Death and Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhism

Abstract

List of figures ; Preface ; Acknowledgements ; 1. Introduction ; Biographical process ; Intersubjectivity ; Darjeeling ; The narrative ; Notes ; 2. Relics and reincarnation of Khenchen Sangay Tenzin ; Discussing the lama’s death ; Minds beyond death ; The reincarnated lama ; Religious biography ; Bodies of devotional practice ; Extended biography ; Notes ; 3. The spiritual mastery or (spirit possession) of Gupha Rinpoche ; Ethnographic scholarship: revisiting the polemic ; Tibetan scholarship: historical influences ; Introducing Gupha ; Textures and grammars of a monastic college ; Scholasticism and saintly madmen ; Rhythms of a saintly madman ; An irregular tempo ; Divided opinions ; Dying ; Death and memorialization ; The rising corpse ; Return from the dead ; Possession and reincarnation ; Maintaining plurality ; Notes ; 4. Embodying the past in the present: Gelongma Palmo ; Previous scholarship: locating Gelongma Palmo ; Setting the scene: karma, merit and rebirth ; Literacy ; The sacred repetition of hagiography ; Nyungne: transforming body, speech and mind ; Prostrations ; Varieties of communication ; Acts of speech: vows, mantras and the ritual manual ; The sounds of silence ; Imagining the deity ; Sensing the social ; Notes ; 5. Buddhism across cultures: Bokar Rinpoche ; Tibetan Buddhist embodiment ; Trikaya: the bodies of a Buddha ; Cultural adaptations ; Cultural innovations ; Notes ; 6. Conclusion ; Glossary ; Bibliography ; Index ;