The Tibet-Mongolia Political Interface in the First Half of the Twentieth Century

Sergey Kuzmin’s paper draws on Russian and Mongolian archives to discuss the relationship between the Thirteenth Dalai Lama and the Jebtsundamba Khutagtu in the context of their joint hopes for future independence. This was promoted by the prevalence of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia, the leadership of the Tibetan-born Jetsun Dampa Khutuktu, the influential Tibetan colony in the Mongolian capital of Niislel Khuree, and permanent contacts between Mongols and Tibetans. It demonstrates how the two states co-ordinated their independence struggle during the first half of the twentieth century. This association continued after the two states had broken away from China and continued into the 1930s, with individual Tibetan hierarchs becoming involved in local resistance to the Socialist suppression of Buddhism in Mongolia.

The Struggle between Tradition and Modernity in the Early Twentieth Century of the Tibetan Buddhist World

Hamugetu’s paper discusses the relationships between tradition and modernity through an examination of the Seventh lCang-skya’s activities in China and Inner Mongolia in the late Qing period. Articulating a modern ideology of the separation of church and state, he sought to protect the interests of Tibetan Buddhist society from both the Chinese government and Inner Mongolian nationalists through accommodating both forces, while simultaneously seeking to reform Tibetan Buddhism in Inner Mongolia along modernist lines. Striving to protect the interests of the Buddhist community, the struggle of the Seventh lCang-skya between the system of jasak lamas and the separation of religion and state is typical of the issues facing the Tibetan Buddhist world in the early 20th century.

Discussing the Inheritance and Evolution of the Patronus Mahakala

As the only Gelugpa temple in Northwest China and the only Green Tara Dojo in China, Guangren Temple, a Tibetan Buddhism temple in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, is crucial to the study of Tibetan Buddhism development in the mainland. This paper takes the Patronus Mahakala as the starting point, because it is not only one of the most important Patronus, but also the incarnation of Shiva, one of the most critical gods in Hinduism. The extraction elements from the statues and the establishment of a connection with Tibetan Buddhism will help explore the origin of the external components of the sculptures in Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. Furthermore, through clarifying the process of religious transmission and development, the conflict and integration of the inter-sectarian, find the impact and evolution of the shape of Gods.

A Boy's Spiritual Journey: The Cultural and Religious Conflict between Family Relationships and the Conventionalism of Tibetan Buddhism in Sarah Ruhl's The Oldest Boy (2014)

This research paper is mainly concerns with the analyzing of Sarah Ruhl's play The Oldest Boy (2014), critically via considering the clashes of culture, and religion with family ideologies. By Adherents T.S. Eliot’s approach in his Notes towards the Definition of Culture, the paper is devoted to looking at and embodying the cultural and religious rift occurring in Ruhl’s The Oldest Boy. And to stand on the fact of the impact of the cultural and religious conflict on the family relations by passing throughout the main event of the play as to attract a Christian-born child who is only three years’ old to convert to Buddhism, and to be a Tibetan Buddhism Lama. The case is hectic for an American mother with no information on, or faith in, Buddhism. The paper proceeds with the hypothesis that the genuine clash is inner and it lies in the Mother's battle to give up her child or not in the middle of the spontaneous flood of cultural, religious and emotional clashes. The paper concludes that religion is what shapes the culture of countries.

Necessary Questions of Chö: Uses and Abuses of Religion in Dondrup Gyel’s “Tulku”

“Why do you ask questions of roots and branches instead of the necessary questions of chö (Tib. chos)?” asks a character in Tibetan author Dondrup Gyel’s (don rgrub rgyal) controversial 1980 short story, “Tulku” (sprul sku). The Tibetan term chö can be translated in many ways, including to mean ‘the Buddhist teachings,’ ‘religion’ more generally, or even ‘the nature of reality.’ In “Tulku,” however, what chö means is not at all clear, and the various characters claim authority to determine what is legitimate chö. In the story, a Tibetan village is visited by a mysterious stranger claiming to be a tulku—a reincarnated religious leader— but who is actually a fraud. Most scholars have interpreted “Tulku” as a critique of traditional Tibetan religious devotion, and as a call by Gyel for Tibetans to modernize. This paper, however, proposes a new reading of “Tulku.” It suggests that Gyel pairs overt criticism of the corrupt tulku with a subtler critique of the Chinese government’s policy towards Tibetan Buddhism. It argues for such a reading by tracking how the word chö is used in “Tulku.” It shows that Gyel places the word not in the mouths of the Tibetan villagers, but rather in the mouths of the fraudulent tulku and the representatives of the Communist Party. Both thus use chö in order to appeal to the Tibetan villagers, claim power for themselves, and exclude the opposing party. “Tulku” thereby creates parallels between the ways in which the Tulku and the Party use chö to appeal to and manipulate the Tibetan villagers. On this reading, “Tulku” highlights the way chö can be weaponized by both traditional religious authorities and Communist party ideology, and suggests that in this modern period, any claimant to chö must be treated with caution and skepticism.

BUDDHISM: AN OVERVIEW OF ITS PHILOSOPHY AND DEVELOPMENT IN RUSSIA

It is a positivist philosophy that assumed a religious character, and it appeared in India after the Hindu Brahmin religion in the fifth century B.C. In the beginning, it was opposed to Hinduism and tended to take care of the human being. It also included a call to mysticism and harshness, and the rejection of luxury, and the call for love, tolerance, and doing good. After the death of its founder, it turned into false beliefs of a pagan nature, and its followers exaggerated its founder until he worshipped him. We conducted a literature study by reviewing various sources and using a descriptive analysis approach and a historical approach in presenting this article. It is considered an ethical system and a philosophical doctrine based on philosophical theories, and its teachings are not revelations but rather opinions and beliefs within a religious framework. Old Buddhism differs from New Buddhism in that the former is ethical, while New Buddhism is Buddha's teachings mixed with philosophical views and mental measurements about the universe and life. Buddhism has spread to all corners of the world, including Russia. Buddhism is considered one of the traditional religions in Russia, which is legally part of Russia's historical heritage. In addition to the historical monastic traditions of Buryatia, Kalmykia, and Tuva, Buddhism is now spreading throughout Russia, with some ethnic Russians converting to it. The main form of Buddhism in Russia is the Gelukpa school of Tibetan Buddhism, with other Tibetan traditions in the minority. Although Tibetan Buddhism is most often associated with Tibet, the religion spread to Mongolia, and via Mongolia, it was brought to Russia.

This Precious Human Life

This paper analyzes the idea of “human exceptionalism” from the perspective of Tibetan Buddhism. It argues that, in the Tibetan Buddhist context, many of the negative consequences of human exceptionalism are overshadowed by the concept’s ability to promote an altruistic comportment to the more-than-human world when supported by the Buddhist ontology and its broader project of liberating all beings from duhkha. To this end, this paper looks at how Tibetan Buddhist teachers qualify a “precious human life” by conducting a close reading of primary texts before extrapolating some general themes of these selected passages and applying them to our contemporary ecological situation. In doing so, it makes the argument that human exceptionalism is not a problem in and of itself but has a positive or negative effect on the more-than-human world depending on how it is established, maintained, and understood. It also demonstrates how Tibetan Buddhism can be a useful tradition for thinking alongside as we attempt to address global issues concerning the environment and nonhuman animals.

Generative Meditations: Exploring Generative Art From the Perspective of Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy

<p>the purpose of this thesis is to document and explore the subjective struggles I have encountered in my own practise as a generative artist rather than to provide an objective overview of computational generative art. Hopefully this process will give some context from the ground up (from an artist’s perspective) to some of the larger questions that I and others in the field are asking about generative art. From the preliminary questions arising from these struggles I begin to explore and develop a generative art practise that primarily focuses on the topics of human experience and ideas directly related to human experience. This is opposed to using generative processes to explore ideas fundamentally based on computation (a-life, emergence, computational creativity, and data etc..). The foundation of, and reasons behind, such a focus are based on the non-realist and non-materialist philosophical tenets of Tibetan Buddhism, in particular the philosophy of the Madhyamika-Prasangika school of thought. The purpose of developing a generative practise based on the philosophy and symbolism of Tibetan Buddhism is to find a method to create personally relevant artwork with a firm foundation in a well established culture of art and philosophy. I might add however, that this isn’t merely a self-reflective exercise but rather it should be of interest to others in the field of (and study of) Generative art to see how this artistic method might be approached from a vastly different philosophical stance to the materialist view that receives the majority of attention in the field.</p>