Tibetan Renaissance: Tantric Buddhism in the Rebirth of Tibetan Culture

Voorkant
Columbia University Press, 21 sep 2005 - 616 pagina's
How did a society on the edge of collapse and dominated by wandering bands of armed men give way to a vibrant Buddhist culture, led by yogins and scholars? Ronald M. Davidson explores how the translation and spread of esoteric Buddhist texts dramatically shaped Tibetan society and led to its rise as the center of Buddhist culture throughout Asia, replacing India as the perceived source of religious ideology and tradition. During the Tibetan Renaissance (950-1200 C.E.), monks and yogins translated an enormous number of Indian Buddhist texts. They employed the evolving literature and practices of esoteric Buddhism as the basis to reconstruct Tibetan religious, cultural, and political institutions. Many translators achieved the de facto status of feudal lords and while not always loyal to their Buddhist vows, these figures helped solidify political power in the hands of religious authorities and began a process that led to the Dalai Lama's theocracy. Davidson's vivid portraits of the monks, priests, popular preachers, yogins, and aristocratic clans who changed Tibetan society and culture further enhance his perspectives on the tensions and transformations that characterized medieval Tibet.
 

Inhoudsopgave

Preface
Introduction
Historical Agents in the Renaissance
Renaissance as a Trope
The Demise of Dynasty and a Poorly Lit Path
The Eastern Vinaya Monks
Translators as the New Aristocracy
The Doyen of Central Tibetan Translators
Ethical Crises
Esoteric Clarification and the Integration of the Exegetical System
The Buddhist Context and Early Sakya Pedagogical Works
Notes
Glossary
Eastern Vinaya Temples Cave Temples and Residences in
Notes to Appendices
Notes to the Edition

Treasure Texts the Imperial Legacy and the Great Perfection
From Esoteric Lineages to Clan
A Confident Tibetan Buddhism
Abbreviations
Index
Copyright

Overige edities - Alles bekijken

Veelvoorkomende woorden en zinsdelen

Over de auteur (2005)

Ronald M. Davidson is professor of religious studies at Fairfield University. He is the author of Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement (Columbia) and the coeditor (with Steven D. Goodman) of Tibetan Buddhism: Reason and Revelation.

Bibliografische gegevens