2020/01/01 by Lewis Doney, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, European Research Council (ERC) · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography #China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations #Eurasian Exchange Networks #Indian and Buddhist Studies
paper · doi:10.1515/9783110715309
openalex publication_date 2020/12/04 · openalex created_date 2022/05/12 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/21
Bringing Buddhism to Tibet is a landmark study of the Dba’ bzhed , a text recounting the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet. The narrative of Buddhism’s arrival in Tibet is known from a number of versions, but the Dba’ bzhed —preserved in a single manuscript—is the oldest complete copy. Although the Dba’ bzhed stands at the head of a long tradition of history writing in the Tibetan language, and has been known for more than two decades, this book provides a full transcription of the Tibetan for the first time, together with a new translation. The book also introduces Tibetan history and the Dba’ bzhed with several introductory chapters on various aspects of the text by experienced scholars in the field of Tibetan philology. These detailed studies provide analysis of the text’s narrative context, its position within traditional and current historiography, and the organisation and structure of the text itself and its antecedents. Bringing Buddhism to Tibet is essential reading for anyone interested in Tibetan history and kingship, the nature of Tibetan historical narrative or the traditions of text transmission and codicology. The book will also be of general interest to students of Buddhism and the spread of Buddhism across Asia.