Wednesday 16 November, 2016, 18.15-19.15, Inalco, salle 3.15 – by George FitzHerbert
This talk will introduce what appears to be an early – and perhaps our earliest – Tibetan Gesar bsang (smoke purification) ritual text. The talk will explore some of the «layers» discernible in this text’s rich presentation of Gesar as an apotheosised folkloric figure. It will also explore the issues around dating and attributing the text. The attribution to Karma Pakshi (suggested by others) is ultimately rejected in favour of a tentative attribution to Yongs-dge mi-’gyur rdo-rje (1628/41-1704), a gter-ston from Nang-chen who is famous for his visionary Karma Pakshi sādhana. This attribution would make sense in light of what we already know about the evolution of the Buddhist cult of Gesar in eastern Tibet (particularly in the Sde-dge region) from the mid 17th century.
Welcome to TibArmy project blog! This academic blog is dedicated to a previously unresearched subject: the Tibetan army during the period of the Buddhist government of the Dalai Lamas, known as the Ganden Phodrang, from 1642 to 1959. This government was the heir to a robust military culture with long experience in the defence of Buddhism since the Tibetan Imperial Period (7th-9th centuries); however, from its inception it decided to rely on foreign armies for its protection. On the basis of two distinctive features of this period—the creation and maintenance of the first Tibetan standing army and the limited number of the troops compared to former times—the project will explore the enduring ambivalence of the Dalai Lamas’ government towards having its own army, as well as its reasons, consequences and expressions in discourses and practices.
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The Tibetan Army of the Dalai Lamas, 1642-1959
