Contributions to the Cultural History of Early Tibet (Brill's Tibetan Studies Library, 14)

Early medieval Tibet remains one of the most challenging fields in Tibetan Studies overall, wherein numerous mysteries remain. The six contributions comprising the present collection shed light on major topics in history, literature and religion. Contents ......Page 6 Preface......Page 8 Abbreviations......Page 14 PART ONE: SOCIAL AND POLITICAL HISTORY......Page 16 BRANDON DOTSON Divination and Law in the Tibetan Empire: The Role of Dice in the Legislation of Loans, Interest, Marital Law and Troop Conscription......Page 18 BIANCA HORLEMANN The Relations of the Eleventh-Century Tsong kha Tribal Confederation to Its Neighbour States on the Silk Road......Page 94 PART TWO: LITERARY AND ORAL TRANSMISSIONS......Page 118 YOSHIRO IMAEDA The History of the Cycle of Birth and Death: A Tibetan Narrative from Dunhuang......Page 120 SAM VAN SCHAIK Oral Teachings and Written Texts: Transmission and Transformation in Dunhuang......Page 198 PART THREE: CHINESE TRENDS IN TIBETAN BUDDHISM......Page 224 MATTHEW T. KAPSTEIN The Tibetan Yulanpen jing .........Page 226 CARMEN MEINERT The Conjunction of Chinese Chan and Tibetan Rdzogs chen Thought: Reflections on the Tibetan Dunhuang Manuscripts IOL Tib J 689-1 and PT 699......Page 254 List of Contributors......Page 318 Illustrations......Page 320 The study of the rise and institutions of the Tibetan empire of the seventh to ninth centuries, and of the continuing development of Tibetan civilization during the obscure period that followed, have aroused growing interest among scholars of Inner Asia in recent decades. The six contributions presented here represent refinements in substance and method characterizing current work in this area. A chapter by Brandon Dotson provides a new perspective on law and divination under the empire, while the post-imperial international relations of the Tsong kha kingdom are analyzed by Bianca Horlemann. In “The History of the Cycle of Birth and Death”, Yoshiro Imaeda's investigation of a Dunhuang narrative appears in a revised edition, in English for the first time. The problem of oral transmission in relation to the Tibetan Dunhuang texts is then taken up in the contribution of Sam van Schaik. In the final section, Matthew Kapstein and Carmen Meinert consider aspects of Chinese Buddhism in their relation to religious developments in Tibet. Early medieval Tibet remains one of the most challenging fields in Tibetan Studies overall, wherein numerous mysteries remain. This work features six contributions that shed light on major topics in history, literature and religion