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Tibet: Civilisation et société by Fernand Meyer Review by: Dan Martin Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 112, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1992), pp. 347-349 Published by: American Oriental Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/603735 . Accessed: 10/06/2014 17:04 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . American Oriental Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the American Oriental Society. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 91.229.229.92 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 17:04:33 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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Tibet: Civilisation et société by Fernand MeyerReview by: Dan MartinJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 112, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1992), pp. 347-349Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/603735 .

Accessed: 10/06/2014 17:04

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

American Oriental Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal ofthe American Oriental Society.

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Page 2: Tibet: Civilisation et sociétéby Fernand Meyer

Reviews of Books 347

often differs substantially from the Sanskrit and even where it does not these commentaries may adopt an interpretation that is not philosophically inaccurate but which so transforms or adds to the original that the Indian author's own words and syntax are no longer clear. The strength of the indigenous Ti- betan writers, he says, is their philosophical interpretation, and he draws upon this strength in his notes to Candrakirti's commentaries by providing excerpts from the commentaries of Red mda' ba (1392-1481) and rGyal tshab (1364-1432) on the CS. He follows also the Tibetan practice of providing a topical outline (sa bcad) which makes the commentators' diffi- cult arguments more accessible and easier to follow (rGyal tshab's own topical outlines for chapters XII and XIII are re- produced and translated in appendices III and IV).

The second chapter deals with the issue of scriptural au- thority. Tillemans disputes the current assumption among Western scholars that there is a radical distinction between Digndga and Dharmakirti and cites passages from their works to establish their common stance on questions of scriptural au- thority, which limits the scope of scripturally based inferences to cases where the object is far beyond the range of ordinary reason. He finds a marked affinity between their views and those of Dharmapala.

In the third chapter Tillemans considers Dharmapala's and Candrakirti's views on direct perception and points out signifi- cant differences. For Dharmapala, the conclusion of Aryade- va's argument is that no entity exists different from the mind which apprehends it: there are no external objects. His posi- tion, Tillemans says (p. 60), "seems to operate on two levels: (a) his Madhyamaka-style critique is directed against miscon- ceived notions of existence, inexistence, identity, difference, real consciousness, and even voidness; (b) his Yogacdra phi- losophy affirms the existence of consciousness and ultimate truth, what remains after misconceptions and errors are stripped away." Dharmapdla concentrates on refuting Vai- bhasika and non-Buddhist theories of perception; Candrakirti, in addition, refutes Yogdcdra and Svdtantrika views of percep- tion as an immediate, non-deceptive form of knowledge.

Despite Tillemans' initial remarks (pp. 1-2) that the "cau- tionary result" which emerges from his translation of these two commentaries is that "paradoxically, Aryadeva's thought is even less well understood than we, or the Tibetans, might feel it is," his careful and readable translations of this mate- rial, along with the abundant annotation he provides, is an impressive achievement which adds considerably to our knowledge of the ideas of Aryadeva, Dharmapdla, and Can- drakirti, and is a welcome and useful corrective to viewing the CS only from the perspective of the Prdsangika Mddhyamika school.

KAREN LANG

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA

Tibet: Civilisation et societ6. Edited by FERNAND MEYER.

Paris: tDITIONS DE LA MAISON DES SCIENCES DE L'HOMME,

1990. Pp. 204 + 26 plates. FF 190 (paper).

In the last few years, several conference volumes in Tibetan studies have been published, and this volume is certainly one of the best. It contains highly polished and substantive contri- butions to major areas of contemporary Tibetological concern, including art history, iconographical analysis, medicine, mu- sic, theater, ritual, temple architecture, political history, folk- tales, local religious practice, and archaeology. The emphasis of the first half of the volume is on the 'high culture' of Central Tibet, while the second half moves out into the borderlands of Szechuan and northern Nepal, into eastern and western Tibet, a conceptual arrangement that was evidently intended. The general emphasis is on cultural and historical aspects; there is relatively little here on canonical Buddhist scriptures, religious ideas, and philosophy per se, the central concerns of so much literature on Tibet, and neither do we find studies of foreign adventurers, explorers, and scholars. These sorts of researches are found in abundance elsewhere. The conference which re- sulted in this volume was held in Paris on April 27-29, 1987, under the sponsorship of the Fondation Singer-Polignac. The book as a whole is quite handsomely produced, in large for- mat. A beautiful color reproduction of a thang-ka of the second Dalai Lama graces the cover (note that a very recent publica- tion, Philip Rawson, Sacred Tibet [London: Thames and Hud- son, 1991], 64, plate 38, reproduces the identical thang-ka, but in a garishly red photograph, wrongly identifying the central figure as the second Panchen Lama, even though it bears the legible inscription, "Dge-'dun-rgya-mtsho," i.e., the second Dalai Lama), and twenty-six pages of black-and-white photo- graphic plates are found at the end. In this review we will sim- ply state the general content of the contributions (making reference to the contributors' last names only) and add more specific comments only when they seem relevant. A complete list of authors and titles follows:

Fernand Meyer, Presentation. Gilles Beguin, Remarques concernant les influences newares

dans la peinture tibetaine a l'6poque des Phag-mo-gru-pa. Amy Heller, Remarques preliminaires sur les divinites protec-

trices Srung-ma dmar-nag du Potala. Fernand Meyer, Introduction 'a l'6tude d'une serie de peintures

medicales creee 'a Lhasa au XVIIe siecle. Mireille Helffer, Recherches recentes concernant l'emploi des

notations musicales dans la tradition tibetaine. Lobsang Dordje, Le theatre tibetain. Anne-Marie Blondeau, Questions preliminaires sur les rituels

mdos. Anne Chayet, Contribution aux recherches sur les etats suc-

cessifs du monastere de bSam-yas. Samten G. Karmay, A propos d'un sceau en or offert par l'em-

pereur Shunzi.

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Page 3: Tibet: Civilisation et sociétéby Fernand Meyer

348 Journal of the American Oriental Society 112.2 (1992)

Patrick Mansier, La guerre du Jinchuan (rGyal-rong): Son contexte politico-religieux.

Alexander W. Macdonald, Cendrillon au Tibet. Philippe Sagant, Les tambours de Nyi-shang (Nepal): Rituel et

centralisation politique. Brigitte Steinmann, Interpretation de concepts tibetains par

des lamas Tamang rnying-ma-pa du Nepal, dans le rituel funeraire.

Nicolas Tournadre, Presentation de la grammaire tradition- nelle et des cas du tibetaine: Approche classique et ana- lyse moderne.

Sonam Wangdu, Le site neolithique de Karo dans le district de Chamdo au Tibet.

Ou Chaogui, Une note 'a propos des vestiges de Tsaparang: Capitale de l'ancien royaume de Guge au Tibet occidental.

Beguin's essay is devoted to a neglected area of both artis- tic and political history, the period of the Phag-mo-gru leaders (from about 1354-1435). It deals, more specifically, with Rgyal-rtse (Gyantse), with Zhwa-lu Monastery, and with the question of Newari influence on Tibetan art (cf. E. Lo Bue, "Cultural Exchange and Social Interaction between Tibetans and Newars from the 7th to 13th Century," International Folk- lore Review, 6 [1988]: 86-114), largely the result of the pres- ence of Newari artists in Tibet throughout most of its history.

Heller's article is a remarkable, but rather short, piece on the 'red and black protectors' of the Potala Palace and of the Dalai Lamas. It would best be read together with another re- lated article by the same author ("Early Textual Sources for the Cult of Beg-ce," in Tibetan Studies, ed. H. Uebach and J. L. Panglung [Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissen- schaften, 1988], 185-95). There is no doubt that the 'black protector' is identical to Dpal-ldan Lha-mo, while the identity of the 'red protector' is rendered rather problematic, due to the fact that no name for this protector is given in the older sources, while in later sources the identification fluctuates be- tween Beg-tse and Rdo-rje-grags-ldan. This problem is here elucidated by hints elicited from the biographies of the early Dalai lamas and related literature, and is accompanied, as all iconographical investigations must be, by photographic docu- mentation (including the thang-ka illustration on the cover of

the volume). But this essay is no ordinary iconographical analysis; it is rather a history of iconography, which also must be in some sense a history of the deities, hence the special in- terest evoked by this kind of research.

The next work, that of Meyer, also deals with iconography, but of a quite different sort-the iconography of the human body (but also materia medica, surgical instruments, etc.). It concerns a remarkable set of medical paintings that have in- trigued several generations of scholars. The work begins with a chronological survey of past scholarship. Meyer then shows that the series of medical paintings originated in a set of sixty paintings executed simultaneously with the composition of the

Vaiduirya Sngon-po (the famous commentary to the Rgyud Bzhi by Regent Sangs-rgyas-rgya-mtsho), that the paintings were created with pedagogical motives, to serve as visual aids for the study of the Vaidiirya Sngon-po. This fundamental in- sight was either entirely lacking or underutilized in previous studies. The last part of Meyer's contribution is about the 'pre- history' of these paintings-older Tibetan medical illustrations and evidence for Chinese influences.

It may be slightly stretching the word to call the next offer- ing, that of Helffer, an 'iconography' of sound. The systems of Tibetan musical notations are baffling to many otherwise com- petent tibetologues. This article describes and gives examples of notations from the various monastic traditions for both per- cussive and wind instruments. Some mysteries remain un- solved, as the author notes, including the question of their historical origins.

Next we have a short but systematic and useful survey of Tibetan theatrical traditions by Dordje. It shows that the monastic dances ('cham) differ from secular dance-theater (iha-mo) in origin, mode of presentation, and musical accom- paniment. The comments on the color symbolism of masks are especially worthy of notice.

Blondeau begins by tracing the scholarly confusion of the mdos ritual, a kind of 'ransom' (glud) ritual, with one of the ritual items frequently used in its performance, the 'thread cross' (nam- mkha')-a classic example of how scholars frequently build on previous misconceptions without consulting directly the sources. Also revealed is another classic example of how comparativists often supply their own 'universal' interpretations of things (in this case, the 'thread cross'), blinded in advance to the often quite different understandings appropriate to the specific cultures in which the things occur. This article is recommended to all stu- dents of ritual history and the history of Tibetan religion in gen- eral. The conclusions are both critical and cautious.

Chayet's "Contribution" is a small part of an ambitious plan to survey all possible sources on the imperial-period Bsam-yas temple complex in order to trace its changes over the centu- ries. Here are found discussions on the different dates that have been put forward for its founding, the various names given to it, the three-storied central temple (the Dbu-rtse), the statuary, the murals, and so forth. We suggest that future stud- ies on this subject will also include evidence from the impor- tant twelfth- and thirteenth-century histories by Nyang Ral Nyi-ma-'od-zer and Mkhas-pa Lde'u, recently made available.

Karmay's essay, despite its brevity, is recommended to stu- dents of Tibetan politics and the history of Sino-Tibetan rela- tions. The reasons for the fifth Dalai Lama's 1652-53 visit to the Manchu emperor and the significance of a golden seal presented to the Dalai Lama while on His return journey are discussed in light of evidence from the Dalai Lama's autobio-

graphical writings. I personally found Mansier's to be one of the most interest-

ing contributions to this volume, in part because I wrote a

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Page 4: Tibet: Civilisation et sociétéby Fernand Meyer

Reviews of Books 349

paper on the same subject (D. Martin, "Bonpo Canons and Je- suit Cannons: On Sectarian Factors Involved in the Ch'ien- lung Emperor's Second Goldstream Expedition of 1771-1776 Based Primarily on Some Tibetan Sources," The Tibet Journal 15.2 [1990]: 3-28). Since these are parallel productions, un- dertaken independently, it is all the more remarkable how, given also some differences in the sources consulted, the gen- eral conclusion is identical-that the real beneficiaries of this war were, through conscious design, Lcang-skya Khutukhtu and the Dge-lugs-pa sect.

Attempting to be more brief, we will only say that Mac- donald's essay is about the existence of the Cinderella type of story in Tibet.

Sagant's and Steinmann's are both relatively detailed stud- ies of Nepalese, specifically Nyi-shang and Tamang, rituals. The former concerns the relationship between ritual and polit- ical power, while the latter is about funeral rites.

Tournadre's is an interesting attempt to explain and criticize the categories of case relationships used by Tibetan grammar- ians. A great deal of this territory has already been crossed. In particular, we hoped for at least a hat-tip, even if not a full prostration, to the reuvre of Roy Andrew Miller.

Wangdu's is about the archaeology of a site in eastern Tibet inhabited four to five thousand years ago, while Chaogui's is about the present condition of Tsaparang, the old capital of Guge in western Tibet.

DAN MARTIN

JERUSALEM

The Myth of Shangri-La: Tibet, Travel Writing and the West- ern Creation of Sacred Landscape. By PETER BISHOP.

Berkeley and Los Angeles: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS,

1989. Pp. x + 308. $29.95.

Peter Bishop has read and researched widely in the English- language travel literature on Tibet with the stated aim of pro- ducing a description of the imaginative construction of Tibet in the Western mind. To this end he has most prominently re- lied on the theoretical framework provided by Michel Fou- cault and Edward Said, particularly the latter's ideas on "Orientalism," in interpreting travel narratives. A reading of Bishop's book makes clear the breadth of his explorations in this literature, and it is considerable. The methodological per- spective he has adopted, however, has led to the production of a work that is often skewed in much of its analysis.

Bishop sees the "Orient" as a sort of image collectively conceived in the Western mind and he describes the niche he has found for travel writing on Tibet within that imaginative realm. Like other authors critical of what they term "Oriental-

ism," Bishop largely downplays the individuality of the writ- ers he deals with in order to show how they inevitably mirror trends (e.g., romanticism) within the societies to which they belong. This is a sort of methodology that emphasizes a sub- jective psychological association between elements within a given Tibetan travel narrative and larger social features in the writer's environment, rather than a linkage to the specifics of the writer's own experiences in Tibet, or to objective features of Tibetan landscape, society, etc.

Of course there are many ways in which a particular individ- ual evinces characteristics formed by his or her environment; but the manner in which Bishop has made this factor the deci- sive element in analyzing most of the literature that he deals with sometimes leads him into rather narrow readings of his subjects' writings. Where the eighteenth-century travellers Bo- gle and Turner both comment on the unique Tibetan funerary practice of exposing a corpse so that it could be devoured by birds, Bishop (pp. 40-41) sees the Western imagination at work through them, specifically selecting a phenomenon to focus on that could serve as "an ideal signifier for eighteenth-century British fantasies about Tibetan Otherness." However, these two Britons were hardly the first Westerners to remark on what is by any measure a unique and curious practice; we might also add that Chinese and Manchu writers of the eighteenth century had also taken note of corpse disposal in Tibet with similar curiosity and astonishment, but without being party to the requirements of the contemporary British imagination. In Bishop's narrative the records of something such as Tibetan funerary customs can- not be understood as the result of innocent curiosity or ordinary amazement, for Tibet had by necessity become "a place of cru- cial importance for the British imagination" (p. 62).

Bishop's postulation of this collective imagination resting at the heart of the interests and perceptions of individual Tibetan travel writers leads to similarly one-sided associa- tions. He ascribes differences in descriptions of mountain landscapes to different periods of aesthetic style and apprecia- tion, rather than examining the varied locales from which such descriptions originate. When Thomas Manning is very much taken with the Dalai Lama upon having an audience with him, this is seen simply as a manifestation of "a past era of reason, order and spiritual ecstasy"-adoration of the Dalai Lama then going into "quiescence" for eighty years only to emerge with the writings of Blavatsky and the Theosophists (pp. 90- 91). Leaving aside the qualitative difference inherent in Blav- atsky's never having met the Dalai Lama, Bishop seems ill- inclined to ascribe Manning's reaction to the hierarch to any but collective reasons. So too, where travellers remark on the character of light and color at the high altitudes of the Tibetan Plateau Bishop sees them inevitably manifesting the romantic aesthetics of their day (pp. 162-63).

Bishop has Tibetan travel writers forming a cohesive com- munity, and it is therefore easy for him to treat them in collec- tive terms. He avoids any discussion of the fact that there were

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