Tibetan and Himalayan Library - THL

Description: A prominent anthropological work on Tibetan culture, Himalayan Dialogue uses the lens of hermeneutical dialogue to examine "shamanic" and "Buddhist" aspects of Tibetan culture. These two aspects operate out of quite different paradigms, and Himalayan Dialogue dramatically portrays the tense dialogue that has driven Tibetan culture for over ten centuries. Mumford uses the interaction between Tibetan exiles (Buddhist) in Nepal and indigenous Nepalese communities (shamanic) to reconstruct the interaction and development of Tibetan culture itself out of the interaction between indigenous traditions and Buddhism imported from India beginning in the eighth century CE. This study combines textual analysis with richly contextualized ethnographic data. Rites studied include exchanges with the underworld, demon exorcism, recalling the soul, and the famed guiding of the consciousness in the Tibetan death rite. (Steven Weinberger 2005-09-23)