FROM THE MAILBAG: Ethnographic Studies of Tibetan Buddhist Communities

by Danny Fisher

Today’s mailbag question comes from a friend of mine studying Buddhism in Southeast Asia. In preparation for some work he has to do, he’s currently looking for examples of ethnographic research outside his own area of expertise. He wrote to a couple of friends asking for examples of ethnographic research from area studies we have specific training in. In my case, he asked for examples from Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies. Though we exchanged messages privately, this was another case where I felt like it might be helpful to share. (You might be interested to learn about particular books, and if you’re an expert you can share other titles and information that might help my pal out.) Please feel free to leave comments, further questions, quibbles, or your own recommendations below.

DEAR DANNY: I’m interested to read some good ethnographic studies of Tibetan Buddhist practitioners and/or religious communities in predominantly Tibetan Buddhist countries, but I don’t know of any. Can you please recommend some good books? — ANONYMOUS

DEAR ANONYMOUS: First, just to state the obvious, I’m not an anthropologist. One such professional would certainly know more about this than I. That said, I’m a pretty voracious reader of Buddhist studies materials–a nerd, if you will–and I suspect you would find some or all of the following helpful in terms of offering good theoretical models from which to learn:

  • The Navel of the Demoness: Tibetan Buddhism and Civil Religion in Highland Nepal by Charles Ramble
  • Tigers of the Snow and Other Virtual Sherpas: An Ethnography of Himalayan Encounters by Vincanne Adams
  • Buddhism Observed: Travellers, Exiles and Tibetan Dharma in Kathmandu by Peter Moran
  • Civilized Shamans: Buddhism in Tibetan Societies by Geoffrey Samuel
  • selected chapters in Women in Tibet: Past and Present edited by Janet Gyatso and Hanna Havnevik
  • The Cult of Pure Crystal Mountain: Popular Pilgrimage and Visionary Landscape in Southeast Tibet by Toni Huber
  • Buddhism in Contemporary Tibet: Religious Revival and Cultural Identity edited by Melvyn C. Goldstein and Matthew T. Kapstein
  • Identity, Ritual and State in Tibetan Buddhism: The Foundations of Authority in Gelupka Monasticism by Martin A. Mills
  • The Rulings of The Night: An Ethnography of Nepalese Shaman Oral Texts by Gregory G. MaskarinecGood luck to you in your work, my friend. — DANNY

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    NEXT TIME: The lineage of Buddhist military chaplains. (For real this time.)

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