Trans-Himalayan Buddhism: Reconnecting Spaces, Sharing Concerns

133 Pages·2020·10.86 MB·English

by  Suchandana Chatterjee

Trans-Himalayan Buddhism
Reconnecting Spaces, Sharing Concerns
The ambit of Buddhist studies reflects not only the spiritual and philosophical
domain of Buddhism but also a symbiotic relationship between the monastic
establishment and protectors of cultural tradition-a trend that one sees in the
context of Buddhist revivalist projects in Mongolia and Buryatia. The presence of
a Buddhist order in the political realm has revived intellectual debates about the
relationship between spiritual and temporal authority. The interface between
South Asian and South East Buddhism on the one hand and Central Asian
Buddhism on the other is also delicately balanced in Buddhist cultural discourse.
The relevance of Buddhism in a globalized world has also given a new direction
to the realm of Buddhist studies.
This book takes into account the competing discourses of preservation and
revival of Buddhism in the trans-Himalayan sector. It not only deals with the
cultural ethos that Buddhism represents in this region but also the diverse
Buddhist traditions that are strongly entrenched despite colonial intervention.
Juxtaposed to the aesthetic variant is the extremely sensitive response of the
Buddhist communities in India and Asiatic Russia centred round the issue of
displacement. It is this issue of duality of common traditions and fractured
identities that has been dealt with in the present volume.
Suchandana Chatterjee, Fellow of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies,
Kolkata, has been associated with the institute since 1993. Her research interests include
regional and connected histories of Eurasia, marginalised identities, representations on
Eurasia’s transition, the Buddhist space of Asiatic Russia and Central Asia, etc. Her
publications include The Steppe in History-Essays on a Eurasian Fringe (New Delhi:
Manohar, 2010), Mind and Vision: Perceptions of reform in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
(Bookwell, 2006) and Politics and Society in Tajikistan in the aftermath of the Civil War
(Greenwood Press and Hope India Publications, 2002).

Trans-Himalayan Buddhism
Reconnecting Spaces, Sharing Concerns
Edited by
Suchandana Chatterjee
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies
Kolkata
in association with
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Contents
Contributors vii

Introduction ix
1. Construction of Buddhist Civilisation in Central Asia:
A Preliminary Review 1
Jeta Sankrityayana
2. Buddhist Traditions of the Himalayas and Central Asia 23
Benoy K. Behl
3. Buddhist Milieu in Termez:
Links in Architecture and Archaeology 37
Ranjana Mishra
4. The Integration of Buddhism in Mongolia:
the Echo of Seasonal Moods 55
Andrea Loseries
5. Heritage, Development, and Concerns of
Mongolia’s Monasteries 75
Krisztina Teleki
6. Medical Institution Building in India:
Following the Tibetan Case 91
Somraj Basu
7. Tibetan Culture in Exile: Preservation and Reform 105
Dagmar Bernstorff

Contributors
Jeta Sankrityayana, Professor of Economics, North Bengal University.
Benoy K Behl, Visiting Professor, College of Art, University of Delhi.
Ranjana Mishra, Associate Professor and Head, Department of History,
MD Shah Mahila College, SNDT University, Mumbai.
Andrea Loseries, Professor, Department of Indo-Tibetan Studies and
Former Director of the Centre for Buddhist Studies, Visva-Bharati,
Santiniketan.
Krizstina Teleki, Research Fellow, Department of Inner Asian Studies,
ELTE University, Budapest.
Somraj Basu, Currently Graduate Student of Anthropology at the
University of Colorado, USA.
Dagmar Bernstorff, Editor of Exile as Challenge – the Tibetan Diaspora,
New Delhi: Vibrant Arts 2003.

Introduction
The Trans-Himalayan connections of Buddhism and the northern reach
of Buddhism have regained centrality in the discourse about revival
of Buddhism. On the whole, there seems to be significant interest in
the Buddhist dispensation and the Buddhist setting, i.e. the monastic
landscape represented by the Buddhist monasteries in India’s northern
state of Kashmir and north-eastern region belonging to the Himalayan
belt and comprising of Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim as well as the datsans
and dugans in Asiatic Russia and Mongolia. Apart from a basic interest
in Buddhist pilgrimage as tradition, scholarship has revolved round
various aspects of Buddhist culture, e.g. Buddhist art and architecture,
manuscripts and texts, role of individuals and institutions which has
resulted in new assessments about a Buddhist space. The presence of a
Buddhist order in the political realm has revived intellectual debates about
the relationship between spiritual and temporal authority. The relevance
of Buddhism in a globalized world has also given a new direction to
the realm of Buddhist studies. The spirit of tolerance in Buddhism is
juxtaposed to the intolerant and restless behaviour in politics and society.
There seems to be new ways of determining community relations and
sharing of concerns in the Buddhist space.
Trans-Himalayan Buddhism is not merely a cultural spectacle across
spaces north and south, east and west of the Himalayas. It is also a subject
of interactive behaviour among nation states and Buddhist communities
who have been dispersed across time and space and have shared memories
over the Kunlun mountains or the Kashgar markets which have been the
meeting points of pilgrims, traders, envoys and cultural enthusiasts. The
northern reach of Buddhism is incomprehensible without reflections
about shared concerns and this is what the symposium has tried to
focus on. This volume opens with the article by Jeta Sankrityayana on
the appeal of Buddhism as a cultural thread binding the civilizations
of South and Central Asia. He indicates the contemporary relevance
of a Himalayan discourse about trans-national civilizational links. In