Buddhism in Contemporary Tibet: Religious Revival and Cultural IdentityMelvyn C. Goldstein, Matthew Kapstein Following the upheavals of the Cultural Revolution, the People's Republic of China gradually permitted the renewal of religious activity. Tibetans, whose traditional religious and cultural institutions had been decimated during the preceding two decades, took advantage of the decisions of 1978 to begin a Buddhist renewal that is one of the most extensive and dramatic examples of religious revitalization in contemporary China. The nature of that revival is the focus of this book. Four leading specialists in Tibetan anthropology and religion conducted case studies in the Tibet autonomous region and among the Tibetans of Sichuan and Qinghai provinces. There they observed the revival of the Buddhist heritage in monastic communities and among laypersons at popular pilgrimages and festivals. Demonstrating how that revival must contend with tensions between the Chinese state and aspirations for greater Tibetan autonomy, the authors discuss ways that Tibetan Buddhists are restructuring their religion through a complex process of social, political, and economic adaptation. Buddhism has long been the main source of Tibetans' pride in their culture and country. These essays reveal the vibrancy of that ancient religion in contemporary Tibet and also the problems that religion and Tibetan culture in general are facing in a radically altered world. |
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Buddhism in Contemporary Tibet: Religious Revival and Cultural Identity Melvyn C. Goldstein,Matthew Kapstein No preview available - 1998 |
Common terms and phrases
activities alms Amdo assembly Beijing betan body campaign cave century chapter China Chinese cult Cultural Revolution Dalai Lama dance deity Dharamsala dharma grove disciples Drepung Monastery Drepung monks Drigung Powa Chenmo Drongur eastern Tibet empowerment ethnic exile famous Figure Gesar geshe Goldstein Golok Gyatso important income India institutions involved Kagyü Kapstein Khenpo Jikphun Lama's leaders Lhasa lineage Mañjuśrī modern monasteries like Drepung monastery's monastic monasticism monks and nuns mountain movement nationalistic number of monks Nyingma offering official Padmasambhava Panchen Lama Penor Rinpoche performed period pilgrimage pilgrims political Tibet practice prayer chanting sessions qi gong Qinghai refugee region religion Repgong residence revival rhetoric Rin-po-che Rinpoche role sacred scholar monks Shachung shaman Sichuan tantric teachings temples Terdrom Terton texts Tibet Autonomous Region Tibet Question Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan culture Tibetan identity Tibetan national Tibetan religious Tibetan world tion traditional Tibetan treasure village young yuan