Western Tibet And The Indian Borderland The Sacred Country Of The Hindus And Buddhists

This book is a study on the government, religion and customs of the people of Tibet.

Kailas Histories demonstrates how British colonial, Hindu modernist, and New Age interests synthesised historically diverse representations to construct the understanding of Tibet’s great pilgrimage centre Mount Kailas - and India’s Gangotri - as ancient sacred sites embodying a universal sacrality.

A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. The Monastery Rules discusses the position of the monasteries in pre-1950s Tibetan Buddhist societies and how that position was informed by the far-reaching relationship of monastic Buddhism with Tibetan society, economy, law, and culture. Jansen focuses her study on monastic guidelines, or bca’ yig. The first study of its kind to examine the genre in detail, the book contains an exploration of its parallels in other Buddhist cultures, its connection to the Vinaya, and its value as socio-historical source-material. The guidelines are witness to certain socio-economic changes, while also containing rules that aim to change the monastery in order to preserve it. Jansen argues that the monastic institutions’ influence on society was maintained not merely due to prevailing power-relations, but also because of certain deep-rooted Buddhist beliefs.