Buddhism in Tibet & the Himalayas Texts & Traditions (Vol-2)

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The present volomme is a follow-up to an earlier one and contains conference presentations and independent articles written and published in the years 2000 το 2021. They are grouped once again into nine sections corresponding to different areas of interest of project-related research, all having to do with Buddhism in Tibet and the Himalayas. I have kept the subtitle. Texts and Traditions, as the dominant theme, as the essays are once more based on the reading, editing, and evaluating of the rich historical and literary sources of Buddhist traditions transmitted in these regions. As in the previous volume, changes and additions have only been made in order to correct obvious mistakes and update bibliographic references.

The tradition of Tibetan Medicine is presented in the first section through depictions of the cycle of spiritual and ritual practices associated with its founding father and through attention to two later medical experts and their writings as historical sources. The articles in Rulers and Preceptors grew out of two conferences devoted to "The Relationship between Religion and State (chos srid ang brel) in Traditional Tibet" and "Secular Law and Order in the Tibetan Highland;" this section includes, among others, a contribution to a conference on historiography and hagiography in the religious history of Asia and an article on a master associated with the Buddhist institutions of Bhutan.

Bhutan, known as the "Dragon Land" ('brug yul), and present-day Sikkim, the "Rice Country" ('bras mo ljongs), are among the Himalayan Valleys visited by Tibetan teachers, some of whom settled and established lineages there. The first two articles in Treasure Discoverers and Their Traditions show how one particular tradition made its way to Bhutan and how the "Hidden Land" (sbas yul) of Sikkim became the home of treasure teachings. This is supplemented by a chapter on a treasure discoverer who was active in Central Tibet and counted important religious hierarchs among his lineage-holders.