Buddhism of Tibet Or Lamaism [Illustrated] [Paperback]

L. Austine Waddell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 23, 2003

A highly illustrated volume on Buddhism and Lamaism. Contains notes on pronunciation and a list of commonly used abbreviations. Contents: historical; doctrinal; monastic; buildings; mythology and the gods; ritual and sorcery; festivals and plays; popular Lamaism. Absolutely phenomenal illustrations throughout the book.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Back Cover

In this volume, originally published in 1894, Waddell introduces to his readers the peculiar religion of Tibetan Buddhism, which he finds so unlike other schools of Buddhism that he gives it its own name: Lamaism. Waddell, to the best of his ability, observes and records Tibetan Buddhist practices, comparing them to what the Western world considered "true" Buddhism.

Written during a time when Christian theologians were studying other religions for the sake of discounting them as sorcery, The Buddhism of Tibet is predictably full of inaccuracies that modern scholars would quickly identify. For this reason alone, Waddell's book will interest students of religion and history--for its embodiment of a historical attitude that was widely accepted by the reading public.

Despite these inaccuracies and misinterpretations, Waddell introduces his readers to a world that is wholly unfamiliar, having developed in the near isolation of the mountains of Tibet. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 664 pages
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing, LLC; illustrated edition edition (January 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0766135055
• ISBN-13: 978-0766135055
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,544,126 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ian Myles Slater on: An Old-Fashioned View, October 7, 2003

By 

Ian M. Slater "aylchanan" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Buddhism of Tibet Or Lamaism (Paperback)

Originally published as "The Buddhism of Tibet, or Lamaism" in 1885 (W.H. Allen & Co., Ltd., London), this classic, and somewhat controversial, book has gone through several title changes, including the very accurate "Tibetan Buddhism: With Its Mystic Cults, Symbolism and Mythology," when reprinted by Dover Publications in 1972 (currently in print, and, as a handsomely produced volume at a very reasonable price, my personal choice.) The Kessinger edition, reviewed here, follows one of the reprintings under the original title.

It was in its time a landmark in English-language writings on Tibet, and it still retains some value for its rich visual documentation, in the form of photographs and line drawings. (Unfortunately, Kessinger editions are not well-known for such contents; and reports suggest that individual copies of their editions differ in quality.) There are some remarkably clear descriptions of shrines and temples, costumes and ritual practices, objects and images. Given the massive destruction of Tibetan religious sites in China as well as Tibet, much of what he recorded will never be seen again.

Unfortunately, the author all too frequently confides in the reader his distaste for the religion he is describing, and his contempt for its functionaries. I gave up on the book for this reason when I first tried to read it. Some Amazon reviewers (responding to other editions) seem to think that Waddell must have known what he was talking about, and accept his characterizations at face value, which is a pity.

In part this attitude may be self-defense. It seems that Waddell got access to some of his information by becoming the owner/patron of a Tibetan Buddhist temple in Peking, and probably felt that he had to make clear to his pious readers back home in England that he was not really a wicked idolater. Some of his expressions of disdain seem to reflect real misunderstandings: having failed to grasp that the word "lama" means "teacher of religion," not "monk," he is scandalized to discover the occasional married lama. (This response probably relates to intra-Christian issues as well -- see below.)

Then, too, there is the idealized image of Theraveda Buddhism from Ceylon, which had introduced itself to Europeans as the true, pure, original, non-superstitious Buddhism, not to be confused with those self-styled Buddhisms found elsewhere. With that vision as the standard of purity, the versions found in northern Asia would automatically seem defective, and Waddell takes it for granted. (It should be remembered that the Mahayana, or "Great Vehicle," versions of Buddhism, like that of Tibet, tend to refer to the Theraveda teachings as the Hinayana, or "Lesser Vehicle.")

Finally, Waddell, apparently writing for a solidly "anti-Papist" readership, sometimes seems unable to distinguish the images and rituals of Mahayana Buddhism, in its various forms, from parallel practices in Catholicism, and is glad to condemn both.

Worth reading today? Well, the book is still cited, with diffidence, by scholars far more sympathetic to the subject, and far better informed about it, for its extraordinary amount of factual documentation. For a novice in Tibetan studies, I would suggest starting with a solid introduction, like Snellgrove and Richardson's "Cultural History of Tibet," and those looking for further information might continue with a responsible modern study, such as Giuseppe Tucci's "The Religions of Tibet." You could probably turn to Waddell for details after reading either one.

For those interested in a "sampler," I point out that Waddell published in 1894 a similar, but much, much shorter, volume (under 200 pages) on Sikkim, as "Lamaism in Sikhim" (his spelling). This has long been out of print, but an Adobe Reader pdf of the book has been made available as a set of free downloads, with due warning of Waddell's biases, as part of the bibliography section for "Himalayan Art Resources" at himalayanart.org. It might be helpful to check out "Waddell Lite" before deciding on the bigger book. And the whole bibliography there may be helpful, too.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wadell misunderstood, April 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Buddhism Of Tibet or Lamaism (Hardcover)

When LA Waddell put out his stuff on Lhasa/Tibet you have to remember the times he was living in. People of today like to think of themselves as relative sophisticates, free from "ethnic" or "racial" prejudice.

Sure Waddell was a person of his times; still he put out what was then some of the most definitive information then available to the West on what was then a totally "hidden kingdom"--thanks to the isolation of the area AND to the isolationist decrees of the lamas who held power of literally life and death over their subjects.

He was also shedding light on an area that until then people like Blavatsky had romanticized into a "Shangri-La" paradise and added their own ridiculous conclusions on such chimera as the existence of a "great white brotherhood" and so on.

To my understanding Waddell was one of the first (if not THE first) white to fully examine "Lamaist" belief systems, delineating the existence of numerous dharmic practices not to mention the beliefs (and often corrupt politics) of the lineages. He also approached his subject using the Victorian "scientific" method--unlike a lot of present-day "sophisticated" New Age influenced people who seek to infuse thier own ideas and speak for Tibetan Buddhism, or the often-westernized lamas of today.

Mistakes Waddell might make-but they were the mistakes of an honest explorer in search of the hidden truths of the heretofore unknown kingdom of Tibet.

If read in its context Waddell has a lot to offer.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't bother:, March 12, 2000

By 

Marc Manuel (Putney, Vt., USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Buddhism of Tibet or Lamaism (Hardcover)

It seems to my that the author either never went to Tibet. If he did he never bothered to learn the language and the translations he got were so misinterpreted that he wrote fantasy instead of fact. I believe that Mr. Waddell wrote the book from his armchair and used fantasy and other books. The original was written @ 1900, so the books that he had to rely on were sparse and were not very insightful into the real Tibet of the time, or were plain fantasy. It is amazing that he wrote such a long book (I guess that he had nothing else to do for a while.) Though there are a very few facts about Tibet in the author's book, most of it is wrong and very misleading. I suggest that you pass this one up or read it as you would a fairy story.