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Following the fall of the Tibetan empire and the ensuing "period of
fragmentation," the twelfth and thirteenth centuries saw tremendous
religious efflorescence in Tibet. Although the Tibetan scholars and
adepts of this period continued to draw from the texts and
practices of Indian Buddhism, they also began to craft distinctly
Tibetan intellectual and spiritual traditions. Hundreds of
important masters lived and worked during this time, some of whom
founded institutions that still exist today. Equally important were
the scholars who lived on the margins of institutionalized
Buddhism, teachers and meditators whose works, despite their great
creativity, have been largely forgotten.
Jose Cabezon offers a study of the life and most important extant
work of one such figure, Rog Bande Sherab, also known as Rogben
(1166-1244). Rogben studied under some of the greatest teachers of
his day. An itinerant scholar and yogi, he devoted his life to
collecting important textual cycles and meditation techniques.
Rogben's most important work, The Lamp of the Teachings, cuts
across the genres of history, doctrinal studies, and doxography. It
is one of the earliest philosophically robust explanations of the
"nine vehicle" system of the Ancient or Nyingma school of Tibetan
Buddhism. TheBuddha's Doctrine and the Nine Vehicles is the first
scholarly study of Rog Bande Sherab, a pivotal figure in both the
Pacification (Zhiche) and Ancient traditions of Tibet, and one of
the most original thinkers in Tibetan intellectual history."
Ritual is one of the most pervasive religious phenomena in the
Tibetan cultural world. Despite its ubiquity and importance to
Tibetan cultural life, however, only in recent years has Tibetan
ritual been given the attention it deserves. This is the first
scholarly collection to focus on this important subject. Unique in
its historical, geographical and disciplinary breadth, this book
brings together eleven essays by an international cast of scholars
working on ritual texts, institutions and practices in the greater
Tibetan cultural world - Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and Mongolia. While
most of the chapters focus on Buddhism, two deal with ritual in
Tibet's indigenous Bon religion. All of the essays are original to
this volume. An extensive introduction by the editor provides a
broad overview of Tibetan ritual and contextualizes the chapters
within the field of Buddhist and Tibetan studies. The book should
find use in advanced undergraduate courses and graduate seminars on
Tibetan religion. It will also be of interest to students and
scholars of ritual generally.
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