Cultural and Political History of the Tibetan Plateau
Essay questions
The references are intended as starting points and a bibliography is found below (plus the general and tutorial readings for this unit). You are expected to find further references of your own.
- Explain the rise of the Tibetan Which role did Buddhism play for kingship and rule during that period?
References for starting: Beckwith 1987, Dotson & Kapstein 2007 (some contributions), see also General Readings
- Discuss the phenomenon of “Crazy Yogins” during the 16th Who were they, what motivated this movement, in which context did they emerge?
References for starting: Larsson 2012, Linrothe 2006, di Valerio 2015, Quintman 2014, Roberts 2007, Ehrhard 2010
- Explain the significance of the concept of ‘reincarnate lama’ in Tibetan What were its origins, advantages and issues. What did a reincarnation status mean for a lama’s subsequent career?
References for starting: Schwieger 2014, Brauen 2005 (esp. van der Kuijp), Rheingans 2017 (and the translated biographies in the bibliography such as Kong- sprul Blo-gros-mtha’-yas 2003 etc.)
- Explain the Tibetan notion of the “patron-priest” relationship: When did it originate and how was it applied during the reign of the 5thDalai Lama?
References for starting: Schwieger 2014, Ruegg 2003, Petech 2003, Ishihama 1993
References
N.B. All the items listed here are available via the University of Sydney library or free online. Most are books, others are electronic resources or articles in e-journals available via the library catalogue.
I have given the names of Tibetan authors of books in the forms used by the University of Sydney library catalogue. These are not always the best-known forms (for example, the catalogue uses Mi-la-ras-pa not Milarepa) though there is usually a cross-reference from better- known forms. Tibetan names, spelling and even authorship can be confusing and the cataloguers aren’t always consistent, so if you are looking for other items it’s worth trying alternative names. If you can’t find an item using an author search, it may be worth trying a title search instead.
When searching the catalogue, you can usually get away with omitting diacritics – an Author search for “Atisa” will get the same results as one for “Atīśa”.
Most of these books are straightforward academic books. Some however (such as those by Nik Douglas or Vicki Mackenzie) are semi-popular works or translations of Tibetan texts aimed mainly at Western Buddhists. I have included these because they are useful, but they need to be read carefully and critically.
Aris, Michael. 1979. Bhutan. The Early History of a Himalayan Kingdom. Warminster, Aris and Phillips.
Atīśa. 2000. The Complete Works of Atīśa Śrī Dīpaṁkara Jñāna, Jo-bo-rje: The Lamp for the Path and Commentary, Together with the Newly Translated Twenty-Five Key Texts.
Transl. and annotated by Richard Sherburne. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan. [includes translation of Bodipathapradipa].
Ardussi John and Lawrence Epstein 1978. “The Saintly Madman in Tibet.” In Fisher, James F. (ed.), Himalayan Anthropology: The Indo-Tibetan Interface. The Hague: Mouton Publishers, pp. 327–338.
Bdud-’joms ’Jigs-bral-ye-śes-rdo-rje. [Dudjom Rinpoche.] 1991. The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism: its Fundamentals and History. Boston: Wisdom.
Beckwith, Christopher. 1987. The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia: A History of the Struggle for Great Power among Tibetans, Turks, Arabs, and Chinese during the Early Middle Ages. Princeton University Press.
Beyer, Stephan. 1988. The Cult of Tara. Magic and Ritual in Tibet. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Blondeau, Anne-Marie and Buffetrille, Katia. 2008. Authenticating Tibet: Answers to China’s 100 Questions. Berkeley, LA and London: University of California Press.
Blondeau, Anne-Marie and Steinkellner, Ernst (eds.) 1996. Reflections of the Mountain: Essays of the History and Social Meaning of the Mountain Cult in Tibet and the Himalaya. Wien: Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Bokar, Rinpoche. 1991. Chenrezig: Lord of Love: Principles and Methods of Deity Meditation. San Francisco: ClearPoint Press.
Brauen, Martin. 2004. Dreamworld Tibet: Western Illusions. Bangkok: Orchid Press. Brauen, Martin (ed.) 2005. The Dalai Lamas: A Visual History. Chicago: Serindia.
Bsod-nams-rgyal-mtshan, Sa-skya-pa Bla-ma Dam-pa. 1996. The Clear Mirror: A Traditional Account of Tibet’s Golden Age. Translated by McComas Taylor and Lama Choedak Yuthok. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.
Bstan-’dzin-rgya-mtsho, Dalai Lama XIV. 1962. My Land and My People. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson..
Buffetrille, Katia. (ed.) 2012. Revisiting Rituals in a Changing Tibetan World. Leiden: Brill. [Electronic resource.]
Butterfield, Stephen T. 1994. The Double Mirror: A Skeptical Journey into Buddhist Tantra. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
Cabezón, José I. and Jackson, Roger. (ed.). 1996. Tibetan Literature: Studies in Genre.
Essays in Honor of Geshe Lhundup Sopa). Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.
Cabezón, José Ignacio (ed.). 2010. Tibetan Ritual. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Campbell, June. 1996. Traveller in Space: In Search of Female Identity in Tibetan Buddhism. London: Athlone, 1996.
Cassinelli, C.W. and Robert B. Ekvall. 1969. A Tibetan Principality. The Political System of Sa sKya. Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1969.
Conermann, Stephan and Jim Rheingans. eds. 2014. Narrative Pattern and Genre in Hagiographic Life Writing: Comparative Perspectives from Asia to Europe. Berlin: EB- Verlag.
Cozort, Daniel. 1986. Highest Yoga Tantra. An Introduction to the Esoteric Buddhism of Tibet. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.
Cuevas, Bryan J. 2003. The Hidden History of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. New York: Oxford University Press.
Davidson, Ronald M. 2002. Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement. New York: Columbia University Press.
Davidson, Ronald M. 2005. Tibetan Renaissance: Tantric Buddhism in the Rebirth of Tibetan Culture. New York: Columbia University Press.
Dawa Norbu. 1974. Red Star over Tibet. London, Collins.
Dbyaṅs-can-dga’-ba’i-blo-gros. 1985. Death, Intermediate State and Rebirth in Tibetan Buddhism. Ed. and transl. by Lati Rinpoche and Jeffrey Hopkins. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.
DiValerio, David M. 2015. The Holy Madmen of Tibet. New York: Oxford University Press. [Electronic resource.]
Dkon-mchog-lhun-grub, Ngor-chen. 1991. The Beautiful Ornament of the Three Visions. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.
Dodin, Thierry and Räther, Heinz. 2001. Imagining Tibet: Perceptions, Projections and Fantasies. Boston: Wisdom Publications.
Douglas, Nik and White, Meryl (compilers). 1976. Karmapa: The Black hat Lama of Tibet.
London: Luzac.
Dowman, Keith (trans.) 1994. The Flight of the Garuda. Compiled and translated by Keith Dowman. Boston: Wisdom.
Dreyfus, Georges B. J. 2003. The Sound of Two Hands Clapping: The Education of a Tibetan Buddhist Monk. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Edou, Jérôme. 1995. Machig Labdrön and the Foundations of Chöd. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion. Ehrhard, Franz-Karl. 2010. ‘The Holy Madman of dBus and His Relationships with Tibetan
Rulers of the 15th and 16th Centuries.’ In Schalk, Peter, Max Deeg, Oliver Freiberger, Christoph Kleine and Astrid van Nahl (eds.), Geschichten und Geschichte: Historiographie und Hagiographie in der asiatischen Religionsgeschichte. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, 219-246. (Historia religionum 30.)
Garab Dorje. 1996. The Golden Letters: The Three Statements of Garab Dorje, The First Teacher of Dzogchen, Together with a Commentaryby Dza Petrul Rinpoche… Translated with Introduction and Commentaries by John Myrdhin Reynolds. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.
Goldstein, Melvyn C. 1989. A History of Modern Tibet, 1913–1951: The Demise of the Lamaist State. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Goldstein, Melvyn C. 1997. The Snow Lion and the Dragon: China, Tibet and the Dalai Lama. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Goldstein, Melvyn C. and Beall, Cynthia M. 1990. Nomads of Western Tibet: The Survival of a Way of Life. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Goldstein, Melvyn C. and Kapstein, Matthew T. (eds). 1998. Buddhism in Contemporary Tibet: Religious Revival and Cultural Identity. University of California Press.
Goodman, Steven D. and Davidson, Ronald M. (eds.) 1992. Tibetan Buddhism: Reason and Revelation. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
’Gos Lo-tsā-ba Gzhon-nu-dpal. 1976. The Blue Annals. Ed. and transl. by George N. Roerich.
2nd edn. Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass.
Gtsaṅ-smyon He-ru-ka. 1977. The Life of Milarepa. A New Translation from the Tibetan by Lobsang L. Lhalungpa. New York: Dutton.
Guenther, Herbert V. 1977. Tibetan Buddhism in Western Perspective. Emeryville, CA: Dharma Publishing.
Gutschow, Kim. 2004. Being a Buddhist Nun: The Struggle for Enlightenment in the Himalayas. Harvard University Press.
Gyatso, Janet. 1998. Apparitions of the Self: The Secret Autobiographies of a Tibetan Visionary. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Gyatso, Janet. 2015. Being Human in a Buddhist World: An Intellectual History of Medicine in Early Modern Tibet. New York: Columbia University Press.
Gyatso, Janet and Havnevik, Hanna (eds), 2005. Women of Tibet: Past and Present. NY: Columbia University Press, 2005.
Hopkins, Jeffrey. Tantric Techniques. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 2008.
Huber, Toni (ed.). 1999b. Sacred Spaces and Powerful Places in Tibetan Culture.
Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.
Huber, Toni. 1999a. The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain: Popular Pilgrimage and visionary landscape in southeast Tibet. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Huntington, John C. and Bangdel, Dina. 2003. The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art. Columbus, OH: Columbus Museum of Art; London: Serindia.
Ishihama Yumiko. 1993. On the dissemination of the belief in the Dalai Lama as a manifestation of the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. Acta Asiatica 64, 38-56.
Jackson, David P. 2003. A Saint in Seattle: The Life of the Tibetan Mystic Dezhung Rinpoche.
Boston: Wisdom Publications.
Kapstein, Matthew (ed.). 2009. Buddhism Between Tibet and China. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications.
Kapstein, Matthew T. 2000. The Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism: Conversion, Contestation, and Memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kapstein, Matthew T. 2006. The Tibetans. Malden, MA and Oxford: Blackwell.
Kapstein, Matthew. 1992. ‘Remarks on the Maṇi bKa’-’bum and the cult of Avalokiteśvara in Tibet.’ In Steven D. Goodman and Ronald M. Davidson (eds), Tibetan Buddhism: Reason and Revelation. Albany, NY: State University of NY Press. Also in Tuttle and Schaeffer 2013.
Karma gliṅ-pa. 2000. Self-Liberation Through Seeing with Naked Awareness. Translated with commentary by John Myrdhin Reynolds. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.
Karmay, Samten G. 1998. The Arrow and the Spindle: Studies in History, Myths, Rituals and beliefs in Tibet. [Vol.1]. Kathmandu: Mandala Book Point.
Klein, Anne C. 1986. Knowledge and Liberation: Tibetan Buddhist Epistemology in Support of Transformative Religious Experience. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.
Kong-sprul Blo-gros-mtha’-yas. 1977. The Torch of Certainty. Boulder: Shambhala.
Kong-sprul Blo-gros-mtha’-yas. 1996. Creation and Completion: Essential Points of Tantric Meditation. Introduced, transl. and annotated by Sarah Harding. Boston: Wisdom.
Kong-sprul Blo-gros-mtha’-yas. 1997. Enthronement: The Recognition of the Reincarmate Masters of Tibet and the Himalayas. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.
Kong-sprul Blo-gros-mtha’-yas. 2001. Sacred Ground: Jamgon Kongtrul on Pilgrimage and Sacred Geography. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.
Kong-sprul Blo-gros-mtha’-yas. 2003. The Autobiography of Jamgön Kongtrul: A Gem of Many Colours. Transl. Richard Barron. Ithaca, NY & Boulder, CO: Snow Lion Publications, 2003.
Korom, Frank J. (ed.). 1997. Constructing Tibetan Culture: Contemporary Perspectives. Quebec: World Heritage Press.
Kun-dga’-bstan-pa’i-ñi-ma, Sde-gźuṅ Luṅ-rig Sprul-sku. 1995. The Three Levels of Spiritual Perception: An Oral Commentary on the Three Visions of Ngorchen Konchog Lhundrub. Boston: Wisdom.
van der Kuijp, Leonard W.J. 1996. “Tibetan Historiography.” In Tibetan Literature – Studies in Genre, edited by José Ignacio Cabezón and Roger R. Jackson, 39‒57. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications.
van der Kuijp, L. 2005. “The Dalai Lamas and the origins of reincarnate lamas”. In Brauen,
- (ed.), The Dalai Lamas: a Visual History.
Kvaerne, Per. 1995. The Bon Religion of Tibet: The Iconography of a Living Tradition.
London: Serindia.
Larsson, Stefan. 2012. Crazy for Wisdom The Making of a Mad Yogin in Fifteenth-Century Tibet. Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library 30. Leiden and Boston: Brill. [e-book]
Linrothe, Robert N. (ed.) 2006. Holy Madness: Portraits of Tantric Siddhas. New York, Chicago: Rubin Museum of Art and Serindia Publications.
Lopez, Donald S. (ed.). 1995a. Curators of the Buddha: The Study of Buddhism under Colonialism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lopez, Donald S. (ed.) 1995b. Buddhism in Practice. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Lopez, Donald S. (ed.) 1997. Religions of Tibet in Practice. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Lopez, Donald S. 1998. Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
Mackenzie, Vicki. 1995. Reborn in the West: The Reincarnation Masters. London: Bloomsbury.
Manson, Charles. 2015. ‘The Reincarnate Lamas Tradition in Central Asia.’ Middle Way 90: 105-110. [E-journal available via library catalogue.]
McKay, Alex (ed.) 2003. The History of Tibet. 3 vols. London: RoutledgeCurzon.
Mi-la-ras-pa. 1977. The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa. Transl. and annotated by Garma Chen-Chi Chang. 2 vols. Boston, MA: Shambhala.
Mi-la-ras-pa. 1995. Drinking the Mountain Stream: Songs of Tibet’s Beloved Saint Milarepa: Stories and Songs from the Oral Tradition… transl. Lama Kunga Rinpoche and Brian Cutillo. Boston: Wisdom.
Mkhas-grub Dge-legs-dpal-bzaṅ-po. 1968. Mkhas grub rje’s Fundamentals of the Buddhist Tantras. Transl. by Ferdinand D. Lessing and Alex Wayman. The Hague and Paris: Mouton.
Mṅa’-ris Paṇ-chen Padma-dbaṅ-rgyal. 1996. Perfect Conduct: Ascertaining the Three Vows.
Boston: Wisdom.
Mullin, Glenn H. 2001. The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation. Santa Fe, NM: Clear Light Publishers.
Namkhai Norbu. 1993. The Crystal and the Way of Light: Sūtra, Tantra and Dzogchen. London: Penguin.
O-rgyan-’jigs-med-chos-kyi-dbang-po, Dpal-sprul [Patrul Rinpoche]. 1998. Words of My Perfect Teacher. Translated by Padmakara Translation Group. 2nd edn. Boston, MA: Shambhala.
Ortner, Sherry B. 1978. Sherpas Through Their Rituals. New York and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ortner, Sherry B. 1989. High Religion: A Cultural and Political history of Sherpa Buddhism.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Padma-gling-pa, Gter-ston. 2003. The Life and Revelations of Pema Lingpa. Tramslated by Sarah Harding. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.
Parfionovitch, Yuri, Fernand Meyer and Gyurme Dorje. 1992. Tibetan Medical Paintings: Illustrations to the Blue Beryl treatise of Sangye Gyamtso (1653–1705). London: Serindia.
Penny, Benjamin (ed.). 2002. Religion and Biography in China and Tibet. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon.
Perdue, Daniel E. 1992. Debate in Tibetan Buddhism. Ithaca, NY, USA: Snow Lion Publications.
Petech, L. 2003. “The Establishment of the Yüan-Sa-Syka Partnership.” In McKay, Alex (ed.), The History of Tibet: Volume II. London, New York: Routledge Curzon, 338-361 [text until 351]. (Reprint and revised version of Petech 1990: 1–31).
Pha-boṅ-kha-pa Byams-pa-bstan-’dzin-’phrin-las-rgya-mtsho. 1997. Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand: Concise Discourse on the Path to Enlightenment. Edited by Trijang Rinpoche. Translated by Michael Richards. Boston, MA: Wisdom.
Powers, John. 2007. Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.
Powers, John. 2008. A Concise Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion. Powers, John and Templeman, David. 2012. Historical Dictionary of Tibet. Lanham, MD:
Scarecrow Press.
Powers, John 2004. History as Propaganda: Tibetan Exiles versus the People’s Republic of China. Oxford University Press: Oxford
Quintman, Andrew. 2014. The Yogin and the Madman: Reading the Biographical Corpus of Tibet’s Great Saint Milarepa. South Asia Across the Disciplines Series. New York: Columbia University Press.
Ramble, Charles. 2007. The Navel of the Demoness: Tibetan Buddhism and Civil Religion in Highland Nepal. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ray, Reginald A. 2001. Secret of the Vajra World: The Tantric Buddhism of Tibet. Boston: Shambhala.
Rheingans, Jim, ed. 2015. Tibetan Literary Genres, Texts, and Text Types: From Genre Classification to Transformation. Brill’s Tibetan Studies Library 37. Leiden and Boston: Brill.
Rheingans, Jim. 2017. The Eighth Karmapa’s Life and his Interpretation of The Great Seal: A Religious Life and Instructional Texts in Historical and Doctrinal Contexts. Hamburg Buddhist Studies 7. Bochum/Freiburg: Projektverlag.
Roberts, Alan 2007. The Biographies of Rechungpa: The Evolution of a Tibetan Hagiography.
London: Routlegde.
Ringu Tulku. 2006. The Ri-Me Philosophy of Jamgön Kongtrul the Great: A Study of the Buddhist Lineages of Tibet. Boston and London: Shambhala.
Robinson, James B. 1996. “The Lives of Indian Buddhist Saints: Biography, Hagiography and Myth.” In Tibetan Literature – Studies in Genre, edited by José Ignacio Cabézon and Roger R. Jackson. Ithaca: Snow Lion, 57–70.
Rocha, Cristina and Barker, Michelle. 2011. Buddhism in Australia: Traditions in Change.
Abingdon and NY: Routledge.
Roesler, Ulrike. 2015. “Classifying Literature or Organizing Knowledge? Some Considerations on Genre Classifications in Tibetan Literature.” In Tibetan Literary Genres, Texts, and Text Types: From Genre Classification to Transformation, edited by Jim Rheingans, 31–53. Leiden and Boston: Brill.
Roesler, Ulrike. 2014. “Operas, Novels, and Religious Instructions: Life-stories of Tibetan Buddhist Masters between Genre Classifications.” In Narrative Pattern and Genre in Hagiographic Life Writing: Comparative Perspectives from Asia to Europe, edited by Stephan Conermann and Jim Rheingans, 113–140. Berlin: EBV.
Ruegg, David Seyfort. 1966. The Life of Bu ston Rin po che. Roma: Instituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente.
Ruegg, D.S. 2003. “MCHOD YON, YON MCHOD AND MCHOD GNAS/YON GNAS: On
the historiography and semantics of a Tibetan religio-social and religio-political concept.” In McKay, Alex (ed.), The History of Tibet: Volume II. London, New York: Routledge Curzon, 362–372.
Ryavec, Karl E. 2015. Historical Atlas of Tibet. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Samuel, Geoffrey. 1993. Civilized Shamans: Buddhism in Tibetan Societies. Washington,
DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Samuel, Geoffrey. 2005. Tantric Revisionings: New Understandings of Tibetan Buddhism and Indian Religion, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Samuel, Geoffrey. 2008. The Origins of Yoga and Tantra: Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century. London and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Samuel, Geoffrey. 2012. Introducing Tibetan Buddhism. New York: Routledge.
Samuel, Geoffrey and Johnston, Jay. (eds.) 2013. Religion and the Subtle Body in Asia and the West: Between Mind and Body. Abingdon, Oxon & New York: Routledge.
Samuel, Geoffrey, Gregor, Hamish, and Stutchbury, Elizabeth A. 1994. Tantra and Popular Religion in Tibet. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan.
Śāntideva. 1979. A guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life. Dharamsala, HP, India: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.
Śāntideva. 1997. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra.
Boston: Shambhala.
Schaeffer, Kurtis R., Kapstein, Matthew T. and Tuttle, Gray (eds.). 2013. Sources of Tibetan Tradition. New York: Columbia University Press. [Electronic resource.]
Schaeffer, Kurtis R. 2004. Himalayan Hermitess: The Life of a Tibetan Buddhist Nun.
Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Also as electronic resource.]
Schwieger, Peter. 2015. The Dalai Lama and the Emperor of China. New York: Columbia University Press. [Electronic resource.]
Sgam-po-pa Bsod-nams-rin-chen [Gampopa]. 1959. The Jewel Ornament of Liberation. Edited and translated by Herbert V. Guenther. London: Rider.
Sgam-po-pa Bsod-nams-rin-chen [Gampopa]. 1995. Gems of Dharma, Jewels of Freedom.
New translation by ken and Katia Holmes. Forres: Altea.
Shakabpa, W.D. 1967. Tibet: A Political History. New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press.
Shakabpa, W.D. 2010. One Hundred Thousand Moons: An Advanced Political History of Tibet. Leiden and Boston: Brill.
Smith, E. Gene. 2001. Among Tibetan Texts: History and Literature of the Himalayan Plateau. Boston: Wisdom Publications.
Snellgrove, David L. 1987. Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists and Their Tibetan Successors. London: Serindia.
Snellgrove, David L. and Hugh E. Richardson. 1968. A Cultural History of Tibet. New York:
F.A. Praeger.
Sopa, Geshe Lhundup and Jeffrey Hopkins (ed. and transl.) 1976. Practice and Theory of Tibetan Buddhism. London: Rider.
Thondup, Tulku. 1986. Hidden Teachings of Tibet: An Explanation of the Terma Tradition of the Nyingma School of Buddhism .London: Wisdom.
Thubten Yeshe. 2003. Becoming the Compassion Buddha : Tantric Mahamudra for everyday life : a commentary on the Guru Yoga practice called the inseparability of the Spiritual Master and Avalokiteshvara : a source of all powerful attainments written by His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the age of nineteen. Boston: Wisdom.
Trungpa, Chögyam. 1979. Born in Tibet: The Eleventh Trungpa Tulku. As Told to Esmé Cramer Roberts. London: Mandala Books.
Tsering Shakya. 2000. The Dragon in the Land of Snows: A History of Modern Tibet since 1947. New York: Penguin Compass.
Tsong-kha-pa Blo-bzang-grags-pa. 1982. The Life and Teachings of Tsong-khapa. Ed. by Robert A.F. Thurman. Dharamsala, H.P., India: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.
Tsong-kha-pa Blo-bzang-grags-pa. 2000. The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment: The Lamrim Chenmo by Tsong-kha-pa, translated by the Lamrim Chenmo Translation Committee, Joshua Cutler, Editor in Chief. 3 vols. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.
Tucci, Giuseppe. 2000. The Religions of Tibet. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul; Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Tuttle, Gray and Schaeffer, Kurtis R. (eds.) 2013. The Tibetan History Reader. New York: Columbia University Press. [Electronic resource.]
Tuttle, Gray. 2005. Tibetan Buddhists in the Making of Modern China. New York: Columbia University Press.
Urgyen, Tulku, Rinpoche. 2005. Blazing Splendor: The Memoirs of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche as told to Erik Pema Kunsang and Marcia Binder Schmidt. Hong Kong: Rangjung Yeshe.
Van Schaik, Sam. 2011. Tibet: A History. New Haven: Yale University Press.
White, David Gordon (ed.). 2000. Tantra in Practice. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Willis, Janice D. (ed.). 1995. Feminine Ground: Essays on Women and Tibet. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion.
Willson, Martin. 1986. In Praise of Tara: Songs to the Saviouress. Source Texts from India and Tibet on Buddhism’s Great Goddess. London: Wisdom.
Źabs-dkar Tshogs-drug-raṅ-grol. 2001. The Life of Shabkar: The Autobiography of a Tibetan Yogin. Transl. Matthieu Ricard. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Zivkovic, Tanya Maria. 2010. ‘The Biographical Process of a Tibetan Lama.’ Ethnos 75: 171-189. [E-journal available via library catalogue.]
General Resources
Cabezón and Jackson 1996 and Rheingans 2015. A useful collection of articles on different genres of Tibetan writing.
Lopez 1997. A useful collection of short writings by Tibetan authors on different aspects of Tibetan religion. Lopez 1995b and White 200 are similar collections focussing on Buddhism in general and on Tantra in general; each contains some Tibetan items.
McKay 2003. Collection of articles on Tibetan history.
Powers & Templeton 2012. A useful reference work for names, places, events. Ryavec 2015. Historical atlas.
Samuel 1993. A little outdated by now but a useful general introduction with extensive references to further literature.
Schaeffer, Kapstein & Tuttle 2013. Anthology of writings by Tibetan authors. Tuttle & Schaeffer 2013. Another collection of articles on Tibetan history.
Some Useful Websites
Tibetan and Himalayan Library
http://dictionary.thlib.org & http://www.thlib.org/collections/
Valuable reference tools for anything to do with Tibetan Buddhism. Also hosts the online journal JIATS (Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies) – suspended at present, but the seven issues available online include many useful articles.
Revue d’Études Tibétaines http://www.digitalhimalaya.com/collections/journals/ret/
Despite the French title (=’Review of Tibetan Studies’), most of the articles in this journal are in English. There are a number of other useful journals and resources at www.digitalhimalaya.com
Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center
https://www.tbrc.org/
Mainly a library of digital texts in Tibetan language. The University of Sydney Library doesn’t have a subscription, so you can’t download these, but there is a lot of other useful information on their website.
The Treasury of Lives
Biographical Encyclopedia of Tibet, Inner Asia, and the Himalaya. Short essays on important lamas and teachers. The entries are not all equally good, and tend to the devotional rather than historical, but an excellent first point of call if you want to check who somebody is or was. Also has a useful map and a guide to different traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Berzin Archives: The Buddhist Archives of Dr. Alexander Berzin
http://studybuddhism.com/web/en/
Collection of translations and teachings by Dr. Alexander Berzin primarily on the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. The emphasis is Gelugpa, but plenty of useful material.
Himalayan Art
Very rich collection of images of Himalayan art. Excellent source on Tibetan Buddhist iconography.
Vajrayana Research Resource
http://vajrayana.faithweb.com/
Excellent collection of Indo-Tibetan tantric material, including numerous doctoral dissertations.
Companion Website for Introducing Tibetan Buddhism
http://routledgetextbooks.com/textbooks/_author/samuel-9780415456654/
This is a website linked to my book, Introducing Tibetan Buddhism. The resources listings may be useful, and include links to numerous further websites at http://routledgetextbooks.com/textbooks/_author/samuel-9780415456654/links.php
Scribd
https://www.scribd.com/
If you have access to Scribd, there are numerous books on Tibetan Buddhism in the documents section.
