Tantra and Popular Religion in Tibet [Hardcover]

originally presented at the University of Newcastle (NSW, Australia) in 1988. Participants from Australia and New Zealand provided a rare glimpse into the interaction between monastic Buddhism and folk religion/lay devotees as observed, with two exceptions (Templeman, Samuel), during their field trip/work in Tibetan and Himalayan communities. In addition to historical and textual analyses (Templeman, Huber, Stutchbury), the ethnographic findings were interpreted in the framework/filtered through the lenses of (cultural) anthropology and sociology.

Span Hanna: "Vast as the sky. The terma tradition in modern Tibet" (pp. 1-13) - Western eyewitness account of a female treasure-revealer in action at Bonri (Derge county, Kham?).

David Templeman: "Dohá, vajragíti and caryá songs" (pp. 15-38) - fine overview of the genre of Buddhist Tantric songs, with inspired quotes from the likes of Kánha, Táranátha, the 6th Traleg Tulku Nyima Tashi, et al.

Toni Huber: "When what you see is not what you get. Remarks on the traditional Tibetan presentation of sacred geography" (pp. 39-52) - discusses pilgrimage and related guidebook literature as per the "Guide to Lapchi" written by the 34th Drigung Kagyü hierarch in 1901.

Geoffrey Samuel: "Ge Sar of gLing. Shamanic power and popular religion" (pp. 53-78) - heeding Tarthang Tulku's suggestion as to Gesar being viewed as the epitome of the 'unique kind of energy,...open and responsive, never stuck or frozen into set patterns,' the author argues the legendary (pan-Tibetan) hero's "secular power is almost incidental to his shamanic role as a tamer of demonic forces...personified as kings, and characterised by their attachment to power over others" (p. 69). Hence his mission, not unlike that of nomadic alliances in (North)East Tibet, lies in countering the development of hierarchical institutions and state power.

John Draper: "Lama knows. Religion and power in Sherpa society" (pp. 79-134) - explores the social dynamics concerning the monastic faction's control of spiritual knowledge, the role of shamanic healers-diviners (e.g., lhawa, minung, banzin), transcendental and pragmatic orientations, exorcistic rituals, etc. "There are no 'mad saint' heroes...as there are in Tibet, no subversive healing cults or other similar vehicles for expressing opposition to the monasteries. There are no lay political groupings such as lay gerontocracy which might challenge the authority of the religious elite. And there are no significant lay rites of passage which might create such groupings" (p. 105).

Ana Marko: "'Cham [sacred dance]. Ritual as myth in a Ladakhi gompa [monastery of Spituk]" (pp. 135-53).

Elisabeth Stuchbury: "The making of gonpa. Norbu Rinpoche from Kardang and Kunga Rinpoche from Lama gonpa" (pp. 155-204) - thanks to extensive oral communications conducted between 1981-84 in the remote Karzha valley of Lahul (Himachal Pradesh, India), we get acquainted with the history of Kardang monastery (founded 1912) through unraveling the Drukpa Kagyü lineage that connects the Khampa (East Tibetan) Togden Shákya Shrí with two of his disciples from Lahul: Norbu Rinpoche (1883?-1947) and Kunga Rinpoche (1884?-1967).

This review is based on the first edition: International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi 1994.