The Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism: Conversion, Contestation, and Memory / Edition 1

by Matthew T. Kapstein

Overview

This book explores the Buddhist role in the formation of Tibetan religious thought and identity. In three major sections, the author examines Tibet's eighth-century conversion, sources of dispute within the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and the continuing revelation of the teaching in both doctrine and myth.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195152272
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	02/28/2002
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	1790L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

A Note on Pronunciation		xv
A Brief Chronology of Tibetan Buddhism		xvii
Introduction: Death, Literacy, and Tibet's Buddhist Elite		3	(20)
The Uncertain Fate of the Dead		5	(5)
Literacy and Learning in a Dark Age		10	(7)
Elite Buddhism and the Expression of Authority		17	(6)
PART I: CONVERSION AND NARRATIVE
The Chinese Mother of Tibet's Dharma-King: The Testament of Ba and the Beginnings of Tibetan Buddhist Historiography		23	(15)
History's Mirrorwork		23	(3)
China's Nephew		26	(2)
Tibet's Son		28	(2)
Solomon on the Silk Road		30	(2)
The Religious Transformation of History		32	(4)
History and Identity		36	(2)
The Mark of Vermilion: Rebirth and Resurrection in an Early Medieval Tale		38	(13)
The Mark of Vermilion		38	(4)
Cosmology, Karma, and Conversion		42	(4)
From Rebirth to Resurrection		46	(5)
Plague, Power, and Reason: The Royal Conversion to Buddhism Reconsidered		51	(18)
The Puzzle of the Tibetan Conversion		51	(2)
The Power of Plague		53	(1)
The Charisma of Reason		54	(2)
Buddhism and Legislation		56	(2)
Imperial Cosmopolitanism		58	(7)
Converting the Conversion		65	(4)
PART II: SOURCES OF CONTESTATION
From Korea to Tibet: Action at a Distance in the Early Medieval World System		69	(16)
An Island in the Eastern Sea		70	(1)
The Tamer of Tigers		71	(4)
Chan Traces in Later Traditions		75	(3)
The Vicissitudes of the Great Chinese Commentary		78	(4)
Korea, Tibet, and the Early Medieval World System		82	(3)
What is "Tibetan Scholasticism"? Three Ways of Thought		85	(36)
Sakya Pandita's Reasons		89	(8)
Karma Pakshi's Doubts		97	(9)
Dolpopa on the Age of Perfection		106	(13)
Contestation and Self-representation		119	(2)
The Purificatory Gem and Its Cleansing: A Late Polemical Discussion of Apocryphal Texts		121	(20)
Our Notions of Buddhist Canon and Apocrypha		121	(2)
Realism, Idealism, and Scriptural Authenticity		123	(3)
The Purificatory Gem and Its Cleansing: Historical Background		126	(2)
The Texts and Why They Were Written		128	(3)
The Question of Spiritual Treasures		131	(10)
PART III: MYTH, MEMORY, REVELATION
The Imaginal Persistence of the Empire		141	(22)
The Truth of Myth		141	(3)
The Most Compassionate King		144	(11)
The Advent of the Lotus Guru		155	(5)
Hierarchy and Universality		160	(3)
Samantabhadra and Rudra: Myths of Innate Enlightenment and Radical Evil		163	(15)
Fragments from a Myth of Tibet		163	(4)
The Myth of Samantabhadra		167	(3)
The Matricide Rudra		170	(6)
Must the Message Be Mythic?		176	(2)
The Amnesic Monarch and the Five Mnemic Men: "Memory" in the Great Perfection Tradition		178	(19)
Preliminary Orientations		178	(2)
Mnemic Engagement in the Wide-Open Tantra of Universal Liberation		180	(7)
An Allegorical Re-presentation		187	(6)
Mnemic Engagement in the Practice of Prayer		193	(1)
By Way of Conclusion		194	(3)
Appendix: The Prayer of Great Power		197	(6)
Notes		203	(70)
Chinese Glossary		273	(2)
Bibliography		275	(30)
Tibetan References		275	(8)
Sanskrit References		283	(1)
Chinese References		283	(1)
Western Language References		284	(21)
Index		305