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Tibetan Literature Studies in Genre (Studies in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism)

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Academic students as well as non-academic amateurs will find this study, which includes thirty essays on a whole range of different instances of Tibetan literature, very useful and inspiring. Its main interest lies in the broad overview it offers of the great variety of material written in Tibetan over the centuries and of the state of current research attained by international scholarship in this field. As pointed out by the editor in his introduction, applying the term `genre' to the field of Tibetan literature raises, in itself, interesting problems of definition. Furthermore, as this work was not intended to be an encyclopaedia or comprehensive overview of all the existing `genres' in Tibetan literature (the editor also conveniently lists the omissions or subject areas which are not covered), the reader will be all the more curious to find further reading material on the subject. Each essay is from ten to twenty pages long and is followed by the notes and a bibliography pertaining to the subject, thus making it a good starting point for a more in-depth study of the particular `genre'. This study proves how dynamic this field of literary research has been over the past thirty years and we hope a second study, including many of the previously omitted subjects (especially some of the modern `genres') will be published in a not too distant future.

thoroughly referenced/annotated essays from more than a handful of big names in the field of Tibetology, honoring the Gelukpa scholar Geshe Lhundup Sopa (b. 1923) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and covering the period from the mid-7th to 20th century. It needs to be pointed out here that, apart from a paper by Per Kvaerne, little or no mention is made of the Bon scriptural legacy, and of writings pertaining to folk religion (unless the steppe asian myth of Ge-sar, whose name stems from 'caesar' of Rome, is considered as such), and current (post-1949) secular literature.

Editors' introduction (pp. 11-38)
I. History and biography (pp. 39-69): Leonard van der Kuijp - Tibetan historiography [annals (Lo rgyus), royal genealogies (rGyal rabs), religious histories (Chos 'byung)]; James B. Robinson - The lives of Indian Buddhist saints [rNam thar].
II. Canonical texts (pp. 70-169): Paul Harrison - A brief history of the Tibetan bKa' 'gyur [Kanjur]; Tadeusz Skorupszki - The canonical tantras of the New Schools [gSar ma pa]; Jeffrey D. Schoening: Su(u)tra commentaries in Tibetan translation; Joe Bransford Wilson - Tibetan commentaries on Indian sha(a)stras; Per Kvaerne - The literature of Bon; Janet Gyatso - The gTer ma ['hidden treasure,' apocryphal] literature.
III. Philosophical literature (pp. 170-228): Jeffrey Hopkins - The Tibetan genre of doxography; Shunzo Onada - bsDus grwa; Guy Newland - Debate manuals (Yig cha) in dGe lugs monastic colleges; Donald S. Lopez, Jr. - Polemical lit. (dGag lan).
IV. Literature on the paths (pp. 229-89): David P. Jackson - The bsTan rim. Graded expositions of the Bodhisattva's path; Michael J. Sweet - Mental purifictions (Blo sbyong); Jules B. Levinson - Tibetan treatises on grounds and paths; Matthew Kapstein - gDams ngag [personal instructions?]. Technologies of the Self.
V. Ritual (pp. 290-357): Yael Bentor - Literature on consecration (Rab gnas); John Makransky - Offering (mChod pa) in ritual lit.; Daniel Cozort - Sadhana (sGrub thabs). Means of achievement for deity yoga; José I. Cabezón - Firm feet and long lives (Zhabs brtan).
VI. Literary arts (pp. 358-421): Geoffrey Samuel - The Gesar epic of East Tibet; Roger R. Jackson - Poetry in Tibet (Glu, mGur, sNyan sngag); Leonard van der Kuijp - Tibetan belles-lettres. The influence of Dandin and Ksemendra; Beth Newman - The Tibetan novel and its sources.
VII. Non-literary arts and sciences (pp. 422-84): P. C. Verhagen - Influence of Indian Vyakarana on Tibetan indigenous grammar; Rebecca R. French - The law codes of the dGa' ldan pho brang; Todd Fenner - A Tibetan medical tantra (rGyud bzhi); Erberto Lo Bue - Tibetan literature on art.
VIII. Guidebooks and reference works (pp. 485-514): John Newman - Itineraries [Lam yig] to Sambhala; Dan Martin - Tables of contents (dKar chag).
Index (pp. 521-49).

Related materials: A. I. Vostrikov's (1904-37) "Tibetan Historical Literature," first English edition: 1970 Calcutta; the indefatigable E. Gene Smith's "Among Tibetan Texts: History and Literature of the Himalayan Plateau," 2001.