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A Great List of Online Resources for Tibetan Studies
Sunbird Sipping NectarSomehow it escaped my attention until just today, but a fantastic listing of online resources for Tibetan Studies has been there at the University of Virginia’s Tibetan and...
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Yunnan’s Old Tibetan Inscription
Photo taken by myself a few years backThis is a tomb inscription for a political figure of importance in 8th-century Yunnan-Tibet relations. I won’t even try to tack it up against a historical...
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Tibetsploitation: New Lows in Phoney on Amazon
Total Tibethenticity, am I right?Illegal warning, to be read before reading any further than this, since doing so would involve implicating yourself in its full rainbow of ridiculous ramifications:...
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Chicks Raised on Diamonds
I have heard that the use of the semicolon is in rapid decline, even in danger of disappearing altogether. This is a pity, as it was a useful way of signifying that something further is going to be...
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The Sixth Dalai Lama as Part of the Folk Song Tradition
What you see here in today’s blog is basically the text used in a slide presentation in Tawang earlier this month, its original title given above, somewhat revised, together with most of the slides.I...
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Mandalized Body Map
Balawaste wall painting (ca. 7th c.), Aurel Stein Collection, National Museum, New DelhiArts and WritingsN.J. Allen, “The Indo-European Prehistory of ‘Yoga’,” International Journal of Hindu Studies,...
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Bon Studies of Guru Chöwang at Age Six
Guru Chöwang statue, HAR 73029In the face of a recent statement on the hopelessness of ever finding chronological coordinates for the history of Bon,* I have to say I’m not so pessimistic, at least...
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Zhijé Lineage Depicted in a Dergé Woodblock Print
click to enlarge Source: The Dergé woodblock representing the Zhijé and Cutting lineages, together they constitute one of the Eight Chariots of Kong-sprul. This was long ago seen on the internet, but...
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Mandalized Body Map
Balawaste wall painting (ca. 7th c.), Aurel Stein Collection, National Museum, New DelhiArts and WritingsN.J. Allen, “The Indo-European Prehistory of ‘Yoga’,” International Journal of Hindu Studies,...
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Middle Zhijé in Four Matho Fragments
There are many more Zhijé texts among the pre-1200 CE Matho fragments than anyone would have expected. To my mind this signals that Zhijé was more influential in those days than we have ever imagined....
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Found! An Old Medical History Manuscript, Author Now Known
Myrobalans (ཨ་རུ་ར་) in the Medicine Buddha's HandI know Tibetan medicine is not the top interest of Tibeto-logic readers. With one exception, blogs on that topic have not proven very popular. I still...
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Old Age: Gradual Path Teachings of an Early Dzogchen Master
Old man look at my life,I’m a lot like you were.— Neil Young, 1972I have to say, the unexpected happens to students of Tibet with such frequency it feels normal. Once I spotted Rampa in the Topkapi in...
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Macrocosmic Man in the Kālacakra Tantra
Well, Leonardo’s Vesuvian man it is not. I am not and never have been an artist. I drafted the drawing you see here above decades ago, in the early ’80’s, as part of an attempt to understand the first...
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Turkish Dzogchen of Early Ladakh
Hong Kong, May 2018 It is honestly difficult to contemplate writing up a blog after giving it a title like that one you see above. There is a promise and an aim indicated in it, but I suppose the...
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Mandala Architecture, the Top of the Wall
Diagram of the mandala portal and wall, with labelscourtesy of Yael BentorI suppose I ought to go into a long-winded preamble before getting to the point. But first of all let me state the point, or...
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Sag-ri and Sag-ti, Two Leather Loans
Shagreen on an 18th-c. Turkish daggerkept at the METToday’s guest blog is by Michael Walter.Concerning sag ri and sag tiIt may be best to begin this brief analysis with entries from a Syriac dictionary...
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Thank You for the Light, A Turkic Loanword
Lcags-magThe ink is hardly dry on the last blog and the holiday season is bearing down on us. Still, I’d like to add on one more before giving these loanwords a rest. This example does suit my...
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Two Odd Words that Ought to be Persian
Ya-ladIn our last blog, we put forward a method for identifying foreign multisyllabic words in Tibetan. We should try again, just to add a little refinement and state it in a different way. To begin...
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Persian Name in a Bon History, Anenhar in Drenpa’s Proclamation
A figure with the very unusual name Anenhar (A-nan-har) is mentioned twice in the recently released translation of a late 12th-century Bon historical text, Drenpa's Proclamation(pp. 254-5). He’s...
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Prayer Wheels, Odd Ideas and Even Odder
Look closely at this illustration, found in a brief chapter on Tartary published in 1741. Engraved by Bernard Picart (1673-1733), it is one of many found in a 7-volume encyclopedia Religious Customs...
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