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Madsen, Digitization in Tibetan and Himalayan studies (2010)

Christine McCarthy Madsen. ‘Communities, innovation, and critical mass: understanding the impact of digitization on scholarship in the humanities through the case of Tibetan and Himalayan studies’. D.Phil. diss., Oxford University, 2010. 345 pp. [official site / PDF]

From the Abstract

The author presents detailed evidence of how digitization is changing the inputs, practice, and outputs of scholarship in this field, as well as the characteristics of digitization that have led to these changes. Importantly, these findings separate out the success of individual projects from the success of digitization across the field as a whole.

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Muktabodha updated (2011/09/18)

Electronically find in Muktabodha’s latest e-texts gems such as:

pañcarātrādayo mārgāḥ kālenaivopakārakāḥ |
bauddhatantrāṇi deveśi varttante subahūny api ||

tāni proktāni sarvāṇi bauddharūpeṇa viṣṇunā |
na tatra dharmaleśo'sti mohanāni durātmanām ||

(But as the Newars say:)

evaṃ sa vaiṣṇavān sarvān viṣṇurūpeṇa bodhayan |
bodhimārge niyujyāpi cārayati jagaddhite ||

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Kittay, ‘Interpreting the Vajra Rosary’ (2011)

David R. Kittay. ‘Interpreting the Vajra Rosary: Truth and Method Meets Wisdom and Method’. PhD diss., Columbia University, 2011. xxii+820 pp. ISBN: 9781124782362. ProQuest document ID: 2428776231.

Abstract

This essay, accompanied by the first full English translation of the Vajramālā or Vajra Rosary, one of the explanatory Tantras of the Buddhist Guhyasamāja, or Secret Community, Tantric system, and a partial translation of Alaṃkakalaśa’s Commentary, sets out a novel hermeneutic method by which twenty-first century scholars of religion might approach the interpretation of the Tantra and other texts.

Add a punctuation mark to improve this paragraph (p.783).
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Young, ‘The 14th Dalai Lama, Nationalism, and Ris med‘ (2011)

Young, Elena. ‘The Boundaries of Identity: The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Nationalism, and Ris med(non-sectarian) Identity in the Tibetan Diaspora’. M.A. thesis, McGill University, 2011. 107 pp. [official site]

Will Tuladhar-Douglas had a theory that the Ris med pas drew their inspiration from Lhasa Newars. Until we hear more on that, there’s Elena Young’s Masters’ thesis:

From the Abstract

This thesis examines the complex process by which Tenzin Gyatso (Bstan ‘dzin rgya mtsho), the fourteenth Dalai Lama, has publicly and consciously sought to rise above traditional structures of sectarianism in order to forge a coherent Tibetan identity in exile. […] I argue in this thesis that this “non-sectarianism” can be historically traced back to the nineteenth century ris med (“non-bias” or “non-sectarian”) movement, a trend spearheaded in the eastern region of Khams, Tibet. In this way, the current Dalai Lama’s efforts to unify Tibet under a rubric that delineates a non-sectarian identity, indeed parallels an earlier moment in the story of Tibet, one that was equally unstable and yet central to the historical narrative of Khams. Employing a historical and textual analysis based on primary and secondary sources, this thesis is a study of the fourteenth Dalai Lama’s appropriation of the historical ris med model, and an investigation of the techniques and modes of “non-sectarian” representation adopted and disseminated by this leader and his administration-in-exile.

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Turenne, ‘Śākya mchog ldan & 5 treatises of Maitreya’ (2011)

Philippe Turenne. ‘Interpretations of unity: Hermeneutics in ŚĀKYA MCHOG LDAN’s Interpretation of the Five Treatises of Maitreya’. PhD diss., McGill University, 2011. 271 pp. [official site/PDF (may not work)]

Includes a partial translation of the Byams chos lnga’i nges don rab tu gsal ba of Śākya mchog ldan.

From the Abstract

This dissertation is a study of the process through which Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, by synthesizing doctrines and texts into consistent models, integrates views of reality within doctrinal and soteriological systems. […] the dissertation surveys and analyzes Tibetan interpretation of the set of texts referred to as the Five Treatises of Maitreya (byams chos sde lnga), and at the way those interpretations deal with the doctrinal tensions found in that set of text[s]. In addition to providing a recension of major interpretations of the Five Treatises developed between 1100 and 1500, a detailed account is given of the model of interpretation given by gSer mdog Paṇ chen Śākya mchog ldan, a famous teacher of the Sa skya school of Tibetan Buddhism.

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Mozaffari-Falarti, ‘Kedah: foundations of Malay kingship’ (2009)

Mozaffari-Falarti, Maziar. ‘Kedah: the foundations and durability of Malay kingship’. PhD thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2009. 343 pp. [official site/PDF]

Mozaffari-Falarti’s thesis treats the conversion of Kedah, an important part of the premodern Southeast Asian world, and briefly treats vague (but nonetheless worthy of investigation) references to Buddhism and tantrism in the rulership of the pre-Islamic era.

Kedah, incidentally, has been proposed as the possible site of Dīpaṅkaraśrījñāna’s extended stay of study in the region in an article in the Journal of the Siam Society — the full reference eludes me — by Peter Skilling. (I have no opinion on that proposition — yet.)

From the Abstract

The thesis examines traditional sources of power, control and indigenous socio-political systems in the Malay world. In doing so, it looks at the north-western Malaysian kingdom of Kedah, acknowledged as the oldest unbroken Malay royal line and one of the oldest in the Muslim world. The study explores Kedah’s unique geopolitical, spiritual and environmental features. It argues that Kedah does not follow, and in fact, often seems to contradict what has been commonly accepted as the “typical model” of the traditional Malay state.

From the Introduction (pp.6–7)

The Kedah sultanate is one of the oldest unbroken independent kingship lines in the ‘Malay world’ with 1,000 years of history, and arguably one of the oldest in the Islamic world. In this study I examine key geopolitical and spiritual attributes of Malay kingship that have traditionally cemented the ruler, the peoples, and the environment. […]
I also examine issues related to religion — particularly the coming of Islam […]

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Acri, van der Meij (2011): Two Indonesian Buddhism reviews

Two recommended review essays:

Andrea Acri. ‘Alternative approaches to eighth-century Central Javanese Buddhist architecture’. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- end Volkenkunde 167, No. 2-3 (2011), pp.313-321. [abstract/PDF]

Dick van der Meij. ‘Kakawin Sutasoma and Kakawin Nāgara Kṛtāgama’. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- end Volkenkunde 167, No. 2-3 (2011), pp.322-332. [abstract/PDF]

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Triumph of the people’s uprising (or: soldiers low on ammo)

Here’s something you won’t read about in inspiring new books on Varieties of Activist Experience. One recent disclosure suggests that the 2006 street riots which marked the beginning of the end of the Shah monarchy only succeeded because the Royal Nepalese Army ran out of bullets. Apparently, the previous year’s embargo had affected ammunition procurement. The preferred alternative — going through the black market — evidently consumes more time and money.

TNN, ‘W□□□□□□□s throws new light on Nepal king’s surrender’. Times of India, 5 September 2011.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/W□□□□□□□s-throws-new-light-on-Nepal-kings-surrender/articleshow/9871594.cms

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Light of the Valley: The 15th Renovation of Swayambhu

Light of the Valley: The 15th Renovation of Swayambhu. 2011. 30 minutes. Directed by Pema Gellek. [press release]

A short documentary of the 2008–2010 renovation of the Kathmandu Valley’s most sacred Buddhist site, generously sponsored by Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche and coordinated by his daughter, Tsering Gellek. I, and other readers, had the good fortune to witness this monumental undertaking at various stages.

There’s also a book (no publication information available yet).

Light of the Valley Trailer from Guna Foundation on Vimeo.

Before

Before

After

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