Civilized Shamans: Buddhism in Tibetan Societies.

Cantwell, Cathy; Samuel, Geoffrey

doi:10.2307/2804421

Cited by 5 publications

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“…1 Anthropologists like Stan Mumford and Sherry Ortner, for instance, have studied the complex intermingling between Tibetan Buddhism and shamanism in the context of Himalayan regions, particularly in Nepal (Mumford 1989;Ortner 1995). Geoffrey Samuel, similarly, famously describes Tibetan Buddhists as "civilized shamans, " offering innumerable examples of how the religion in this region of the world consists of an amalgamation of indigenous (and larger Eurasian) and Indian or Chinese Buddhist orientations (Samuel 1993). 2 Hildegard Diemberger, finally, argues that origins of spirit-mediumship are related to the embodiment of pre-Buddhist deities, which are also involved in Buddhist tantric practices.…”

Section: Playing With the Mirror Of The Shamanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tibetan Sky-Gazing Meditation and the Pre-History of Great Perfection Buddhism

Geisshuesler

2024

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Through a rigorous analysis of original scriptures and later commentaries, this open access book unearths a cornucopia of idiosyncratic motifs pervading the famous Tibetan sky-gazing meditation known as "Skullward Leap" (thod rgal). Flavio Geisshuesler argues that these motifs suggest that the practice did not originate in the context of Buddhism, but rather within indigenous Tibetan culture and in close contact with the early Bön tradition. The book argues that Dzogchen once belonged to a cult centered on the quest for vitality, which involved the worship of the sky as primordial source of life and endorsed the hunting of animals, as they were believed to be endowed with the ability to move in between the divine realm of the heavens and the world of humans. The book also traces the historical development of the Great Perfection, delineating a complex process of buddhicization that started with the introduction of Buddhism in the 7th century, intensified with the rise of new schools in the 11th century, and reached its climax in the systematization of the teachings by the great scholar-yogi Longchenpa in the 14th century. The study advances an innovative model of meditation as an open-ended practice that animates practitioners to face the most challenging moments of their lives with courage and curiosity, imagination and creativity, and playfulness and excitement; qualities that are oftentimes overlooked in contemporary descriptions of contemplation. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

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Section: Playing With the Mirror Of The Shamanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tibetan Sky-Gazing Meditation and the Pre-History of Great Perfection Buddhism

Geisshuesler

2024

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“…Этот процесс тибетизации автохтонных и пришлых этнических групп на окраинах тибетского культурного мира отмечался многими исследователями [напр. : Samuel, 1993;Karmay, 2014], так что Джеффри Сэмуэл даже отмечал: «Возможно, что современное тибетское население Кхама является результатом подобных процессов тибетизации, начиная с XVII в. или раньше» [Samuel, 1993, p. 85]. И вполне очевидно, что главным фактором ассимиляции было принятие этими группами тибетского буддизма и отказ от своих автохтонных верований.…”

Section: бадараев дамдин доржиевичunclassified

Cross-Border Area of the East of Russia in Modernization Processes of the 20th and 21st Centuries (To the 100th Anniversary of the Republic of Buryatia)

2023

Cross-Border Area of the East of Russia in Modernization Processes of the 20th and 21st Centuries (To the 100th Anniversary of

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Сборник содержит тексты докладов международной научной конференции «Трансграничье Востока России в модернизационных процессах XX-XXI вв.», посвященной 100-летию Республики Бурятия (г. Улан-Удэ, 29 мая -1 июня 2023 г.). Тематика статей охватывает широкий круг вопросов в области геополитики и международных отношений, истории национально-государственного строительства, модернизации и преобразований в экономике, политике, культуре трансграничья Востока России в исторической динамике и условиях современного переустройства мира. Особое внимание уделено анализу проблем и достижений социально-экономического и культурно-исторического развития Бурятии.Адресовано специалистам гуманитарного профиля, а также широкому кругу читателей. Cross-border area of theEast of Russia in the modernization processes of the 20 th and 21 st centuries (to the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Buryatia): collected articles / scientific editor B. V. Bazarov, editorial board M. N. Baldano [and others]. -Ulan-Ude: Buryat Scientific Center of SB RAS Press, 2023. -468 p.

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“…to the hearts and minds of their people in the culturally specific ways needed for effective praxis. This vast collection of Buddhist developments and cultural adaptations provided a great resource for ongoing development of Buddhist systems of thought and practice in each culture, such as the Ch'an, Pure Land, Huayan and Tiantai traditions of East Asia, and the Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug traditions of Tibetan Buddhism (Beyer, 1978;Ch'en, 1964;Matsunaga & Matsunaga, 1974;Samuel, 1993;Wright, 1990;Zurcher, 1972).…”

Section: The Historical Precedent and Need To Adapt Meditation Practi...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Compassion and Skillful Means: Cultural Adaptation, Psychological Science, and Creative Responsiveness

Condon

Makransky

2022

Mindfulness

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In this article, we will address two distinct, but interrelated aspects of "skillful means" that can inform compassion training: (1) the historical precedent and need for adapting meditation practices to meet new cultural contexts, and (2) the need to express compassion flexibly in ways that creatively meet the specific contexts, mentalities, and needs of particular persons and situations. We first discuss ways that the doctrine of skillful means was employed by Buddhists to rationalize the repeated adaptation of Buddhist teachings to meet the culturally situated mentalities and needs of diverse Asian peoples. Then, in continuity with that history of Buddhist adaptation, we explore how theories from modern psychological science, such as attachment theory, can be newly drawn upon to support adaptation of relational frameworks operative in traditional Buddhist cultures of compassion training for modern contexts. Finally, we draw on theories from cognitive science, namely situated conceptualization, that provide a tractable framework for understanding skillful compassion as embodied emptiness-involving the relaxation of pattern completion mechanisms, which helps open up greater discernment and presence to others, so that care and compassion can be more unrestricted, creative, and directly responsive to the person and situation at hand.

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Civilized Shamans: Buddhism in Tibetan Societies.

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Tibetan Sky-Gazing Meditation and the Pre-History of Great Perfection Buddhism

Tibetan Sky-Gazing Meditation and the Pre-History of Great Perfection Buddhism

Cross-Border Area of the East of Russia in Modernization Processes of the 20th and 21st Centuries (To the 100th Anniversary of the Republic of Buryatia)

Compassion and Skillful Means: Cultural Adaptation, Psychological Science, and Creative Responsiveness

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