Civilized Shamans: Buddhism in Tibetan Societies - Softcover

Samuel, Geoffrey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1560982314 ISBN 13: 9781560982319

Publisher: Smithsonian Inst Pr, 1993

Synopsis

Civilized Shamans examines the nature and evolution of religion in Tibetan societies from the ninth century up to the Chinese occupation in 1950. Geoffrey Samuel argues that religion in these societies developed as a dynamic amalgam of strands of Indian Buddhism and the indigenous spirit-cults of Tibet.
Samuel stresses the diversity of Tibetan societies, demonstrating that central Tibet, the Dalai Lama's government at Lhasa, and the great monastic institutions around Lhasa formed only a part of the context within which Tibetan Buddhism matured. Employing anthropological research, historical inquiry, rich interview material, and a deep understanding of religious texts, the author explores the relationship between Tibet's social and political institutions and the emergence of new modes of consciousness that characterize Tibetan Buddhist spirituality. Samuel identifies the two main orientations of this religion as clerical (primarily monastic) and shamanic (associated with Tantric yoga). The specific form that Buddhism has taken in Tibet is rooted in the pursuit of enlightenment by a minority of the people - lamas, monks, and yogins - and the desire for shamanic services (in quest of health, long life, and prosperity) by the majority. Shamanic traditions of achieving altered states of consciousness have been incorporated into Tantric Buddhism, which aims to communicate with Tantric deities through yoga. The author contends that this incorporation forms the basis for much of the Tibetan lamas' role in their society and that their subtle scholarship reflects the many ways in which they have reconciled the shamanic and clerical orientations.
This book, the first full account of Tibetan Buddhism in two decades, ranges as no other study has over several disciplines and languages, incorporating historical and anthropological discussion. Viewing Tibetan Buddhism as one of the great spiritual and psychological achievements of humanity, Samuel analyzes a complex society that combines the literacy and rationality associated with centralized states with the shamanic processes more familiar among tribal peoples.

About this title

About the Author

Geoffrey Samuel is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, Australia.

From Publishers Weekly

In Tibet, clerical, state-sponsored Buddhism has coexisted with, and in many ways been subordinate to, shamanic practices such as spirit mediumship, contact with local deities, possession and soul-flight, observes anthropologist Samuel ( Mind, Body and Culture ). "Lamas in Tibet function as shamans," and are believed to communicate with spirits from alternative levels of reality. This dense but rewarding study of Tibetan religion from the seventh century to the Chinese invasion of 1950 replaces the conventional picture of a centralized, theocratic state with a view of Tibet as a patchwork of ethnic groups and farming, pastoral and urban communities. Tibetan folk religion uses shamanic techniques in an effort to bring about long life and health and to achieve a desirable incarnation in one's next life. Samuel, who combines his own fieldwork with extensive scholarship, suggestively portrays Tibetan Buddhism as a synthesis continually evolving in response to changing societal forms.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Smithsonian Inst Pr
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 1560982314
• ISBN 13: 9781560982319
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 640