DOCSLIB.ORG

The Buddhist Historiography of the Mongol Zawa Damdin Luwsandamdin (1867-1937)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Buddhist Historiography of the Mongol Zawa Damdin Luwsandamdin (1867-1937) Writing True Places in the Twilight of Empire and the Dawn of Revolution: The Buddhist Historiography of the Mongol Zawa Damdin Luwsandamdin (1867-1937) by Matthew William King A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department for the Study of Religion University of Toronto © Copyright by Matthew William King 2014 Writing True Places in the Twilight of Empire and the Dawn of Revolution: The Buddhist Historiography of the Mongol Zawa Damdin Luwsandamdin (1867-1937) Matthew William King Doctor of Philosophy Department for the Study of Religion University of Toronto 2014 Abstract This dissertation examines the life and historiography of the Khalkha Mongol polymath, Zawa Damdin Luwsandamdin (bLo bzang rta mgrin; bLo bzang rta dbyangs) (1867-1937); a Buddhist monk, abbot, pilgrim, and modernist discontent who wandered extensively through the shifting socio-political landscape of the Qing-socialist transition in Outer Mongolia. Focusing upon Zawa Damdin’s autobiographical and historiographic works, previously unexamined outside of Mongolia, in the first place this study analyzes monastic literary constructs of the space and time of Mongolian Buddhism after the Qing imperial collapse in 1911, and before the purges of the late 1930s. Drawing upon Michel de Certeau’s notion of the “historiographic operation” and Mikhail Bakhtin’s notion of the chronotope, in the second place this dissertation explores the generative practices of monastic historiography, focusing especially upon interpretative techniques and writing strategies. What emerges is Zawa Damdin’s stark dystopian-utopian contrast between the degeneracy of the revolutionary-era and a embattled monasticism, and an idealized form of Buddhist authority most fully manifested during the Qing formation but long absent by the author’s present. Zawa Damdin inscribed this binary firmly embedded within a Tibeto-Mongolian Buddhist interpretative community, but still drew upon newly available ii European scholarship on nationalism, science, Asia and Buddhism. This dissertation suggests that holistic analyses of Inner Asian Buddhist mediations of modernist trends in the late-and post-imperium could contribute to a dynamic, and much needed, cultural history of both Orientalism and Occidentalism. iii Acknowledgments The completion of this dissertation was made possible through the financial assistance of several programs and institutions. I wish to acknowledge the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Association for Asian Studies, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program, the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion, the Khyentse Foundation, the Sheng-Yen Lu Foundation, and the University of Toronto’s Asian Institute and Julia Ching Memorial Fellowship in Chinese Thought and Culture. I have benefited from the kind assistance, critique and support of many individuals during my dissertation research, without which this project would have never been brought to completion. I owe my greatest debt to my supervisor, Frances Garrett, for her ongoing support of this dissertation project, but also for so generously directing many other research, teaching, and travel endeavors that have greatly enriched my graduate training while at the University of Toronto. In all that, I, like Prof. Garrett’s other students, am especially grateful for her own creative research and innovative teaching that serve as example to which we can only aspire. Similarly, I am eternally indebted to the other members of my dissertation committee, Profs. Natalie Rothman and Amanda Goodman, for their encouragement, patience, and especially their critique of this and other projects. Their exemplary scholarship and generosity as supervisors has helped me extend this dissertation in incredibly helpful ways. They too set an example of scholarship, collegiality, and excellence in teaching to which I aspire. This project also owes a tremendous debt to Khenpo Kunga Sherab, my kind friend and consultant on all things Tibetan and Buddhist. Khenpo has made himself available to patiently work with me on all of the texts treated in this project and others besides, always taking time to work through the often confusing concepts they evoke. Our hundreds of hours together on this and other research projects, in addition to our daily conversations in our shared office, has been iv an entirely unexpected course of study in Buddhism alongside my graduate program at the University of Toronto. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have studied under (and alongside) such a learned Tibetan scholar trained in the traditional monastic system (though, all mistakes in doctrinal and historical matters in this study are my own). Earlier in my graduate career, Thubten Champa graciously helped me begin working through these materials outside of his seminars on Classical Tibetan, and so I also wish to thank him here. Also at the University of Toronto, I would like to thank Professor Pamela Klassen, who has been very generous in inviting me to collaborate with her in print and to share my research with a variety of academic audiences in the study of religion. Her example as a gracious, imaginative scholar and teacher continue to inspire, and have helped extend the horizons of what I hope to accomplish after this dissertation. Thank you also to Professors Christoph Emmrich, Juhn Ahn, Amira Mittermaier, Jennifer Harris, Simon Coleman, and Joseph Bryant who have all, at different times and in different ways, generously given feedback on parts of this project. More recently, Professor Emeritus Wayne Schlepp has been especially kind with his time and expertize on issues related to the Classical Mongolian language. Graduate student colleagues in Toronto and elsewhere who have helped me think through this material include Uranchimeg Tsultem, Maria Dasios, Andrew Erlich, Ryan Jones, Barbara Hazelton, Rory Lindsay, Bryan Levman, Nicholas Field, Arun Brahmbhatt, Tim Langille, Simon Wickham-Smith, and Sunmin Yoon. Paul Nahme, now Assistant Professor at Brown University, has long been a close friend whose intellectual abilities, determination, warmth and humor in the study of Judaism continue to support, direct, and inspire my own work on Buddhist traditions. Rebecca Bartel has also been a close friend and outstanding interlocutor whose far ranging interests and academic ability have shaped this dissertation tremendously. Ben Wood and Sarah Richardson, graduate student v colleagues and close friends in Buddhist Studies at Toronto, have provided tremendous feedback and support for this and other projects, and will be missed as we all move forward. Outside the University of Toronto, I have been the recipient of tremendous support and enthusiasm from scholars and graduate student colleagues. Their feedback has not only helped direct the present study, but continues to sustain my fascination with Inner Asian Buddhism. Especially, thank you to Professor Vesna Wallace at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who has for many years supported this project over coffee and sweets in places as diverse as Ulaanbaatar and San Diego. Tremendous thanks also to Professor Johan Elverskog of Southern Methodist University, whose creative scholarship on Mongolian Buddhist history inspired my own academic route many years ago, and who over the course of this project became a very generous and supportive interlocutor. This project also benefited from several conversations with Professor Christopher Atwood and Dr. Lauran Hartley’s assistance in accessing materials held in Columbia University’s Tibetan Studies library. Many Mongolian friends and colleagues, all of whom I cannot thank here, supported this project amidst the unpredictability that often defines research and travel Mongolia and Tibetan regions of the PRC. For their hospitality and support (and for helping me recover from many illnesses, providing food and housing, arranging meetings, rescuing me from broken-down vans deep in the Gobi, and countless other “obstacle blessings”), I wish to thank in Mongolia: Boldbaatar Nyemsuren, his wife Nomon, his brothers and his mother; Damdin Gerlee and her extended family, especially her recently departed mother; Tusheet Lam; Gombo Lam; the abbot and monks of Amarbayusgalant Monastery; and the centenarian Guru Dewa Rinpoche and his staff, with whom I stayed several times before Rinpoche’s passing. A most sincere thanks to Munkchimeg Tserendorj, a colleague and friend at the National Library of Mongolia, who continues to be so generous in helping locate contemporary Mongolian scholarship on Zawa vi Damdin. My most sincere thanks to the current incarnation of Zawa Damdin, Zawa Rinpoche Luwsandarjaa, his entire family (especially Ama-la and Bilguun), and all the monks at Delgeriin Choir in Dungov Aimag: their hospitality and help has been overwhelming. In Qinghai Province (PRC), I’d like to acknowledge the help and friendship of Wendekar Bod and his family. In the Yushu area, I’d like to sincerely thank Jamdak, Lamgön and Nyéthen and their extended Gégyel family for their help during the panic of the awful 2010 Yushu earthquake. Thank you to my family for their patience and support. To my parents and sister for their patience and encouragement, even as this path must have seemed bewildering at times! Zasep Jamseng Rinpoche first invited me to Mongolia prior to graduate school, suggested I pursue Buddhist Studies at the graduate level, and has used his position to help support this project for many years,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Cross-Currents 31 | 1 Introduction
    UC Berkeley Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review Title Introduction to "Buddhist Art of Mongolia: Cross-Cultural Connections, Discoveries, and Interpretations" Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5kj9c57m Journal Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review, 1(31) ISSN 2158-9674 Author Tsultemin, Uranchimeg Publication Date 2019-06-01 eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Introduction to “Buddhist Art of Mongolia: Cross-Cultural Connections, Discoveries, and Interpretations” Uranchimeg Tsultemin, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Uranchimeg, Tsultemin. 2019. “Introduction to ‘Buddhist Art of Mongolia: Cross-Cultural Connections, Discoveries, and Interpretations.’” Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review (e-journal) 31: 1– 6. https://cross-currents.berkeley.edu/e-journal/issue-31/introduction. A comparative and analytical discussion of Mongolian Buddhist art is a long overdue project. In the 1970s and 1980s, Nyam-Osoryn Tsultem’s lavishly illustrated publications broke ground for the study of Mongolian Buddhist art.1 His five-volume work was organized by genre (painting, sculpture, architecture, decorative arts) and included a monograph on a single artist, Zanabazar (Tsultem 1982a, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989). Tsultem’s books introduced readers to the major Buddhist art centers and sites, artists and their works, techniques, media, and styles. He developed and wrote extensively about his concepts of “schools”—including the school of Zanabazar and the school of Ikh Khüree—inspired by Mongolian ger- (yurt-) based education, the artists’ teacher- disciple or preceptor-apprentice relationships, and monastic workshops for rituals and production of art. The very concept of “schools” and its underpinning methodology itself derives from the Medieval European practice of workshops and, for example, the model of scuola (school) evidenced in Italy.
    [Show full text]
  • Studies in Buddhist Hetuvidyā (Epistemology and Logic ) in Europe and Russia
    Nataliya Kanaeva STUDIES IN BUDDHIST HETUVIDYĀ (EPISTEMOLOGY AND LOGIC ) IN EUROPE AND RUSSIA Working Paper WP20/2015/01 Series WP20 Philosophy of Culture and Cultural Studies Moscow 2015 УДК 24 ББК 86.36 K19 Editor of the series WP20 «Philosophy of Culture and Cultural Studies» Vitaly Kurennoy Kanaeva, Nataliya. K19 Studies in Buddhist Hetuvidyā (Epistemology and Logic ) in Europe and Russia [Text] : Working paper WP20/2015/01 / N. Kanaeva ; National Research University Higher School of Economics. – Moscow : Higher School of Economics Publ. House, 2015. – (Series WP20 “Philosophy of Culture and Cultural Studiesˮ) – 52 p. – 20 copies. This publication presents an overview of the situation in studies of Buddhist epistemology and logic in Western Europe and in Russia. Those studies are the young direction of Buddhology, and they started only at the beginning of the XX century. There are considered the main schools, their representatives, the directions of their researches and achievements in the review. The activity of Russian scientists in this field was not looked through ever before. УДК 24 ББК 86.36 This study (research grant № 14-01-0006) was supported by The National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow). Academic Fund Program in 2014–2015. Kanaeva Nataliya – National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow). Department of Humanities. School of Philosophy. Assistant professor; [email protected]. Канаева, Н. А. Исследования буддийской хетувидьи (эпистемологии и логики) в Европе и России (обзор) [Текст] : препринт WP20/2015/01 / Н. А. Канаева ; Нац. исслед. ун-т «Высшая школа экономи- ки». – М.: Изд. дом Высшей школы экономики, 2015. – (Серия WP20 «Философия и исследо- вания культуры»).
    [Show full text]
  • Tibeto-Mongol and Chinese Buddhism in Present-Day Hohhot, Inner Mongolia: Competition and Interactions Isabelle Charleux
    Tibeto-Mongol and Chinese Buddhism in Present-day Hohhot, Inner Mongolia: Competition and Interactions Isabelle Charleux To cite this version: Isabelle Charleux. Tibeto-Mongol and Chinese Buddhism in Present-day Hohhot, Inner Mongolia: Competition and Interactions. Sino-Tibetan Buddhism across the Ages, 5, 2021, Studies on East Asian Religions. halshs-03327320 HAL Id: halshs-03327320 https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-03327320 Submitted on 27 Aug 2021 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Isabelle Charleux. Authors’ own file, not the published version in Sino-Tibetan Buddhism across the Ages, Ester Bianchi & Shen Weirong (dir.), Brill : Leyde & Boston (Studies on East Asian Religious, vol. 5), 2021 Tibeto-Mongol and Chinese Buddhism in Present-day Hohhot, Inner Mongolia: Competition and Interactions Isabelle Charleux* Abstract This chapter investigates the architecture, icons, and activities of two Buddhist monasteries of the Old City of Hohhot, capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China: the (Tibeto-)Mongol Yeke juu (Ch. Dazhao[si]) and the Chinese Buddhist Guanyinsi. In it, I present a global view of the Buddhist revival of the Mongol monasteries of Hohhot since the 1980s, with a focus on the material culture—architecture, cult objects, and “decoration”—of the sites.
    [Show full text]
  • Buddhism / Dalai Lama 99
    Buddhism / Dalai Lama 99 Activating Bodhichitta and A Meditation on Compassion His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Translated by Gonsar Rinpoche The awakening mind is the unsurpassable way to collect merit. To purify obstacles bodhicitta is supreme. For protection from interferences bodhicitta is supreme. It is the unique, all-encompassing method. Every kind of ordinary and supra-mundane power can be accomplished through bodhicitta. Thus, it is absolutely precious. Although compassion is cultivated in one’s own mind, the embodiment of it is the deity known as Avalokiteshvara (Tib. Chan-re- PY: 1979,2006 zig). The various aspects that are visualized in meditation practices and 5.5 X 8.5 represented in images and paintings are merely the interpretative forms of 80 pages Avalokitephvara, whereas the actual definitive form is compassion itself. ` 140 paperback ISBN: 81-86470-52-2 Awakening the Mind, Lightening the Heart His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Edited by Donald S.Lopez,Jr. Awakening the Mind, Lightening the Heart is His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s gentle and profoundly eloquent instruction for developing the basis of the spiritual path: a compassionate motive. With extraordinary grace and insight, His Holiness shows how the Tibetan Buddist teachings on compassion can be practiced in our daily lives through simple meditations that directly relate to past and present PY: 2008 relationships. 5.5 X 8.5 This illuminating and highly accessible guide offers techniques for 178 pages deepening and heightening compassion in our lives and the world around ` 215 paperback us. ISBN: 81-86470-68-9 Commentary on the Thirty Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Translated by Acharya Nyima Tsering Ngulchu Gyalse Thogmed Zangpo’s The Thirty Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva is one of Tibetan Buddhism’s most popular texts, incorporated in the Mind Training text and also able to be explained according to the Lam Rim tradition.
    [Show full text]
  • PDF Generated By
    OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRSTPROOFS, Mon Dec 07 2015, NEWGEN 3 Vajrayāna Traditions in Nepal Todd Lewis and Naresh Man Bajracarya Introduction The existence of tantric traditions in the Kathmandu Valley dates back at least a thousand years and has been integral to the Hindu– Buddhist civi- lization of the Newars, its indigenous people, until the present day. This chapter introduces what is known about the history of the tantric Buddhist tradition there, then presents an analysis of its development in the pre- modern era during the Malla period (1200–1768 ce), and then charts changes under Shah rule (1769–2007). We then sketch Newar Vajrayāna Buddhism’s current characteristics, its leading tantric masters,1 and efforts in recent decades to revitalize it among Newar practitioners. This portrait,2 especially its history of Newar Buddhism, cannot yet be more than tentative in many places, since scholarship has not even adequately documented the textual and epigraphic sources, much less analyzed them systematically.3 The epigraphic record includes over a thousand inscrip- tions, the earliest dating back to 464 ce, tens of thousands of manuscripts, the earliest dating back to 998 ce, as well as the myriad cultural traditions related to them, from art and architecture, to music and ritual. The religious traditions still practiced by the Newars of the Kathmandu Valley represent a unique, continuing survival of Indic religions, including Mahāyāna- Vajrayāna forms of Buddhism (Lienhard 1984; Gellner 1992). Rivaling in historical importance the Sanskrit texts in Nepal’s libraries that informed the Western “discovery” of Buddhism in the nineteenth century (Hodgson 1868; Levi 1905– 1908; Locke 1980, 1985), Newar Vajrayāna acprof-9780199763689.indd 872C28B.1F1 Master Template has been finalized on 19- 02- 2015 12/7/2015 6:28:54 PM OUP UNCORRECTED PROOF – FIRSTPROOFS, Mon Dec 07 2015, NEWGEN 88 TanTric TradiTions in Transmission and TranslaTion tradition in the Kathmandu Valley preserves a rich legacy of vernacular texts, rituals, and institutions.
    [Show full text]
  • Learn Tibetan & Study Buddhism
    fpmt Mandala BLISSFUL RAYS OF THE MANDALA IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS JULY - SEPTEMBER 2012 TEACHING A GOOD HEART: FPMT REGISTERED TEACHERS THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE FOUNDATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE MAHAYANA TRADITION Wisdom Publications Delve into the heart of emptiness. INSIGHT INTO EMPTINESS Khensur Jampa Tegchok Edited by Thubten Chodron A former abbot of Sera Monastic University, Khensur Jampa Tegchok here unpacks with great erudi- tion Buddhism’s animating philosophical principle—the emptiness of all appearances. “Khensur Rinpoche Jampa Tegchok is renowned for his keen understanding of philosophy, and of Madhyamaka in particular. Here you will find vital points and reasoning for a clear understanding of emptiness.”—Lama Zopa Rinpoche, author of How to Be Happy 9781614290131 “This is one of the best introductions to the philosophy of emptiness 336 pages | $18.95 I have ever read.”—José Ignacio Cabezón, Dalai Lama Professor and eBook 9781614290223 Chair, Religious Studies Department, UC Santa Barbara Wisdom Essentials JOURNEY TO CERTAINTY The Quintessence of the Dzogchen View: An Exploration of Mipham’s Beacon of Certainty Anyen Rinpoche Translated and edited by Allison Choying Zangmo Approachable yet sophisticated, this book takes the reader on a gently guided tour of one of the most important texts Tibetan Buddhism has to offer. “Anyen Rinpoche flawlessly presents the reader with the unique perspective that belongs to a true scholar-yogi. A must-read for philosophers and practitioners.” —Erik Pema Kunsang, author of Wellsprings of the Great Perfection and 9781614290094 248 pages | $17.95 compiler of Blazing Splendor eBook 9781614290179 ESSENTIAL MIND TRAINING Thupten Jinpa “The clarity and raw power of these thousand-year-old teachings of the great Kadampa masters are astonishingly fresh.”—Buddhadharma “This volume can break new ground in bridging the ancient wisdom of Buddhism with the cutting-edge positive psychology of happiness.” —B.
    [Show full text]
  • Recounting the Fifth Dalai Lama's Rebirth Lineage
    Recounting the Fifth Dalai Lama’s Rebirth Lineage Nancy G. Lin1 (Vanderbilt University) Faced with something immensely large or unknown, of which we still do not know enough or of which we shall never know, the author proposes a list as a specimen, example, or indication, leaving the reader to imagine the rest. —Umberto Eco, The Infinity of Lists2 ncarnation lineages naming the past lives of eminent lamas have circulated since the twelfth century, that is, roughly I around the same time that the practice of identifying reincarnating Tibetan lamas, or tulkus (sprul sku), began.3 From the twelfth through eighteenth centuries it appears that incarnation or rebirth lineages (sku phreng, ’khrungs rabs, etc.) of eminent lamas rarely exceeded twenty members as presented in such sources as their auto/biographies, supplication prayers, and portraits; Dölpopa Sherab Gyeltsen (Dol po pa Shes rab rgyal mtshan, 1292–1361), one such exception, had thirty-two. Among other eminent lamas who traced their previous lives to the distant Indic past, the lineages of Nyangrel Nyima Özer (Nyang ral Nyi ma ’od zer, 1124–1192) had up 1 I thank the organizers and participants of the USF Symposium on The Tulku Institution in Tibetan Buddhism, where this paper originated, along with those of the Harvard Buddhist Studies Forum—especially José Cabezón, Jake Dalton, Michael Sheehy, and Nicole Willock for the feedback and resources they shared. I am further indebted to Tony K. Stewart, Anand Taneja, Bryan Lowe, Dianna Bell, and Rae Erin Dachille for comments on drafted materials. I thank the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange for their generous support during the final stages of revision.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism, Revised Edition
    REVISED EDITION John Powers ITTB_Interior 9/20/07 2:23 PM Page 1 Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism ITTB_Interior 9/20/07 2:23 PM Page 2 ITTB_Interior 9/20/07 2:23 PM Page 3 Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism revised edition by John Powers Snow Lion Publications ithaca, new york • boulder, colorado ITTB_Interior 9/20/07 2:23 PM Page 4 Snow Lion Publications P.O. Box 6483 • Ithaca, NY 14851 USA (607) 273-8519 • www.snowlionpub.com © 1995, 2007 by John Powers All rights reserved. First edition 1995 Second edition 2007 No portion of this book may be reproduced by any means without prior written permission from the publisher. Printed in Canada on acid-free recycled paper. Designed and typeset by Gopa & Ted2, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Powers, John, 1957- Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism / by John Powers. — Rev. ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. ISBN-13: 978-1-55939-282-2 (alk. paper) ISBN-10: 1-55939-282-7 (alk. paper) 1. Buddhism—China—Tibet. 2. Tibet (China)—Religion. I. Title. BQ7604.P69 2007 294.3’923—dc22 2007019309 ITTB_Interior 9/20/07 2:23 PM Page 5 Table of Contents Preface 11 Technical Note 17 Introduction 21 Part One: The Indian Background 1. Buddhism in India 31 The Buddha 31 The Buddha’s Life and Lives 34 Epilogue 56 2. Some Important Buddhist Doctrines 63 Cyclic Existence 63 Appearance and Reality 71 3. Meditation 81 The Role of Meditation in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism 81 Stabilizing and Analytical Meditation 85 The Five Buddhist Paths 91 4.
    [Show full text]
  • Part 7: Invasions, Rebellions, and the End of Imperial China Part 7 Introduction Pre-Modern Vs
    Part 7: Invasions, Rebellions, and the End of Imperial China Part 7 Introduction Pre-modern vs. Modern When does modern Chinese history begin? Some say during the Opium War, the late 1830s and 1840s. Others date modern history from 1919 and the May Fourth Movement. In this course we take the 18th century, when the Qing was at its height, to begin modern Chinese history. Considering that modern history bears some relation to the present, what events signified the beginning of that period? In Europe, historians often chose 1789, the French Revolution. The signifying events, the transitional events, for China begin with its transition from empire to nation-state, with population growth, with the inclusion of Xinjiang and Tibet during the Qianlong reign, and with the challenges of maintaining unity in a multi-ethnic population. Encounter with the West In the 19th century this evolving state ran head-on into the mobile, militarized nation of Great Britain, the likes of which it has never seen before. This encounter was nothing like the visits from Jesuit missionaries (footnote 129 on page 208) or Lord Macartney (page 253). It challenged all the principles of imperial rule. Foreign Enterprise Today’s Chinese economy has its roots in the Sino-foreign enterprises born during these early encounters. Opium was one of its main enterprises. Christianity was a kind of enterprise. These enterprises combined to weaken and humiliate the Qing. As would be said of a later time, these foreign insults were a “disease of the skin.”165 It was the Taiping Rebellion that struck at the heart.
    [Show full text]
  • From Tibet Confidentially
    FROM TIBET CONFIDENTIALLY Secret correspondence of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama to Agvan Dorzhiev, 1911-1925 Introduction, translation, and comments by Jampa Samten and Nikolay Tsyrempilov LIBRARY OF TIBETAN WORKS & ARCHIVES Copyright © 2011 Jampa Samten and Nikolay Tsyrempilov First print: 2011 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo-copying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978-93-80359-49-6 Published by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala, H.P. 176215, and printed at Indraprastha Press (CBT), Nehru House, New Delhi-110002 To knowledgeable Tsenshap Khenché Lozang Ngawang (Agvan Dorzhiev) Acknowledgement V We gratefully acknowledge the National Museum of Buriatia that kindly permitted us to copy, research, and publish in this book the valuable materials they have preserved. Our special thanks is to former Director of the Museum Tsyrenkhanda Ochirova for it was she who first drew our attention to these letters and made it possible to bring them to light. We thank Ven. Geshe Ngawang Samten and Prof. Boris Bazarov, great enthusiasts of collaboration between Buriat and Tibetan scholars of which this book is not first result. We are grateful to all those who helped us in our work on reading and translation of the letters: Ven. Beri Jigmé Wangyel for his valuable consultations and the staff of the Central University of Tibetan Studies Ven. Ngawang Tenpel, Tashi Tsering, Ven. Lhakpa Tsering for assistance in reading and interpretation of the texts. We express our particular gratitude to Tashi Tsering (Director of Amnye Machen Institute, Tibetan Centre for Advanced Studies, Dharamsala) for his valuable assistance in identification of the persons on the Tibetan delegation group photo published in this book.
    [Show full text]
  • Art, Ritual, and Representation: an Exploration of the Roles of Tsam Dance in Contemporary Mongolian Culture Mikaela Mroczynski SIT Study Abroad
    SIT Graduate Institute/SIT Study Abroad SIT Digital Collections Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection SIT Study Abroad Spring 2008 Art, Ritual, and Representation: An Exploration of the Roles of Tsam Dance in Contemporary Mongolian Culture Mikaela Mroczynski SIT Study Abroad Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection Part of the Dance Commons, and the History of Religions of Eastern Origins Commons Recommended Citation Mroczynski, Mikaela, "Art, Ritual, and Representation: An Exploration of the Roles of Tsam Dance in Contemporary Mongolian Culture" (2008). Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection. 57. https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/57 This Unpublished Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the SIT Study Abroad at SIT Digital Collections. It has been accepted for inclusion in Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection by an authorized administrator of SIT Digital Collections. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Art, Ritual, and Representation: An Exploration of the Roles of Tsam Dance in Contemporary Mongolian Culture Mikaela Mroczynski S. Ulziijargal World Learning SIT Study Abroad Mongolia Spring, 2008 2 Mroczynski Acknowledgements: I am amazed by the opportunities I have been given and the help provided to me along the way: Thank you to my friends and family back home, for believing I could make it here and supporting me at every step. Thank you to the entire staff at SIT. You have introduced me to Mongolia, a country I have grown to love with all my heart, and I am infinitely grateful. Thank you to my wonderful advisor Uranchimeg, for your inspiration and support.
    [Show full text]
  • Research Article
    Research Article Journal of Global Buddhism 4 (2003): 18 - 34 Buddhism in Mongolia After 1990 By Karénina Kollmar-Paulenz Professor for the History of Religions University of Berne, Switzerland [email protected] Copyright Notes: Digitial copies of this work may be made and distributed provided no chargeis made and no alteration ismade to the content. Reproduction in any other format with the exception of a single copy for private study requires the written permission of the author. All enquries to: http://www.globalbuddhism.org Journal of Global Buddism 18 ISSN 1527-6457 R e s e a r c h A r t i c l e Buddhism in Mongolia After 1990 by Karénina Kollmar-Paulenz Professor for the History of Religions University of Berne, Switzerland [email protected] Introduction In 1990 Mongolia turned from a communist country highly dependent, economically as well as ideologically, on the Soviet Union, into a democratic country.(1) Free elections took place for the first time ever, and the country managed the transition to a democracy patterned after the Western model comparatively well. In 1992 the Mongols confirmed this historic turn by giving themselves a democratic constitution.(2) The shaking off of communist rulership brought about a resurgence of Mongolian religious traditions, Buddhism and the autochthonous Mongolian religion alike.(3) In northern Mongolia, the revival of the indigenous religious traditions of the Mongols, including owō-worship, the mountain-cult and, of course, shamanism, seem to be predominant. But in the rest of Mongolia, Buddhism has experienced a massive renaissance.
    [Show full text]