Parution de : Essays on the History of Tibet et ⁠Early bKa’ brgyud pa Masters on the « Upper side » (1191-1344)

Roberto Vitali annonce la parution de ses deux derniers ouvrages :

Essays on the History of Tibet
et
Early bKa’ brgyud pa Masters on the « Upper side » (1191-1344)
chez Mutag Books

Les deux ouvrages sont intégralement accessible en ligne ici : https://vitali-tibet.com/#books

Résumé:
Essays on the history of Tibet – is a lengthy work (840 pp.) that touches topics remarkably different from one another. They are based on literary material again from primary sources exclusively. These essays are too long to be articles and too short to be individual books although in various cases they could have been single volumes. Some of them deal with the dynastic period of Tibet (6th century onwards), others span from bstan pa phyi dar to the 15th century. A few of these essays touch well known themes, others aim at bringing to a more central historical position important topics that have been confined to the periphery of historical memory. Three essays concern dynastic Tibet. One of them expands the range of inhumations at the ’Phyong rgyas dur sa behind the well-known tombs of the btsan po-s and, therefore, gives a different perspective of the royal cemetery. Another one deals with the sense of Srong btsan sgan po’s embryonic introduction of Buddhism in relation to the construction of Ra sa ’Phrul snang and his military campaigns. The third pertains to the role the heroes played on the three fronts that secured the conquest of the empire. Two more deal with the introduction of key religious systems, respectively from the late 10th to the 11th century and during the next hundreds of years. One concerns the adoption of the cult of a major deity in the land, the other a system of lineal transmission. In an essay, a noble family whose genealogical flow did not suffer discontinuation – a rare case in Tibet—is brought back to the limelight for its historical contributions. Another essay is dedicated to one more noble family well-known to the studies but seen here from historical viewpoints not yet touched by scholarship. A most controversial and troublesome event whose full extent official historiography has tried to hide under the carpet is the theme of a further essay. One of the nine works examines the paternity of a well-known rNying ma text, whose attribution, given for granted until now, needs to be scrutinised.

Early bKa’ brgyud pa masters in the lands on the “upper side”, deals with the culture of mNga’ ris stod smad (Upper West Tibet) from the beginning of the bKa’ brgyud pa presence in its regions (late 12th century) until well within the 14th. It is a monograph that deals with the inflow of great masters of this school into a most sacred land and the consequent germination of local exponents of remarkable caliber. Aspects touch an interdisciplinary approach based on the historical literature from the primary sources. The religious and secular enterprises of great bKa’ brgyud pa masters radiated from Gangs Ti se and the lakes, which they had reached by means of collective or individual expeditions, to centres of civilisation in all directions. From Gu ge Pu hrang, La dwags, Byang thang and Mar yul Gung thang great personalities went on to Kashmir, the Tarim Basin, the Indian plains, the Indo-Iranic
borderlands and the Kathmandu Valley, leaving locally a mark that enlightens the cultural conditions of those lands. Following the stable takeover of the territories of mNga’ ris, local bKa’ brgyud pa exponents played a major role also due to the weakening of the school’s control over the lands in the west due to the assertion of the Yuan/Sa skya pa alliance. Still the intrepid attitude of earlier bKa’ brgyud pa masters was adopted by other members of the school.

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