[…] the preservation of cultural heritage paradoxically stimulates the (re)creation of this heritage.” (Shepherd 2009:71)
Based on data collected during field visits in India between 2011 and 2014, it is the intention of the present paper delivered at the ISYT 2015 Conference, to shed light on the two diverging interpretations and modes of preservation of Ache lhamo as represented by the institutions in TAR and in Dharamsala, highlighting the conceptual and theoretical differences in representing the Ache lhamo Drama format.
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