Buddhism in Contemporary Tibet: Religious Revival and Cultural Identity by Melvyn C. Goldstein  (7)  $16.16

The Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism: Conversion, Contestation, and Memory by Matthew T. Kapstein $36.30

Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists & Their Tibetan Successors by David Snellgrove  (2)

Tibetan Renaissance: Tantric Buddhism in the Rebirth of Tibetan Culture by Ronald M. Davidson  (1)  $35.00

Tibetans (Peoples of Asia) by Matthew Kapstein  (2)  $23.32

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From Publishers Weekly
In Tibet, clerical, state-sponsored Buddhism has coexisted with, and in many ways been subordinate to, shamanic practices such as spirit mediumship, contact with local deities, possession and soul-flight, observes anthropologist Samuel ( Mind, Body and Culture ). "Lamas in Tibet function as shamans," and are believed to communicate with spirits from alternative levels of reality. This dense but rewarding study of Tibetan religion from the seventh century to the Chinese invasion of 1950 replaces the conventional picture of a centralized, theocratic state with a view of Tibet as a patchwork of ethnic groups and farming, pastoral and urban communities. Tibetan folk religion uses shamanic techniques in an effort to bring about long life and health and to achieve a desirable incarnation in one's next life. Samuel, who combines his own fieldwork with extensive scholarship, suggestively portrays Tibetan Buddhism as a synthesis continually evolving in response to changing societal forms.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
Everything about this book on the political and religious history of Tibet is big. A 150-page discussion on the socio-economic developments in Tibet serves as an introduction; the major discussion on Buddhism in Tibet is told chronologically in microscopic detail and is heavily footnoted. Yet there is nothing particularly controversial here; this is not a groundbreaker with new theories or discoveries. Its merit lies in its comprehensiveness. Although it never successfully makes the transition from a purely academic treatise to a book for the inquisitive public, the work is still a solid reference for the scholar of world religions who is in need of a one-volume work on Tibetan Buddhism. Recommended only for academic libraries.
- Glenn Masuchika, Chaminade Univ. Lib., Honolulu
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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