List of Illustrations .......................................... ix
Note on Translation and Transliteration ........................ xi
Acknowledgments .............................................. xiii
Introduction .................................................... l
PART I. THE CONTEXT
1. Tibetan Buddhism: A Brief Historical Overview ............... 17
2. Tibetan Monasticism ......................................... 32
3. Becoming a Monk: Teacher and Discipline ..................... 54
PART II. TIBETAN SCHOLASTIC PRACTICES
4. Literacy and Memorization ................................... 79
5. The General Structure of the Tibetan Curriculum ............. 98
6. Two Curricular Models ...................................... 111
7. Scholasticism and Orality: Myth and Reality ................ 149
8. Commentary and Meditation .................................. 164
9. The Supplement: Hermeneutical or Deconstructive? ........... 183
10.Debate as Practice ......................................... 195
11.Debate in the Curriculum ................................... 229
12.Is Debate a Mode of Inquiry? ............................... 267
PART III. REFLECTIONS
13.Rationality and Spirit Cult ................................ 295
14.The Limits of the Inquiry .................................. 306
Conclusion: Past and Future Uncertainties ..................... 325
Notes ......................................................... 335
Select Bibliography ........................................... 401
Index ......................................................... 419
ILLUSTRATIONS
(following p. 176)
1. Gen Lob-zang Gya-tso, head of the Buddhist School
of Dialectics
2. Dre-pung, Tibet
3. Monks in the assembly hall, Tshur-pu, Tibet
4. My first teacher, Geshe Rab-ten
5. The regional house of Pompora at Se-ra May, Tibet
6. The author studying at Nam-gyel, India
7. Young monk reading
8. The animation of debate
9. The good humor of debate during the author's Geshe
examinations
10.Collective debate during the author's Geshe examinations
11.Individual debate in the cold of winter
12.Evening prayer at Se-ra, Tibet
13.Gen Nyi-ma
14.Se-ra in exile, Bylakuppe, India
|
