Death and Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism: In-Between Bodies (Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism)

Contextualising the seemingly esoteric and exotic aspects of Tibetan Buddhist culture within the everyday, embodied and sensual sphere of religious praxis, this book centres on the social and religious lives of deceased Tibetan Buddhist lamas. It explores how posterior forms – corpses, relics, reincarnations and hagiographical representations – extend a lama’s trajectory of lives and manipulate biological imperatives of birth and death. The book looks closely at previously unexamined figures whose history is relevant to a better understanding of how Tibetan culture navigates its own understanding of reincarnation, the veneration of relics and different social roles of different types of practitioners. It analyses both the minutiae of everyday interrelations between lamas and their devotees, specifically noted in ritual performances and the enactment of lived tradition, and the sacred hagiographical conventions that underpin local knowledge. A phenomenology of Tibetan Buddhist life, the book provides an ethnography of the everyday embodiment of Tibetan Buddhism. This unusual approach offers a valuable and a genuine new perspective on Tibetan Buddhist culture and is of interest to researchers in the fields of social/cultural anthropology and religious, Buddhist and Tibetan studies. Cover 1 Death and Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism 2 Title Page 10 Copyright Page 11 Table of Contents 12 List of figures 14 Preface 15 Acknowledgements 19 1 Introduction 22 Biographical process 25 Intersubjectivity 26 Darjeeling 28 The narrative 32 Notes 34 2 Relics and reincarnation of Khenchen Sangay Tenzin 36 Discussing the lama’s death 37 Minds beyond death 42 The reincarnated lama 44 Religious biography 47 Bodies of devotional practice 51 Extended biography 60 Notes 61 3 The spiritual mastery or (spirit possession) of Gupha Rinpoche 63 Ethnographic scholarship: revisiting the polemic 65 Tibetan scholarship: historical influences 68 Introducing Gupha 70 Textures and grammars of a monastic college 74 Scholasticism and saintly madmen 78 Rhythms of a saintly madman 80 An irregular tempo 82 Divided opinions 85 Dying 86 Death and memorialization 87 The rising corpse 89 Return from the dead 92 Possession and reincarnation 95 Maintaining plurality 97 Notes 97 4 Embodying the past in the present: Gelongma Palmo 99 Previous scholarship: locating Gelongma Palmo 100 Setting the scene: karma, merit and rebirth 101 Literacy 104 The sacred repetition of hagiography 106 Nyungne: transforming body, speech and mind 108 Prostrations 109 Varieties of communication 112 Acts of speech: vows, mantras and the ritual manual 112 The sounds of silence 114 Imagining the deity 116 Sensing the social 122 Notes 123 5 Buddhism across cultures: Bokar Rinpoche 125 Tibetan Buddhist embodiment 126 Trikaya: the bodies of a Buddha 127 Cultural adaptations 135 Cultural innovations 146 Notes 147 6 Conclusion 149 Glossary 152 Bibliography 157 Index 165 "Contextualising the seemingly esoteric and exotic aspects of Tibetan Buddhist culture within the everyday, embodied and sensual sphere of religious praxis, this book centres on the social and religious lives of deceased Tibetan Buddhist lamas. It explores how posterior forms - corpses, relics, reincarnations and hagiographical representations - extend a lama's trajectory of lives and manipulate biological imperatives of birth, aging and death. The book looks closely at previously unexamined figures whose history is relevant to a better understanding of how Tibetan culture navigates its own understanding of reincarnation, the veneration of relics, and different social roles of different types of practitioners. It analyses both the minutiae of everyday interrelations between lamas and their devotees, specifically noted in ritual performances and the enactment of lived tradition, as well as the sacred hagiographical conventions that underpin local knowledge. A phenomenology of Tibetan Buddhist life, the book provides an ethnography and insight of the embodiment of Tibetan Buddhism in everyday life. This unusual approach offers a valuable and a genuine new perspective on Tibetan Buddhist culture, and is of interest to researchers in the fields of social/cultural anthropology, religious, Buddhist and Tibetan studies"-- Provided by publisher "Contextualising the seemingly esoteric and exotic aspects of Tibetan Buddhist culture within the everyday, embodied and sensual sphere of religious praxis, this book centres on the social and religious lives of deceased Tibetan Buddhist lamas. It explores how posterior forms - corpses, relics, reincarnations and hagiographical representations - extend a lama's trajectory of lives and manipulate biological imperatives of birth, aging and death. The book looks closely at previously unexamined figures whose history is relevant to a better understanding of how Tibetan culture navigates its own understanding of reincarnation, the veneration of relics, and different social roles of different types of practitioners. It analyses both the minutiae of everyday interrelations between lamas and their devotees, specifically noted in ritual performances and the enactment of lived tradition, as well as the sacred hagiographical conventions that underpin local knowledge. A phenomenology of Tibetan Buddhist life, the book provides an ethnography and insight of the embodiment of Tibetan Buddhism in everyday life. This unusual approach offers a valuable and a genuine new perspective on Tibetan Buddhist culture, and is of interest to researchers in the fields of social/cultural anthropology, religious, Buddhist and Tibetan studies"--Résumé de l'éditeur