This work documents marriage customs and related oral traditions in Bang smad Village, Bang smad Township, Nyag rong County, Dkar mdzes Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. Villagers speak the poorly documented Mi nyag language. This study provides novel linguistic and ethnographic data, including a Mi nyag-English word list, maps showing the distribution of Mi nyag-speaking communities, and numerous full-color photographs of village life and wedding festivities. Of special interest are the transcribed wedding speeches locally given in Mi nyag and Tibetan. Audio related to this publication can be found at: http://www.oralliterature.org/collections/bkrashis001.html

E-kniha Chapters from Lives of Tibetans byla napsána magisterskými a doktorskými studenty tibetanistiky jako přehled, respektive učební pomůcka pro bakalářské studenty, kteří se poprvé setkávají s výukou tibetských kulturních reálií. Jejím cílem je stručně rekapitulovat život Tibeťana od narození až do smrti a při tom se zaměřit na některé důležité aspekty tibetské kultury. V jedenácti kapitolách popisuje porod a péči o děti, přechodové rituály včetně svatby, rodinný život, zaměstnání, zábavu, příklady výročních a náboženských rituálů, smrt a pohřební rituály. Kromě toho chce publikace seznámit čtenáře s tibetskými termíny užívanými v daném kontextu a v literatuře, a dát tím náměty pro další četbu a konverzaci v tibetštině.

At publication date, a free ebook version of this title will be available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. The Monastery Rules discusses the position of the monasteries in pre-1950s Tibetan Buddhist societies and how that position was informed by the far-reaching relationship of monastic Buddhism with Tibetan society, economy, law, and culture. Jansen focuses her study on monastic guidelines, or bca’ yig. The first study of its kind to examine the genre in detail, the book contains an exploration of its parallels in other Buddhist cultures, its connection to the Vinaya, and its value as socio-historical source-material. The guidelines are witness to certain socio-economic changes, while also containing rules that aim to change the monastery in order to preserve it. Jansen argues that the monastic institutions’ influence on society was maintained not merely due to prevailing power-relations, but also because of certain deep-rooted Buddhist beliefs.

Exiled from his native land by the Communist Chinese, Tibetan lama Dezhung Rinpoche arrived in Seattle and continued his role as a teacher of teachers, mentoring some of the most prominent Western scholars of Tibetan Buddhism today.

Tibetan Demonology discusses the rich taxonomy of gods and demons encountered in Tibet. These spirits are often the cause of, and exhorted for, diverse violent and wrathful activities. This Element consists of four thematic sections. The first section, 'Spirits and the Body', explores oracular possession and spirit-induced illnesses. The second section, 'Spirits and Time', discusses the role of gods in Tibetan astrology and ritual calendars. The third section, 'Spirits and Space', examines the relationship between divinities and the Tibetan landscape. The final section, 'Spirits and Doctrine', explores how certain deities act as fierce protectors of religious and political institutions.

Investigates the endangerment of languages and the loss of traditional cultural diversity, and how to respond.

Frontier Tibet addresses a historical sequence that sealed the future of the Sino-Tibetan borderlands. It considers how starting in the late nineteenth century imperial formations and emerging nation-states developed competing schemes of integration and debated about where the border between China and Tibet should be. It also ponders the ways in which this border is internalised today, creating within the People's Republic of China a space that retains some characteristics of a historical frontier. The region of eastern Tibet called Kham, the focus of this volume, is a productive lens through which processes of place-making and frontier dynamics can be analysed. Using historical records and ethnography, the authors challenge purely externalist approaches to convey a sense of Kham's own centrality and the agency of the actors involved. They contribute to a history from below that is relevant to the history of China and Tibet, and of comparative value for borderland studies.