Steps toward a Tibetan Understanding of Purity: A Semantic and Textual Analysis (Evangelical Missiological Society Monograph Series)

Though of little concern to most westerners, notions of what is considered clean and unclean, pure and impure are of great importance to many cultures. Both ritual and moral purity and impurity are significant concerns for Tibetan Buddhists and Buddhists at large, being foundational to how they live their everyday lives. Steps Towards a Tibetan Understanding of Purity provides a detailed analysis of Tibetan conceptions of purity and purification through a careful examination of salient Tibetan texts across a wide range of genres. The practical applications of this study articulate ways to contextualize the good news of Jesus in a Tibetan Buddhist context with an emphasis on the gospel of purification. Such an approach provides the reader with renewed impetus to share the gospel in meaningful and relevant ways to a Buddhist audience while also providing additional insights into the worldview of Tibetans.

James E. Morrison is a Bible translator and translation consultant specializing in Tibetic languages. He has worked with Tibetan Buddhists for more than three decades.